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Hold on, sunshine.
I’m coming to get you.
Dread filled my stomach as I sat up carefully. My knees were shaky, and I stumbled more than once trying to climb out. I was so woozy, my head pulsing in time with my injured hand.
We appeared to be at a rambling farmhouse, surrounded by nothing but fields and woodland as far as the eye could see. Several massive guys were assembled a few feet away in a semicircle. None of them had moved to help me. Their expressions ranged from amusement to disgust.
“This is the mate our alpha chose?” The man who spoke had scraggly red hair that was in desperate need of a brush. “He’s so fucking weak. Look at him.”
Mate? Alpha? What in the fudgesticks was going on?
Blood flushed my cheeks as laughter and mockery broke out. I was sure I did look weak to them. My aversion to the gym meant my limbs were thin and scrawny. Compared to their towering height, my five-foot-seven frame was practically minuscule. Add to that my broken hand, blood-stained face, and the fact I was covered in vomit…Yeah. Weak was probably right.
My lips wobbled as I lifted my chin, but I wouldn’t break. I hadn’t broken last time. I wasn’t going to now.
Hold on, sunshine.
“Best take him to Isaac,” the red-haired man said, sneering down his nose at me. “He’ll want an explanation for why we should help you.”
Rob grabbed him by the throat. “We’re clan, Terrance. It’s what we do.”
Terrance’s jaw opened. No, it wasn’t opening. It was growing. All his muscles and bones shifting until a snout appeared.
I swayed on the spot. How hard had I hit my head going over those potholes?
A voice snarled out from Terrance’s distended jaw. Nothing else had changed, just that. “No, we aren’t a clan without an alpha.”
Thomas appeared at Rob’s shoulder. “That’s why we’re here. With Danny’s mate in our hands, we can take him down once and for all. The power will transfer to Isaac and everything will be as it should be.”
A couple of the men in the back exchanged a loaded glance at those words, and one of them spun on the spot, striding away into the distance.
Thomas and Rob didn’t seem to notice.
“Come on.” Thomas grabbed my arm roughly, the one he’d stamped on earlier. A cry fell from me as pain shot through my nerves.
“Pathetic,” my captor spat, half-dragging, half-carrying me forward. “Terrance is right. No fucking clue why Danny chose you. You’re not worthy of an alpha.”
“I don’t know what that is,” I whispered desperately. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“If that’s true, you’re in for the lesson of a lifetime.”
He hauled me into a large open space that most people would use as a living room. There wasn’t a sofa in sight here though, or anything else that suggested relaxation or comfort. The floor was bare concrete, no rugs or anything to soften the space. Long benches were pushed up against the walls, a table under the window covered in weapons. The only thing that might have been considered homey was the fire flickering in the fireplace. Instead, it cast sinister shadows over the room, making it feel like I’d been dragged into a medieval horror movie.
My eyes darted around the room, counting the men who were loitering on the benches and against walls. Eight. Added to the ones who’d come in with us, there were fifteen of them altogether.
But there was only one who commanded my attention. One who was clearly in charge.
The burly man stood before the fire. This might be a farmhouse, but he was no farmer. A hunter would be more apt. Everything about him, from his shrewd eyes to his lean muscles, screamed predator.
I was shoved to my knees before him. Nothing more than pathetic prey.
Calloused fingers shoved my chin up roughly. “This him?”
“Aye, Isaac. It’s him, all right.” Thomas said gruffly. “Lives with the alpha. Saw him escort him to class this morning. He’s wearing his clothes.”
“Hmph.” Isaac seemed unconvinced, forcing my face this way and that. He spotted the vomit clinging to my cheek and neck and let me go with a sneer. “He’s far too weak to be an alpha’s mate.”
Ouch. Say it like it is, Isaac.
