ELITH
We didn't even have time to react––the men fished us out of the water so easily, it left us speechless. Two men trapped us against their powerful frames, pulling our hands behind our backs, while the one who noticed us first moved the flashlight over our faces, his wide mouth grinning.
"Running away from your uncle's deal, little one? This is not how nobles do business around here."
His words were addressed to Amy, and all of a sudden, my heart dropped to my feet as the realization dawned on me.
"She is not the one!" I yelled, my voice already hoarse from the cold. "You're mistaken! She is not the Wayne girl!"
"Shut it!" The man holding me captive groaned from behind, his elbow around my neck. "Do you think this is the first time we've caught runaway slaves?"
"The bill of sale says that Alpha Wayne sold us his niece," the other man snarled, pointing the flashlight at me. "I see one girl here, which means she is the one."
"No, she is––" I started again, but Amy threw a sharp glare at me, shaking her head to warn me to shut up.
"The charade is over, Elith," she said quietly, her big blue eyes fixed on the man in front of us. "My name is Amy Wayne––I am Alpha Wayne's niece. I am the one he sold."
"Amy––"
"This is Elith," she interrupted me once again. "He is my personal servant. He is a human, though, so let him go."
I was stunned. Amy's voice, Amy's posture––everything about her seemed so poised and confident that for a brief moment, I really believed that she was the daughter of the alpha, and not me.
Once again, she was trying to save me, while I simply stood there, helpless as always, kneeling at the mercy of her gracious soul.
"A human male, huh?" The first man leaned over me, the bright flashlight nearly blinding me with its harsh glow. "We can sell the girl as a breeder to the lycans, but a human boy? I have no need for this trash."
"He's pretty, though," another man chimed in, stepping closer to me. "Maybe some degenerates can make use of him."
"Hah! We can sell him to Alpha Donavan as a boy toy––he likes pretty men."
They all laughed, while all I could feel was a sharp chill running through my body like a confined icy storm. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I felt it in my gut that my fate would be just as horrible.
"Fine––what the hell! Let's sell them both to lycans!"
"No, please––" Amy pleaded, but the first man hit her head with something big and heavy, and before I knew it, she collapsed onto the cold ground, while the other man picked her lifeless body like a sack of dirt.
"How dare you handle the daughter of the alpha like that?!" Panicking, I growled, my hoarse voice ringing unnaturally low, but all I could prompt was another bout of laughter exploding through the still night air.
And then, a dull, painful sensation cut through my skull, and my vision turned instantly black.
I knew I was falling––slowly, gradually, like descending to the bottom of the lake. The world faded, too. There was no sound, no movement, no nothing.
Or rather, there was exactly that––nothing.
***
The moment I opened my eyes, I winced from the blinding lamplight that flooded my vision from above. My head was ringing, and every move I made felt labored and painfully hard.
It took me a while to finally come to my senses, and the moment I did, I realized that I was lying on a single bed positioned next to a wall in a small, rather simple room that barely had any furniture.
"Ugh... Where am I?" I asked as I sat on my bed, flinching and wincing from the ache that seemed to have tightened every single muscle in my body.
"You're in the Lycan Kingdom," a soft female voice replied to me right away, making me snap my head in its direction despite the painful restraint.
"Who––Who are you?!" I yelped, though it sounded more like a rumble than anything else. My voice was still harsh from the soreness in my throat, but it was my saving grace rather than a betrayal.
"I'm Matilda," the young woman replied, placing a stack of clean sheets onto the empty bed across the room. "One of the female slaves working for the King."
"The King..?"
Suddenly, memories flooded back through my mind like water through the broken dam. Amy and I were trying to flee our pack and had been caught by the slave traders just when we were about to get onto the bridge.
Amy... Where the hell was she now?
"What is your name?" The girl asked me as she approached my bed with caution. "You know, you're kinda lucky. All the other rooms were full, so you got this room all to yourselves! They barely let a female slave stay with a man, but I guess it's fine since you're her servant."
"Servant?" I repeated, stunned. "Where is she?! Where is Amy?"
The girl blinked at me with her round brown eyes, clearly taken aback by my agitation, but then simply shrugged and pointed her finger at the door within the room. "Go wash up first––you stink of stale water. Your mistress is getting ready for tonight."
"What do you mean?!" I nearly jumped to my feet, rushing toward Matilda like I was about to pounce on her. "What is going to happen to her tonight?"
"What else?" Matilda said carelessly, in a matter-of-fact voice. "Weren't your mistress bought as a breeder? They are sending her to the King right away!"
Goddess, I thought to myself, my heartbeat pounding in my throat. Amy has really taken my place!