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When I finished, Violet was still watching me, but her eyes had softened. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about what happened?”
I sighed. “It happened on my twentieth birthday,” I said. “Troy drugged me and tied me up in his room so he could—” I cut myself off, not wanting to relive the horrible things he’d said to me. “Anyway, Night showed up and untied the ropes around my wrists and ankles, and then he rushed out of there with me. He’s forced me to stay by his side ever since.”
Violet reached out to touch my knee. “I can’t imagine how scared you must have been through all that, Bryn. I’m so sorry.”
It was the first time since it had happened that anyone had empathized with me. Moisture filled my eyes, and suddenly I didn’t feel like keeping my life secret from Violet. I went on to explain the way I’d been treated, not just by Troy, but by all of the wolves in the Kings’ pack. I detailed some of my worst memories and even shed a few tears. Through it all, Violet listened to me, at times shaking her head or cursing under her breath at what I had to say. It felt good, so good, for Violet to validate all of the pent-up negative feelings I’d harbored for the home I’d been taken from.
As I stopped talking, even Violet was wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. “Honey, if it was all so awful back at home, why are you so desperate to get back?”
“My mom,” the reply came without hesitation. “She’ll be wondering where I am and if I’m safe. And I can’t even imagine what kind of lies Troy must be spinning to explain my absence.”
“I understand all of that, but you said you were planning on leaving that night anyway. I’m getting the feeling that there’s more to it.”
I bit my lip. There was more, but it brought more shame and more sadness. I thought about what I’d just shared with Violet, every wrong thing that had ever been done to me or said to me. There was nothing else about the Kings’ pack that warranted my returning. I had, after all, been planning to leave on my own anyway. I just hadn’t planned on being kidnapped. Still, I felt compelled to give some sort of answer to Violet.
“I wasn’t ready to leave,” I admitted. “I thought I was ready to find my own pack—er, place to belong, but I never wanted to leave like this.” I had been scolded for using wolf terms in relation to myself when I was a child. I wasn’t a wolf, so I didn’t get to try and pretend to be. “Now that I’m so far from home, I just want to go back.”
Violet nodded. “Ah, now that makes perfect sense. Night being who he is, I’ve gotten desensitized to wondering what sorts of dangerous things he must get into when he leaves the compound, but if I had a daughter…” She shook her head. “I know your mother must be terrified for you.”
I nodded. Tears again stung at the backs of my eyes, but I held them back.
Violet patted my knee. “But I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit. You were ready that night. You were prepared to go off on your own and to find your place to belong, your pack.” She smiled, and I felt a small burst of warmth in my chest. Violet wasn’t making me feel bad for my slip-up. “I know that things didn’t happen the way you planned, but you can think of this as an alternate path to your goal.”
“Alternate path?”
“Yes, girlie. This is a new adventure for you. And as a reader yourself, you should know that new adventures offer new opportunities.”
Something about that response irked me. “I’m not interested in opportunities that end in kidnapping.”
The older woman laughed. “I like your energy, girlie. I see he has his work cut out for him.”
I paused, tilting my head. “What do you mean by that?”
Violet waved the question away with another chuckle. “Never mind. Let me get out of your hair for now.” She stood up and grabbed the empty glass of water and bowl. She approached the door and raised her hand. She proceeded to knock against the wood in a brief pattern that alternated between her knuckles and the heel of her hand.
I tried to memorize the pattern before the door opened. Violet gave me another smile, and a wink, and then left. If she visits me often, I might be able to use her to escape after all, I thought, hope bubbling through me.
But that hope deflated when Night walked inside. I gasped at his presence—I hadn’t thought I’d see him again so suddenly. So Violet wasn’t alone. That will be something I need to keep in mind next time she visits.
He had his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face as he looked down at me. “You can take a shower if you want.”
I blinked at him. Then, as his words began to sink in, my eyes widened. “I can?” I didn’t think prisoners were allowed such luxuries.
“Don’t make me say it again,” he said, looking away. “Let’s go.”
His response made me roll my eyes, but I did get out of bed. I hadn’t felt so filthy in all my life, and I was eager to get the grime and sweat off my body.
But, as I followed him out of the bedroom and into the hallway, I couldn’t help but make a retort. “Maybe after I take a shower, you’ll let me head on home, huh? I think I might have left something on the stove.”
I watched him as I spoke, hoping to get some sort of rise out of him. For some reason, though I knew my life was at the mercy of this Alpha, I enjoyed getting on his nerves. His reddening face, the downturn of those thick, dark eyebrows, and the way his mouth quirked as if he was trying to hold back his reaction always made my stomach fill with a tingling warmth.
But this time Night gave me no such reaction. “No,” he said, his voice even, almost casual. “I guess your house will just have to burn down.”
I frowned at him but decided to keep quiet as he led me to the bathroom down the hall.
Inside, the floors and walls were tiled with small white and blue squares. To the right was a shower with some bar soap and generic shampoo, to the left there were fresh towels folded neatly on top of the toilet as well as a change of clothes, and across from the door was the sink with a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste.
“You get twenty minutes,” he said. “I’ll be standing outside the door, so don’t even think about trying to leave.”
