Sold to the Alpha With Silver Eyes - Chapter 53: Chapter 53

*Eden*
Zachariah glares at me over the fire, his nose twitching and his eye nice and bruised, while I smile at him, proud of myself. He had to poison me again, but not before I kneed him in the balls and wobbled away on my spaghetti like legs. It didn’t take much effort on his part to catch me or even load me up, but this time when I woke up. I pretended to still be out, forcing him to come close.
My forehead still aches from the contact of it with his right eye socket, but somehow satisfaction wins out over pain. I may not be a formidable fighter, but at least I am able to put up a fight again. There was a time I was made lame, but even a lame horse can heal, so here I am, healed and fighting in the best way I know how. With a dash of stubbornness and a hint of no fucks given.
“You don’t want to untie me this time?” I ask sweetly, shoving down the insecurities in me, wanting to take over out of habit.
“I’m not sure I even want to save your ass anymore,” He mutters, picking up a blade of grass and tossing it to the side like an upset toddler.
“Then don’t. I never asked to be saved, and it feels a lot more like kidnapping than saving me.” I snap at him, settling into the tree as much as I can.
“So you keep saying. If you only knew the favor I was doing for you.” He rolls his eyes before standing and walking away toward some dead branches before he breaks them down into smaller pieces, his eyes constantly checking on me.
“Can I at least lay down, captor?” I snark at him and he grunts in agreement. I slip down the bark of the tree to the side, my tied up hands weaving up next to my face, a pillow under my cheek. A sharp object pricks me and I jump, excitement fluttering through me as I snap my gaze to him.
He is still unaware, as I wiggle, reaching for the sharp item and use it against the thickly bound rope on my wrists. Zachariah glances at me from time to time, a permanent scowl on his face as he brings the fire higher and I can almost feel its warmth.
“Why did you use a stove before, but now you are doing a bonfire?” I ask, curious.
“We won’t be going any further. Who we were meeting is coming here to get you. This is the signal. Granted, I’m not as close to the swap spot as I’d hoped we’d be, but that is on you.” He glares at me as I shoot him a sheepish grin.
“Oh darn, they might not come for me,” I mutter, my wrists burning as I try to speed up my process. My fingers sting and I can feel the wetness of blood on my hand tickling my palm as it trickles down my skin.
He snorts, shaking his head like I am somehow amusing now that he is almost rid of me. Then His head snaps up, eyes intense as he looks up at the sky. Zachariah rises to his full height. Then his nose sniffs the air, dread filling my stomach. Shit, I may not be able to smell, but that doesn’t mean he can’t scent my blood in the air.
“Do you smell that?” He whispers, crouching into an attack position before he creeps over to me, his eyes wild as he scans around the dark woods. Shadows play tricks on my mind, the trees swaying in the breeze casting moving figures all around us and I catch his fear as though it were a communicable disease.
“I can’t smell,” I hiss at him and his brows furrow.
“Someone is out there,” He whispers.
“Didn’t you say someone was coming to fetch me?” I remind him, though there is a large lump growing in my throat as I grow bolder and take larger swipes at the rope behind my back. Who cares if he finds out I’m trying to escape? The man looks like he is about ready to bolt and leave my ass here to find out what’s out there.
“Yes, someone I know. This is…” Then he pauses, looking down at me, his panic morphing into a cheeky smile. “This is your blood from trying to cut your wrist ties.”
My heart is already pumping a million miles a minute as I roll my eyes and exhale, relieved, I think, that he is messing with me. I roll my eyes at him, my shoulders relaxing as I stop and lie there looking up.
“If you took them off…”
“You would just try to run away again.” He pins me with a scowl and I groan, unable to disagree with him. He leans over, yanking at my elbow as he checks my binding and I find myself able to hide the progress I made through the thick rope, or at least I think I do.
“It’s not like I was making much headway.” I mutter, falling back to the ground, my cheek hitting a patch of cool moss.
“Yeah, well, it’s your attempt that bothers me more than your failure.” He snorts, stomping away, a jagged sharp rock with my blood on it in his hands. Zachariah tosses it into the woods, the echo of it hitting something in the distance, bouncing back as an owl hoots in alarm and skitters from a tree. There goes that exit strategy.
That is until I heard a low, deep rumble in the distance. It sounds like thunder rolling in, but the way my wolf stands at alert, I realize I am wrong. Something in the distance was drawn to the sound of the rock, or us. Zachariah doesn’t seem to notice, instead he grumbles to himself, tossing more twigs on the fire and checking the worn out elastic band watch on his wrist.
“Uh, Zachariah…” I whisper, trying to get his attention, but he is so stuck in his mind he doesn’t hear me.
Or rather, he is doing a great job of ignoring me. I bite my lip, looking where I swear the sound is coming from before I force myself back up and work my way onto my knees.
My feet tuck under my butt as I reach back with my tied hands and force myself to extract just one claw from my hand, trying to reason with my wolf. One more shuddering sound and my wolf complies frantically. The rope finally releases me, not a moment too soon before Zachariah stands up, on alert, hands out as he glances over at me.
“You hear it too?” He asks and I nod, eyes wide and lips pressed together tightly. “Sounds like a rogue. Shit.”
He seems to be able to smell the rogue before I can see it as his face grows pale and he gags on the smell that must be lingering in the air. I seize the opportunity to jump up to my feet, trying to hook my nail into the rope at my wrist like a damn acrobat, and then I sprint the second I see the rotting wolf licking his half decayed lips.
“Damn it!” I hear Zachariah grumbling before whipping through trees as they tear at my face, branches and thistle bushes cutting away at any part of me that is exposed. Where am I running to? Not a damn idea, hopefully not straight toward trouble. But with my luck, I will end up in the rogue’s lair somehow.
I can hear the fighting behind me, the snarling and even the grotesque sound of fleshing ripping. My body shivers as I trip, my feet tangling in something hard and twisty. Blood laces my saliva as my jaw snaps shut, pain zinging through the tip of my tongue after my head hammers to the ground.
It’s impossible to move my legs, still stuck in whatever twisted around me as I try to shift to my side, spitting the blood from my lips. Fuck, running in the dark with my hands behind my back was a terrible idea, but then again, what other options have I been provided? Just follow suit like a good girl and let my kidnapper lead me? Screw that. No longer will I be walked on like that.
There is no telling how long I lay here, my wrists rubbing together for long enough to feel the skin fade away from the friction. Then, as if it were magic, the rope pops off and I choke out a cry of relief, instantly reaching out to pull the vine shit from my ankles before standing again and with a little more caution, feeling my way through the darkness.
Under ideal circumstances, I would be able to rely on my wolf for better night vision, but that would require some tiny bit of light and here there is not even a spark. The fighting has stopped. No sounds have touched my ear since I made my way further into the darkness until the slightest whimpers float my way and I freeze.
I bite the inside of my cheek, the inner turmoil growing as I try to convince myself freedom is better than whatever is crying for help. But then there is the thought of Zachariah and what if he did know my parents? What could he tell me, well would he tell me about them if given the chance? There are so many questions surrounding not only their death but their life I knew nothing about. Did he know them better than me?
“Ssssshit.” I groan, placing my hands on my head as I bite my lip and growl deep in my chest and make my way back toward the noise.
It’s the most moronic thing I have done, heading straight back for danger, but I suppose I am not entirely hopeless in a fight anymore. That and the fact my curiosity only continues to grow now that I let myself think about how he might know my family to make the promise he swears he did.
It takes far longer to make it back to where I can see something, a flickering of flames in the distance through the trees. Each step I take is measured, slow and silent, as I try to determine which of the two remains standing. But as I get closer, I hear two voices chatting. One I can tell is Zachariah and the other, I can not place.
If it weren’t for the massive dead frame of a rogue, I would have assumed Zachariah was trying to play a trick on me earlier, but the look of guilt on his face tells me otherwise. He flickers his gaze to me for a second, then looks away before snapping his attention to me and jumping up with a sigh of relief.
“Well, holy shit!” He squeals, punching the air like he won some huge prize. The other man stands, looking at me, his jaw sharp and eyes full of violence and a sneer. I take a step back. Perhaps this was a big mistake. This guy looks like he most definitely wants to kill me. It’s very clear he has killed before.
I take another step away, my hands up in innocence.
“My bad, I uh…think I will just be on my way…” I chuckle, uncomfortable as the new man tilts his head in passing interest, then his eyes flicker behind me.
With my eyes squeezed shut, I slowly turn, peeking through my eyelids and freezing when I see the morbidly disfigured face standing behind me. But those eyes, the eyes of the wolf I saw numerous times before, are so familiar. Fear washes away as I tilt my head, looking up, waiting, and then he gives me a cheeky grin.
“Hey, Eds.” He whispers, his voice much deeper now, more grown up and my heart recognizes before my eyes do.
“T-travis…” I whisper, my hand reaching up to touch his scarred face. “How? I don’t…You’re dead…” and then I pass out, hands catching me as I disappear into the blackness in my mind.