Aria’s POV
I woke with a start, my whole body aching. The first thing I noticed was the cold, hard ground beneath me. My head throbbed, and the air smelled damp, almost suffocating.
I tried to move, but every muscle felt stiff. Even my arms were heavy like they were made of stone. Slowly, I opened my eyes, blinking against the dim light that filtered into the space.
Where was I?
I pushed myself up, my hands slipping on the slick surface beneath me. It was wet and cold. My eyes darted around as I took in my surroundings. I was in a small enclosure. The walls were made of rough stone, with moisture dripping down in places. The cell was cramped, the floor covered in grime, and the air smelled musty like the earth itself had trapped me. Above me, there was a small opening, a window of sorts. Light poured in from it, casting eerie shadows on the walls. The faint trickle of water echoed, and it dawned on me.
We were underground. A well, maybe. Trapped.
I wasn’t alone.
I looked around and saw other women, some sitting, some lying on the ground. They were all in various states of exhaustion, their clothes tattered, their faces pale and hollow. But what struck me most was their bellies.
Each of them was pregnant.
A lump of fear formed in my throat. What was this place? Who had taken us? Why?
I forced myself to stand, my legs wobbling beneath me. I approached one of the women, who was a girl who looked younger than me. Her belly was swollen, and her eyes distant. Her hair was so matted with dirt, that I couldn’t be sure of its color. She was sitting against the wall, staring blankly ahead.
“Hey,” I whispered, kneeling beside her. “Do you know where we are?”
She didn’t respond, just continued to stare at the wall. I reached out, gently touching her arm. “Please, anything. What’s going on here?”
Her eyelids fluttered for a moment, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she looked away, pulling her knees closer to her chest despite the obvious discomfort of her condition.
I swallowed hard, looking around again. The other women were just as lifeless, their faces ingrained with the same hopelessness. It was like they had given up.
But I couldn’t.
I moved to the center of the cell, looking up at the light shining from above. The window was far too high for any of us to reach, but it was something. There had to be a way out.
“Does anyone know how long we’ve been here?” I asked, my voice loud enough to catch the attention of the others. “Has anyone tried to escape?”
A woman in the corner let out a bitter laugh. “Escape?” she repeated. “There’s no escaping this. We’re stuck here, all of us. There’s no way out.”
I turned to face her. “There’s always a way out.”
“You don’t understand,” another woman chimed in. “They’ll come for you soon enough. Just like they did for the others.”
“Others?” My stomach twisted. “What…. what others? What happens to them?”
“They take them,” the first woman replied, her tone matter-of-fact, as if she had already accepted her fate. “They take them, and they don’t come back.”
I felt my blood run cold. “Who are they? Why are we here?”
She shrugged, her eyes distant. “We don’t know. We’re just… waiting.”
Waiting.
No. I wasn’t going to wait. I wasn’t going to sit here and let whoever took us decide my fate or Edward’s fate. I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I stood up straighter, turning to face the women. “We can’t give up,” I declared. “I don’t know who these people are or why they’ve taken us, but we can’t just sit here and wait to die. We need to fight back.”
Another bitter laugh came from the corner. “Fight back? You’re naive. Do you think you’re the first to try that? Look around. Do any of us look like we have any fight left?”
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?” I retorted. “That means you have something left in you. Don’t let them take that away.”
The women exchanged glances, but none of them moved. It was like they had already made up their minds that this was the end.
I wasn’t going to let them drag me down with them.
“I have a son out there,” I said. My heart ached as I thought of Edward, but I continued. “I’m not going to let these people take me without a fight. I have to get back to him, and I’m not doing it alone. I’ll find a way out of here, and if any of you want to come with me, you’re welcome. But I’m not giving up.”
There was silence for a moment, the only sound the faint dripping of water from the walls.
Then, one of the women, a quiet figure who had been sitting off to the side, finally spoke up.
“You don’t understand,” she said softly. “They’re too powerful. We’ve all tried to escape. Every time someone tries, they’re punished. And when they’re taken, they don’t come back. We’ve seen too much to hope anymore.”
I moved closer to her. “What do they want with us? Why are we here?”
The woman shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. “The man. He comes in the night, takes one of us, and that’s it. He is… He is a monster.”
I swallowed the fear rising in my throat. No. I couldn’t let that fear control me. I couldn’t let it paralyze me like it had done to these women.
I looked up at the small window of light above us, my mind racing. “We’re underground, probably in a well or a pit. That window means we’re not far from the surface. If we can find a way to reach it, maybe we can signal for help. Or find something to climb.”
Another bitter laugh from the corner. “And how do you plan on doing that, with all of us pregnant and weak? You’re dreaming.”
“We cannot just sit here and wait for death to come to us, can we?” I snapped back.
“Death is inevitable, young wolf!” The woman cut back. “And we cannot run away from him, no matter how hard we try.”
I frowned in confusion. “Him? Who is him?”
The woman’s eyes glittered with fear. “He is Alpha Logan.”