Lucy’s POV
A drop of water splashing on my forhead brought me to the realm of sheer consciousness. With a gasp, I lifted my head up, and looked around. I could barely make out my surroundings from the poor lighting, and for some reason, I couldn’t make my eyes adapt to the lighting conditions.
I tried to move, but my legs were forced together. I reached down and learnt that they had been tied together so tightly that even the slightest movement was painful.
I sat up properly. “Hello?” I called out. I couldn’t make out much of my memories of what had happened before I ended up here, but I was certain that I knew nothing of this place. The cold floor beneath me had a damp feel to it, like it never got enough air to completely dry up, and the air smelled like salt and stagnant water.
Another droplet fell right on the top of my hair, startling me. That was when it dawned on me that I must have been in some kind of cave, or something very similar to one.
After pushing my mind to remember, little snippets of the event that brought me here started to flash before my eyes, bringing me closer to the answer I desired. The letter telling me to go to the training grounds at Moongrowl if I wanted Tessa safe. Getting there and realising that she wasn’t there in the first place and it was all a trap and then . . . someone strong coming from behind covering my mouth and nose with a foul-smelling cloth.
I had been kidnapped.
“Hello? Who’s there?” I called out again when I started getting a feeling of being watched. Even the air had started getting colder.
No one responded.
“I know you’re there,” I said, and simultaneously started digging deep into my inner being to find a connection to my wolf so I could attempt a partial transformation. It was very difficult, like having to claw through gum. “Stop hiding for once and show yourself.” I groaned with the effort I was using to attempt the transformation, but ultimately my whole body felt too weak, too foreign to me, to successfully accomplish that. In all my days, never had I experienced such difficulty, especially with the kind of desperation I felt on the inside of me.
“Wolfsbane poison,” a voice came finally. It was slow and raspy like the one from before. I looked around again, trying to find its source, but the cave’s accoustics kept playing with my senses. “You can’t transform when it’s in your system.”
“How did you know I was trying to transform?” I asked, unable to keep out the surprise from my voice. Was there a way for someone to tell when someone was on the brink of transformation if they weren’t right by their side?
“Your eyes have a remarkable glow when your emotions are heightened. Why have you been hiding who your really are, Apex wolf?” Truly, the voice sounded genuinely inquisitive.
“I am not an Apex wolf,” I immediately refuted in tune with the pulse rate spiking. How did he know? “I didn’t even manage to lock on to a mate when I turned 18.”
“The same could be said for those . . . Triplets. Apex wolves don’t usually follow the natural order of things, which is why they are extremely dangerous.”
I tired to reach into my wolf again, but I only came up with disappointment.
The voice chuckled. “Stop trying. I already told you why you can’t transform. Until you system is completely rid of the wolfsbane, you won’t be able to shift.”
I tried a different approach. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
“Isn’t that a question you already know the answer to? I want the same thing you want. Which is why I expected you to come to me once you started getting my letters, but it doesn’t matter now. I have you right here with me in the end.”
“Is this how you go about treating your ‘companions’? Kidnapping and tying them up after feeding them with poison?”
“Oh no. But in your case, it was very much necessary. I had to be sure that you wouldn’t prove to be a bad investment.”
Something shifted out of the corner of my eye, and stepped into my line of view. A tall, hooded figure that almost melted into the near darkness. I still couldn’t see much of the person, but it was better than talking to nothing but air.
“A bad investment?”
A cocking of head. “Yes. I needed to be certain that you would help me accomplish this . . . mission.”
“Of killing the triplets.”
Nods. “Yes.”
I took one breath, to calm myself and my voice. “What makes you think that I’m not in support of your plan?”
“Are you?”
“Well, I’m contemplating that now since you so thoughtfully poisoned me and brought me to this dark place. How do I know you won’t double-cross me if I help you?”
“Oh, you can’t. I’m doing you a favour right now. If I’d wanted to, I would have sliced you up already.” They chucked, stepping a little closer and granting me a better look at them.
My eyes weren’t much better, but gradually they were handling the poor lighting better, and I could see more features of the individual standing before me.
Since I was seated on the ground, the person looked a whole lot taller than they would if I were standing, but by my estimates they couldn’t have been much taller than I was. From the build and the kind of clothing worn, I could tell that I was looking at either a man, or a muscular woman in men’s clothes. But I placed a bet on the former.
He didn’t seem to mind being so close to me, probably because he felt that I was harmless in this state.
“I really wished it didn’t have to come to this, Lucy, but, sometimes, we have to make the difficult choices to the better outcome.” he said, and ran and finger gently down my cheek. I turned my face away, repulsed by the contact. I hated people touching me without my consent.
Except . . .
An unexpected image of the triplets flashed in my mind at that moment, causing my breath to hang in throat. Their hands on my body hadn’t felt disgusting. It had felt . . . amazing. Especially Shaun’s embrace . . .
I bit my lower lip hard, using the pain as a means to draw myself out of such blasphemous thoughts. I couldn’t believe such thoughts would ever come to me unprovoked. Especially when I had become so averse to the thought of physical intimacy with anyone.
“Don’t worry, very soon, this will all be over,” the man said, stepping away from me. “Once they arrive here . . . things can finally happen the way they were almost meant to.”
“Who are you talking about? Are you talking about the triplets?” I scoffed. “You won’t get them here. They hate me.” Saying the last part made my chest hurt a little, but I pushed aside the pain. “If you brought me here to lure them, you’ve made a big mistake.”
“I strongly disagree. If there’s one thing I’ve seen time and time again, a mate bond trumps every other feeling . . . Even hate.”
My heart sank in my chest. “What?”
“Your mates will come for you, Lucy. And because of that, they will all meet their destined demise.”