Sarah stared at Jamie, tears streaming down her face, but a new flicker of defiance ignited in her eyes. "Handled?" she choked out, her voice raw. "You think this is something you can just handle? How do you 'handle' telling someone you've kidnapped their sister and are forcing her to marry you because you got her pregnant and you're a werewolf?!" The words were a torrent of disbelief and bitter sarcasm. The sheer, overwhelming absurdity of it all would have been comical if it weren't her own terrifying reality.
Jamie remained silent, his expression unyielding. His cold resolve was a wall, impenetrable and absolute. There was no reasoning with him, no appealing to his conscience, because his conscience was apparently bound by this archaic "code" that dictated his life, and now hers.
A wave of utter despair washed over Sarah, heavy and suffocating. She felt the massive, invisible weight of his world pressing down on her – a world she hadn't even known existed until two weeks ago. Now, she was not just a part of it, but seemingly, a prisoner within it. The idea of fighting, of screaming, felt suddenly futile. He wasn't listening. He wasn't bending.
She sank back onto the bed, defeated, her shoulders slumping. Her gaze drifted to the window again, to the endless expanse of forest that was her new prison. Laura. Her family. Her normal life. It was all gone, ripped away by a drugged drink and a wolf's "code." The realization was a crushing blow. She was utterly, terrifyingly alone in this impossible situation.
Jamie watched her, his expression still unreadable. The air in the room grew thick with the unspoken, the unspeakable. The silence stretched, broken only by Sarah's quiet, heartbroken sobs.
Jamie watched Sarah's despair-laden retreat onto the bed, his expression unreadable. The silence stretched, thick with her quiet sobs and the heavy weight of his unspoken world. After a long moment, he finally broke it.
"I'm going to show you something, Sarah." His voice was low, resonating with a quiet authority that cut through her sorrow. "Follow me. If you run, you will be caught, so I wouldn't bother."
The chilling finality in his tone left no room for doubt or defiance. Sarah slowly pushed herself up from the bed, her legs feeling heavy, but the flicker of curiosity – a desperate need to understand what this impossible reality was – urged her forward. She followed him out of the room, down the grand staircase, and through the opulent house, every step heavy with a terrifying anticipation.
He led her out a back door, past the perfectly manicured gardens, and into a vast, open expanse that was clearly the source of the grunting noises she'd heard earlier. It wasn't just an open lawn; it was indeed a training ground. Various wooden targets stood upright, and the ground was churned earth in places, indicating intense activity. It looked almost... medieval.
"Okay," Sarah said, her voice trembling slightly. "Why are we in a medieval-looking training ground or something?" She glanced around, still trying to grasp the context of this bizarre, hidden world.
"Watch," Jamie simply commanded, his eyes locking onto hers, a strange intensity in their depths.
Then, he stepped forward, away from her, and his body began to change. Sarah's breath hitched. She watched, horrified and mesmerized, as Jamie's body suddenly started twisting and shifting. There was a sickening sound of bones cracking and reshaping, audible even over the ambient sounds of the forest. Dark, coarse fur began to sprout and lengthen, rippling over his skin, his muscles bulged and contorted. His human form stretched and warped, becoming something impossibly larger, undeniably powerful.
Sarah's eyes went wide and panic set in. Her mind screamed in protest, but her vision wouldn't lie. Just before her eyes stood a wolf. Not just a wolf, but the wolf. The one from the park. The one that had chased her home. Its immense size, its powerful frame, the glint in its eyes – it was undeniably him.
"Holy fuck," Sarah breathed, the expletive a desperate whisper of pure, unadulterated terror. She started backing away, slowly at first, then more urgently, ready to make a frantic run for it, even knowing his warning. Sarah stumbled backward, her mind screaming in terror. The wolf, massive and impossibly real, stood where Jamie had been just moments before. Its fur was dark, almost black in the twilight, its muscles rippling beneath the sleek coat. Its eyes, the same piercing eyes as Jamie's, fixed on her with an unnerving intelligence. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to flee from this monstrous, beautiful impossibility.
She turned to bolt, her legs burning with a desperate need for escape, even knowing it was futile. But before she could take more than a single frantic step, the wolf moved. Not with aggression, but with astonishing speed, it placed its massive body between her and the direction she was trying to flee, effectively cutting off her escape without touching her. It didn't bare its teeth or growl, but its sheer size and the silent, unwavering intensity of its gaze were enough.
Sarah froze, trembling, her breath catching in her throat. She was trapped, utterly at the mercy of this creature, of him. The cold realization settled over her that this was no longer just about a forced marriage or a secret pregnancy. This was about survival.
The wolf then slowly, deliberately, turned its head, its eyes now scanning the other figures on the training ground. The men who had been sparring had stopped, watching Jamie's transformation with an almost reverent stillness. The women and children, too, remained silent, their eyes wide but unafraid. They were accustomed to this. This was their normal. This was his normal.
He turned his gaze back to Sarah, and in those deep, intelligent eyes, she saw not just the untamed wildness of a predator, but a flicker of something else—a silent, possessive command that left no room for doubt. She wasn't going anywhere. "Stay away from me!" Sarah screamed, the words ripping from her throat. The sight of Jamie, the wolf, was too much. Every fiber of her being urged flight. She didn't bother to see his reaction, didn't wait for him to move. Instead, she spun on her heel and bolted, running not for the distant woods, but for the one place that felt like a momentary refuge: the house.
Her legs pumped furiously across the manicured lawn, the elegant architecture now seeming like a cruel mockery of her captivity. She burst through the back door, heart hammering against her ribs, and flew through the opulent hallways, her only goal the third-floor room. She scrambled up the grand staircase, her breath ragged, and finally, reached the door. With a desperate shove, she slammed it shut behind her, the heavy click of the lock a small, fleeting comfort.
She didn't stop there. Fear propelled her across the room to the farthest corner, away from the door, away from the windows that offered a glimpse of the monstrous reality outside. She sank to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest, burying her face in them. Her body shook with uncontrollable sobs, hot tears soaking the fabric of her pajamas.
"How can one night toss my world into chaos?" she whispered, the question muffled by her knees, a desperate plea to an indifferent universe. The betrayal by Mark, the drugged drink, the shocking pregnancy, the wolf, the forced marriage, the terrifying secret of Jamie's true nature – it was an avalanche, burying her beneath its impossible weight. Her life, once predictable and mundane, was shattered beyond recognition, twisted into a terrifying nightmare from which there seemed no escape. The next few hours blurred into an agonizing stretch of despair. Sarah remained huddled in the corner, her body a rigid knot of terror and grief. Sleep was an impossible luxury; every shadow, every creak of the house, conjured images of the wolf. The cold reality of her situation settled deep in her bones: she was truly trapped.
Eventually, the soft click of the lock broke the oppressive silence. Sarah flinched but didn't move, still huddled with her face buried in her knees.
"Sarah." Jamie's voice, now human, was low, just above her.
She didn't respond.
He knelt beside her, a strange, hesitant quality to his movements. "I know this is... a lot," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle, a stark contrast to his earlier harshness. "But you have to understand. My kind... we're bound by instinct, by ancient laws. A child born of our line, whether intended or not, is recognized by the pack. It carries our scent, our essence. And for the child to thrive, for the pack to accept it, its parents must be bound."
Sarah slowly raised her head, her face tear-streaked and swollen, her eyes red-rimmed and hollow. "So, you're saying I'm just… a vessel?" Her voice was a raw whisper, laced with bitter understanding. "A means to an end for your 'code'?"
Jamie sighed, a heavy sound. "It's more complex than that. You will be protected. Provided for. You will be honored as the mother of a pack child."
"Honored?" Sarah's laugh was a harsh, broken sound. "You kidnap me, force me into a loveless marriage, tell me you don't love me, and show me you're a creature out of a nightmare, and that's 'honor'?" She finally met his gaze, and for the first time, she saw a flicker of something akin to pain in his dark eyes, quickly masked.
"I didn't choose this, Sarah," Jamie said, his voice quiet. "Not the way it happened. David.. he meddled. He thought he was helping me 'break free' from my responsibilities. He did not foresee this outcome." He paused, his gaze dropping briefly to her still-flat stomach, then back to her eyes. "But now that it has, it must be handled. For the child. For the pack. And for you, to ensure your safety within our world."
Sarah just stared at him, the fear slowly mixing with a strange, dawning understanding of the immense, inescapable weight of his world. It wasn't just about him anymore. It was about them. And their impossible child.
"Get the fuck out, Jamie," she said, her voice low, trembling with suppressed fury. She didn't scream this time; it was a quiet, dangerous command, delivered with every ounce of her remaining strength. Her eyes, still swollen from tears, held a fierce, unyielding glare that dared him to challenge her.
Jamie, sensing the shift from despair to defiance, simply nodded once. Without another word, he rose from his kneeling position. His gaze lingered on her for a moment, an unreadable intensity in his dark eyes, before he turned and walked out of the room. The soft click of the lock, once again, confirmed her captivity, but this time, it felt less like a prison sentence and more like a challenge. Her hand instinctively went to her stomach. Seeing Jamie as a wolf, a creature of raw, undeniable instinct, had somehow solidified his unbelievable claim. The way he spoke about "smelling" the baby, the "code" of his kind... the realization kicked in. Maybe she was actually pregnant. The sheer, overwhelming absurdity of it was no longer enough to dismiss the possibility. A chill unrelated to fear ran through her. A baby. His baby. It was another terrifying link to this new, monstrous reality.
She pulled her hand away from her stomach, the thought too much to bear right now. She needed to focus. She needed information. She needed a plan. And most of all, she needed to fight. Jamie's cold declaration that this was "the code" might be his reality, but it sure as hell wasn't going to be hers.