Page 21 of Alpha's Fated Flame

Chapter 9

Adrianna

Themancamelurchingover to me. He wore tattered, dirty clothing with greasy, unwashed hair. He wiped at his mouth with the back of one hand.

"Whatcha doin' out here all by your lonesome, little gal?" He grunted out.

I remained silent and quickly pulled out the gas pump and closed the valve with shaking hands. I was painfully aware of my lonely state with no one knowing of my whereabouts.

The man grew irritated at my silence and drew even closer. He slammed his hand on my car door just as I was opening it and slammed it shut. My heart pounded in my throat. I nervously fluttered my hands. I had no idea what to do.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" He continued slyly, "Or should I say wolf?"

I stopped breathing.

Was this a human who trafficked and sold wolves as experiments in human labs? We had all grown up hearing about those stories of the poor, unfortunate wolves that get kidnapped and tortured into pieces, all in the name of science. We were warned young to avoid these type of humans and situations.

And here I was, smack dab in the middle of one.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I squeaked out.

He laughed derisively. "I know your kind well. What with you starin' up at the moon like that? You ain't nothin' but a goddamn freak o' nature wolf."

He pulled out a switchblade and flicked it open near my face.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I started exclaiming. "Look, I don't want any trouble. You can have my credit card if you want."

The man grunted and looked at me with one squinty eye. He slowly closed the switchblade, purposely in my line of sight. "Credit card, eh?" He said thoughtfully.

"Yes," I cried desperately. "You can have it if you just leave me alone."

Then, as fast as a snake, he raised his fist towards my head.

Oh god!

That was the last thought I had before the world went black.

Pain…

Blinding pain.

That was the first coherent thought that came to me as I slowly gained awareness again. The back of my head was pounding, a horrible stabbing pain. It felt like a knife was being rammed into my skull repeatedly.

My eyes remained shut, but I became aware of movement. The rumbling vibration of a moving vehicle.

I slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was my bound hands in front of me. A thick rope was wrapped around over and over again and tightly knotted. The same went for my legs. I tried to open my mouth, and to my horror, it was taped shut.

I tried blinking away the pain to take stock of my situation. I was alone in the back of a vehicle. There was a black mesh partition in front of me. Dividing the driver and passenger seats from the rest of the vehicle.

Wiggling my fingers proved to be futile. I could not loosen the ropes even an inch. My bladder slowly started increasing its alarm. I needed a bathroom fast. I grunted through the tape as loud as I could, but the engine of the van drowned the sound out.

Eventually, I lost the fight with nature and relieved myself where I sat. I silently sobbed with the humiliation. Tears streamed down my face, and my nose ran freely. There was nothing I could do about it.

As if he could hear my thoughts, the driver turned around and grinned at me. I choked on the remnants of my tears. It was the creepy human from the gas station.

Oh shit! I was so dead.

From what I could tell through the little window high up in the van, we had been driving all night, and dawn was approaching. My mouth was bone dry, and my stomach was rumbling. I shifted my legs, uncomfortable in the sticky wetness of my dress.

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