Chapter 7
Did he just say he would take both of us as payment? The words hit me and stayed there, stuck in my head, why ? Was it because I refused to free him and this was his way of punishing me.
I forced myself to straighten even though my body ached and my wrists burned from the rope, and when I lifted my head I finally caught his face properly, it was definitely him.
Except he seemed to have had a glow up, his beard was trimmed and so was his hair. He looked even more terrifying, but handsome than before, he looked nothing like a helpless prisoner. His eyes found mine and something cold slid through my stomach, what had I done.
If I had known the man chained in that cave was Alpha Draven, I would have run. I would have crawled through thorns, I would have let them catch me, anything would have been better than this. I didn't just set a stranger free, I set the most dangerous and feared alpha free and now he stood here smiling
while my pack was shaking. I had brought doom on myself.
I swallowed hard and turned my head slightly, searching faces, trying to understand if anyone else was as horrified as I was. Laura still stood near my father and she looked so calm almost bored, no sign of fear at all.
She didn't look like a girl who had just been claimed by a man who threatened to wipe out her entire pack and that was the most unsettling part. My father stepped forward, voice too quick, too eager. "Sure you can have both my daughters," he said with ease like we meant nothing.
"What," I whispered, and then louder, broken, "No."
The crowd murmured again, but no one stepped in. The Alpha and Luna watched like they were trapped in their own fear. Sean's face was hard, like he didn't care what happened to me as long as it was far away from him.
My father hated me, I knew that, but this felt different, this felt like I wasn't even human.
I was a thing he could trade to save himself.
On my part I understood I was worth nothing to him, but Laura… I couldn't understand why he agreed so easily.
"No," I said again, shaking my head. "No, you can't." Laura still didn't react, not even a flicker of resistance as if she had expected this.
My throat tightened. "Laura," I whispered, but she didn't look at me. turned back to my father. "Father , please," I said, the word dad tasting like ash. "You can't do this to me, to us." But his face twisted, not with sadness, but with resentment , like I was making a scene.
He strode toward me and before I could even step back, his hand swung. The slap cracked across my cheek and my head snapped to the side. Pain flared hot and my ears rang, the crowd just stared, it was a sight they were used to.
I blinked but I wasn't surprised , tasting blood where my teeth cut the inside of my mouth. Maybe being traded wasn't a bad idea, no amount of chores hurt more than knowing your own father…. flesh and blood never loved you.
Then a growl tore through the air, deep enough to shake my ribs, Draven as fast as a shadow.
One second he was a few steps away, the next his hand was around my father's throat, lifting him partly off the ground like he weighed nothing.
" Father," I managed to let out.
He choked, his feet scraping as his hands grabbed at Draven's wrist. Draven's face was calm, but his eyes were darker now, and his scent hit the air like thunder.
I stared, confused, because I didn't understand why he would stop my father from hurting me when he was the one claiming me like property. Draven's voice was low. "Touch her again," he said, "and you lose the hand."
My father wheezed his face rapidly started to turn red and everyone just watched. Draven tightened his grip and spoke again, colder
. "If you don't agree," he said to the leaders without looking away, "your precious Beta dies first."
My heart hammered against my ribs and another feeling I couldn't describe. Maybe it was relief that my father was finally afraid or because I felt bad he was in this situation.
he was still my father and I loved him.
If he died Laura and I would now become orphans, my mother had died a few years ago he never bothered to know anything about her burial if why she died.
I lifted my chin my eyes burning, and said the truth that spilled out before I could stop it.
"Do what you want," I said hoarsely. "I care less." Draven's head turned slightly, like he hadn't expected that. his eyes locked onto mine again, sharp with confusion for the first time.
Maybe it's not what he expected or he expected me to roll on the ground and kiss his feet begging him to let go of my dad.
"You were going to kill me anyway," I added, voice shaking but steady enough. "So it doesn't matter who takes me."
The Alpha stood abruptly up, he looked so furious m."Enough," he barked. "Girl, it's either you agree or you die."
I looked at him, at the crowd and , at the execution block behind me, and something inside me went quiet.
I felt so helpless, I nodded once, slow. "Do what you want," I said again. "You were already going to."
For a second no one spoke and my response made Draven's face darkened. His grip on my father tightened, he gasped making strangled sound and his face begun to change color.
The air around Draven felt like it dropped colder. He stepped closer, still holding my father like a warning, and his voice rang out, cutting through the murmurs.
"I'm not asking," he said.
He released my father with a shove that sent him stumbling back, coughing, clutching his throat, he humiliated him. Then Draven pointed at me, and my skin prickled like I could feel the shape of his words.
"You're coming with me," he said.
His gaze slid to Laura who was , still calm and watching like this was going exactly how she wanted."Both of you," Draven finished.
My stomach turned, he wasn't speaking like a man making a deal he was speaking like an Alpha giving an order.And everyone, even my father, even Sean, even the Alpha of Silver Fang, looked like they knew they couldn't stop him.