Page 14

The sun was bright compared to the darkness in the windowless hut, so it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. I ensured no one was around before walking further away from the hut.

My heart was pounding like crazy as I tried to remember where we walked to get here. The cave entrance was somewhere around. I was scared vampires were staring at me from their homes as I ran in the general direction where I thought the secret cave was.

Sand flew around my face as I continued running south. I wasn’t sure where in the world I was now. Everything was turning more eerie and more unfamiliar. The mud huts were bigger in this area, towering above me, and there were odd-looking massive cages with betas on the ground sitting with blank expressions.Oh my god, I thought. They probably let them out at night to feed the vampires.

I had to get the hell out of here before I was one of them.

Running in the opposite direction of where I’d seen the metal cage, I squinted my eyes, trying to figure out where to go next. The vampire dwelling was huge, and all I could see for miles were tall walls of rocks and stone, blocking me from the werewolf side. The only way was the entrance to the cave.

“Hey!” someone shouted from behind.

Fuck.

I started running faster, but it was useless. In a split second, I was grabbed and surrounded by three vampires. I knew what they were even before they grabbed me. I instantly regretted leaving the safety of the hut. Their cold bodies pressed against me on all sides, freezing me.

Their red eyes surrounded me- their bodies thin and hungry.

My throat tightened with fear when one pressed his lips to my throat. He had wild stringy brown hair matted with mud and dirt. His loincloth was filthy and littered with mud. They looked like young vampires who couldn’t care less about the rules. But there were no rules when it came to their hunt.

“Omega blood,” he breathed, his eyes rolling in the back of his head.

“Please, don’t,” I said, my voice trembling.

This couldnotbe happening. My nightmare was actually happening, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I started shaking. Then I felt his fangs graze my skin, and I screamed as I struggled against them.

“Release her,” someone shouted, and I opened my eyes.

James stood in front of us like a vengeful angel. His eyes were glowing a brighter red, and his face set in a strict line. I breathed a sigh of relief when the vampires instantly let me go.

“Why can’t we have her?” whined one of them.

“We need to wait for the full moon. Volgriff’s orders,” said James strictly as he held me by the arm. The grip from his fingers showed me that he wasn’t happy with me running away. But I’d rather be stuck with him and his anger than get instantly murdered by vampires.

In the hut, James confronted me once we were alone again.

“What were you thinking, omega?!”

My back was pressed to the wall, and this raging vampire in front of me was unleashing his anger. I was getting angry, too, with every outburst. None of this made sense. I was the one who should be angry, not him.

“I wanted to escape,” I said in a firm voice. I wasn’t going to back down. “You’re holding me here against my will. What did you expect?!”

He pressed both hands on the wall on either side of me, caging me in. He could be as dominating as he wanted to be, but I wasn’t going to back down.

“This is for your own safety,” he said slowly and evenly as if trying to make me understand like I was the unreasonable one. “You’re the one who strolled into this camp all on your own, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, but...”

“But nothing. Now it’s my duty to make sure you stay alive,” he said.

“You’ll allow them to feed on me when it’s the full moon?” I challenged.

“Yes.”

“Then I want out!” I screamed, punching his chest, which felt like a brick wall. I pushed him, but he wasn’t moving anywhere, keeping me trapped between his arms. He stood there silently, watching me. “I saw the betas. I saw what you do with them. You’re all monsters.”

I started shaking, and tears rolled down my eyes uncontrollably from my fear. I grew increasingly terrified of what was going to happen to me.

“Breathe,” he said finally, encircling me with his arms. Pulling me against his bare chest. I couldn’t control my panicked breaths and my tremors as I shook in his arms- remembering the near attack just now. Reminding me of my past. “Just breathe, Alana. I know. I know what you went through. I won’t allow anything to happen to you, I promise with everything in my being. I promise you.”