The Mute Mate

IV

"Well, look what we have here, boys." 

I trembled in the closet, cowering in fear from the intruders that just killed my brother right in front of me, his dead body being unceremoniously thrown across the floor. The voice speaking was a fair-skinned man who mirrored someone who was coming off of heroin. His ears were big and his sickly smile was filled with eroded teeth and traces of blood. He snarled at me, showcasing his teeth and horrid breath on my face, as light and fresh air flooded into the dark closet. I cringed, wanting to disappear into the back of the closet and never be seen again. This guy was disgusting and nasty to me, I didn't want to look at him anymore. 

He snickered to other people that were in the room with him, "She's a pretty little thing, don't you think?" 

Another man came into view, he looked slightly similar but was much more muscular and darker than the first man, and didn't seem as scary. He seemed much more unimpressed by everything, but not as scary and degraded as the first man. He shrugged, "I think Alpha would like her most." 

The first man squatted down to be closer to my face and I crawled over pairs of shoes and other things in the bottom of the closet to get away from him, but sadly, the wall wouldn't go back any further. "I think keeping her around for us would be just as enjoyable." He licked his lips as I saw the uncountable fantasies of what he wanted to do to me. I already felt dirty and violated just by the thoughts running through his mind. 

A disembodied voice came back, the second man I had seen, "Devin, don't. Let's bring her back to Alpha first and if he doesn't want her, you know he'd throw it back to us." 

"Fine, asshole." The man called Devin rolled his eyes in annoyance and went back up to join his comrades.  

The second man from before came back into view, glancing at me for a moment before nodded to some of the other men, "Keep her alive. We're taking her back to the Alpha." 

"Yes, sir." Was the only chorus of response I could hear. 

Before I could react, two random men started to crawl into the closet with me and I came to the conclusion that they were coming after me. I began to kick at their grabby hands like they were disgusting rats. They were and I didn't want to become infected. I kept them off for a few more kicks until one hand go a good grip on my ankle and gave me one tug strong enough to slide on my back out of the closet. I was birthed into a sicking light that was filled with six different men. Each of them diverse in looks and strength. Some were ugly, some were better looking, but they all carried blood on their hands, or clothes, or wherever the splattered laid on them. An involuntary scream erupted from me. 

Devin side-eyed me and spat, "Get some tape over the bitch's mouth before I rip her tongue out." 

His threat alone quieted me down, my eyes filled with tears as they spilled over. I turned my head to avoid the looks of those nasty men and I was nose to nose to TJ's dead body. I scrambled off my back and sat at the feet of one of the men. It happened to be the second one where I ended at and he was not menacing or intimidating. He didn't kick me away as I imaged the other men would have. He raised me up to my feet. I noticed I only came up to his shoulders. He's as tall as TJ is. Was. 

He commanded again, "Tie her up." 

The men didn't wait this time and came behind me, gripping my wrists together until a thick rope started to burn at them. I felt weak and helpless against their strength and I figured if I tried to fight against them, they wouldn't hesitate to kill me.

The second man glanced over the room, trying to think what to do next. They had already demolished everything this pack had. He shrugged casually, blood of people on his hands didn't seem to bother him. Two other men came from downstairs, bursting through the room, their eyes laying on me and then moving to the man in command. "Beta Isaac, we didn't find their crowns." This was their Beta, the man in command who led me by my elbow around. Simply knowing that chilled my bones quicker than standing in a winter storm would.

Isaac glanced towards me, tossing an idea in his head and it had to do with me. He turned towards me, leveling himself to my height,  staring into my soul. "What's your name?"

I knew he was talking to me and I knew that the custom was the reply back, especially considering he held my life in his hands. But my tongue wouldn't move. I couldn't bring myself to opening my mouth and talking to him. He sighed and moved on, seeing my unintentional resistance, "Do you know where the Alpha and Luna crowns are?" I knew what crowns he was talking about. The crowns Mom and Dad would wear as a formality during special occasions like weddings and presentations. I had memories of not being able to wait for my own. Mom's is so pretty on her. Unconsciously, my eyes drifted to the closet on the other side of the room, the walk-in closet, the one where all their formalities are kept. Issac followed my eyes and snapped his fingers. Immediately, three men moved to action, diving into the closet and ravaging into it. A sense of betrayal gripped my heart, knowing they would find what they were looking for. Isaac turned to the remaining men and gave them an order, "Scan the house one more time. No one left alive."

They scattered, leaving simply me, Isaac, and  the man named Devin. Isaac let me sit on the bed in the room. He was much nicer than I had expected him to be. Devin seemed angry with Isaac, his arms crossed and shooting daggers towards him. "You said no one left alive."

Isaac seemed very unfazed by Devin and his anger, simply addressing him with the same indifference he addressed everybody with. "Yes, I did say that."

Devin motioned towards me, "You gonna kill her?"

Both men examined me as if I was a display. I wanted to vanish into thin air. Images of Isaac bashing my head in or slicing my stomach open until I bleed to death came to my head. I was gonna die tonight. Tears came to my eyes and my face became riddled with snot and tears running down my face.

Isaac shook his head,"No. She's gonna stay with me." Devin looked like he had been slapped by Isaac's words.

"What do you mean? Alex said no one left. Burn everything to the ground. You're gonna go against his orders?"

Isaac was going against whoever Alex is and the only person that was bigger than he was only the Alpha. Still, Isaac was once again trying to protect me, "I'm modifying orders here. She will stay with me and she is not going to be hurt. Is that understood?"

"Issac, Alex is going to be pissed with you. This isn't your area to make these type of commands."

Issac stepped forward, chest to chest with the smaller man and that made the differences more animated. Isaac was someone who worked out, and ate healthy and was almost half a a foot taller than Devin. Devin must had been stayed away from the gym as much as possible as the meat on his bones hung there in an unhealthy way. I spotted a couple marks on his inner arms that held blue tracts in his veins. I knew he was a drug addict or something along those lines.

"What did I say, Devin? You're not going to touch her. Do I make myself clear?" Isaac's voice got deeper, gravelly and more menacing than I had heard before. His back was turned towards me, but I could imagine he looked much more intimidating than before.

Devin stepped down from him, making his way out the door with the amount of fury that was building up inside him. Isaac turned towards me, his face as calm as before and he squatted to my level, "I want you to always be by my hip. If any of those men touch you in any way, hit you, make you uncomfortable. You come to me and I'll handle them. Okay?"

I was dumbfounded. It was almost like Isaac was protecting me from the death and destruction around me. Maybe he wanted to keep me for his own pleasure. Considering the other option was death, it wasn't a bad deal. But did I want to be with the Beta? I didn't feel any connection to him. Why was he protecting me like he was?