Page 2 of Alpha Fate

Bastards!

I’m sure they did it on purpose. Toying with me.

My brow furrows as I stretch my right arm out as far as I can. My left wrist is cuffed, hooked to a chain that’s attached to the rough brick wall. There’s a similar metal loop around my throat, where I’m chained, too.

Collared like a fucking dog on a leash.

As if I could get anywhere anyway. When he’s been down here, the flickering light he switches on has revealed bars on three sides of me. And then the wall behind me.

Collared and caged.

“Fuckers!” I mutter.

Anger gives me determination, and I pull against the chains. They don’t give, so I stretch my leg out. I feel the cold bowl with my toes and almost sob with relief.

“Don’t knock it over…don’t!” I’ve spent a lot of time talking to myself since I got here. Whenever that was.

I inch my way closer, gingerly using my foot to draw the bowl near. Cool water splashes onto my ankle, and I freeze. I can’t risk wasting a single drop. I don’t trust them to be back with more water soon. I have to use it sparingly.

When the metal container is finally within reach, I grasp it with numb fingers and raise it to my lips. I drain most of the bowl before I’m able to control my desperate need to quench my thirst.

Slowly!

I draw in a steadying breath. The water is tepid and brackish, strangely bitter, but it tastes like heaven right now. My blood feels like it can flow again. I set the bowl side and lean back against the wall.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve tried to figure out where I’ve been imprisoned. After the raid, everything has been a blur. I have no idea how I got here, who brought me, or even who took me.

Worst of all, I don’t know who I am. Just foggy memories of a place that I know I called home. And an attack that tore it all apart.

I rub my face as I grasp at memories. I know I’d been out near a field with someone – a male who meant something to me. I know it because he’d been holding my hand, but I can’t pin down any sense of emotional attachment.

There’d been shouts of alarm from the others. Then an older male had come running toward us. Wild-eyed, frantic. I loved him. I know that much.

My father?

“Run!” he’d screamed, but it had been too late. A roar of engines had marked the arrival of a fleet of motorcycles. Revving, wheeling, they’d surrounded us. The man with me had hit the ground after someone rode into him. And then it was just me, spinning in a panic as I tried to find a way out. Someone had grabbed me from behind. There was a bag over my head and then a sharp jab in my shoulder before everything went black.

Oh, God. What happened to the others? My family. I know that my family had been there. My father. I have brothers. Sisters.

Lord, I hope they’re okay.

And as for the women in our pack… I know that’s who they came for, it’s who they always come for, and why we spent our lives in hiding…

Hiding – that’s something I’m aware of. Being on the run. Always looking over our shoulders. I may not remember much, but that sense of constant vigilance feels like it’s wired into me. I can only hope that, like me, the others are alive somewhere.

Others.

Who are the others?

My Pops. Brothers. Mama. I know I have at least one sister. I’m certain of it. I keep getting flashes of dark hair and an open, smiling face. For the thousandth time, I think about her and where she might be right now. Maybe she had a chance to shift and get away. God knows I didn’t. Come to think of it, I haven’t been able to reach my wolf since I got here.

I flex my limbs, feeling within myself for the familiar shiver of awareness that tells me that we share this body – my wolf and me. But she’s not there. All I feel is the stiffness and cramping of failing limbs. I’m too thin; my muscles are wasting. I lost my shoes somewhere, and the simple dress I’d been wearing when they took me is shredded and filthy and now hangs from my gaunt frame. I’m sure that my features are equally drawn, my hair lank and oily. But that’s the least of my worries right now.

Running a shaking hand over my face, I find myself fighting off a wave of exhaustion. My head felt fuzzy before, but now I feel completely surrounded by fog. My limbs grow heavy, and I slide down the rough surface of the wall. It’s all that I can do to keep my eyelids from drooping, and that’s something that’s been happening a lot lately.

The water…

They’re drugging you.