Chapter 22 Shadow Valley's Best Warrior

Regina’s POV
I didn’t know this man.
But there was something about him—probably his large body figure and the way he stared at me right now—that told me that he was dangerous.
We locked eyes for a few seconds before I turned on my heels and ran!
Yet I didn’t make it a few feet far before a large hand caught the back of my collar and dragged me backward.
A horrified scream almost escaped my mouth, but he clamped my mouth shut and warned me with a dark voice, “Quiet.”
Fear and anger seized my heart. I was so close to escaping…And I could feel Gray’s presence nearby. Why! Why did God do this to me? This wasn’t fair!
I struggled with all my might against that man’s iron grip. But he was too strong. He could easily have me restrained with one hand.
Keeping me close to him, he heads back towards the waiting room and bumps right into Nigel coming out of the lady’s room.
There was an irritated look on Nigel’s face. And that irritation was quickly replaced by shock when he saw us.
“What the—” Nigel pointed a finger at me and gritted, “—Where did you find this bitch, Hover?”
So this man was with Nigel.
And that went away my last glimmer of hope, leaving nothing but cold despair in my heart.
The large man named Hover looked down at Nigel and snorted coldly, “She was trying to escape through the back window. If I hadn’t gotten here on time, she would have escaped. You have one task, Nigel. Bring her into the Shadow Valley Pack. Yet you fail at that too.”
Nigel’s face contorted with embarrassment, “You have no idea Hover, this bitch is sneaky! I think she deserves a little punishment—”
He raised his hand up in the air and was about to slap me.
I quivered in fear.
But the hot slap didn’t fall on my cheek. Nigel’s hand was caught by Hover, who spoke up with a hint of threatening in his voice, “You can’t hit her.”
“But she needs to be punished—”
“I said no,” Hover said icily. “Now let’s go. Alpha Gray’s men are nearby. We can’t afford to drag on any longer.”
With one hand on my mouth and the other hand grabbing my arms, Hover dragged me back to the truck and tossed me in. Nigel hurried over and sealed my mouth with duct tape.
“Don’t dream about escaping again, bitch!” he snickered, his eyes gleaming with gloat. “Hover is here. Do you know who Hover is?”
I glared at him in silence.
“Hover is Shadow Valley’s Alpha’s best warrior. He is here especially for you,” Nigel giggled evilly and patted my face. “You turn out to be quite a big shot, Princess Regina.”
Why did Shadow Valley’s Alpha care about me? I had never met him once while I was married to Nigel.
My gut told me that there was some dark scheming behind this.
But my mind was shut down for logic right now. I was so exhausted and defeated. When the truck slowly drove out of the checkpoint, I was forced to face the harsh truth—
I was never going to escape again.
***
As the car drove into the Shadow Valley’s territory, I officially began my hunger strike.
They probably could stop me from escaping but they couldn’t stop me from going passive-aggressive. And I honestly didn’t have any appetite. Whenever they tried to force food into my mouth, I was reminded that they simply wanted me alive to threaten Gray. And that made me sick.
Nigel tried to threaten me with a knife like he did before. But this time I let him cut a 3-inch-long wound on my neck and still refused to open my mouth.
My stubbornness pissed him off. He knocked over the plate of food and jumped out of the truck, cursing loudly.
Moments later, Hover came to replace Nigel with a sandwich in his hand. I looked at him icily, waiting to see what new tricks he got to force me to eat.
Hover didn’t speak up at once. He sat down on the floor across from me and surveyed me closely from head to toe.
His gaze made me uncomfortable.
“Just get out already,” I snapped, my voice sounding hoarse. “I’m not eating your filthy food.”
“You’ve grown thin since the last time I saw you,” Hover said with a faint smile.
I frowned.
Had we met before? I honestly didn’t remember.
Seeing the perplexed look on my face, Hover reminded me, “I met you at a farmer’s market last winter. I was buying some tomatoes when a kid tried to steal from me. You warned me and stopped that kid. Remember?”
Oh.
It came back to me now.
I vaguely remembered catching a thief at the farmer’s market last winter. But that was a poor kid. He was starving and had no other way of survival but to steal. I asked him to return the wallet that he stole and gave him some extra cash.
So Hover was the owner of that wallet?
“Unbelievable,” I murmured. “So as a warrior yourself, you didn’t notice that the kid was stealing from you?”
A hint of smile appeared in Hover’s eyes, “I did. And I let him take my wallet because I knew he was a poor kid. You knew that as well, didn’t you? I saw you giving him cash afterward.”
This was a funny coincidence.
But why was Hover telling me this now?
“Are you trying to ease off my guard?” I asked weakly, “Because it’s not working. You are still one of the bad guys, taking me away from my pack and my family. Stop pretending that we are friends.”
“I am not doing that.”
Hover placed the sandwich on the floor, a few inches away from my hand. Then he reached over to untie the rope on my hand.
Now I was stunned.
“Aren’t you afraid that I might get away?” I asked warily, moving my wore wrists.
Hover smiled, “Try and do that under my watch. If you succeed, I will recruit you as my warrior immediately. I just think you don’t deserve to be chained up like a slave. You are a noble, and most importantly, a nice person. I will try to make your life comfortable the best I can.”
With that said, he stood up and left for the door.
I stared at his back and yelled out when he jumped off the truck, “…Why are you helping Nigel? You know that they are horrible people, right? Please do the right thing and—”
Hover placed his hand on the truck door and looked back at me. The smile had disappeared from his face. Now he was cold and stern again.
“I am still a member of the Shadow Valley, Princess Regina,” he said with a deep voice. “The right thing to do is to comply with my Alpha.”
He shut the truck door firmly, leaving me inside in darkness.
I stared at the sandwich for a long while before picking it up with a shaky hand. I peeled off the plastic wrapping and took a small bite. My stomach swirled with discomfort.
I had never missed my family and Gray this much.
Another 3 days were gone and we finally arrived at the central packhouse of Shadow Valley on the fourth night.
I was half-asleep when Nigel wrenched the truck door open and dragged me outside. I blinked a few times to stay awake and looked around to see where we were.
A large manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, lights glinting in windows.
This wasn’t Nigel’s house.
“Wake up little princess,” Nigel cracked and whispered into my ears. “Alpha wants to meet with you.”