Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 145

Natalia

I woke to the coppery smell of blood and the acrid scent of old sweat. My head was pounding like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my skull. The ground beneath me was made of hard–packed dirt, and when I tried to move, metal cuffs bit into my wrists, chaining me to what felt like a wooden post.

Where the hell was I?

Blinking through the haze, I forced my bleary and burning eyes to focus on my surroundings. The place looked like it had been abandoned for decades–rotting wooden structures, tarps stretched between broken fence posts to create makeshift tents. An old farmhouse stood in the distance, its windows boarded up and its roof sagging.

The scent of rogues was burning into my nostrils. It didn’t take a genius to know that I’d been taken to some kind of encampment; and a large one at that, which was surprising.

“Look who’s finally awake.”

I turned toward the voice and found myself staring at a female rogue I recognized–one of the ones from the farm raid. Her face was destroyed, fresh wounds from our recent encounter still healing poorly across her cheek. She was there that day in the woods, too.

I immediately cursed inwardly as I recalled running away before I’d been certain she was dead. She had survived the battle thanks to me, and she was likely the sole reason why I was here.

“You,” I rasped. My throat felt like sandpaper. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

“Should have, could have, would have. Doesn’t matter now, does it?” She crouched down in front of me, close enough that I could smell her rotting teeth. “You killed three of ours at that farm.”

“So this is about revenge.

”

“Smart girl.” She stood, brushing dirt from her knees. “We’re going to keep you here for a while. Let you think about what you’ve done. Maybe have some fun with you before we decide how you’re going to pay for our friends ” deaths.”

My blood ran cold, but I forced myself to remain calm, forced my pulse to slow instead of quicken. Panicking wouldn’t help the twins. Wouldn’t help me get out of this alive.

The twins. My stomach flipped nauseatingly as memories of the attack flooded back. The window shattering, rough hands dragging me from the bed, Grace’s shouts from the other room, my babies‘ terrified faces as I screamed for them to get help. And then, the harsh scent of chloroform before everything went dark.

Please, Goddess, let them be safe.

“Nothing to say?” the female taunted, tilting her head so that the scar on her cheek shone in the pale moonlight. “No begging? No bargaining?”

I met her gaze coolly. “Would it matter if I did?”

1/2

+25 Bonus

“Not even a little bit,”

“Then, no. I have nothing to say,”

As she walked away, leaving me chained up like an animal, I couldn’t help but think about Lilith. This was exactly what had happened to her all those years ago–captured by rogues, held prisoner, tortured. The irony wasn’t lost on me. The woman I’d spent years resenting had endured this same nightmare.

But Lilith had survived. Somehow, she had made it out.

And so would I

I had to. For Max and Jane.

I bit my tongue to keep from crying out as I tested the chains, feeling for any weakness in the metal or the post. Nothing, Judging from the dark red stains in the dirt around me, they had probably done this before and their previous prisoners hadn’t survived. But I would, even if I had to gnaw through my own wrists to break free. For a moment, I closed my eyes and reached inward for my wolf. “Onyx? Are you there?”

The response was weak. “Here. Just… very tired…”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify