Nashira has been a blood slave for five years when she finally escapes the grasps of Vampires. As soon as she is free, she runs straight into the hands of a handsome Wolf.
Out of the frying pan into the fire, she thinks. The warm and exciting feelin...
Nashira fought against the feelings she was beginning to develop for Orion. After the first week she had asked to leave but had met the resistance she had expected. She knew she shouldn't have believed the Alpha's words. She knew she had to fight for her freedom yet again.
She had been a prisoner of the pack for two weeks now and still hadn't seen an opportunity when she could have escaped. It seemed as if Orion was always with her. Always sweet, always thoughtful, but also compelling in his questions and insisting she gave full answers. Slowly but surely, she had gained his trust and got the chance to ask him questions too.
"Could I look something up?" asked Nashira cautiously. The previous questions had been more superficial, but she had to steel herself to dare ask this question.
Orion looked at her thoughtfully. "What would you like to look up?"
"My father," Nashira said looking at her hands. "I haven't spoken to him in five years and he doesn't even know I'm alive and I..." Her voice trailed off. Her father was all she had left in the world.
Orion took her hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze. She did not meet his eyes but looked at their intertwined fingers. For Wolves, touch was something natural, something they could not live without. Everyone in the pack seemed to be in constant contact with each other, and the couples even more so than others. She could not explain how much it meant to her to be reassured by a warm hand after being surrounded by the cold of the Vampire clan for so long.
With a rough finger, he lifted her chin and looked into her eyes as if searching for something. His thoughtful gaze turned to warmth. "Sure, let me check with Adam, and then we'll go to the control room."
He walked away and she missed his touch as soon as he was gone. She gave herself a mental push. She didn't want to get too comfortable here; as soon as she could she needed to go home, back to her father and her own life.
Adam gave permission and Orion led her to a building adjacent to the hospital where she had first been taken. He took her through a series of corridors and they arrived in a room with a wall full of screens and computers. She saw a large map with a red line around the area. She wanted to study the map more thoroughly, but she was quickly led on by Orion.
He introduced her to a striking woman sitting at the computer and asked her father's name. "Mohinder Sharna," Nashira said then spelling it out.
The woman nodded and began to type quickly. Several windows lit up and closed again until she saw the image of her father's driver's licence. Her heart surged, remembering the day they had gone to take that picture together. He had lost his licence the week before and they needed a more recent photo as his old one was from his student days.
They had been crammed into a booth in a shopping mall and had taken some silly pictures until she had stepped out so that he could take the last one for his driver's licence. A small smile played around his lips, but his eyes were full of life and joy.
The next photo that popped up in another window took her breath away. It was a picture of an autopsy. Her father was lying on a table, covered by a blanket, looking inhumanly pale. The cold she had not felt since escaping from the Vampires crept through her body once more. His eyes were closed, but she knew she would never see life or joy in them again.
She forced herself to look past the photo and look at the date of the report. The day she had been taken. She cupped her hands over her mouth to hold back a sob.
Orion looked at her with compassion and the woman looked at her in horror. "Sorry I didn't think this was going to come up, I..."
Nashira did not hear the rest as she had run out of the room. She was lost in the maze of corridors and at the end of a hallway, she leant against the wall and sank to the floor. The tears that had been inside her for five years flowed freely now. She was all alone. There was no one to look for her, there was no one with whom she was safe and there was no one she could go to.
She had been alone for five years but had always hoped she could get back to her father and her old life. Now that hope was gone and the cold returned. She didn't try to fight the numbing feeling that had helped her survive.
Orion walked into the corridor where she sat and she shook her head. She wanted to be alone with her grief. She was alone in the world and she would go on like that. There was no point in staying here any longer. She wanted freedom, she wanted to see the world. Locked up for so many years, and now she was stuck here.
He sat down beside her, but as soon as he moved gently to touch her, she pulled away. She didn't want his reassurance. She wanted to be alone. Orion seemed to notice and moved a little further away to give her more distance, but he stayed with her. Even from a distance, she felt the strength and confidence in him. He was the only one she had left.
He could understand what she was feeling now. He wanted her to share her loss with him, the pain, the lost feeling. He had lost his parents too, and maybe together they could...
She shook her head. No, she had no one, and she had to leave. As when a prisoner of the Vampire clan, she began to put together a plan in her head. Patience was all she had, after five years, a month more or less didn't matter. This time she was going to escape and not look back.
She looked at Orion sitting next to her. He would play a part in her plan. She did not yet know exactly what his role would be, but she knew that he was the only one she could influence. She laid her head on his lap and closed her eyes.
It was not for reassurance, she told herself, it was part of her plan. But she could not deny the warm feeling that went through her when he gently stroked her hair. Her tears were absorbed by his pants and she felt safe and secure. She gave herself this moment to enjoy it. To draw strength from his warmth and be strong enough to leave. She locked that warm feeling in her heart and she knew she would cherish it forever.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
