Chapter 4

A horrific odor entered my nose, and noise filled my ears.

Very loud. My head felt like it was to burst.

I gradually opened my eyes and blinked repeatedly to regain clarity of vision.

My brows knitted together in confusion. I moved my body, and I was surprised to discover my hands and feet tightly bound with rope.

I raised my head to look at the tree I was leaning against, and my stomach was tied to the tree.

I scanned my entire body that my eyes could reach, there were no wounds, and I remembered where I was the last time. I was in the woods by the lake behind Alpha Meddox's house when someone dr***ed me.

I looked ahead; a distance of three meters from me, my captors were eating grilled boar meat while exchanging stories. They haven't realized I've woken up from fainting.

The sky was orange, signaling the impending arrival of night.

I looked right and left to find out where I was right now. Forest and sea. My eyes widened as I noticed that the ocean, with its colossal waves, was merely a meter away from my left side.

I gulped. If I could free myself from all these ropes, I must run to the right or back. But the problem is I didn’t know how to remove this rope from my body.

My wolf was weak. My wolf appeared to suffer more from the anesthetic liquid than I did.

"You've finally come to your senses." My heart stopped for a split second when I heard this sound. Then I raised my head; I was wide-eyed to found Aunt Eliana and Winona standing in front of me with crooked smiles.

"Hey, you guys," Winona shouted at the rogues who kidnapped me. "Why didn't you know she was awake? You guys were too busy eating!"

The rogues were shocked and hurriedly apologized to Winona.

I looked at Winona and Eliana. "Why are you …?" Bad thoughts attacked me, and my wolf suddenly had the strength to curse them.

Winona crouched down and smiled crookedly with the sharp gaze she gave me. Her face was scary. "Moon Goddess is so mean to Alpha Zavier. Why does Alpha Zavier have to have a mate like you?"

I groaned as she grasped my hair so tightly that I thought it would fall off my head.

"Why am I not Alpha Zavier's mate?" She screamed in my face and slapped my cheek. My cheek was throbbing painfully. "Why is an ugly and thin woman like you the mate of Alpha Zavier? You should be the mate of Alpha Meddox!" She slapped my other cheek.

My cheeks and head were throbbing in pain. She hasn't left her hands from my hair.

"Why?" She slapped me again. I resigned myself if death would pick me up. In my body, my wolf growled, and she wanted to take over my body to claw Winona, but she couldn't; Anna's strength was weakening for no reason.

"You must be happy, and you feel that you are the most beautiful because Alpha Meddox loves you very much, and Alpha Zavier is your mate." She and her mother laughed. "Damn you!"

Winona glared and strangled me; I held her hand as I started to run out of oxygen in my lungs and head. I begged her through my gaze not to kill me. It turns out that I still wanted to live."Winona." Eliana touched Winona's shoulder, and concern was evident on her face. "Don't forget our plan."

Winona slowly removed her hands from my neck. I coughed and then greedily sucked in air to fill my empty lungs. I held my neck, which was throbbing in pain.

The rogues released the ropes that bound my body. They forced me to stand up, and I was carrying a backpack so heavy I felt like my back would break.

I looked at Winona and Eliana, who smiled crookedly and walked toward me. The rogues holding my hand pulled me backward. I panicked when I looked back; the ocean with big waves was only a few centimeters away.

"I will belong to Alpha Zavier, and you deserve to belong to no one." Winona stabbed me in the stomach with a big smile on her face. I stared at her in disbelief.

It hurts a lot. My wolf helped heal my wounds.

Blood was flowing profusely, and the light blue shirt I was wearing was stained with my blood. Winona stabbed my leg, and the rogues prevented me from falling to the ground because my right leg couldn't support my body weight anymore.

Unexpectedly, Winona pushed my shoulders really hard as the rogues removed their hands from mine. I gasped and glared at them before being thrown into the air.

The backpack's weight on my back carried me into those big waves fast. I drank a lot of water. I attempted to swim to the surface of the ocean and resist the waves that pushed me back and forth, but the weight of the backpack made movement difficult, and all of my wounds had not healed.

I pulled off my bag impatiently, gritting my teeth every time I moved. I could finally remove my backpack, but I was already many miles under sea level. My lungs' oxygen supply was exhausted, my chest felt tight, my eyesight was fuzzy, and I didn’t have the stamina to swim.

I really regret not learning to hold my breath underwater.

My wolf called out to me and attempted to take over my body, but Anna found her body growing weaker.

I give up.

I wish the Moon Goddess would let me meet my father and mother there. I wanted to hug them. If I couldn’t meet them, permit me to embrace my mother.

I miss her. I wanted to say I was not happy, and I was sorry to her I chose to give up.

"She's breathing!" The screams hurt my ears so much. My eyes were wide, water gushed from my lips, and I coughed so hard that my throat stung.

Sounds of sighs escaped from many mouths. I looked around me with eyes that could not see clearly.

"She lives!"

"Thank the Moon Goddess, she's alive."

I frowned after I recovered from my shock. The Moon Goddess didn't let death take me. I was not dead.

"Hey, you guys go. Don't be a pervert." A young woman shooed away everyone in the tent who was standing around me with a worried face.

"Drink." An old woman gave me hot tea. "Your body is very cold. You seem to have been at sea for too long."

I sipped the tea slowly. My throat and stomach warmed, and the warmth spread throughout my body.

"You should change. I'll lend you mine. We share the same size." The young woman gave me clothes.

The shock had not completely left me. I still couldn’t believe I was not dead. I was pretty sure I would meet my mom and dad.

My wolf was angry because I couldn’t accept that I was still alive.

"Where am I?" I asked an old woman who came after I changed my clothes and finished warm tea.

"You are in the Red Sea Pack," the blue-eyed old woman replied. "We discovered you stranded on the sea while we were preparing for the event to welcome Alpha's arrival and finish preparations for the sea fishing competition."

"Thanks for helping me."

"We are happy to help you."

My gaze fell to my thighs, which were wearing shorts. The Red Sea Pack is very far from my pack and the Alpha Meddox's pack.

Where was the forest where Winona kept me captive and tortured and the sea where Winona dumped me?

I was curious how long I was in the water before reaching the Red Sea Pack ocean.

"Alpha will arrive in five minutes." Someone shouted outside the tent, causing a disturbance. The old woman and young woman who were with me were shocked, and the young woman ran out of the tent.

"What's your name?" The old woman's question snapped me out of my reverie.

"I'm Elettra."

"Where do you come from?"

My body froze with my eyes widened, and my heart stopped beating when my nose caught this incredibly sweet scent.

'Is this the scent of our mate?' My wolf asked me. She wasn't as happy as when we smelled Alpha Zavier's body.

"Alpha." The old woman stood up, and I followed her gaze. I saw a man with emerald eyes and brown hair.

My heart reacted by beating so fast it felt like it would explode. This intoxicating fragrance invaded my senses as the Alpha walked towards me. I got caught up in his emerald eyes.

"Mate," said the Alpha. "Finally, we meet."