Page 16 of Rejected By My Shadow Alpha
His brows twitched with the first sign of displeasure. "You don't get to defy me. You're my daughter. You owe this family."
"I owe myself more," I snapped, my voice shaking. "I won't marry him."
His voice dropped to a low growl. "You will do as I say. Don't make me remind you of what happens when someone crosses me."
"I am marked already by…"
"I don't bloody care!" He retorted, "Whatever you had with that urchin never happened. You will obey me as your father and as your alpha."
He left before I could scream, shutting the door behind him and locking it again. The click of the bolt was louder than his footsteps. It was a sentence without a trial.
Tears blurred my vision, but I didn't let them fall. My throat was dry, like I had swallowed smoke. The world felt distant, muffled, and disconnected, like I was drifting through a nightmare I couldn't wake from..
I paced the room, the walls closing in tighter with each step. Mark Wren. He wanted me to marry Mark, the spoiled, fat heir of the Silvercrest Pack. I had barely tolerated him as a family friend. I recalled with disgust the last time we met at their mansion. I had accompanied my father to visit him. His lustful eyes had followed me everywhere, undressing me with a leery look that repulsed me.
I would rather run away than marry that pervert. I grabbed my phone from the desk and tried to dial the police.
Nothing.
I checked again. No signal. Another call-failed.
A sharp breath cut through my teeth. "You really thought of everything, didn't you?" I muttered to no one, my phone still in hand. My father had disconnected my lines, trapped me in a room, and cut me off from the world.
I stared at the screen for a long moment before tossing the phone aside. The test result swam in my mind again. A life was growing inside me. It was a child I hadn't planned for, hadn't asked for, but couldn't ignore.
There was only one way out of this mess. I needed to outsmart my father to escape, and I would not achieve that if I stayed angry with him.
The moonlight spilled faintly through the barred windows, casting long shadows across the room like prison bars drawn on the walls. I lay on the bed waiting. The next time he came to talk to me, I would listen and agree to everything he said. Once he let me out, I would escape from here, never to return.
Then came the soft click, the lock sliding back.
I stopped and sat up. The door creaked open, and Marek, my father's most loyal dog, walked in with a tray of food in his hands. He was the man who'd guarded my room in silence since the day my father put me in here.
I crossed my arms, disappointed it was him. "Come to chain me to the bedposts next?"
He said nothing at first, only glanced behind him before stepping in and closing the door quietly. He dropped the tray on the table and faced me, his eyes soft.
"You shouldn't talk like that," he said at last, his voice low. "You know he's just trying to protect you."
"From what?" I hissed. "The world? Myself? Or his dark secrets?"
Marek flinched and clasped his hands.
This could work in my favor if I use the right words. I stepped forward, dropping the sarcasm. "Please. Let me speak to him."
"Ruby…"
"I'm not asking to escape," I whispered urgently. "Just give me five minutes. Let me talk to him. He trusts you. You can stand right there and listen to every word, but I need to make him see reason."
He frowned, uncertainty in his eyes.
"Look, at this point I don't care what he wants to do," I said, the words sticking like thorns in my throat. "I just want to go back to my patients and do the one thing I love to do, being a doctor."
His jaw tightened. He wasn't a heartless man, just a bound one. "I'll walk you there," he said finally. "But I stay close. One wrong move, and we go back."
"Deal."
The corridor felt like the longest stretch of space I'd ever walked, sterile, echoing, and oppressive. My pulse beat like thunder in my ears. Marek walked half a step behind me, silent.
