Finn

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The smell hit me first. My brain was foggy, and I couldn't seem to get my eyes to open, but I would recognize the scent anywhere.

Cigar smoke, sweat, and the sickly sweet cologne he wore too much of.

Howard.

It was too close, overwhelming all of my senses and making me want to gag. My stomach grew nauseous, but my muscles felt too heavy to move. The scratchy blanket underneath me made my skin crawl. I finally got one of my feet to move, and groaned when a pain shot up my leg.

"Finally, you're up." A rough voice grumbled to the right of my head. My ears didn't seem to work until they spoke, and suddenly I heard too much at once. People talking far away, wind blowing against a window, someone yelling. I tried to blink my eyes open, but my vision was blurry and met with a blinding light. I squeezed them shut again and let another pained groan as my head started to throb.

"Come on, get up. You've been asleep long enough."

I shot it in the bed when I felt his hand in my thigh. My eyes shot open, and I scrambled to the headboard. My feet screamed in pain, but I didn't care. Anything to get away from Howard. He narrowed his eyes at me, clearly upset at my attempts to escape him. He took another step towards me, reaching a hand to grip my knee I had pulled up to my chest.

"Stay the fuck away from me." I scowled, slapping his hand away. A low growl escaped, a warning from Howard to behave. I'd heard it plenty of times before, and it was usually followed by a punishment.

"Don't disrespect your Alpha," Howard growled again, grabbing me by my hair and pulling me up. I cried out and scratched at his hand, but he didn't let go until I was kneeling on the mattress in front of him, "you may have been able to talk back to that mutt, but it won't fly with me."

I glared back at him, afraid if I opened my mouth I'd say something I shouldn't. My skin burned where his fingers dug into my shoulders, but I resisted the urge to flinch away from him. Howard thrived on my fear, and the months I spent away from him unearth a new fire of courage in me. I wasn't going to let him take it away from me.

"You've been away for a long time, little one. You've forgotten what how things work around here." Howard's voice lowered, his face moving way too close to mine. I smelled his breath and resisted the urge to gag as he ran a sharp nail down the side of my face. I flinched when it caught one of the scabs from Cillian's scratch marks on my cheek. A small drop of blood formed on the spot, and he narrowed his eyes at it.

"Don't worry. After dinner, I'll be sure to remind you what happens to little girls who run away to whore around with mutts."

Before I could say anything, Howard grabbed my arm tight enough to leave a bruise and hauled me off of the bed. I yelped as my body jerked to the floor, scrambling to find my footing as he hurried out of the room. He pulled me into a small hallway that led to a living room, and directly out the front door. We must have been in a small cabin, because neither rooms as very large, and the front door led directly to a forest outside.

Howard continued down the gravel path outside, heading towards a larger building nearby. There was no one else outside, and only one other cabin besides the one we came from and the large building we headed for. A couple of tents had been placed outside in the grass, and I saw people moving inside. If anyone heard us, no one came outside to greet us.

He didn't shorten his strides for me to keep up, which meant I was basically being dragged behind him. When he neared the entrance to the larger building, his stride slowed down. I was finally able to put all my weight on my own feet.