Alpha's Mate, Vampire's Slave

Episode 9

That can't be good. That's the only thought in my head as I scream, plead, and cry. My face is soaked in tears. Auction. A horrible word to be used about humans. I imagine Faith and me, auctioned, and the word jolts me from the thought that this all could be a dream. But the elves ignore me, seating themselves at their table. The woman stares at me as my pleading words disolve into sobs. Her eyes glitter gleefully. They make me shrink back.

"If this isn't the destined luna," Fenris says flatly, "we're doomed."

"Nonsense! The werewolves will find her soon, and if they don't, we'll find another solution."

"The ones here are resigned to their fate--'ruled by the moon goddess's mercy,' they say." Fenris rolls his eyes; a very human expression on a nonhuman face. "And Ash's pack will bless the day they're gone."

"Then you will find her," the woman says, never taking her eyes off me. My chest is on fire. My head pounds more as my voice finally quits--every plead, every curse, becomes nothing more than a weak rasp.

Feris touches his fingers to the horrifying new stripes on his face. They're scabbed over now, reminding me of a Frankenstein. He looks cut cleanly to pieces. A long jab over across his nose, another stretching the entirety of his chin. I think if he were human, he would've gone to the hospital to get stitches.

"Being a junior member of this council is exhausting. The cityfolk don't even like me, for all the trouble I go to for them." He places his feet on the table, and when I desperately try to catch his eye, he looks over at the library shelves.

My heart sinks; he's given up on me.

"That's what you get for siding with the human realm and their machinations," the woman says.

"What! I only like their cars!"

But her eyes were warm. They aren't ice cold, like the way she looks at me. Her face softens and she squeezes his hand. He looks at her like she's his mother, his face gentling and his mouth pressing into the smallest of my smiles. My wrists ache, I have to turn up my nose at the ceiling.

Strong, Annabeth, strong. I have to be strong for Faith. I have to find us a way out of here. But everything aches and my heart is broken. I don't even know what to feel at all. If my Jack is alive, can I even be upset? Should I trade his life for my quiet acceptance of this fate I know I can't escape?

"You're funny," she says, "and young."

"When you're older," the man adds," you'll realize the sacrifices that must be made to maintain our fragile peace. The lives of your people or the lives of the animals?"

"Fenris, please," I beg. He doesn't look in my direction.

But what can I expect?

"Can you at least tell me where I'm going?" I struggle to shape the words in my raw throat. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to take in the rest of their conversations, but I'm falling asleep. No matter the frantic slam of my heart, I can't fight it; I'm exhausted from pushing the car. I'm exhausted from the emotional flurry; a normal shift, slow at that, and then Jack's death. And I'm supposed to believe that he's alive now?

I don't know if I should feel relieved. Maybe I wouldn't even care about auctions if it wasn't for Faith. Now she's just as doomed as I am. I think I might sob, but I'm too tired to do that. Even my aching wrists can't keep me alert.

I slump down.

"How much longer for the Bellas to get here?" I see Fenris wrinkle his nose.

"They'll make a fanfare," the man responds. "Carriages and parisol, with maybe one truck for transport. They'll most likely use collecting the humans as an excuse to survey the factories."

The elf makes a symbol over his chest, a five-pointed star. "I can only pray to the Gods for the safety of the workers there."

"Pray?" Fenris balls his fists. "All we can do is pray?"

"Be reasonable," the woman says. And they talk productivity and statistics; they talk output, and longer working hours, and the older council members murmur about how hopefully it'll be enough for the Bellas, especially with the storms--whatever that means.

I can't keep my eyes open anymore. I crash into sleep.

In my dream, I no longer have hands and feet. I have paws, white as the moon above. The smell of moss is rich in my nose, and my heart soars. I'm trampling over branches and bounding through tall stalks of grass, the night sky shimmering with stars. The trees that stretch above me are endless.

I've never been a nature girl. Bug bites, thorn scratches, and endless boredom--no, thanks. But this is different. This time, I feel it all in my heart. I've never been so free, never been so alive, the faster I run, the more electric I feel. This is where I belong. This is who I am.

In the distance, there's howling, and I howl back with all the joy in my heart.

And then the earth cracks below my feet. The howling becomes human screams. In the far distance, something massive comes together. It's a dark gray shape, rising slowly, but no matter how fast I run, it grows larger and larger in the distance.

Then I hear it; the roar of the sea. It's a wave. In a moment, it covers the moon and then I can't escape it. It comes crashing down. My lungs are filled with water. I try to breathe, but only limp little bubbles escape my long snout.

I hear Faith cry out, a gasping scream. I see Jack slumped on the café floor.

"Everything is in danger, little wolf. Everything and everyone you care about. But you are strong." It's my mother's voice, but it's not the mother's voice I know. It's sweeter, softer. I lift my head, and there's a dark red moon, its murky image wiggling on the surface of the water.

And then I'm suffocating.

I wake up to a hand wrapped around my throat.

The eyes that look into mine are dark red, the color of expensive wine. My heart thunders; I know not to look. Every thing in my body screams not to look. I try to flit my gaze toward Fenris.

"Look at me."

My heart squeezes. I can't move. Not a muscle. The voice sounds like s*x, like chocolate, like love, like...

"Go back to sleep, human."

I see the wave in my head again. But no matter what I do, I can't escape it. I slip out of this reality into that one, drowned by the gray water and a suddenly moonless sky.