Chapter 29

• I was beginning to wonder if this very uncomfortable ride would ever end. If the bruise-induced, body-wrecking bumps would stop. My body ached all over and my stomach churned violently — the result of hunger, nerves, and sickness—and I was barely keeping it in. My head throbbed badly, and I felt very weak. Not forgetting, too, that my bladder is threatening to burst and let go of its full-to-the-brim content. I tried the small hole in the container, but still nothing. I didn’t even know if dawn was approaching or if it was still nightfall. My kidnappers had been talking nonstop for hours, and their words made me cringe. I might not be able to see what they were doing — a situation I was thankful for; otherwise, I’d have puked by now — but I could definitely hear them. I didn’t know if I should be grateful or not. I didn’t even have to make an effort to listen in; their voices were quite audible enough for me to make out their conversations. And if what I had heard were any indication of their thoughts and a proof of what I was also garnering, then I was most thankful, once again, that I couldn’t see what they were doing; they were the most lewd couple I’d ever known, not that I ever remember knowing any. I decided to turn deaf ears to their repulsive discussion and concentrate on myself. I was sweating and feeling a bit feverish. I was feeling out of sorts. I hated those two out there, those wicked, spiteful lovers who were probably betraying their Alpha over who-knows-what for who-knows-who. I was beginning to believe that inner voice that had been certain that the Alpha didn’t know That he wasn’t aware of this, and from the previous conversations I’ve heard, it insinuated so. What is the Alpha doing right now? Had he found out I was missing? Had Hailen told him? For a moment, I became scared of her, knowing the kind of person she was. What was he going to do to her? Was he going to punish her? Would he believe her if she told him she wasn’t involved in this? The same way I did? I don’t know, but I’ve just got this strong conviction that Helen was innocent in this. She wouldn’t have lured me out to be captured. I was pretty sure if she had been aware of any sneaky movement or dubious plan to kidnap me, she’d never have brought up the idea of a night stroll. She would never betray me like this; I just knew it. The wagon stopped suddenly, and I wondered if we had arrived already.
• "Don’t take long, love."
• I heard evil Meaidan say to her faceless lover: He was faceless to me; I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t even know if he worked for Alpha. They remembered hearing him tell Meaidan that he’d begged the Luna on her behalf to release her. Either he was a spy planted by the Luna to secretly work for her without the Alpha’s knowledge, or he worked for the Alpha but decided to extend his loyalty to the horrid Luna. I felt a twang of pity for the Alpha. If only he knew he was surrounded by backstabbers. That the people he trusted were the ones playing him behind his back. Which kind of left me confused. What was my part here? The Alpha didn’t like me at all, so if he had some issues with someone outside his pack—probably the person the Luna had instructed them to take me to—why did they think I was valuable enough? Were they doing this to spite the Alpha, or was it to get rid of me? The werewolves hated my kind; did my kidnapping have anything to do with it? Meaidan had once openly talked ill of my kind and her hatred towards us; was this some way to get rid of me? Maybe they were angry over the fact that the Alpha was delaying my death. That he was keeping me alive, much to their chagrin. Now, Luna, Meaidan, and her lover were probably taking me to the place where I'd face the ill fate they thought I duly deserved. My heart pounded more, and tears ran down my face. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t understand this hatred. Well, I wouldn’t say I didn’t understand the hatred towards the people that had wiped out almost your own kind, but I wish they would be more lenient with me and understand I wasn’t my parents, I wasn’t like them, and I never will be.