Nerida felt the cold bite against her soft flesh making her shiver, but she concentrated on keeping the tears away from her eyes. The enemy must not see how weak she felt, how vulnerable. Her clothe was torn at the top, exposing a large part of her flesh that should have been kept hidden, and she had to cover them with her tiny fingers each time a male stared.

They had put them in cages, the males together, and she being the only female had been left alone.
Nerida sucked in a breath as she remembered her home, her own pack. They all probably thought she was dead now, and so they would not even bother to look for her. She shivered slightly as a warm tear finally escaped her eyes. She missed her Papa so badly.
A male from the enemy pack, the ones who had captured her, walked up, inspecting the cages, and then he came to stand in front of hers. Just like all males, his eyes went to her torn blouse, and he grinned. It was a predators grin, Nerida had seen it on the faces of males before – right before they forced themselves on a female.
He crouched in front of her cage. “What’s your name female?”
“None of your business.” Nerida spat, her eyes shooting daggers at him.
He laughed. “That’s right. I like you just like this, tough and resisting, right before I beat you into submission.”
Nerida held his insincere green eyes with hers, her own blue eyes cool. “It would take a stronger male than you to do that.”
It took a while before her insult sank in, but when it did, the male became furious, muttering angrily about how he was going to make her pay. He removed a bunch of keys from his pocket and started testing each of them on the lock. Because of his anger, and Shaky hand, he was still searching for the right key when they both heard a voice from behind, interrupting his frantic search, and interrupting Nerida’s thoughts. It was the deep and yet well-controlled voice a very powerful male, a male who was accustomed to being obeyed – an Alpha. Alpha Sky.
She knew immediately he was the one. She had heard so many stories about him. About how calm and yet ruthless he was, how he could be smiling with you, and then in a minute carve out your heart with his claws. Nerida shivered slightly.
“Looking for something Patrick?”
The keys fell off the male’s hand, and he turned around, at once looking afraid and intimidated, his anger gone completely, and Nerida couldn’t blame him.
The male who now stood in front of her was dressed completely in black. He had on black leather trousers, and a black shirt that was so light, it molded to his well-ripped muscles each time the light breeze danced around him. And it was open at the throat.
Nerida found herself staring at his powerful throat, at the pulse beating there, because she could not bring herself to look at his face, to look into his eyes.
“You haven’t answered me, Patrick.” The male said simply. There was a faint note of sarcasm in his voice, but Nerida could not tell if it was directed at her or the other sniveling male she now knew was Patrick.
“I ah . . . the prisoner needs to work . . in the storehouse, that’s why I am looking for the key.”
“The prisoner.”
Nerida looked up in time to see the cool grey eyes of the other male access her. There was a smirk at the corner of his mouth as though he found something about her funny, but the mirth didn’t reach his eyes. Nerida felt her heartbeat quicken and her mouth suddenly felt too dry to let her speak. She used the tip of her tongue to lick her lower lip, hoping to restore some moist, but her heart stopped when does grey eyes flickered lower to rest on her lips.
“It appears to be female,” he finished, an eyebrow raised in appraisal.
Nerida felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. She must look horrible with her unkempt hair and torn clothes. Her hands came up again to cover her breasts that were exposed at the top.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard Patrick but we don’t give our female prisoners hard labor. We have other uses for them.” He said the ‘other’ in a lazy drawl, his eyes flickering to her torn blouse, and Nerida found she could not breathe.
He took the keys from the shaky hand of Patrick, and in one try, opened the cage. Nerida backed away from his extended hand till he swore, and grabbing her by the top of her already torn blouse drew her out. She shivered as she collided with his rock-hard body, then she dared herself to look at his face. She shouldn’t have.
His face was well chiseled, almost sculptured. He looked so exquisite, he couldn’t be real. Perhaps he was an apparition, maybe the trauma she had faced just recently had messed with her brain, he wasn’t real.
Of it’s own Accord, her hand lifted to his face and traced his high cheekbones. His lower lip curved in a smirk, and insulting humor lit up his grey eyes.
“It seems you’re eager enough for this my little beauty.” He purred, as one of his hands slowly came up to touch her exposed flesh. His hand was not gentle, and while it drew a whimper from her, it was all Nerida needed to snap out of her daydream
“The only thing I’m eager for is to cut your throat with my bare hands and watch you bleed as you have done to my people.”
“Really?” He laughed now. “I can see why Patrick thought it would please him to beat you into submission. Maybe it would please me as well.”
Nerida whimpered. She had not been afraid of Patrick, but now that the same punishment was promised by the Alpha, she could feel the cold hands of fear squeeze at her heart, and to her surprise, deep down, she could feel her heart quicken in anticipation at the thought of what it would feel like if he –
“Follow me Nerida. I have other uses for you.” The Alpha commanded softly, and unwittingly, Nerida found herself following as he turned around and headed towards the house. She was his prisoner after all, he had the power to do with her whatever he wanted.