Page 15 of The Alpha's Forced Bride

I glanced around the room again, trying to find a sense of grounding, or anything at all. That was when I once again noticed the basement door leading to the outside. This door was rather small, but it didn’t appear too small for me to fit through. I could see sunlight peeking from around the cracks. That door did lead to the outside. If I could get to it, then I could get away and maybe return to my pack. They wouldn't expect it right now. They couldn't have predicted it. The door to my cage was wide open, and Nora was sitting beside me while Harvey sat at the desk across the room. Neither of them was near that door, and neither of them seemed to realize that I had noticed it.

Quickly, I turned back to Nora and became engrossed in her image. Wispy, white hair was braided around her face, and her expression brightened as her eyes began to glow. The room dimmed even more as she became the only thing I wanted to look at. “It’s alright. Take your time and ask whatever you want to know. We have all day.”

“We don’t have all day,” Harvey chirped, his voice sounding far away.

I took a shuddering breath to center myself, trying not to feel like I was dancing on the line between reality and sleep. I felt funny. Was something in the tea they had given me?

“What happens after the event then?”

Shoot, if I was drugged, then I didn’t have much time. I had to keep her talking. I had to inch my way out somehow.

Nora nodded to Harvey. “The alpha decides what happens next. If you want to have his pups, then you discuss how child rearing would look between the two of you.”

I didn't look at Harvey because I didn't want to, even as my body begged me to do it. Do I have to get pregnant? Do I have to have kids? Something inside me cried, Yes. But I didn’t understand why I would secretly desire such a thing with a demonic wolf—regardless of his sad, caring eyes.

Whatever. I just had to keep her talking. “How does this whole demonic thing work?”

Nora frowned. Some of the eerie glow faded from her eyes, and I felt like I had some of my faculties back. She hummed, sounding defeated. “We're not sure, but according to the alpha, mating with a non-possessed person is supposed to help relieve the curse.”

Oh, so I’m just demon bait.

I shook my head. “That's a whole lot to put on one person, isn't it?”

She chortled, but I could hear the feeling of hopelessness that was hidden beneath her laughter. She was trying so hard to be positive and look toward a future that could potentially be better than right now.

Keep her talking. What else can I ask? I gulped. “Can I just call somebody in my pack? Can you tell my alphas where I am?”

I heard the chair creek across the room, and Harvey’s voice came next. “If we do that, it might ruin everything. You have to stay put for now and trust me.”

I scoffed. “How am I supposed to trust you when you snatched me out of the woods?”

He growled. “You were running through my woods. How am I supposed to react to that kind of thing?”

I stood up and whirled around to face him. “Your goons snatched me out of thin fucking air. I don't even know how I got out there, okay? One moment I was sitting quietly, trying to have some goddamn tea, and the next, I was barefoot in the fucking forest wearing clothes that I don’t even remember putting on.”

Nora hovered her hand in front of my face. The movement was so sudden, so abrupt, that it snapped my attention back to her. Her eyes were closed, and her gray lashes were batting together as her lips parted and closed repeatedly, much like a goldfish that was just sitting in a bowl of water. She then made an odd moaning sound, which almost sounded like an elongated grunt that would never end. When she came back, she dropped her hand, and her eyes returned to normal. She squinted at me. “Your pack did a ritual. You saw Harvey, and you were announced as mates.” Pleasure echoed from her smile. “You were running to find him.”

I gaped at her. “How do you know all that?”

“Well, I guess you could say my demon has a little bit of power that I can tap into every so often. It hurt me, but you wanted to know so badly. You wouldn't have known otherwise, but your body, soul, and wolf were seeking your mate, following the threads of fate.” She looked at Harvey. “Isn’t that romantic, Alpha?”

I was terrified of what she was saying. The fact that my body could be completely out of my control made my head spin. I had to get out of here before things got worse.

Harvey sighed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that about a potential wife.”

I blinked. Wow. I felt more like a rat in a cage than I did a potential wife, let alone a potential future mother. Nora stood up and helped me to my feet. She walked me to the exit of the cage, and I felt a weird hypnotic sensation fall over me.

She rubbed my arm. “Don't worry too much about it. Let’s get you into better clothes. Come with me, and we can go upstairs, run you a nice hot bath, and have some fresh fruit…”

I didn't hear the rest of what she said as I stood there in the center of the basement, staring at Harvey, completely entranced by the way he was gazing at me. He was standing there like he was waiting for me at an altar at the end of an aisle. There was some kind of silent exchange between us that made me feel an uncontrollable urge to approach him and press my lips to his. He was so tall I would probably have to stand on the tips of my toes just to reach his lips, or he would have to scoop me up.

And by goddess, both of those things sounded amazing right now. I wanted it so much that I started to stumble toward him. But then, I came to my senses and realized the basement door was within five feet of me. I could make a break for it.

My heart thudded against my ribcage. It’s now or never.

I side-stepped Harvey, raced to the door, and barged into it with my left shoulder. I partially shifted right through the splintering wood with a crash, and fell through to the other side. Yelling and shouting commenced behind me. The sudden appearance of sunlight blinded my eyes, causing me to raise my arms to shield my face. My jaw ached. Come on, shift! I heard my clothes tear as I felt my bones cracking painfully from having been stuck in the same position all night.

I was nearly there. In my throat was a mighty howl, one that desperately wanted to be released. I had made it to the tree line. I had pushed through the ache in my legs and shifted. Finally in my full wolf form, I darted through the trees and hauled ass to get back home. I just wanted to get back to the people that I knew. I didn't want to be in the middle of something that crazy. Fated mate or not, this guy was crazy.

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