A Chance

Chapter 24

I woke up in the cold damp icy dirt, freezing and shaking. A thin blanket was draped over my shoulders but was doing nothing to keep any warmth in my body. The plant was still round my neck but as I blinked to life in the light of a crackling fire, that was too far away to emit any heat on me I noticed more of the plant round my wrists over shackles. There was a few people stood round in the small clearly that I was on the edge of but my eyes landed on him. He noticed me moving and marched over to my helpless self.
"Hey there sleepy head," he chuckled looking at the shackles "powerful stuff that wolfsbane. Too much and it's deadly to wolves like us." I shuffled back into the tree I was shackled to. This merely made him burst into a deep laugh that made the ground shudder. "It's always been fun to watch you squirm in fear of me. Women should fear their husbands," I frowned confused. "Oh my dear, I should introduce myself properly. My name is Seth and I intend on marrying you once I cut your mate's head off in front of you."
"N-no he'll beat you, he'll...." I stammered attempting to lift myself from the ground. Using the trunk of the tree I managed to get myself to my feet. He merely laughed closing in on me, eventually stood so close I could feel his breath fall on my head.
"He's a dead man," his hand gathered up the bottom of my dress. "I've dreamed of being in you ever since the first time, I know he hasn't had the chance yet." I felt the bottom of the dress fall and his hand travelled up my body. I felt physically sick as he touched me even though it was over the dress. His hand ended up under my chin as he tilted it upwards to meet his gaze. Practically throwing me back to the ground, then spinning back around he walked away leaving me in the dirt on my hands and knees. I curled up into a ball frightened, believing desperately that Keyan would come and save me from this monster.
Some shuffling and clicking of chains caught my attention to the right of me. A couple of trees over there was a figure chained up too with wolfsbane round their wrists and ankles. Their eyes settled on me then widened, they moved as close as the chains would allow. I could see he, had silver hair and bright blue eyes, he was disheveled but otherwise looked as though he usually took care of his appearance. "You look exactly like her," he said with a raspy voice. I pulled my knees to my chest a little afraid of this stranger. "Please don't be scared," he held out a hand as far as he could. "My name's Samual, I was the elder coming to see you and your mate Keyan." He sighed "I'm sorry I just, well you look exactly like my sister. She was your mother," he smiled at me with kind eyes as though remembering a happier time. I knew then that I could trust this man.