Feral Obsession

Chapter Fifteen

Ruby felt like she couldn't breathe. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't seen daylight in what had felt like weeks. Maybe it was the fact that every time she heard a sound, her heart jumped into her throat in preparation.

Ruby had long given up any hope that her coworkers had alerted the police. Or, if her coworkers had placed a missing persons report, they clearly had no leads. No way of figuring out where she had gone, and who had taken her.

Her stomach was an empty pit. She yearned for food as much as she yearned for someone to save her. Of course, different men visited her daily to place a water bowl on the floor just inside the doorway of her cell. A bowl. As if she were a dog. She wanted to laugh at the irony, but it just made her sad.

It was that time of day, anyway. The doorway to the house opened, spilling light into the dark basement. The person, the werewolf, flicked on the overhead lights as they lumbered down the stairs. A fresh bowl of water was in their hand, and by some miracle, they didn't seem to have any issues with spilling.

"How are you doin' down here?" The man asked, his voice oddly pleasant. Strange, for her captors. She was almost wondering if it was a hallucination - perhaps she would have succumbed to that thought - if another man hadn't arrived in the doorway frantically. "He's here. He's here! Get the fuck back upstairs!"

The man who was sliding the bowl of water into Ruby's cell looked back up at the stairs with a dumbfounded look. "Huh?"

"If Alpha Keirson finds you down here with that filth-"

"No need. I was coming to give our pet a little reprieve." A large man stood in the doorway now. The same large man who had questioned Ruby days prior. Alpha Keirson, Ruby repeated in her mind. A man with the name of Keirson has trapped me here.

She tucked that information for the day she was rescued. If that day ever came.

The man delivering the water stepped back from the cage, a kind smile on his face when he looked at Ruby. She wasn't sure what she had done to deserve that sort of kindness. Wasn't sure if it was even genuine. She didn't get the chance to figure it out, either. Alpha Keirson was bounding down the steps, his weight causing the sound to echo in the dank space.

He cracked his knuckles as he approached Ruby. His face was not happy, she realized. She didn't have any more space behind her, or else Ruby would have scuttled further into the corner. She found that she was already a shaking mess by the time Alpha Keirson was in her cell.

"I find it interesting that Alpha Langdon hasn't shown up."

Was Ruby supposed to answer that? She didn't know how. She could barely get any words past her lips with how hard she was shaking in fear. Peeing her pants in front of the three men in front of her seemed to become a very real possibility.

"Do you know why Alpha Langdon wouldn't come for you, little Ruby Crowell?"

Is he delusional? Ruby wanted to voice those words aloud, but she couldn't. Didn't. Instead, she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I told you, I don't know why he would ever come to find me. He's my horrible landlord who wants me gone. You've done him a favor by keeping me here."

Her voice felt scratchy from disuse. She felt overdue for a long, warm shower. She wanted to lay in her bed and never leave.

Ruby blinked at the men around her, wishing that maybe they would put her out of her own misery.

"I've decided that you wasting away down here is no use. If Atlas won't come for you, we'll use you here. Stand up and follow me. If you disobey, well little Ruby, we'll soon find out how fragile humans can be."

Alpha Keirson began to walk back to the stairs, not bothering to check on her. Ruby scrambled to her feet, tilting over as the weakness in her limbs had her stumbling. Her head felt dizzy and foggy from lack of food, but she pushed forward, not daring to find out what sort of torture methods this man wanted to test out on her.

"Please," she croaked. "If you're going to kill me, make it quick. I'm ready."

She was. What other choice did she have? Starvation didn't seem kind nor painless.

The Alpha grunted, but said nothing else as he led the way. Ruby followed him, tripping up the stairs, gripping onto the banister to try and find her balance. The man who had brought her the water, helped her up, his hands far kinder than expected.

Ruby looked over her shoulder, wondering how to thank him. His smile seemed to be answer enough, and Ruby faced forward the rest of the way up the stairs. By the time they made it back to the hallway in the house, Ruby was blinking under the lights, sunlight streaming down the walls.

She wanted to cry with relief, but there was no time. The Alpha was marching forward, and she had no choice but to follow.

"You have to understand, you will not return to your human life. Instead, since you were not claimed, you will become a sort of... pet. Here is where we will work together." The Alpha slid open a glass back door, and Ruby wondered if this was all a test.

She took a stumbling step, blinded by the light. Fresh air hit her, and tears sprang into her eyes. A handful of days locked away and she was ready to sentence herself to the afterlife. A sob broke free from her throat.

The sound of it, and the sight of her crying, had the Alpha backhanding her across the face so hard, Ruby fell. She pressed the palm of her hand to her hot cheek, blinking up at the man in front of her. She didn't have time to feel pain from the fall, not when he was crouching in front of her, hand gripping her hair tight against her scalp.

"I'm starting to understand why Atlas didn't come after you. It's not because he couldn't find you, it's because he doesn't want to put up with such a weak little human." The Alpha gave a bark of humorless laughter. "But trust this, Ruby Crowell. I will do you a favor by keeping you alive. I will do you a favor by training you and toughening you up. But you have to promise me one thing."

Ruby was nodding, fear in her eyes and on her tongue, and she knew she would promise anything.

"When the time comes, you will be the one to destroy Atlas Langdon, Alpha of the Canes Venatici Clan."