Chapter 234: No choice

Without even kicking off my shoes, I hurried into the living room. On the coffee table sat a small vase of cookies alongside three teacups. A fourth cup lay overturned on its rounded side, resting in a widening puddle of spilled liquid.

Walking as if trapped in a hypnotic dream, I drifted into the kitchen, then into my parents’ bedroom, and finally shoved open the door to my own room. The sight that met my eyes made my stomach violently churn. Damian sat casually on the edge of my bed, holding my old plush rabbit in his large hands and examining it with intense, predatory curiosity.

"You took your time. Public transport runs terribly in the evenings, right?" Tossing the toy aside, he rose from the bed, strode toward my desk, and picked up a framed photograph.

In the picture, I was five years old, wearing my father’s oversized straw hat and covered entirely in strawberry stains while Mom used a handkerchief to wipe the sticky juice and berry bits from my grinning face. I had sneaked into a basin of crushed berries meant for jam and gorged myself until I got the hiccups. Yet, as my parents always fondly reminded me, I had worn those stains with fierce pride.

"You love berries?" he asked, his voice carrying an odd, possessive weight as he swept a heavy, territorial gaze across my bedroom.

"You bastard... What did you do with my parents?!" Blinded by a spike of raw terror and fury, I lunged at the male, grabbing handfuls of his hoodie and yanking him toward me with all my remaining strength.

Right then, fear didn’t even register in me; my emotions and rage were peaking so high. Sometimes I experienced that kind of complete mental short-circuit. After all, even while being held captive, I had managed to break that bastard Tray’s nose.

"What do you want from me?!"

The man immediately seized my wrists, his hard fingers squeezing until it caused sharp pain, and that strange sensation returned—as if he were crushing my very heart through the pulse in my wrists.

"I saved you, and you ran away without paying me back," Damian whispered insidiously, staring straight into my eyes with his fathomless darkness.

"Is that why you kidnapped my parents? What do you want from me? Tell me!!" Squeezing his hoodie even tighter, I jerked my whole body, trying to shake his massive hands off mine.

"It’s simple, Amelie, I want you for temporary use. Your parents are the guarantee that you won’t run away again and that you will repay your life debt."

"Are you short on women or something? Half the university is pining over you! Pick anyone, and she’s yours!" I spat furiously into his face, consumed by anger. "Let go of my hands."

"Amelie, I don’t need a cheap plaything; I need a loyal girl to stand by my side. The thing is, as of recently, I am forming my own pack, and I desperately need domestic help."

"Then why speak in riddles and terrify me?! You could have just said right away that you needed someone to clean and cook, instead of what you said in the parking lot! Return my parents, and I’ll come to you, clean, cook, and do whatever you say!" I was already willing to wash clothes by a roaring river current for him, as long as he returned my parents safe and sound.

"Amelie, you will do everything. You will cook, clean, and at night, submissively spread your legs for me," he declared, abruptly throwing my hands away with such force that I lost my footing and crashed backward onto my bed. "Pack your things, little bird, I’m waiting. And one more thing..."

In two seconds, he closed the remaining distance between us, grabbed my wrist, and clicked a cold, black metal band around my arm. A sharp prick bit beneath my skin, causing me to let out a yelp. I stared in terror at the tiny wound and watched as strange red numbers flashed on the metal before instantly fading away.

"W-what is this?" Tugging frantically at the band from all sides, I realized with horror that there was no clasp in it, and lifted a panicked gaze to the man before me.

"It’s a tracker. Just like the bands on a bird’s legs," he murmured, his gaze dark and unyielding. "You know far too much for me to ever let you wander around."

***

Watching Damian leisurely toss my modest belongings into the trunk of his expensive car, I felt a sharp, suffocating sense of something so frighteningly inevitable that I wanted nothing more than to plunge into the nearest dark alley.

To run from him without looking back, until my strength completely failed and I collapsed onto the filthy asphalt.

It still completely failed to register in my mind how a man from such a respected, influential pack could commit such vile acts, kidnapping people and shattering lives. Blackmail! Good grief, he had actually abducted my parents.

I wasn’t even sure that if I walked into the police station right now and tried to file a report, I wouldn’t simply be laughed out of the precinct. Or worse, thrown behind bars for false accusations, because men like him always walked away scot-free, buying the law and the enforcers sworn to protect it. I had no choice left. Absolutely none.

"Get in the car," Damian commanded, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighting one without even glancing my way.

Obediently, I reached for the handle and opened the back door, hoping to curl up in the farthest corner away from his overwhelming, predatory aura. But the door slammed shut with a deafening thud, blocked by his powerful hand.

"In the front passenger seat." His voice rang out hard, laden with a subtle, dark alpha pressure that made me jump from the sheer unexpected weight of it.

Sliding into the vehicle, I immediately shivered from the biting chill inside. The air conditioner was blasting at full force, and with every ragged, strained exhale, a wisp of vapor curled from my lips. No matter how hard I tried to brace myself, nothing about this nightmare was offering any relief.

When Damian climbed into the driver’s seat, slammed his door, and smoothly ignited the engine, the confined space instantly flooded with the bitter scent of tobacco and his raw, heavy, wolfish pheromones. It stole the breath right out of my lungs, just as it had before.

His scent was unlike anyone else’s, instantly triggering every primal instinct I possessed to recognize him as an inescapable threat.