Chapter 2

• Angela POV
• I awake with a pounding headache. My vision is blurry. I try to focus, but everything is blurred. "Angela, can you hear me? Are you okay?" Deanne cries out. She grabs me and holds me tightly. It feels so good to be with her again. I look around the room, trying to see where I am and what the hell is happening here. I cannot get my eyes to focus on anything, not even Deanne.
• "What the hell are you doing here? And why were you with Alpha?" she asks me.
• "I was looking for you. I went to the bar and tried to find someone to tell me what happened to you. Alpha came into the bar and offered to bring me to you," I answer her.
• Angela looks me over. I swat at her. "What the hell are you doing?" I ask her.
• "I am checking to see if they marked you yet," Angela says.
• "Marked me for what?" I ask.
• "Ladies!" A loud growl comes from the front of our cabin.
• "Get to your feet fast," Deanne says. Deanne helps me stand up and wait for the grumbling wolf to walk by all of us. He looks at each of us. I wonder how many women are here.
• "You..... you..... you..... and you," he says, pointing at different women. He stops in front of me. He grabs me by the chin and pushes me down. "Not you..... at least not yet," he says as he walks away. He keeps walking through the room, picking women.
• He finally takes the women he chooses. He ushers them out of the cabin and leaves the cabin with them. I grab Deanne by the arm. I pull her down to me so I can whisper into her ear. "What the hell is going on here?" I ask her.
• "Come on," she says, pulling me to the back of the cottage.
• I follow her. We walk past the other scared women until we get to the back bunk. There is a long row of beds. She leads me over to her bed. She sits down, and I sit down on her bed with her. "I do not know what is going on here, not really. I was drugged and brought here that night I went on a date with Archie. He was nice, but he took me for a drive, and now I am here. I woke up with a headache and a dog collar around my neck," she says, pulling her shirt down to show the collar around her neck.
• I reach out and touch it, and it seems to have a tracking device or something. There is a light and something electronic blinking from the side of it. I touch my neck. I feel a collar. I open my mouth to scream, but Deanne places her hand over my mouth. "We do not have time to panic, Angela," Deanne says.
• "What are they going to do with us?" I ask. The fear and reality of this situation are starting to overwhelm me. I cannot let the wolves win. I have to get the fuck out of here alive.
• Deanne shrugs her shoulder and hangs her head. "I do not know. They have not touched us if that is what you are getting at. The wolves make us work. We cook and clean for them. I do not know what happens to the ones they come and take. You know the ones we never see again. I have heard stories about what happens, but I do not know for sure what happens to them. I just want to get out of here alive," Deanne says.
• "We have to get the hell out of here. There has to be a way out of this hell," I say.
• Deanne looks around the room at all the other women. "Don't you think we have all tried and failed? There is no way out. They watch us twenty-four hours a day. These things on our necks track our every move. If we did get out, guess what? They would be able to track us down," she says.
• "There has to be a way out. There is no way this is how I am going to live the rest of my life," I say to her. I curl up in a ball on her bed and begin to sob. Deanne touches my back and rubs my back, trying to calm me.
• "Everything will be okay. Just keep your head down and do what they tell you to do," she says, trying to soothe me, but I know it will not be okay. I cannot live like this. I cannot be someone's servant. I am in med school. I have my entire life planned out. I do not have time for this craziness.
• "No one will come for us. They stopped looking for you. I was the only one looking for you," I sob.
• "I know. The wolves told me no one would come. I bet Alpha lost it when you came into that bar looking for me," Deanne says.
• "I did not back down from him either. I told him I was not afraid of him and that I would not stop until I found you," I say.
• "I know you didn't. Don't try that here. The wolves will beat you. Don't be a hero. Just do whatever they tell you to do," Deanne says.
• "I will," I say.
• "No, you won't, but I warned you. That bastard Archie beat me the first week I was here. I finally stopped fighting. I cook, clean, hell I chop wood if they tell me to chop wood," Deanne says.
• "I will try my best for you, Deanne," I say to her.
• Deanne takes me into her arms and hugs me. A few of the other ladies come over to say hi. Before they can introduce themselves, the wolves are back. They are growling and screaming for us.
• "That is Aspen, the dark-haired one, and Archie is the blonde-haired one. Archie is a real bastard. Maybe you will get paired with Aspen," Deanne says.
• Aspen walks over to the cot. "You are with me today, Deanne, and bring your friend. I hear she has a smart mouth, and I do not want to watch Archie beat the shit out of her today," Aspen says. Aspen grabs a few more women as we make our way to the front door of the cabin. Archie is already yelling and making the other ladies cry.
• "Don't look at them. They don't like it when you look at them. The wolves see it as disrespectful. Keep your eyes straight ahead," Deanne says.
• I look at the ground. I cannot bear to see what is going on in the cabin. This hell cannot be my new life. I take Deanne's hand and hold it tightly as we follow Aspen.
• We walk to another cabin. "Wait here," Aspen says. We wait while Aspen goes inside the cabin to get more women. Deanne squeezes my hand.
• "It will be okay; just do what Aspen tells you to do, and you will get through this," she says.
• I nod my head. Aspen returns with more women, and we continue walking cabin to cabin as he goes in and gets a handful of women from each cabin. How many women are here? I start looking around to see if I recognize any of them.
• "I know what you are doing; stop it. You do not want any trouble from the wolves. Keep your head down and try to make it through the day," Deanne says to me.
• The group of us finally make it to a massive house at the end of the row of cabins. "This is the Alpha's house," Deanne says.
• I look up, and there he is, the bastard that got me. My mind and heart are full of rage. I want to stomp his ass. He walks over to me.
• "You do not look as tough as you did last night, little girl," Alpha says to me.
• "I am not your little girl, wolf," I say to him.
• Alpha laughs at me. "You will not talk to me that way, little girl. You are lucky you did not get chosen. Maybe I will step it up and send you with the others," he says as he slaps me across the face.
• "Stop, please," Deanne screams at Alpha.
• Alpha grabs Deanne and pushes her to the ground. "Work them hard, Aspen," Alpha says, growling at the two of us as he walks away.
• Aspen helps Deanne and me to our feet. "That was stupid. Are you trying to get killed on your first day here? Damn little girl, keep yourself in check, or Alpha will check you," Aspen says to me.
• "I know, I am sorry," I say.
• "I told you not to be a hothead, but you can't listen to anyone; you are going to cause us to end up at that awful place," Deanne begins and then stops without finishing her thought.
• "What place?" I ask her.
• "Don't worry about it, just do your work and keep your mouth shut," Aspen says. He takes me by the arm and leads me away from the group.
• "Stop asking questions. You are going to get yourself killed on the first day. Listen to your friend, and you will survive," Aspen says.
• "I am scared and confused, and no one will tell me what is going on around here," I say.
• "I will explain everything to you; just go in the cottage and start cleaning, do the laundry, scrub something, just stay out of everyone's way," Aspen says.
• I nod my head and run into the cottage behind the other women. I seemed to have managed to piss off everyone. Since no one is speaking to me for pissing the Alpha off, I walk around the cottage trying to find something to clean.
• "You can go do the laundry; it is down the hall," Deanne says.
• I walk down the hall and find the laundry room. There are piles of laundry everywhere. I start separating the laundry and working as fast as I can. It is hot, and it smells in here, but at least I am out of everyone's way.
• I look up from the pile of laundry I am folding to see Deanne. She walks slowly into the laundry room. "I am not mad at you, but I did warn you. You cannot bark at the Alpha. You have to lay low. We need to do our work and fly under the radar until we figure out how to get out of here. For now, Angela, please, stop asking questions and just be obedient before you get yourself killed or worse," Deanne says.
• "I cannot promise to behave, but I can promise to try," I say.
• "That is all I ask. There is so much going on here. I want to get out of here alive and go home. Listen to me, please," Deanne says.
• I do not say anything else. There really is no point in trying to plead my side of things. I came here to help her, and now I am trapped here with her. I have no idea what is going on, and no one will tell me.
• Deanne helps me do the laundry in silence for the rest of the day. My friend no longer acts like a friend. She is different. What have they done to you? I look over at her. I want to smile and tell her we will be okay, but the truth is, I do not know what kind of shit show we are trapped in or how to get us out of it.
• Aspen comes into the laundry room. "Let's go!" he yells at us. Deanne and I follow Aspen out of the cottage. This has been a horrible fucking day.