Enraging the Alpha

Ch. 2: The Dungeon

BROOKE

In my dreams, there was no mountain. No alpha. No luna. No goddess to make demands. In my dreams, Huck and I were on an island a thousand miles from everything and everyone. Seagulls cried as waves lapped at the shore. His scent mingled with the sea. I was sunning my back, belly down on the hot, white sand, with my cheek resting on my folded arms.

Huck lay on his side next to me, our faces mere inches apart. "Do you want to know my favorite thing about the beach?"

I smiled. "What?"

"Bikinis." He tugged the string of mine, undoing it easily.

"Huck!" I gasped in mock indignation.

He grinned. "Oops."

"Tie it back."

"Come closer."

"Why should I?"

"Because I need you."

I closed my eyes, smiling softly as I hummed. "How badly do you need me?"

"I can't do this without you."

The desperation in his tone made me pause, and I cracked my eye open. Nothing about his expression had changed: laughing eyes, a gorgeous smile, golden skin soaking up every ounce of sunlight. He was perfect. Everything was perfect...but it wasn't.

"Huck?"

"I need you to be okay."

"I am okay."

"Please be okay. Please, please, please be okay." He continued on, desperate words spilling from serenity.

"Hey—" I scooted closer. "I'm right here."

Huck pulled me into a crushing embrace, and I closed my eyes, focusing on the feel of his body against mine. But the more I focused, the less it existed, and the more the atmosphere changed. Hot sand became cool, hard dirt. Fresh, salt air grew stagnant. Huck's body disappeared, but his presence filled me, and his hold tightened.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. He chanted the words within my soul, matching the rhythm of my heart. Like pieces of an ugly puzzle, my circumstances clicked into place, painting a picture of loss. He was here, but he was a million miles away.

And I was in the dungeon.

I cracked my eyes open, finding Mother asleep beside me. No bed. No blanket. The dream felt more plausible than seeing her like this: knees drawn up to her chest, feet tucked beneath a soiled dress. Mother never stumbled, never wavered, couldn't fall. Yet, there she was at the bottom, and I'd been the one to push her.

It was over.

My throat dried, becoming raw as I fought to hold back a stream of endless sobs. I'd failed. I'd failed, and now Huck was gone forever. We would never undo what'd been done. The valley would crumble, the low wolves would suffer, and our children would never exist. All the things I'd pictured for our lives disintegrated into ash, leaving behind nothing more than this darkness.

Huck's presence expanded, spreading like a balm over my despair. I closed my eyes and pretended he was here, escaping the only way I knew how. But the sun rose like it always did, and the streaks of light spilled through the barred, rectangular windows high above our heads. Mother woke and droned on for hours, becoming increasingly tense as no breakfast arrived. Then no lunch. No dinner.

The sun was setting when the door above creaked and slammed, and boot steps echoed down the stairs.

My mouth watered, and I jumped to my feet just as two sentinels appeared. My gaze immediately searched their hands like a dog seeking scraps. One only had a gun, which he aimed at me, prompting me away from the bars. The other carried a bucket. He opened the door, set it inside, locked us back in, and left to complete whatever was next on their to-do list.