Sold to the Alpha

by Cara Wylde

  “Avelyn doesn’t need to worry about these things,” she imitated his voice. “Jerk.”

  She was losing sight of what she really wanted. “I must see Sabine tomorrow, before I become one of them,” she thought. She hadn’t been down in the dungeons for three days, and she was just realizing her mistake. Every time she saw Sabine and spent one or two hours talking with her, she remembered why she was still here, at the Schloss. She remembered that Max was not who she had thought he was, that he was dangerous and unpredictable, and that her priority was to save herself and Sabine. Unfortunately, the fact that she still slept with him and indulged his little, naughty games every night didn’t help in the least. It confused her. It drove her insane. It messed with her mind and emotions, turning her into a pathetic, depressed child who didn’t know what she wanted anymore. Sometimes, at the end of the day, she felt so guilty and miserable that she even went as far as to ask herself idiotic questions such as “Who am I?”, “Why is this happening to me?”, “What if it’s happening for a reason?”. There were times when she could swear she needed a shrink.

  “If he brought me in this state in less than a month, then I can’t even begin to imagine what poor Sabine had to endure in five years.” Five years of being trapped in the dungeon, but how long had she been his bride before that? “I can’t stick around and let him do this to me.” She stood up and started pacing the room. “But I have to. I’ve come this far. Ten days down, around twenty more to go. One month. Just one bloody month.”

  At dinner, she had felt accepted and appreciated. Even with Jocelyn sitting across from her, she had still felt like she mattered to them, to the clan. Karl had treated her like she were his little sister, and Matt and Kevin had regarded her as their equal and never missed a “Miss” when they addressed her. She couldn’t say the same thing about Ryan, but he was Jocelyn’s Beta after all. One could never expect too much from the guy. Christine had also been there to pat her on the knee to calm her down and assure her everything was going fine. Yes, she had felt like she belonged to Clan Blackmane. “So, sue me.” She sighed in frustration and went to the table to pour herself a glass of water. “Why couldn’t it have been Karl?” That was a crazy thought. It was another sign she was going bonkers. Karl’s bride instead of Max’s? “Shit, I would have settled for a Beta, really. Screw that! I would have settled for anyone but the deranged asshole I’m mated to.”

  The sex was good, though. Actually, if she were to be completely honest, it was getting better and better. In the last three and a half weeks they had learned each other’s bodies, explored every inch of skin, and pressed every erogenous spot. Yes, the sex was sinfully delicious. Every time he threw her over the edge and made her scream his name another question wiggled its nasty question mark into her brain: “What if I’m wrong? What if by some mind-boggling miracle I cannot comprehend, I’ve gotten this whole thing wrong?”

  There were too many pieces that didn’t fit. The puzzle was huge, and she felt like every time she was close to making a breakthrough, the pieces were shuffled back into chaotic disorder. Or the model changed. So, yes, Avelyn was feeling rather sick, and it wasn’t the steak she had eaten. Not even Jocelyn and her malicious remarks. It was Max. And Sabine. Sabine and Max.

  “What a mind fuck.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Lies

  Avelyn was sitting on the stone corridor with her back against the door. She knew Sabine was sitting in the same position on the other side. It had taken forever to find a good moment to sneak through the small, invisible door in the library. With so many werewolves around and with Max working from his office on the first floor now, it wasn’t easy to disappear for an hour without the risk of getting caught.

  “What do you think about Karl?”

  Sabine hesitated. She was usually very eager to answer Avelyn’s questions and give her all the information she could, but there were times when she showed reluctance, even defensiveness. Avelyn sensed this was one of those times. She hated that she had to bring back Sabine’s worst memories, but there was no other way.

  “Karl… is someone I don’t want to talk about,” the girl finally said.

  “Why not?”

  “He did something to me and I just don’t feel like thinking about it. I tried to forget it ever since.”

  “Oh my God.” Avelyn was genuinely shocked. “He seemed like such a nice guy.”

  “They all do.”

  Avelyn made herself more comfortable. She bit her tongue in an attempt to stop herself from insisting. She needed answers, dammit, not more mysteries.

  “Max visited me yesterday.”

  “He did? When?”

  “A little after lunch. He still didn’t mention you.”

  “Of course, why would he? Though it’s stupid, don’t you think? I understand why he wouldn’t tell me about the ex-bride he’s been keeping locked up in the dungeons, but why would he lie to you?”

  “I’ve stopped trying to understand why he does the things he does. He seemed a bit off. You’re not giving yourself away, are you?”

  “No.” Avelyn thought for a moment. “At least I think I’m not.”

  “How are things going between you two?” When Avelyn didn’t answer, Sabine added: “It’s okay, you can tell me. Five years in here have been enough for me to get over him. There’s no way you could hurt me or make me feel jealous, trust me. I want nothing from him anymore. Well, except for my freedom. But he’s not going to be the one to give me that.”

  Avelyn sighed. Oh, how she wished Delyse or Claudia were here. Even Amelia. She missed Amelia and her no-nonsense attitude. Yes, she could trust someone like Amelia, someone who would listen without interrupting her and then give her an honest, impartial opinion.

  “Things are going fine. He’s always nice to me, gentle and attentive. I’ve tried not to change my behavior towards him since the Seed Moon, and I think I’m handling it well. Too well sometimes. I…” She rubbed her temples and combed her hair with her fingers a couple of times. “I can’t wrap my mind around this. I just can’t. When I’m with him, I lose sight of what I’m really here for. I think I’m having a mental breakdown. And last evening, Karl was so sweet. Even Jocelyn had moments when she treated me like I was a human being, not some kind of vermin. I felt like…” She banged her head against the door, startling Sabine. “I felt like I could belong here.”

  Sabine changed her position on the other side to face the door. “No, don’t say that. Don’t fall into this trap. It’s exactly what I did, and look where it got me.”

  “I know, Sabine. I’m sorry. But, try to put yourself in my position.”

  “I’ve been in your position.”

  “Have you? You keep saying that Max locked you up because he got tired of you, but what does that even mean? Sure, sometimes relationships don’t work and then there’s the routine, but people don’t go to such extremes.”

  “Are you saying that you don’t believe me?” Sabine’s voice sounded sad and defeated.

  “No, God no! I’m saying that it would be really helpful if you gave me more details. I know that talking about these things hurts, but try to see it from my perspective. There’s so much I don’t know. I’m working with scattered pieces of information here. How am I supposed to make the right decision?”

  “You’ve already made the right decision. Are you backing down? Are you thinking of staying and risking both your freedom and mine?”

  “No.”

  “Do you really want to know why he did this to me? Okay then. As much as it pains me, I’ll tell you.”

  “I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I don’t want to force you…”

  “I couldn’t get pregnant. I couldn’t offer him children. There. We’ve tried and tried, but it just wasn’t happening, and it made him look bad. An Alpha who could not impregnate a human bride could lose the respect of his entire pack. He couldn’t just let me go either, because I knew too much about Clan Blac
kmane. I had become the disgrace of his pack, and I was projecting it on him as well. When Jocelyn and Karl told him he had to get rid of me, Max refused at first, but then Kevin told him what the Crescents had started whispering behind his back, and that did it. Defying everyone would have meant losing authority over all his wolves. It was either my freedom or his position as the main Alpha of Clan Blackmane. He chose his position.”

  “Bastard.”

  “You know what? At first, I didn’t even hold it against him. I was too blinded by love, and I thought there was still a chance I could give him a child. He slept here every night, so all we had to do was keep trying. Once I would have gotten pregnant, he would have taken me back among his wolves and we’d have had a fresh start. After one month, however, he stopped coming. He’d only have breakfast or lunch with me, but… he didn’t want to try anymore. I thought it was just a phase and he’d get over it, eventually. He couldn’t just leave me here, forget about me, and go on with his life, could he? He visited less and less, didn’t spend more than half an hour with me, and sometimes I didn’t see him for weeks.”

  Those last words came out choked, and Avelyn knew Sabine had started crying. She would have done anything to be able to break through that stupid door and hold her friend.

  “You must think I was a fool. You’d be right, too…”

  “No, no…”

  “I was a fool, I know that now.” Sabine sniffed her nose and tried to control the tremble in her voice. “Don’t make the same mistake. Don’t be the fool who gives her heart to him on a silver plate and lets him do whatever he wants with it. He doesn’t love you, Avelyn. All he wants is an heir. As far as I can tell, you’ve no intention of giving him that. It’s just a matter of time until he figures it out and does to you exactly what he did to me. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re smarter than him, or that he’ll ever choose you over his wolves.”

  There was silence for two long minutes. Avelyn tried to assimilate what Sabine had just told her and rearrange it in her mind according to what she already knew. Something didn’t add up. But what could it be? Maybe she was just being paranoid.

  “If this is what really happened, then why did you tell me he had gotten bored of you?”

  “Because he did.”

  “No. As I see it, he locked you in this room because you couldn’t give him children and his pack didn’t like it. That’s a whole different thing.”

  “I would have been fine with that if only he had kept coming.”

  “You would have been fine with him making you a prisoner if he had just visited you every day?” Avelyn couldn’t believe her ears.

  “Yes. I loved him so much that I would have taken anything if it meant being with him. Anything but being ignored and forgotten.”

  “Shit, Sabine. That’s… heavy stuff. You’ve no idea how that sounds…”

  “I do. I do now. I’m over it, I told you, but I know what love can do to you, how it can mess with your head and turn you into a pathetic slave. Yes, I was a pathetic slave. Promise me you won’t end up like me. Promise me you won’t change your mind and you’ll get us out of here the next full moon. You’ve given me hope, Avelyn. For the first time in five years, I can hope again. Don’t take it away from me.”

  Sabine’s voice was pleading, and Avelyn was struck by the realization that the girl’s fate was in her hands. It was the first time someone depended on her, and the thought terrified her.

  “I’d rather die than let you down,” she said.

  ***

  Max was staring at Jocelyn’s reports, but he couldn’t focus on the words. It wasn’t a big deal because he had already read them at least four times. He had hoped something he hadn’t seen before would pop up now that he had better insight into the fox-shifters’ culture, thanks to Avelyn. He reached for the huge mug of coffee next to the papers and realized it was empty. He’d have to ask Christine to fill it up. He pushed his office chair away from the desk and rolled it to the window, too lazy to stand up. He couldn’t see the entire courtyard from where he was, but he took his time to check the part that he did see and try to spot Avelyn. Apparently, she was either on the porch or she was hiding in her room again. They had had breakfast together a couple of hours ago, but he already missed her. He threw a glance at his watch and saw there was still one hour and a half left until lunch. He’d see her soon enough.

  He saw Karl strolling towards the gate with only his shorts on, and smiled. His brother had kept his word and didn’t walk around naked. When he was at the Schloss, Karl liked to leave his clothes somewhere in a corner so he could turn whenever he felt like it. His Dark Wolves did the same. This time, however, Max had insisted to change the rules a bit, or, better said, to establish a new one: no naked werewolves walking around. They were neither barbarians, nor beasts, and he wanted Avelyn to have a sense of normality. The time when werewolves lived in caves and owned few clothes was long gone. They had started to run businesses and build fortunes since the Middle Ages, so they had to live up to these high standards even when the wolf inside craved freedom, simplicity, and that profound connection with the forest that didn’t require any clothes or material possessions.

  Karl had gone through the gates and disappeared in the forest. If Max knew him well, he wasn’t going to be back before dinner. It was better that way. Maybe he could avoid the whole family dinner this evening and eat in the pleasant company of his bride. He had no intention of giving Karl another chance to bring that nasty little issue into discussion ever again.

  “God dammit,” he whispered to himself. “It sure is nasty, but it’s not little. Who am I kidding?”

  Karl had made his point plain and clear: his brother had to tell his new bride about the girl in the dungeons.

  “Sabine, Sabine… What am I going to do about you?”

  He had gone to see her the day before and had spent an hour with her. They hadn’t talked much. The strange, awkward friendship between them had grown cold and they had very little to tell each other. She had seemed distracted, but when had she not? Her moods changed like the wind in fall. She could be calm one second, and then rage like a storm the next.

  “Why can’t he understand that all I’m trying to do is protect Avelyn?” he thought. But Karl being Karl, had a completely different perspective on the matter. “You’re an idiot if you think you’re going to achieve that by lying to her. She’s smart, brother. Don’t underestimate her.” His words had hit him so hard that he had unwillingly memorized them. They had rung in his head since last night, when Karl had decided to ruin their little after dinner party by bringing up the unpleasant subject of his ex-bride. But, what if he was right?

  “No, I can’t tell her, I just can’t,” he reasoned with himself. “What would I say? Hey, my love, here’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you since you got here, but I wasn’t sure how. Now, promise me you won’t freak out, jump out the window, and run away. Ready? Here goes: I’ve been married before. What? No, she didn’t grow old and die. She’s still alive, all healthy and dandy. I locked her up in the dungeons.”

  He laughed at his own silliness. It was tragic, really. He should have cried his eyes out, not laugh.

  “But don’t worry, baby, I don’t love her anymore, and she doesn’t love me either. We’re both over it. It was a long time ago, anyway. Sixty years since break-up will do that to you even if you live under the same roof. Technically.”

  Max growled in frustration and rubbed his tired eyes. He hadn’t slept well last night, after his discussion with Karl. Come to think of it, neither had Avelyn slept well. She had kept tossing and turning. Of course, there was more to his history with Sabine, but how could those details have helped when he knew the immensity of having kept a woman locked in his dungeons for over 60 years would hit Avelyn so hard that she wouldn’t probably stick around long enough to hear the rest of the story? Maybe, if he came up with another way of telling her his secret? If he started from the beginning? Then, there was the
other nasty little issue: he had kept her locked in their bedroom for one week, and he was almost sure Avelyn hadn’t entirely forgiven him for that no matter how many times she had tried to reassure him. She’d surely think he had some sort of sick fetish of locking up his brides and throwing away the key.

  “What a mess. I just want her to be safe. I want to keep her away from this shit, away from Sabine. I want her to be happy and carefree, to feel loved and appreciated. She’s perfect for me, perfect for the pack and the entire clan. They’re all starting to see it, too. God, Avelyn, baby… how do I make this work? I hate lying to you. I hate it so much, but I can’t risk losing you.”

  He stood up and walked back to his desk. He checked the empty mug again and grabbed his smartphone to text Christine. It was easier than sending her a telepathic signal, and he was glad technology had made it possible for the werewolves to keep their minds closed without risking losing contact with the members of their pack. He tapped “send”.

  “Hot coffee will make it all better.”

  ***

  Max opened the door for her before she even had a chance to knock.

  “Damn! I wanted to make you a surprise,” she said.

  He leaned in to capture her lips in a quick, sweet kiss. “You should know by now it’s not easy to surprise a werewolf. Especially if said werewolf has smelled you one too many times.”

  He took the tray she was balancing in one hand, and motioned for her to follow him into the office. He set the tray down and slipped a sugar cube in the hot coffee. He stirred then took a small sip.

  “This tastes differently…” He inhaled the delicious flavor and raised a brow in confusion. “Cinnamon?”