Page 118 of Chased By My Grumpy Alpha
A man stands in the hallway—tall, pale, with cold eyes that seem to look right through me. There’s something wrong about him, something that makes me nervous even though I can’t pinpoint what it is.
“Can I help you?” I start to say, but before I can get the words out, his hand shoots up.
His fingers touch my forehead, ice cold against my skin, and everything goes dark.
Chapter Twenty
Astra
The cold seeps into my bones first. That’s what pulls me from the darkness—this bitter, gnawing chill that makes my teeth chatter before I’m even fully conscious. My head throbs with a dull, persistent ache that pulses behind my eyes with each heartbeat.
Where am I?
The thought comes sluggishly, like swimming through thick honey. Everything feels wrong. The surface beneath me is hard, unforgiving stone. The air tastes stale and musty, carrying the metallic tang of old blood and something else I can’t identify.
My eyes flutter open to complete darkness.
No, not complete darkness. There’s a thin shaft of pale light filtering through what looks like iron bars across the room. Prison bars.
I try to remember what happened, but my memories are hazy, fragmented. I was in my inn room, waiting for Lucian to return. He had left to meet someone downstairs. Then there was a knock at my door—a man. And then...nothing. Everything goes black after that until this moment.
“Luna,” I whisper, my voice coming out as a hoarse croak.
I try to sit up and instantly discover the extent of my predicament. My wrists are bound tightly behind my back with ropes that cut into my skin with every small movement. My ankles are also tied together, so tightly that I can barely wiggle my toes.
Panic immediately flares in my chest. I tug at the ropes binding my wrists, but they hold firm. The rough fibers bite into my skin, and I feel wetness—probably blood—beginning to trickle down my hands.
Where is Luna? Is she safe? What about Lucian? Does he know what happened to me?
The questions bombard my mind in rapid succession, each one more frightening than the last. I force myself to take a deep breath, trying to calm the wild racing of my heart. Panicking won’t help me figure out where I am or how to get out of here.
I need to think.
I need to escape.
Alpha Gareth! It must be him. He probably sent someone to retrieve me, to drag me back and make me pay for running away. The thought makes my stomach clench with familiar dread.
After all those years of being treated like garbage, after finally finding something that makes me happy, he’s going to ruin it. He’s going to destroy the one good thing I have.
No.
The word blazes through my mind with surprising force. I am not going to lie here and let him win. I am not going back to that life of being treated like dirt, of collecting dangerous herbs while everyone else gets to live normally, of being invisible and unwanted.
I finally found happiness with Lucian. I finally found someone who wants me around. I’m not giving that up without a fight.
I wriggle myself up into a sitting position, ignoring the way the movement makes my head swim. The restraints at my wrists dig deeper, but I grit my teeth against the pain and force myself to focus on my surroundings.
The cell—because that’s definitely what this is—appears to be carved from rough stone. The walls are uneven and jagged in places, with deep cracks running through the rock like spider webs. Water drips steadily from somewhere above, the sound echoing in the confined space with maddening regularity. The floor beneath me is damp and covered with what feels like decades of grime.
But those jagged edges in the walls...They could be exactly what I need.
I scoot backward until my bound hands brush against the stone wall behind me. The rock is rough and sharp in places, with several protruding edges that feel promising. If I can position myself correctly, I might be able to saw through the ropes.
It’s going to hurt. A lot.
But I’ve been hurt before. I’ve survived worse than this.
I maneuver myself so that the ropes binding my wrists are pressed against the sharpest edge of rock I can find. Then, I begin working my hands up and down, using the stone like a crude knife to cut through my restraints.
