I had a bad feeling long before the door even opened.
The whole building carried it like the walls themselves had soaked in blood and were now trying to whisper warnings into my ear. Even through the silence, I could feel it: Alpha Zach was back.
And from the sounds I’d caught drifting through the halls earlier shouting, boots stomping, warriors laughing with that too-high kind of laughter that only cos after violence I knew it hadn’t been a simple "hunt." It had been one of his missions. The kind where he left in a mood, ca back covered in soone else’s life, and then decided to make his bedti story. So I did the smartest thing I could think of, I pretended to be asleep.
When the door open. I heard the sound of heavy boots thudded inside. Not just one pair, several. The warriors.
I was asleep. Deeply asleep. A little helpless oga who knew nothing of the world. That was the role.
"Leave," Alpha Zach’s voice rumbled, sharp and deep enough to scrape my spine.
The boots shuffled back. The door shut again and everywhere was silence again. Except... not really.
Because Zach’s silence was never true silence. It was the silence of sothing big crouching in the dark, waiting for you to twitch so it could pounce. I felt him before I saw him. The heat, the weight of his presence, pressing at the edges of the bed. My lashes were practically glued to my cheeks, but I knew he was staring. The mattress dipped.
Oh God! He sat down. I fought the urge to curl up tighter. I had to stay loose, natural, the picture of innocence. People in real sleep twitched, shifted, drooled even. I didn’t dare drool what if it disgusted him? Or worse, what if it excited him? My luck with this psycho was never good. Then his inner voice roared to life, as loud and vivid as if he were speaking straight into the room.
"Inner voice: She’s still here. Good. My oga didn’t run. My Ellie stayed where she belongs."
I swallowed a groan.
No, Psycho I stayed because you tied here with fear, not devotion.
"Inner voice: Unlike that pathetic Alpha I tore apart. He thought he could barter with ? Offer his daughter? That weakling dared imagine at her side? HA. I showed him."
My heart stuttered.
Oh no.
"Inner voice: I wiped out his entire pack before sunset. His warriors begged for rcy. I gave them death instead. Blood soaked the earth like rain."
I almost stopped breathing.
Did he just casually admit to genocide like he was describing a picnic?
"His daughter pitiful. She thought a pretty face could sway . Fool. She’ll never be Ellie. No one will ever be Ellie."
I wanted to scream: I don’t want to be Ellie either! But I was Ellie. His Ellie. Inescapably. Unfortunately.
I forced a tiny twitch in my leg, the kind people did in deep sleep. Natural. Innocent.
He chuckled.
Not a warm chuckle. Not a "Inner voice: ha-ha, good joke" chuckle. No. This was the kind of sound villains make when the hero finally falls into their trap.
"Inner voice: Even asleep, she moves like an angel. My angel."
Angel? I was sweaty, hungry, and terrified. The only wings I had were the ones I wished could fly out of here. Stupid psycho.
The room stank of blood. His clothes were stiff with it. I could feel the wet squish of it in his boots each ti he shifted. His aura pressed heavier and heavier, like he was dragging the battlefield in with him. He leaned closer.
I slled iron. And smoke. And madness.
"Inner voice: carved it into his chest Ellie is mine. Let his soul carry the ssage to the afterlife. None will touch what belongs to ."
My stomach lurched. I nearly gagged, but I turned it into a sleepy exhale. Oh God, if you are real, smite now.
The water started running in the washroom. He was cleaning up. I should have felt relief. Instead, I panicked harder. Because a clean Zach ant a comfortable Zach, and a comfortable Zach ant one thing: he’d crawl into bed. And then what? Would he stroke my hair while thinking about how many throats he slit today? Would he whisper sweet nothings like "Your smile is brighter than a fresh kill"?
I squeezed my eyes tighter, praying for unconsciousness to take for real. He returned minutes later, slling of soap but still carrying that tallic tang of blood. The mattress dipped again. A hand hovered above so close I could feel the air shift over my skin but didn’t touch.
"Inner voice: She will never know how much I do for her. How much I kill for her."
What! What is this crazy psycho talking about? And why will he kill for ?" Oh heavens.
"Inner voice: One day she’ll see. She will cry in my arms, beg never to leave. And I’ll never leave. Never."
My inner voice scread louder than his.
Beg you? Please. The only thing I’d beg for is an escape route and maybe so noodles. He lay down beside . The bed dipped, his weight pinning between the mattress and his madness. His breath fanned against my neck, steady but heavy. I counted the seconds.
One... two... three...
Don’t move, Ellie. Don’t sneeze. Don’t even think loudly. Hours passed or maybe minutes. Ti didn’t work right when you were trapped in a psycho’s room pretending to be asleep. My body ached from staying still. My wolf whimpered silently, urging to flee.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because the psycho wasn’t just watching . He was listening. Breathing with . Thinking about in ways that made my skin crawl and my stomach twist. At so point, I drifted into a half-sleep, the kind where dreams and reality tangled. I dread of blood rivers and Zach standing in them, smiling, carving my na into the corpses. I woke with a silent jolt, but kept my eyes shut, terrified he’d notice. A knock on the door finally broke the nightmare.
"Alpha," a warrior called softly. "It’s done."
Zach growled low, then rose from the bed. "Leave us."
The footsteps retreated.
He leaned down close, so close his breath brushed my ear.
"Mine."
Then he was gone as the door slamd. I finally dared open my eyes. The room was empty except for the lingering bloodstains on the floor, the faint sll of soap, and the crushing reminder that I was still his prisoner. I didn’t get long to breathe. Because before dawn broke, the guards ca.
Just when I thought it was over just when I finally let myself breathe like a half-dead fish washed up on shore the door creaked open again.
Oh no. I panicked so hard my wolf yelped inside , but I flattened myself against the mattress and squeezed my eyes shut. Play dead, Ellie. PLAY. DEAD. The heavy footsteps ca closer, slower this ti, dragging like thunder rolling across the floor. The scent of soap and steel filled the air again, sharp enough to make gag. The mattress dipped. A weight pressed against . His weight. And then his arms. Strong, iron arms wrapping around like chains disguised as an embrace. My body locked. My lungs froze.
He pulled flush against his chest, burying his face in my hair. His breath was warm, steady, and way too close.
"Sleep well, my little oga," he whispered.
Oh God. My brain scread, I’M NOT SLEEPING, YOU BLOODY MANIAC! but my mouth stayed shut. I forced my body to stay limp, boneless, pretending the psycho cuddling was totally normal, totally fine, totally sothing I wouldn’t tell a therapist about for the next fifty years if I survived that long.
His grip tightened. Like he thought if he held hard enough, I’d lt into him. Like I was a possession, not a person and I lay there. I was Breathing steady and my eyes shut. Heart pounding so loud I swore he could hear it.
But I didn’t move. Because in that mont, pretending to sleep was the only weapon I had.
The longer I lay trapped in his arms, the more I realized the universe hated . At first it was fine well, not fine, but tolerable. My lungs were working, my heart hadn’t exploded, and I was still managing to pretend I was asleep. But then my bladder decided to betray . I’d drunk too much water before "going to bed," mostly because I’d hoped hydration would calm my nerves. Big mistake. Huge mistake. Now I was stuck, squeezed tight in Alpha Zach’s iron grip, while my poor bladder scread like a hostage. Don’t panic, Ellie. Just hold it. You’re strong. You can do this. Another ten minutes passed. His arm pressed harder against my stomach.
Oh God! he was literally squishing . I tried to shift ever so slightly, just enough to ease the pressure. A tiny movent. Harmless. Innocent. But the psycho grip instantly tightened, yanking closer until my spine protested.
"Mine," he mumbled against my hair.
My bladder whimpered.
Okay. Okay, maybe I could ask. Like a normal person. Maybe he’d understand. Even psychos had to respect the call of nature, right?
I let out the softest whisper. "I... I need to use the toilet."
For a terrifying second, there was silence.
Then his chest vibrated with a low chuckle. "No. Stay."
Stay?! STAY?! What was I, a puppy being told to sit?! I squird a little harder, but his arm clamped down like a steel bar, pressing directly into my poor bladder. I bit back a groan. This was cruel and unusual punishnt.
"Please," I whispered again, voice shaking. "Just for a mont—"
He buried his face deeper into my neck, inhaling like I was so kind of drug. "Later. Sleep now, my oga."
Later?! Did this lunatic not understand how bladders worked? Later ant disaster. Later ant humiliation. Later ant dying of sha right here in his arms. Inside, my thoughts were a screaming ss:
Moon Goddess, if you care at all, now’s the ti to smite . Or teleport . Or at least invent diapers in this cursed world. I wriggled again, desperate and it was a bad idea. Because the more I struggled, the more he seed to enjoy it. His inner voice purred, "She doesn’t even realize how sweet she is when she squirms. Like she’s made to fit against ."
Sweet?! I was seconds away from turning this bed into a puddle, and he thought it was sweet?! I froze, holding perfectly still again, bargaining silently with my bladder like it was a wild animal. Just hold on. Just a little longer. We can make it. Please don’t betray now.
The psycho’s grip stayed firm, his warmth smothering, his breath steady. And ?
I lay there with wide, desperate eyes behind my closed lids, silently screaming at the ceiling. This wasn’t just captivity anymore. This was torture.
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