Cruel Alpha, Season One (Wolves of New Eden #1)

5. Let’s Try This Again

5

Let’s Try This Again

Annalise

I awaken on a blanket in the middle of a stone floor. The space is small and more cage than cell. Bright light shines between the bars, right into my eyes. Squinting, I make out a foreboding silhouette just beyond the bars and sit straight up, remembering where I am and the circumstances that landed me here.

When my wolf comes forth, announcing herself with a low growl. The feel of it resonates within my chest. She doesn’t like this any more than I do. A deep laugh hits the air—a rich, throaty sound that rouses goosebumps all over my skin.

Caspian.

“Relax, Little Wolf,” he rasps. “How is it that you find being held in this cellar more unsettling than being on foreign soil last night? Had a Clan Eris wolf stumbled across you before we did, no doubt I’d be viewing you right now instead of seeing you. Didn’t your uncle teach you about the dangers of wandering outside our territory?”

His tone is infuriating, implying that I, a lowly woman , need looking after. “I’m an adult,” I hiss. “I’m fully capable of looking after myself.”

“On the contrary,” he scoffs. “The only thing last night’s charade proved is that you, and all women, do indeed require the guidance and protection of a man. But that shouldn’t upset you. It’s nature’s way.”

The flagrant chauvinism, the shear audacity of his statement , leaves me feeling sick to my stomach.

He shifts his hand and the blinding light he holds is aimed toward the wall, away from my face, allowing me to finally see.

He’s clothed this time, wearing the typical light tones of the North—a crisp, white button-down tucked into tan slacks, a chestnut-colored belt cinching his taut waist. The sight of him calls attention to my own attire—the same khaki cargo pants and white tank top from last night. Only, filthier.

I lift my gaze to meet his, only to find that he’s already staring. His eyes narrow as he scans me, and I feel everywhere they settle on my skin—my breasts, my throat, and then up to my lips. So, while he’s staring so intently at my mouth, I speak, knowing I have his undivided attention.

“Get me the fuck out of here!” The words are cold and hard as they force their way through my clenched teeth.

Apparently, the alpha finds humor in my frustration, because he laughs again.

“Such course language for a lady of your status,” he scolds playfully.

“You can’t keep me here! I’m not your property!”

He isn’t moved by my screams. In fact, he steps a little closer, casually tucking his free hand into his pocket. “On the contrary,” he croons. “Your very existence is mine to decide.”

The truth in those words incites a bout of nausea, but my expression doesn’t change because I will give him nothing.

“I’m curious, Annalise. Most women would literally kill for a proposition like the one I’ve given you—the promise of my protection, access to all the finer things this life has to offer. And yet, you seem to despise it.”

I hold his gaze, but don’t speak. Because the answer I want to give comes with consequences. I’d love to tell him that I’m suffocating here. All women are suffocating here. The rules, the restriction, the oppression. Emotion tightens my chest as I let myself feel the entire weight of it.

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear yesterday, so allow me to be even clearer today,” he says, seeming to take my silence as another act of defiance.

He’s close to the bars now. Close enough for me to grab and hurt him if I had a better plan.

“My offer to have you as my mate was never up for debate. As the alpha, as… your alpha, it is my right to take whatever I want and whoever I want. Including you.”

Theres zero amusement in his tone, and a chill races down my spine. Now that his wolf has retreated, his eyes no longer glow blue. Instead, they’re dark as night and terrifying as they bore a hole through me.

“Now, whether you realize it or not, I’ve done you an immeasurable courtesy. I’ve brought you here, to this cell,” he says. “When what I could have done was end you right there in those woods last night, put you down like the disobedient dog you are,” he growls. “Is that what you want, Annalise? For me to gut you? Tear you limb-from-limb so you can die in some elegantly poetic display of martyrdom?”

He tilts his head, as if he’s genuinely deep in thought.

“I’m not a bad man,” he says. “Or at least… I don’t have to be. But that all depends on you. Your ability to control yourself. Your ability to fall in line and be the good girl I know you can be.”

I’m seething, warm from head to toe as rage filters through my veins. There’s no way he doesn’t sense it, feel it. But just so we’re on the same page, I respond.

“There’s no way in hell I’ll ever be your fucking pet.”

He stares, and in that moment, I can’t fight the onset of regret, knowing it probably wasn’t in my best interest to talk back.

“Hm, I see.”

My gaze lowers to his feet when he begins to pace in front of the cell, dirt and debris crunching beneath the soles of his obnoxiously expensive shoes.

“You don’t want this,” he concludes as my heart races. He finally gets it. What I’ve been saying all along.

When his feet suddenly halt, I lift my eyes again and meet his gaze.

“Come to the bars, Annalise,” he beckons calmly. Too calmly, which leaves me unnerved. But I’m too pissed to let it show.

Instead of cowering in the corner, I rise to my feet and charge toward the bars, like I’m some sort of match for him. Like we’re physical equals.

He smirks, maybe amused by my boldness, but then I regret not proceeding with caution, not keeping in mind who I’m dealing with.

“Listen carefully, Little Wolf,” he growls into my ear, a handful of my hair wound into his fist. “I’ve indulged you enough, let you think you have a voice, but I’ve officially grown tired of your antics. I’ve given you two choices before, and you fucked that up. Royally. But I’m willing to try this again.”

Enduring the unending burn he’s inflicted on my scalp, I clench my jaw, determined not to give him a single reaction—fear, anger. Nothing.

His lips are maybe an inch from my ear when he inhales my scent deeply, then exhales his warmth against my skin.

“If you give me your word that you’ll fall in line, if you can promise me that you’ll be on your best behavior, I’ll let you out of here. Trust me, sweetheart, these are not the accommodations I had in mind for one of my queens. So, it would please us both to see you sleeping on a bed, instead of the floor like some wild animal. However,” he adds, drawing a whimper from me when he brings me closer by my hair. “If you choose to behave like a beast, I will gladly continue treating you like one.”

I’m breathing so wildly my head spins, clenching my fists to keep from doing something I’ll regret, something that will surely result in death.

Mine, of course.

“So, what will it be? Will you choose to be kept as my darling beauty? Or my wayward beast?”

After a long, hard glare, he releases my hair, and I stumble back. My breathing hasn’t slowed. In fact, it’s even more exasperated than before as I stare him down, seeing him for the arrogant prick he is.

“Whether you leave me in this cell or set me free, I will never be yours, Caspian. I would sooner dig my own grave and bury myself alive before I’d let that happen.”

My shoulders heave, and my frustration deepens when the words I’ve spoken draw a smirk from him.

“Perhaps,” he says, that curiosity returning to his eyes. “Or maybe all you need is a little time to think.”

He starts toward the steps, turning off the flashlight. Total darkness surrounds me. In this windowless space, not even my wolf can help. His steps sound distant and panic fills me.

“Wait! You can’t just leave me here!”

“I can. And I will.” His voice echoes from some unseen place. “I’ll return in a few days. Maybe by then, either hunger or madness will have broken you.”

A few days? Would he really leave me here that long?

The sound of a heavy, wooden door slamming shut, and then latching, answers my question.

Yes.

Yes, he absolutely would.