Chapter 15
"What do we have here?" Sneered a young face with dusty blonde and unruly hair. He looked to be about my age, his stature smaller than the rest but still strong and powerful compared to my meek frame. He held the upper part of my arm, resting in the crook of my armpit and I leaned into it to relieve the pain in my ankle.
I looked to my left side where the largest of them held my other arm. His grasp was gentle compared to his companion, like he was afraid I would break under the grip of his ogre hands. He was gargantuan and I gaped at the size of him.
The medium dark hair was tapered in a crew cut and soft brown eyes complimented his wide jaw. There was a sweep of chest hair on his broad chest and a small streak of white in his dark and short beard, which was a surprise contrast to his young face.
"She’s just a little bird," the giant spoke, a booming and impossibly deep voice.
Another spoke behind me. "Not a bird, a flower. With pedals so vibrant even the sun smiles at her beauty."
This one just barely came into view from where I was trapped. The only one who wore a shirt, a black tank top with a bag strapped across his back. His hair was slightly longer than the rest and a gorgeous blonde color, pale blue eyes also set him apart from the vicious yellow glow of the rest. Perhaps he wasn’t a werewolf like the others.
"Do you see her eyes, Dom?" Said the youngest, he was pretty in a smooth ivy league sort of way. I looked at each man, wondering which one might be Dom.
Grayson struggled in the arms of my familiar stranger. A growl erupted and Grayson was able to land an elbow into the man’s cheek.
The attack had faltered the stranger’s grasp on the weapon that was around Grayson’s throat and the two men beside me leapt into action, throwing punches and kicks to subdue their target.
The absence of their grip on my arms had made me lose my own balance and I buckled under my own weight.
Sturdy hands were at my back before I landed on the ground. I looked up as the blonde man pulled me into his arms. His hand grasped the skin of my thigh and I felt exposed where the skin lit up under his care.
His expression was so kind, I felt an immediate trust with him. "I’m Julien," he said as though the fight before us was nothing compared to light in my eyes. His name was as sweet as his personality and I couldn’t help but give a small smile at his kindness.
"Rebel. Rebel Sterling." I added my last name in case he thought I was using the word rather than my name which has happened before. I still felt anything but a rebel as my voice came out shaky and unsure.
"A name fitting for the queen of the broken." His words were a poetic riddle that dripped with honey and I blushed under his compliment.
A movement caught my attention and I jerked my sight over and screamed, "Stop!" As the familiar stranger held his spear up.
Grayson was on the ground, blood leaking from a cut on his cheek and his shoulders were pinned by the giant.
The younger one had a bruise growing on the side of his eye and the man with the spear stood stoic, spear at the ready to pierce the heart of his victim. With my command he paused, and they all looked to me simultaneously.
Silence followed as though they were waiting for my next order. "Please don’t kill him."
They looked to each other then and Grayson, unsuccessfully, struggled more. He was at their mercy now. His naked body looked weak under the wrath of my saviours. A mixture of relief, guilt, and fear swirled throughout me.
"But, we saw what he was about to do to you," said the younger one, confused.
"He was attacking you," the giant chimed in.
The one with the spear waited, locking eyes with me in a knowing way. He was studying me, deciding. His stance and demeanor was that of a leader, calm and authoritative.
"Is that what you wish?" He finally asked. "To save this man’s life?"
I nodded and spoke. "Yes." My word was sure but my thoughts were not. Was it the bond that had me stop them? They were right, he was attacking me. I shuddered at the thought of what might be happening to me right now had they not shown up.
The spear was lowered and the younger one protested, "what the fuck, Dom? You know who this is."
Grayson’s eyes were angry yet defeated, his chest rising and falling quickly with panic and rage. If I could guess, he had never been put on his back before.
"Dominic, it isn’t right." Said the giant.
Dominic’s eyes didn’t falter from mine as he stood his ground. "The girl wants him alive, so he lives. But for his crimes, he will be imprisoned. Bind him and take him to base."
They dragged him to the edge of the forest while he kicked and fought. The giant held him down while the younger one used plant bark to tie him too tight for comfort.
Grayson cursed at them until they gagged him before pulling him to his feet and hauling him away. They disappeared down a trail and Dominic approached where I sat in Julien’s arms.
Knowing half their names gave me a sense of power. I thought of the time I had demanded the girl, in the castle back in Europe, to give me information and she obeyed as though under a spell.
"Are you alright?" Dominic asked and I nodded, surprised the strange island invaders were actually kind. I could have saved myself so much distress if I had sought them out when I first saw Dominic watching me.
He held out a hand for me to shake and I reached for it. The contact of his skin on mine sent a spark through me. I could sense the power he held from our grip alone, he commanded and others obeyed, a dominant in the werewolf world.
"Alpha Dominic of the Ridgeline pack. The gentleman who so graciously holds you in his arms is Julien Suthers. He’s from the Blackwater pack up north." He spoke so calmly, like it was completely normal to find a naked man attacking a half naked woman on a deserted island.
"...was from the Blackwater pack." Julien intercedes. I guessed it was normal for werewolves to introduce themselves with where they originated.
I locked eyes with Dominic, trying to assess his intentions. "I’m Rebel, I’m not in a pack." I thought about adding in my birthplace but decided against it.
Dominic turned my hand over in his to reveal the mark on my wrist and gives me a questioning look. "Are you sure? It looks like the Obsidian Syndicate has claimed you."
I shook my head, "no, I was rejected." I wasn’t sure of their politics and hoped I was explaining it correctly.
"Grayson was returning me to my father to... break the bond, I think. When our plane crashed down in the ocean."
Dominic shared a look with Julien that I couldn’t decipher. "Well, if you wouldn’t mind, we welcome you to stay with us."
I laughed out loud and Dominic raised his eyebrows with surprise. Choices over where I stayed stopped being up to me when I left my childhood home.
As if he understood, Dominic nodded slowly and half smiled. "All the same, I invite you to our home." They were all so polite that suspicion crept into my mind. These were still strangers and I could very much still be in danger.
But now they have Grayson. Even with my hatred towards him, at least I knew what to expect from him. For all I knew, these men could take my life. Or worse.
Dominic dropped my hand and I looked into the men’s eyes, deciding. They waited patiently even though the choice was an illusion. I couldn’t survive on my own.
"I’ll go with you." I told them while silently praying they meant me no harm.