Sold to Bastard Alpha after My Divorce!-Chapter 68
Aria’s POV
Darkness.
Complete and absolute darkness.
The bag over my head smelled like dust and something chemical. It scratched against my face with every desperate breath I took.
My groceries were gone. Scattered on the sidewalk somewhere. Forgotten.
Hands grabbed my arms. Rough. Brutal. They yanked me backward so hard my shoulders screamed in protest.
"No!" The word came out muffled against the fabric. "Please! Let me go!"
No one answered.
I kicked. Thrashed. Tried to bite through the thick material covering my mouth.
Useless.
They were too strong. Too many of them.
I felt myself being lifted. Thrown into something hard. Metal. A vehicle?
The engine roared to life.
We were moving.
"Please!" I screamed again. My voice was raw. Desperate. "Whatever you want—I’ll give it to you! Just let me go!"
Silence.
Nothing but the rumble of the engine and the pounding of my own heart.
How long did we drive? Minutes? Hours? I lost all sense of time.
The bag stayed on. My wrists were bound. The plastic ties bit into my skin every time I moved.
*Aria.* Artemis’s voice was weak in my mind. Frightened. *I can’t... I can’t sense anything. There’s something blocking me.*
Wolfsbane.
They’d used wolfsbane somehow. I could smell traces of it now. Faint but unmistakable.
Whatever they’d planned, they’d planned it well.
The vehicle finally stopped.
Doors opened. Cold air rushed in.
Hands grabbed me again. Dragged me out. My feet scraped against gravel. Then concrete.
"Walk."
A single command. Male voice. Deep and unfamiliar.
I stumbled forward. Couldn’t see where I was going. Couldn’t do anything except put one foot in front of the other and pray I didn’t fall.
A door creaked open. The air changed. Colder. Damper. Underground, maybe?
More walking. Down stairs. Each step was terrifying. I kept expecting to miss one. To tumble into nothing.
Finally, we stopped.
"Sit."
I was shoved down onto something hard. A chair? A bench? I couldn’t tell.
My hands were still bound behind my back. The bag still covered my head. Everything was dark and suffocating and wrong.
"Please." My voice cracked. "Please, I don’t know what you want. I don’t have anything. I’m nobody. Just let me go."
Footsteps retreated.
A door slammed.
Lock clicked.
And then silence.
Complete, terrible silence.
---
I don’t know how long I sat there.
Time lost all meaning in the darkness. Minutes felt like hours. Hours might have been minutes.
I tried everything.
Screaming until my throat was raw. Pulling at my bindings until blood ran down my wrists. Calling for Artemis, for anyone, for anything.
Nothing worked.
The wolfsbane in the air kept my wolf suppressed. Weak. Useless.
I was completely alone.
"Hello?" My voice echoed off unseen walls. "Is anyone there? Please! I need help!"
No response.
"I’m pregnant!" The words tumbled out before I could stop them. Desperate. Pathetic. "Please! I’m pregnant! Whatever you want, I’ll do it! Just don’t hurt my baby!"
Still nothing.
My head dropped forward. The bag was damp now. Soaked with tears and sweat.
Who had taken me? Why?
Was it Finn? Had he finally snapped? Decided that if he couldn’t have me, no one could?
Or was it... someone else?
My mind raced through possibilities. Each one more terrifying than the last.
Magnus Blood Crown. Had he somehow found out about the baby? Had he sent people to eliminate the evidence of his son’s mistake?
The thought made my blood run cold.
No. No, that was impossible. Only Cassius knew. And I trusted Cassius.
Didn’t I?
Doubt crept in. Poisonous. Relentless.
What did I really know about him? He’d appeared in my life so conveniently. Always there when I needed help. Always willing to sacrifice for me.
What if it had all been an act? What if he’d been working for someone else the whole time?
Stop it, I told myself. Stop it. Paranoia won’t help you.
But the thoughts wouldn’t stop.
I’d trusted Finn too. Look where that got me.
I’d trusted Kael. Look where that got me.
Every man I’d ever relied on had betrayed me in the end. Why would Cassius be any different?
"No." I said the word out loud. Firm. Defiant. "No. I won’t do this. I won’t fall apart."
But falling apart was exactly what I wanted to do.
The baby.
My hand strained against the bindings. Trying to reach my stomach. Trying to touch the tiny life growing inside me.
I couldn’t.
"I’m sorry," I whispered. To no one. To myself. To the child who might never see the world. "I’m so sorry."
This was my fault.
All of it.
If I hadn’t been so stupid. If I hadn’t fallen for Kael’s game. If I hadn’t let myself hope...
None of this would have happened.
My legs went numb. My arms ached from being bound behind me. My throat burned from screaming.
I’d stopped crying at some point. Run out of tears. Run out of everything except the hollow ache in my chest.
Was this how it ended?
Kidnapped. Killed. Dumped somewhere no one would ever find me.
"Hey!" I shouted into the darkness. "HEY! I know someone’s out there! You can’t just leave me here!"
A sound.
I froze.
Listened.
Footsteps.
Soft. Measured. Getting closer.
Click. Click. Click.
High heels.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
The footsteps stopped right in front of me. Close enough that I could smell perfume. Something expensive. Something familiar.
Where had I smelled that before?
A hand reached out. Grabbed the edge of the bag over my head.
Pulled it off.
Light flooded my vision. Blinding after so long in darkness. I squeezed my eyes shut. Winced.
"Well, well, well."
A woman’s voice. Low. Amused. Dripping with malice.
I forced my eyes open. Blinked against the harsh light.
The room slowly came into focus. Concrete walls. Single bulb hanging from the ceiling. Bare and ugly and cold.
And standing in front of me...
A woman.
Tall. Elegantly dressed. Her face was obscured by the shadows. The light behind her turned her into a silhouette.
"Look at you." She laughed. The sound was sharp. Cruel. "Alpha’s precious little mate, huh?"
"Who are you?" My voice came out hoarse. Barely recognizable. "Why are you doing this?"
She stepped closer. The light shifted.
I still couldn’t see her face clearly. The shadows clung to her features like a mask.
"You think you can just waltz into our world?" Her voice dropped to a hiss. "You think you can steal what doesn’t belong to you? A Shadow Moon whore like you?"
"I didn’t steal anything—"
"SHUT UP!"
Her hand cracked across my face.
My head snapped to the side. Stars exploded across my vision. The taste of blood filled my mouth.
"And now look at you." She stopped pacing. Turned to face me. "Sitting here. Trembling. Pathetic. Just like I always knew you were."
She leaned in close. So close I could feel her breath on my face.
"Alpha’s mate?" she whispered. The words were poisonous. Dripping with hatred.
Her lips curved into a smile.
"Go to hell."
Something cold pressed against my lips.
A vial. Glass.
I tried to turn away. Tried to clamp my mouth shut.
But hands grabbed my head from behind. Rough. Unforgiving. Holding me still.
"Open up." Her voice was singsong now. Almost playful. "Time for your medicine."
I kept my lips sealed. Shook my head frantically.
"Have it your way."
Fingers pinched my nose shut.
I couldn’t breathe.
My lungs screamed for air. My body convulsed. I tried to hold out. Tried to resist.
But I was weak. So weak.
My mouth opened. Desperate for oxygen.
Liquid poured in.
Bitter. Burning. It scalded my throat on the way down.
I gagged. Coughed. Tried to spit it out.
Too late.
Whatever it was, it was already spreading through my system. I could feel it. Cold and wrong, slithering through my veins.
My vision blurred.
The woman’s face swam in front of me. Still obscured. Still a mystery.
"Sweet dreams, Aria." Her voice seemed to come from very far away. "This is only the beginning."
My head felt heavy. Too heavy. Like it was filled with stones.
The room started to spin. Colors bled together. The single bulb overhead became a smear of yellow against black.
The last thing I heard was the click of high heels walking away.
Then nothing.
I passed out.
