The night was too quiet. Not peaceful quiet in the way a predator waits in the grass, every sound smothered by anticipation. My heart beat louder than my footsteps as I moved through the empty corridor of the pack house.
Alpha had told me earlier that evening, in front of the others, that I could go down to the dungeon and release the girl. His lips had curved into that strange smile of his the kind that made the hairs on my arms rise.
"You've been begging for her freedom, haven't you?" he had said, as if indulging a child's fantasy. "Go on then, Ellie. Tonight, you can let her out."
He had turned away after, dismissing me like I was nothing, but the weight of his words crushed me long after.
At first, hope had bloomed in me. The girl would finally be free. I had dreamed of it since the day I first saw her, shivering in her chains. But the more I replayed his words, the more my stomach twisted.
