In the Darkness (Alphas’ Captive Book 1)

by Leann Ryans

  I didn't realize I had smiled until Cinnamon smiled back at me, standing with me cradled in his arms. It didn't seem to take any effort from him to hold me like a baby, and it really hit home how strong these Alphas were. That no matter how rough they had been with me, they had been holding back.

  Stepping into the doorway, I was temporarily blinded, blinking at the sting of the light until I was forced to put a hand up to shield my eyes as Cinnamon carried me out.

  "What are you doing?"

  The low growl came from beside the door and was all the more deadly for the quietness of it.

  "She can't stay in here anymore. It's ridiculous. If she gets an infection and dies, we'll be worse off than we were before."

  Cinnamon didn't growl back, simply stating what he had to say in a calm voice though his grip on me tightened. I hadn't seen Pine since I had passed out with his cock in my throat, and I was surprised at how haggard he looked once I was able to blink the tears from my eyes.

  Gaze locked on my face, his startlingly beautiful hazel eyes studied me for a minute before his stare dropped to my shoulder. The throbbing seemed to intensify with the weight of his eyes on the wound, but his breathing began to calm.

  With a grunt, he jerked his head to the side, silently accepting Cinnamon's words. Striding past him, I was carried down a short hall to a small room with a set of stairs opposite where we entered. Instead of taking me up them like I had expected, Cinnamon turned and took a seat at the couch along the wall.

  Settling me in his lap, I didn't notice Grady until he settled my blanket from the cell around my shoulders, crouching in front of Cinnamon's knees.

  "I need to finish cleaning it and put a bandage on," came his low murmur.

  Giving him a nod of understanding, my gaze followed his hands as he laid out the supplies he had brought with him from the cell. It didn't take him long before the wound was clean and bandaged, a soothing cream applied to numb the sting.

  "Are you hungry?" Cinnamon breathed against my cheek, sending shivers down my spine. Turning back to him I nodded.

  "I want to hear your voice, sweet girl," he chided.

  Hesitating, I swallowed hard before opening my mouth.

  "Yes, please," I whispered.

  Eyes narrowed, he accepted my response though he didn’t seem happy with it. Lifting me, he turned and settled me into his spot on the couch, tucking my blanket around me before kissing my forehead.

  "I'll go make you something. Stay right here."

  "Yes, master," I replied.

  I had no plans of moving from where he had put me. Too much had happened already, and I was too confused to try to push the boundaries they set. I was out of the cell with no chains, wrapped in a warm blanket and about to be fed. This was good enough.

  It wasn't until Grady followed him up the stairs, throwing a glance at me over his shoulder, that I remembered Pine was still down here with me.

  My mother always said, 'Speak of the devil and he shall come.' Apparently thinking of him was good enough to summon him as well.

  Craving

  Pine came stalking around the corner into the room, freezing in place when he saw me on the couch alone.

  "Where are the others?" he growled at me with a glare, like I had made them leave.

  My eyes darted to the stairs before returning to him as I felt myself shrinking down into the blanket. I half expected him to drag me back to the cell and chain me up again, so I couldn't help the flinch when he moved closer and reached for my face.

  Gripping the blanket tightly in my hands so it wouldn't be left behind, I was surprised to feel his hand wrap under my jaw, turning my head back to him. Staring up into his eyes, I was shocked when I heard a soft rumble coming from his chest as he tipped my head to the side.

  Carefully pulling back the bandage, he looked at the bite on my neck again, the purr taking on a deeper tone as it morphed into a growl, and his hand tightened on my jaw. My whimper of pain seemed to remind him of what he was doing.

  Smoothing the bandage back over the wound, he released me and stomped to the stairs, following the others up as he growled to himself.

  I was left alone for a little while and had begun to doze off when I heard a door slam and footsteps coming down the stairs. Straightening myself and pulling the blanket around me, I held my breath as I waited to see who was coming. It left me in a rush when I saw Cinnamon with a tray of food.

  Perking up and offering him a smile, I pushed the blanket out of the way so he could take a seat next to me. Returning my smile with one of his own, he settled onto the old couch, causing it to dip and making me lean against his thigh.

  "What do I get for making you dinner, sweet thing?" he asked huskily, eyeing my bare chest with a grin.

  Drawing in a gasp of air, I froze before ducking my head. Shoulders dropping, I hesitantly reached for his pants, but his hand wrapped around mine, stopping me.

  Taking my chin in his other hand, he tipped my head back to look up at him. I was close enough to feel his warm breath wash over my cheek as he drew in a deep breath of my scent.

  "I only wanted a kiss," he said quietly before pulling my face up to his.

  Bracing my hands against his chest so I didn't fall against him, I closed my eyes as his firm lips pressed against mine. Forcing my lips open, he thrust his tongue into my mouth, chest vibrating under my fingers as he dominated me with nothing more than his will.

  Panting when he released me, it took a moment for me to open my eyes and lean back. Licking my lips, I watched his eyes darken before he adjusted himself and set the tray in his lap.

  "I'd like to feed you again, will you let me?"

  His voice was still low and husky with lust, and I could feel slick gathering between my own legs. Giving a hesitant nod, I parted my lips and waited as he lifted a small pastry to my mouth. Biting into the flaky crust, I moaned, eyes closing as I savored the burst of sweetness.

  Opening my eyes at the rumble of a growl, I licked my lips again to catch any crumbs as I looked into his dark gaze.

  "Moan like that again, and I'll have to do something to make sure I can make you moan louder than food does."

  The growl in his voice sent shivers down my spine as I felt a rush of fluid leak from my core. Opening my mouth to wait for the next bite, I made sure to catch his fingers in my mouth, running my tongue along them as I let out another moan.

  Hand reaching around to grip my hair to keep my head in place, he thrust his fingers deeper into my mouth before slowly withdrawing them.

  "You have thirty seconds to swallow that before I shove my cock in your mouth."

  Choking a little in my haste to obey, I slid to my knees on the ground in front of him as he opened his pants, releasing his large shaft. Wetting my lips, I leaned forward and licked the bead of precum on the tip, pulling a groan from him.

  Gripping my hair in one hand and the base of his cock in the other, Cinnamon thrust into my mouth, bottoming out and bringing tears to my eyes. Controlling my head, he made me bob on him, gagging each time his head entered my throat.

  Slick coating my thighs, I writhed between his legs, needing him to touch me. Running my hand through the mess, I raised it to his arm, scratching my nails down him and coating him in the pheromone rich fluid

  Growling, he slammed his cock into my throat, blocking my air for a moment before he pulled me off. Using my hair, he pulled me up and spun me around. Slapping the sides of my thighs, he released my hair before reaching around to grab the insides of my knees.

  Somehow, he managed to lift me and spread my legs at the same time so I ended up straddling his legs with my hands on his knees. Sliding his hands up to my hips, he raised me up and positioned me over his shaft.

  Head brushing through my folds, he gave a sharp thrust when it lined up with my entrance, burying himself in my core. Letting out a moan, I sat up and leaned back against his chest, letting him move me at the pace he wanted.

  Shirt scraping against my back,
my hands raised to cup my breasts, pinching the nipples between my fingers as one of his hands slid forward to strum my clit. In seconds I was spasming, cunt milking his cock as I felt his knot swell and lock inside me.

  Back to the Darkness

  I had dozed off on his lap before being startled awake by loud noises coming from above us. Yelling and loud thuds caused me to gasp as I jumped.

  Cursing, Cinnamon's knot deflated quickly, cock slipping from my core as he lifted me and placed me on the couch beside him.

  "I need to go see what that is. Stay here and behave," he said before dashing up the stairs.

  Sitting where he had placed me, I strained my ears to see if I could make out what was causing all of the thumps. I could hear raised voices but wasn't able to make out what was being said. Clutching my blanket to my chest, I stared at the dark stairwell as I waited for someone to come back down.

  It wasn't long before I heard a particularly loud yell followed by footsteps clomping down the stairs, but the face that looked back at me wasn't one I recognized. Breath freezing in my chest, my eyes widened as I stared at the Alpha who slowly began to smile.

  My mind didn't seem to want to work as the Alpha descended the last few steps. I sat, unmoving, simply watching him as his purr began to fill the space between us. His foot had barely hit the floor when a snarl came from behind him before another large body flashed into view.

  Tackling the strange Alpha to the floor, Pine's furious eyes met mine for a second before his attention was drawn back to the Alpha below him. The look in his eyes terrified me, and though my mind was screaming at me to run, my body remained frozen.

  Snarls and grunts of pain filled the room as the two Alphas fought, rolling across the floor. It took a minute for my mind to connect the flashes of light in their hands to blades reflecting the light, and the red smears to blood.

  Gasping in a breath filled with Alpha aggression laced with the tang of copper, I finally managed to push myself to the far end of the couch, falling over the arm with a thump and a pained grunt.

  Clutching the blanket around my trembling body, I peeked around the end of the couch in time to see the strange Alpha land a savage kick to Pine's head. Watching him fall limp, my throat burned with bile as I fought not to vomit.

  Scrubbing tears from my eyes, I finally noticed the stranger was heading towards me, blood smeared across his arms and soaked into his shirt. Squeaking in fear, I tried to scramble away but was too tangled in the blanket.

  Reaching down, the Alpha wrapped one hand around the back of my neck, lifting me to dangle above the floor. Using his other hand, he gripped my blanket, yanking it away from me and tossing it to the ground as I hung limp in his grasp.

  Neither of us expected the hand that pulled his head back, or the knife that sliced across his throat.

  Blood flooding down his chest, the Alpha released my neck, dropping me to the floor at his feet. Staring up in shock, I watched as Pine yanked the body back, tossing him against the opposite wall before glaring down at me.

  Eyes dropping to the floor, I finally noticed the blood soaked into my blanket. Sobs breaking free from my throat, I clutched at a clean portion and lifted it to my chest before realizing I was smeared with blood as well.

  Letting out a low growl, Pine wrapped a hand around my upper arm, pulling me to my feet before stalking down the hall towards my cell.

  "This is why you were locked in a cell, in case anyone got inside."

  Trying to dig my heels into the concrete floor was useless, I didn't even cause him to slow. Flinging me into the cell, I landed on my hands and knees, crying out at the pain as Pine stood in the doorway.

  "You'll stay here and keep quiet until this is handled. And don’t think you’ll be coming out again anytime soon."

  Slamming the door of the cell so hard that dust drifted down from the ceiling, I looked towards the tiny window of light as I heard his footsteps fade away. I didn't know what happened or who that Alpha was, I didn't know how or why he got in, but I was now sitting in the dark once again, covered in his blood as the tiny bit of hope that had flared in my heart died.

  Tears slowing to a stop, I didn't even feel the cold as I sat and stared blankly towards the door. I was beyond the point of tears. Beyond the false hope that I would ever be freed. I had entered that apathetic point where living didn't mean as much anymore.

  Even when the entire building shook, sending more dust and rocks raining down, I remained where I was, kneeling on the floor. It seemed fitting when the last bit of light in my world flickered and went out, leaving me truly alone in the darkness.

  Rescue

  I have no idea how long I sat in the dark. My mind seemed to be disconnected from the rest of me, because however long it was, I didn't move. I didn't feel the concrete biting into my knees, or the pervasive cold seeping through my body.

  I seemed to float in a state of numbness until my mind finally registered the noise that had been growing louder. It took me a while to realize that the rumbling and roll of rocks wasn't part of whatever happened before. The masculine voices cursing and grunting let me know it was someone trying to get to me.

  "I told you to be careful! To wash as soon as you left her so you didn't carry her smell out to where others would find out about her. Did you fucking listen? Of course not! Now we have damn near every Alpha in the slums breathing down our neck to get ahold of her, and one of them almost did because you grew soft and wanted to be nice to her!"

  Pine's growling yells echoed down the hall to me, though it seemed to be taking a long time for him to follow.

  "We got rid of them."

  "For now! After destroying the fucking house in the process!"

  Blinking, I tried to process what was being said. I thought it was Water that Pine was yelling at, but I couldn't be sure.

  "If I hadn't put her back in the damn cell she would have been crushed under the rubble. You are a bunch of fucking morons."

  "We didn't know it would shake the house like that, or that the floor would collapse. At least it got rid of the others."

  "For now," came Pine's low growl before a light shone through the window of my cell, blinding me.

  "She's okay."

  I thought I heard relief in his voice, but if it was, I knew it was only because he didn't want to lose something valuable.

  Blinking as the light burned my eyes, I finally moved, flinching away from it and raising an arm to cover my eyes. Joints stiff, I finally began to feel the ache of being still for so long. My body began to tremble as every joint screamed in pain.

  Somehow, I found the moisture to be able to cry again, the tears leaving warm trails down my cheeks that slowly chilled in the cold air.

  Moving one part at a time, I tried to ease the pain in my limbs as the men did something on the other side of the door. There was more grunting and cursing and the sound of rocks being tossed aside before I heard the key being put in the lock. There was growling when the door appeared to be stuck, only opening about an inch.

  The pain in my joints had finally subsided to a dull ache by the time they forced the door open enough for Pine to slip inside, followed closely by Cinnamon. He tried to slip around Pine to get to me first, but the snarl Pine released made him freeze, though his own chest rumbled in response.

  "Back off, Charles," Pine said.

  I looked from who I had always called Cinnamon and watched as Pine strode across the space between us, stopping and crouching to look me over.

  "Are you hurt?"

  My eyebrows drew together at the question. Giving a tiny negative shake of my head, I flinched when he reached towards me, but he only pushed my hair back from my face.

  "We need to get out of here," he said as he stood, stepping towards me.

  Scooping me into his arms, the heat radiating from his chest almost burned me with how cold I was. Walking towards the door, I looked at Charles as we passed him, trying to draw in a breath of his cinnamon scent to calm the panic b
eginning to rise inside me. He had always been the nicest of the Alphas, and I wished he was the one holding me.

  Giving me a smile when he noticed my attention, Charles reached out and brushed my shoulder with his fingers as Pine carried me past.

  Getting through the door was another issue. The guys had to step sideways through the small gap, and Pine couldn't fit through while holding me.

  "I'll go through, and you can pass her to me," Charles said from behind us.

  Pine growled. "No. You take her."

  I was shifted into Charles's arms before watching Pine slip through the opening. Putting my arms around his neck, I tucked my nose against his chest and drew in a deep breath.

  I tried to whisper, "Please," but my mouth was so dry that it came out as nothing more than a hoarse gasp.

  Reaching up with one hand, he pried my arm from his neck.

  "You have to go to him now. We do need to get out of here, and I don't want to put you down on these sharp rocks."

  Whimpering, I slowly pulled my arms back. It took some awkward maneuvering to pass me through the space between the door and the wall, but they managed it, and I found myself blinking into the faces of Grady and the man I still knew as Water.

  Charles slipped out behind us and the men stood squished together amongst the debris clogging the hallway. I had only gotten small chunks of rock in my cell, but the hallway looked like half the ceiling was now on the floor.

  "This location is no longer secure, so we have to move, and quick. I can guarantee the building is being watched and it's going to be hard to get out unnoticed. If we try to go somewhere else in the Slums, we're going to be tracked down again, so any ideas?"

  Pine's serious attitude drew the men's attention to him though each of them had reached out to touch me in some way. As if to reassure themselves that I was okay.