Wolf Captive

There was a strange stillness in the air, a stillness that preceded the calm before a storm.

Saffron could taste the wrongness in the air even as she wiped the kitchen table clean, just like she had dutifully done since she was nine years old.

The silence in the house unnerved her and made her look twice at certain corners, as if expecting someone to jump out at any second and disturb this lackluster peace that had enveloped them.

Trepidation filled her every pore, but on the outside, she was as calm and levelheaded as was imaginable.

A glance at her father—James Kessler—sitting in the same position for the last three hours had another bout of anxious energy rippling through her.

He was as still as a corpse, staring unseeingly at the peeling black and green wallpaper of their sitting room.

“Daddy?” she called out as she dropped the rag she held on the table and walked into the living room, sidestepping shards of a broken beer bottle which he must have dropped earlier today.

There was a calmness in her voice, calmness that certainly wasn’t supposed to be present at this moment.

She felt like her voice should be shaky or hysterical even, but instead, it was cold and unemotional.

It wasn’t the first time she caught him staring off into space. But something about his sitting position today had her checking up on him.

The way he sat with his shoulders hunched over, his shaggy brown hair obscuring half of his face from her—as if he were hiding from the shame of not being the father that she deserved—had her feeling somewhat ashamed over her lack of reaction.

“Daddy?” she called out again as she reached his side, the light from the lit candles casting a shadowy glow on his face, highlighting the sunken pallor of his cheeks.

When all she got as a response was the slight raise of his chin and an apology in his dead blue eyes, Saffron knew that whatever was coming, she wasn’t ready for it, nor was she going to like it.

Only seven days left before she turned eighteen, the only obstacles now standing between her life here and the life she had envisioned for herself without her deadbeat father. Seven more days and she would no longer have to pretend.

“Would you like something to eat?” she asked, even though she knew he wouldn’t respond to her. “There’s leftover spaghetti and meatballs from last night. I could heat it up for you if you’d like.”

As she made to go back to her chores in the kitchen when he didn’t respond, his hand shot out to grab hers in a strong grip, stopping her in her tracks.

“You want me to stay?” she asked slowly, as his grip tightened to the point of pain.

The apology in his eyes once again sent a spike of fear right through her heart. For all his faults and misdoings, James Kessler had never so much as been apologetic nor looked bothered or felt remorseful.

So, whatever he had done or whatever was coming, it had to be big and unforgivable to evoke such reactions from him.

“What have you done, Daddy?” she asked in a monotone, even as fear darkened the edges of her vision and made her knees lock up.

“Forgive me, Saffron,” he croaked, finally releasing his tight grip on her. “I’m sorry.”

A gust of air puffed out of her lips, the only outward reaction to his words. Red clouded her vision, her mind racing a mile a minute as she tried to make sense of his apology.

“What have you done?” she asked again, this time her voice a harsh whisper that had him jerking in his seat before he hunched over, curling into himself, as he apologized over and over again.

Outside, a storm raged on, the clap of thunder drowning out the pitiful apologies spilling from his lips.

It was as though the sky was willing to open up and share this moment with her.

As if pulled by an invisible thread, Saffron moved sluggishly into the kitchen, heading straight towards one of the cupboards with laser focus, muttering please be there, over and over, as her heart pounded wildly in her chest.

When she pulled aside the empty boxes of cereal she kept as cover for what laid hidden there only to find an empty space awaiting her, her heart splintered all over again.

Why? She wanted to ask as she turned towards her father, tears streaming down her face, but only a gasp left her lips.

Her hands trembled, her body shaking with the force of her silent sobs as she stared at her father, the man who was supposed to provide for her, yet kept taking and taking so much from her, draining her.

And now, he had taken the last shred of hope that she had for a new life. All her life savings, all her dreams gone in just a blink of an eye.

Seven more days, the voice in her head soothed.

Yeah, what good are the seven days now when I have nothing? She scoffed at the voice, feeling like she was starting to lose it as tears rolled down her cheeks.

You will be free, Saffron, the voice whispered back.

Not now, please, she whispered back brokenly as she fell to her knees, no longer caring about the shards of beer bottle littering the floor or the cuts she was likely to get.

“I’m so sorry, Saffron.” She heard her father’s voice once again, through the roaring in her ears. “Please forgive me.”

“I hate you,” she spat, with all the pent-up resentment she could muster.

“Saff…”

“Don’t you dare,” she growled, pointing a finger at him. “Don’t you dare apologize,” she added weakly, as another sob left her lips.

The loud squealing of tires and heavy footsteps riding along with the clap of thunder interrupted them.

As one, they both turned their heads towards the door with varying shades of emotions—Saffron with fear and curiosity, and James with resolute acceptance mixed with sorrow.

The doorknob jiggled for a bit, and like a scene from a horror movie, both Saffron and her father were frozen on the spot, their eyes fixed on the door.

The door opened with a loud bang, startling Saffron into action as she ran towards the cupboard, wanting to arm herself against the intruder.

But the men who strode into the house had her abandoning her quest, as true horror gripped her insides.

Her gaze found her father’s and the acceptance in them had her gripping the table as a wave of dizziness overcame her.

“Take her!” one of the men growled, as he pointed at Saffron who remained as still as a statue.

“No! Please!” she begged, moving backwards, tears now streaming down her face in earnest.

“Do something!” she screamed at her father, as two of the men grabbed at her, stuffing a bag over her head and muffling her screams, while he sat on his recliner watching, without so much as a word.

Heart beating wildly against her chest, Saffron fought against her captors, thrashing and kicking at them, trying to make a run for it.

The half-moon tattoo dripping with blood denoted them as members of the Blood Moon gang. And she knew deep in her heart that whatever her father had done, it couldn’t be good.

The bag they had over her head was too thick to make out where they were taking her, as one of the men scooped her up and onto his shoulders, holding her firmly by the waist.

“Let me go!” she screamed, when her hands were freed as she pulled the bag off of her head. “Let me go, please! I didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, but your father did.” The man holding her snickered, as she thrashed against him.

“Let. Me. Go,” she growled every word, thumping her curled fists against the back of her captor.

When she got no reaction from him, in a moment of panic, Saffron decided to bite him, which she later came to realize was the worst decision ever.

“You bitch!” he growled, as he dropped her on the floor, directly on top of the forgotten shards of broken bottle.

Adrenaline coursing through her, Saffron didn’t feel the pain of the cuts, neither did she care about the blood oozing from her open wounds. All that mattered now was saving herself from whatever trouble her father had brought to their door tonight.

She tried to scramble to her feet, but one of the men was on her in a flash. One moment he was standing by the door, and the next, he had her by the throat.

“Please…” she gasped.

Now truly terrified and panicked as she fought for her next breath, Saffron clawed at his hand, gasping for air like a fish out of water.

The edges of her vision began to bleed black as darkness began to envelop her.

“You will behave and let us carry on with business or so help you…” he trailed off, but Saffron heard the threat in his voice and the promise there.

No, she wanted to growl back at him, the voice in her head urging her to fight back.

But she knew it was a losing battle. It was five against one, and she knew even armed, she wouldn’t be able to take out one of them. They were lethal and trained against her untrained self.

Without hesitation, she nodded her head weakly, accepting her inferior position for today.

Her gaze found her father’s as she was once again unceremoniously dropped on the floor—this time, not on the broken shards of bottle—intense hatred burning through her brown eyes, even as fear of the unknown clouded her mind.

She rubbed a hand against her sore throat, not daring to move a muscle, even as every instinct in her body told her to run.

Saffron knew that she had a chance to run right now, as the men’s attention was no longer on her but on her father. The man who gave the order for her capture earlier brought out a file from his bag.

But she also knew that with the various cuts on her feet and knees, she wouldn’t be able to get far. And, she knew that whatever punishment they were going to dole out to her was going to be much worse than being strangled.

“This document will transfer all rights you have over your daughter to Blood Moon, and…”

“What are you talking about?” Saffron asked, interrupting them.

Pain exploded through her right cheek, as one of the men cocked back his fist and punched her, a ringing sound echoing through her right ear as she became momentarily stunned by the force of the blow.

“Behave!” he growled in her ear as he clutched her hair in a tight hold. “Interrupt us once again, and you won’t like the consequences.”

A whimper of pain escaped her lips, as he released her hair.

“That’s enough, Oscar!” the male who seemed to be the leader called out, an empathic frown on his lips.

Oscar, the voice in her head repeated.

The name circled in her head, as she wheezed against the pain, half-listening to the conversation around her.

A part of her was livid at the harsh treatment she got from these men who have infiltrated her home when she had done nothing to deserve it. Yet, another part of her was more outraged at her father for all the decisions he had made which led them to this particular moment.

The man she had bitten earlier came back to her side holding a tie, which he used to gag her mouth, and a zip tie, which he wrapped around her wrists, binding her hands tightly together behind her back.

The look of absolute loathing she sent him had him cackling as he brushed away a lock of her silver blonde hair away from her forehead.

“Such a shame,” he uttered, a predatory gleam in his eyes. “A great beauty gone to waste.”

“Ivan!” the leader warned, as the man now identified as Ivan gripped her chin in a bruising hold. “Let her go. We’re done here.”

“Hael, take her,” he ordered as he stuffed the file back into his bag, his eyes still on her.

“Is that really necessary, Kane?” Hael asked, as he gazed at her with pity in his eyes.

Kane bristled as if he wasn’t used to having his authority questioned. “Her father sold her to pay off his debts. So, unless you want to explain to the Alpha why the payment hasn’t been collected, then you shut your mouth and do as you’re told.”

Hael picked her up, without a fight on her side.

Hearing the reality of her situation had drained the fight out of her and shocked her into a strange sense of compliance.

Sold. The word sounded even more disturbing to the voice inside her head than it did her.

She was sold by her father to pay off his debts. That was what he had reduced her to—a possession to be traded off for his addiction and gambling problems.

‘You are going to pay for this.’ She promised her father with her eyes when their gazes met.

Outside, the storm had finally let on, heavy sheets of rain beating against the roof, as if it too was mourning Saffron’s fate.

Heaviness settled in her limbs as she got injected by a shot of an unknown substance. She tried to fight against it, but her vision had darkened, everything inside of her becoming numb.

Fear and panic battled against the numbness that overwhelmed her, as thoughts of what was going to become of her thundered through her mind.

She had no idea if they were going to kill her when she woke up from her forced slumber, or if they were going to abuse her body first before killing her.

As her vision doubled, her gaze once again found the man who had betrayed her, the one who had failed her at every turn.

And then everything around her began to blur, before blinking into nothing, as Hael dropped her in their truck, the bag from earlier once again covering her head.