Page 100 of Unhinged Alphas
His teeth sink into my throat.
A betrayal.
They weren't supposed to hurt me.
I jolt awake with a strangled gasp, disoriented and struggling to breathe. Darkness surrounds me, pressing in from all sides. My heart races, my neck stinging like I was stabbed.
It takes a moment for reality to seep back in. The suffocating darkness... A hood. It's still on, blocking out all light. I'm not in a forest. I'm not a doe.
And Valek...
The events leading up to this moment ignite sheer fury within me, burning away the last wisps of the dream. That fucking bastard kidnapped me. I struggle against my bonds, but my wrists and ankles are secured tightly with tight bands. Zipties? The more I fight, the more they seem to cut into my skin.
I force myself to be still, to think. I need information.
Where am I?
What does Valek want with me?
Memories are bleeding in faster now. I cut the chip out of the back of his neck. And I hesitated when he told me to leave with him. So what did he do? Drug me like he drugged Whiskey and kidnap me?
What the fuck was I thinking, helping him like that?
All I know is I'm in some kind of vehicle. The perpetual rumble that doesn't let up and the occasional ear-splitting screeching wine of steel on iron confirms immediately I'm on a train.
And Valek's cold scent leeching through the musty smell of the hood confirms that fucking asshole is the source of warmth beside me. I want to scream, to thrash, to bite—anything to get away from him.
But I force myself to stay still.
To breathe.
To think.
The train's rhythmic clatter fills my ears, a constant reminder of my predicament. I try to focus on anything else—the scratchy fabric of the hood against my face, the cold wood floor beneath me, the ache in my muscles from being bound for who knows how long. Anything to distract from the sickening realization creeping up on me.
I couldn't leave.
The thought hits me like a punch to the gut, leaving me winded. Why? Why couldn't I just run when I had the chance? I'd dreamed of escape for solong, plotted and planned, waited for the perfect moment.
And when that moment finally came, when I finally had freedom within my grasp, I hesitated.
No. That's not quite right.
I didn't just hesitate.
I chose to stay.
The truth of it settles over me, heavy and suffocating. I chose to stay because... for the first time in my life, I want something more than I want to be free and wild again.
I want the Ghosts.
All of them. Even Valek.
Fuck.
I want to laugh. I want to scream. I want to cry. Instead, I lie still, my chest tight with emotions I can't even begin to untangle.
The realization twists something inside me, a mixture of self-loathing and bitter amusement. How pathetic. How utterly, stupidly pathetic. After everything they've done, everything they represent, I've fallen for my captors.