He will sell me off to the biggest bidder.

“Go away!” Seth screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing the first thing she had in hand at the door. She happened to grab a crystal vase and smash it in pieces as the object hit a wall instead of the door.

To Seth's surprise, the violent knocking stopped as soon as the sound of crystal shattering echoed throughout her living room.

Perhaps the unwelcome guest understood that this wasn't the time to mess with her. If anything, she needed some time to think and spend on her own.

Seth hadn't had a chance to enjoy some alone time in a while, and now, no matter what happened - she would take the opportunity.

On any other occasion, she would ignore the broken vase, but for some reason, just knowing that it was there annoyed Seth. She let out a heavy sigh and got up from the sofa, slowly approaching her crime scene.

She struggled to pick up shattered crystal pieces, cutting her hands multiple times before getting the broom. When everything was clean, Seth sat back on the sofa and stared at her blood-covered hands.

“My life couldn't get any better, could it?” A tear rolled down her cheek.

As much as she tried, Seth couldn't find an answer to her own questions. How could someone who had been so independent and strong thus far could break as easily?

At one point, Seth compared herself to the vase she destroyed. All it took to destroy the beauty within it was a little bit of effort mixed with strong emotions.

Another knock sounded from her front door; this time, it wasn't nearly as aggressive as the previous one.

“Is it so hard to understand that I need some time alone?” Seth snarled at the door, pretending that she was facing the person.

It would be stupid to yell at a piece of wood, so using a little imagination was more than helpful. To make herself sound a bit more threatening, Seth pictured her father.

“I'm sorry to disturb your rest, Miss. The Council member warned me about your poor state of health, but I had to come here no matter what. Do you remember me? I am the guard who took you to the city on Friday; you handed me some money for the gifts I should buy for my kids. I bought a doll for my daughter and a toy car for my son, but I didn't forget to mention the kind woman who sent them. Listen, I'd love to tell you more, but could we do it while we're on our way, please?” The guard sounded tense, as if the man was in a hurry, attempting to leave the place as soon as he could.

Now, when Seth thought of it- the situation was more than fishy.

“On our way, where?” Seth questioned the guard, slowly approaching the main door. If anything - she knew that she had to be close in case she had to escape. Not from the guard, but along the guard.

“I could explain more in the car, please, Miss, this is a matter of your safety. They won't hold him down for long, many other Alphas attempted to help, but they ended up in a medical wing. Please, hurry. If he finds me here before we drive away, Miss, he will kill me!” The guard pleaded, the previous worry in his voice faded, replaced by real fear.

Seth refused to waste more time by doubting his words or thinking more. She unlocked the door, grabbed the first thing on hand to throw on herself, and followed the guard to his car.

He asked her to use a safety belt since they wouldn't be safe until they arrived at the destination, and he feared a possible chase. After hearing the word ‘chase,’ in her mind, there was only one word repeating itself - Luciano.

When the guard drove out of the territory, his grip around the steering wheel finally loosened, making him appear calmer. For a couple of minutes, both sat in silence - he was way too focused on the road ahead while Seth lost herself in a wave of terrifying thoughts.

What if the Alpha noticed her absence and went crazy, ready to hunt her down? What if all those things her cat told her were as accurate as nothing, and now, Luciano might try to kill her?

Seth didn't want to die; she was sure that there was more to life than she had seen. She would fight until her last breath, but again, she ran away from her problems as usual.

“Can we please talk now?” Seth whispered under her breath, still debating if she actually wanted to know what was the issue.

No matter what - it had to be huge if the Council member sent this guard to take her away from the cabin.

To think that she did this to herself was painful. If only she avoided all of those red flags and followed the rules, she set for all those years. Knowing that Alphas were possessive, dominant assholes, yet still sleeping with them was insane.

“I think we're at a safe distance now. Please, ask me whatever is the thing you need to know.” The guard threw a glance at all the mirrors, and his body relaxed.

It was nice to see that he wasn't as tense anymore, especially while assuming that both might be in great danger.

“I want to know everything, anything. I assume we're going pretty far away from the territory, so we might have enough time to talk more,” Seth still felt somewhat uncomfortable next to the guard.

He was a nice person, easy to talk to, but she didn't know him well enough to trust him fully.

Her eyes traveled to the window next to her, watching how the car passed a tree after a tree. The forest setting around them reminded Seth how Luciano saved her, dropping everything and running to take care of her safety.

So many times, the Alpha surprised her by doing things she wouldn't assume any other man would do. Even the note he left felt somewhat perfect - Luciano managed to remind her about the importance of food and water intake.

As the thoughts ran through her mind, Seth felt a sudden sadness overtaking her.

The Alpha, no matter how big of an asshole, left her in his house, trusting her enough to stay there. The more he tried, the more she kept defying and refusing him, and now, she broke any trust the man might have.

“Alright, to get rid of the tense feeling in this car first, I will explain where we are driving. Miss, it'll take a while, and I would prefer if you could get some rest or casually talk to me instead of glancing my way so suspiciously. I'm bringing you to my house. Unfortunately, I don't get to see my family often, so with your permission, I'll view this adventure as a short vacation with my loved ones. You will meet my beautiful wife and kids; they agreed to have a guest over. Do not worry, we have a small guest house in the backyard - you'll have enough privacy, and we will be more than happy for you to join the family meals. Does this sound okay? If it doesn't, I will give the Council a call and see what we can do to change things a little.” The guard smiled as he mentioned his family.

Seth eyed him, wondering if she would be capable of finding happiness such as his.

She would love to have a husband who speaks of her highly and can't stop grinning as soon as the conversation topic would be her. Having kids would be just as amazing for as long as she was ready to become a mother.

“If your family wouldn't mind, I'd love to meet them. However, I'm afraid that it might put them in danger. Would it?” Seth turned her attention to the grinning guard. For some reason, he didn't seem affected by her words, even a slight bit.

“Don't worry, Miss, our home will have security provided by the Council. Now, should I explain what exactly happened, or would you prefer to get some sleep? I must warn you if you choose the conversation - it might be quite long,” he chuckled, amused by his own words and actions.

The guard hoped that he could manage to make her feel at home. Usually, women around the Council territory were too mean to the guards - oddly, the worst always were those from staff.

When Seth arrived, she brought instant attention to herself because the woman was beyond beautiful, and obviously, everyone assumed that she might be one of the mean beauties. To everyone's surprise, she was quite the opposite.

Whenever someone asked for help - she was the first to offer it; she never forgot to greet everyone and even brought food to the main gate guards whenever she could sneak away.

Seth was the ray of sunshine in their daily routine. She was everything other women weren't around there, which was the main reason the guard wanted to be her friend. Perhaps his wife would find a close friend in Seth as well.

“If it's not too much to ask, I'd love to find out what it is that I'm running away from. It might be easier to think of the next move if I knew who or what was trying to find me. Perhaps the person would try to harm me, so it's better to come prepared, right? I might buy a gun or something,” Seth laughed off her statement.

She didn't feel comfortable talking about her roots, but little did she know that the guard knew more than supposed.

“You're right, but now, I'd like to point out something, if I may. I know that you are an Alpha, Miss, and so does someone who shouldn't know that. It was an accident; I swear - your father got a hold of someone in the Council, with the help of your fiance. Well, they're looking for you, so there are more reasons for us to hide you away for a while.” The guard bit the inside of his cheek, too nervous to keep on talking.

He had no idea how to address an Alpha female since there were only a couple of them worldwide, and he had never met one. Plus, Seth appeared to be favored by many Council members, so she was a top priority for many important men.

“Alright, that will be an issue I will deal with later. To clarify - I don't have a fiance, I never agreed to get married, all of that bullshit is an illusion built by my delusional father. Think of it - would I be here, working my ass off, if my father was a good man? Yeah, I don't think so. Let's forget about that for a while; I'd like to know what happened in the main building and why must I leave in such a hurry.”

Seth wanted to slap herself; perhaps the action might get some sense in her.
She didn't think of possible consequences all those times when she acted against her instincts. Maybe she should have had a conversation with her father before he went out of his way to find her.

“I was assigned to guard the library while the Council and an Alpha held an important meeting. He is a very powerful man, and I'm not talking about strength or title alone. Of course, everyone would fear Alphas - the born leaders, possessing more intelligence and strength than any other pack member, but this one is a bit more than any other ordinary man with a title.”

“The Alpha has more than ten districts under his hands - he owns one of the largest tech companies in our country, so surpassing all those nature-given gifts, he is wealthy beyond imagination. Men like him don't need a title to rule over us, simple people - as if we were born to be a bunch of his puppets.”

“Well, apparently, this Alpha didn't agree to some of the things the Council tried to get past him, but thankfully, the meeting still went by pretty smoothly. That is until you called. Miss, he overheard the conversation between you and the Council member and stormed out of the library to make a call. One of the maids reported that he stood in the hall, cursing every other living creature, until he went crazy, destroying everything in his way. When the Alpha went back to question the Council members, he overheard them whispering about the title and said engagement.”

“Those words sent him into overdrive, and he attacked the Council member, trying to get more information. Hopefully, he is still there, held down by the other guards and Alphas. We first sent a maid, but she was too scared to keep insisting on getting you out of the cabin, so I had to hurry. It was either you following me into the car, either Alpha Vincent getting to you. None of my business, Miss, but he wasn't happy to find out that you weren't in his home, same as wouldn't go back there the next week. If my opinion matters, I think it would be safe to assume that Alpha Vincent has his eye on you. This situation doesn't look like games wolves play - hiding a woman away from Alpha is a big thing; you should be careful.” The guard let out a deep sigh as if the man was living by the things that were happening in Seth's life.

They weren't friends, but he did seem to worry about her.

“I know that you want to know this, but you're too polite to ask, so I'll just talk. Alpha Vincent, Luciano - we kind of had a thing once. Nothing special, nothing big or whatever. I never expected to face him ever again, but here I am, hiding away from him once again. I'm not sure how serious he is, or what he feels, but he knows that there won't be anything between us. I was unaware of a few details, and hopefully, those will be kept as a secret. You might not know my father, but I do know that man better than anyone. There won't be a reason to hide me, if my father finds out that Luciano is after me,” Seth supported her head against the window and closed her eyes.

She had to fight off her tears, those hidden deep down, all connected to her unfortunate family.

“But why? I can't seem to get what you meant by saying that, I'm sorry, Miss,” the guard furrowed his eyebrows, still trying to put two and two together. He had quite a naive personality, and one as that seemed rather refreshing.

“Because he will sell me off to the biggest bidder.”