Chapter 5 5

Sloane

Oh no, no , no.

I began to shake my head, rolling my wrist to try and get away from him but his fingers just tightened. Impossible to shake off and even if I could get away where would I go. He would chase me down in a second.

"She is mine." He said again more loudly like no one had heard him the first time. I continued to shake my head.

No, no, no.

Throwing my head to the side. I pleaded to the older unchosen with my eyes. Silently begging them to help me but they were rooted to the spot with fear. There was pity and horror in their eyes though.

Not that pity was going to get me out of this mess.

"Wolves don't get to choose." Wiping his hand under his bloody nose Gentry climbed to his feet. Throwing off Lana's hand when she tried to help him. "Get off of me bitch."

Lana fell back and her face fell. She was in for a painful night , men like Gentry didn't react well to being humiliated and the wolf had well and truly humiliated him. I almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

"Yes we do." A growl rumbled from his lips and rumbled through me. "It is our right to take our pick of sacrifices from your women. Just because we have never found one- who is intriguing enough doesn't mean we aren't owed tribute."

Golden eyes turned to me and narrowed. It was like it was my fault that he wanted me.

"You can't take her." Gentry listed himself up to his full height. Which was a good foot smaller than the man grabbing me. "She has been chosen. I chose her."

Next to him Lana wailed. Sounding just like my younger brother. Again I felt sorry for her. It was one thing not to be chosen and quite another to be ditched just weeks away from your wedding.

"Sloane is mine."

"I am not yours." Forcing myself forward, I shouted. "I would rather die an old maid than ever be your wife."

At first I thought the wolf was growling again, it took me a moment to realise he was actually laughing. "You heard the girl." He shook his head. "She rejects you."

"She hasn't accepted you either." Gentry retorted with a weak , very human snarl. He might as well have purred for all the good it did.

"But she has already accepted us." The fingers around my wrist flexed. "And feeding us was the last-"

It was my turn to whirl on him. Lifting my hand I stabbed a finger into the middle of his rock hard chest and pain spiralled through my finger and into my hand. Making it ache.

Why did he have to be so solid?

"I have not." I turned my attention back to the crowd that was watching this all play out intently. "I did not-" my voice trailed off and the silence was filled with the booming sound of his voice as he spoke again. "You saved us, you smiled at us, you dreamt of us-"

"You saved a wolf?" Gentry's eyes narrowed. "Just how long have you been in cahoots with our enemy Sloane?"

"I haven't done anything. I saw a wolf yes. A few times but I didn't-" my voice was wobbling now. This was going from bad to worse. If they thought I welcomed the wolfs attention, if they thought I was a traitor then they would banish me.

I was wily and cunning but I wouldn't survive by myself outside of the safety of the village and if they pushed me beyond the walls that surrounded the human towns I wouldn't last an hour.

The wolves would tear me apart and eat-

"You saw a wolf and you didn't think to tell anyone?" Lana shrieked. "You are a traitor. I say we banish her."

"Please don't." I began to shake my head again. "I didn't know he was real. I am not a traitor."

"Traitor." She spat at my feet. "Give her to him Gentry. She is a curse on our village and our good name."

I fell to my knees with a sob. My arm still gripped in his hand so it was held above my head. "Please Gentry have mercy. I was told they were dreams."

His already thin lips thinned even more. "You let him walk in your dreams? What else have you let him do? Has he-"

"Be careful of your next words, human."

"I didn't." I was talking in a rush now. Each word jumbled into the next. This couldn't be happening to me. It couldn't.

"Please Gentry. I have done nothing wrong. I am not a traitor." Fat wet tears dripped from my eyes and hung suspended from the tip of my nose. I sobbed but it came out a strangled sound. I couldn't catch my breath. It was like he was squeezing my throat and not my wrist.

"Have you fed him?"

I didn't know who had asked. Someone in the crowds. At the end of the day it didn't matter who. What mattered was my answer. Again I shook my head. "I never have, please you have to believe me."

"That is a lie." The wolf shifter said coldly. "We have been feasting on your offerings of fresh rabbits for years."

A hissing shocked sound went up. "She fed him. She welcomed him. Banish her beyond the wall. Heavens knows how many more of these monsters she has been luring into our village, Gentry." Lana almost screamed in a fake scared voice. "Traitor." She pointed a finger directly into my face.

"I'm not please believe me. I won't live if you send me out there." I begged them.

Their faces looked impassive but none of them were looking at me directly . It didn't matter how much I begged they weren't going to help me. They didn't want to hear the truth. I could beg until my voice was hoarse and they wouldn't hear a single word of it.

"Take her." Gentry took a step back and motioned to me like I was a sack of spilled flour on the floor. "Sloane you are hereby-"

"Please don't do this to me. To my family. My brother will die." I reached out my other hand

They had always hated me. Or looked down at me but I had never thought they would turn on one.

I didn't have a chance to finish the sentence as the giant wolf picked me up and flung me over his shoulder. Again almost like I was a sack of flour.

"Help me." Lifting my eyes I found a woman my mother had been friends with. "You are a friend of my mums , please help me." I begged.

The woman looked away. They all looked away.

Only Gentry and Lana looked at me. Gentry with murder in his eyes. Lana with triumph.

"Please." My voice was already faltering.

"Sloane you are hereby banished from our village. If you step foot inside our boundaries again then you will be executed."

At his side Lana laughed. "That might be a blessing compared to what he is going to do to her." She crooked her fingers in a sarcastic little wave. "Bye bye little freak. Enjoy being eaten alive by wolves."

Kicking out, I began to fight back. Something I should have done before. It was too late to run away because his giant hand was too firmly planted in the small of my back, and it locked me in place. But I could kick and scream. I could bite and punch.

I could fight even when I knew it was useless.

And it was useless. I might as well have been an annoying fly for all the good it did.

"Stop wiggling." He growled out as took the stairs four at a time and headed towards the darkness of the trees. "Before I drop you on your ass."

The hand on my back moved downwards and he slapped my butt once in a hard sharp slap that caused me to cry out.

"Please."

"Please what?"

"Please don't take me. I have a family here. A father and a brother who rely on me."

"Not anymore you don't." He said and began to run, darting between the trees like he had memorised every trunk. "You don't have any family here. The only family you have is us."