Chapter 7 -- The Prisoner Of The Sentinels

Julia POV.

FIVE YEARS EARLIER.

Three days had elapsed in captivity in Sentinel City. Claudius kept me and the kids together in one of his guest rooms. He ensured that we were fed well, bathed well, and we slept well.

For the first time in the last five years, we had plenty to eat. We had more water to drink than we could ever imagine. We slept under a roof. Claudius assigned servants to look after us. And yet …

… And yet, I could not accept his unwelcome proposal. I could not cave in to his demands. I felt outraged at his coercive tactics. I looked for ways to escape.

There were none.

Every midnight, while Damien and Pete slept peacefully, I stood at the window of the guest room. I would pull the curtains aside and peek outside. Nothing was visible except an abyss of endless darkness. And a lone wolf standing on the terrace on the other side of the building.

Watching me. Every midnight.

I would stare at its yellow eyes without blinking. For hours. It would stare back at me, its piercing gaze never once moving away from my face. It never howled, never growled. Just stood there watching me silently for hours.

Midnight would stretch onto dawn. Dawn would bring the first rays of the sun. And that’s when the lone wolf would disappear without a trace.

Where and how it disappeared remained a mystery.

On the fourth night, I saw it standing right on the balcony in front of my window. Its sharp yellow eyes fixated on my face. I stood still, hypnotized by the power of its gaze. I could feel a sudden urge to talk to it. I could feel it wanted to speak to me, too.

I slowly opened the window.

The wolf stepped forward and walked up to me. It stood right outside the window within touching distance.

I felt an invisible force compelling me to reach out and caress the wolf.

I extended my hand and touched its neck. It didn’t purr, didn’t growl, but came closer to me instead.

As if it wanted to be caressed more.

I realized my hand was not in my control anymore. It was stroking the wolf’s head, back and neck. Its bright yellow stare never once broke contact with my eyes. I noticed that it was a female wolf. It was then that I felt a sudden rush of nostalgia sweeping over my entire being.

“Nadia! Is it you?” I whispered in its ear.

Nadia was my favorite pet when I was a child. A she-wolf. She was the only fond memory I had of my wretched childhood. I shared a bond with her that could neither be explained nor defined. We were both lonely, both hungry for love, and we were inseparable.

Until one night when Nadia disappeared from my life without a trace or explanation, leaving me alone and devastated.

“Is it you, Nadia?” I asked again.

The she-wolf didn’t respond. Instead, it began to lick my palms and face. Just as Nadia used to many years ago.

I hugged her. I fondled her. I embraced her. I cuddled her. She brought back instant memories of my childhood that had been lying dormant for ages. I felt happy and at peace again.

After a long, long time.

“Who is this wolf that comes to the terrace every night?” I asked the senior housemaid when she brought me breakfast in the morning.

“What wolf, Luna?” she replied politely with a baffled look.

“Don’t call me Luna,” I retorted sharply. “I am not your Luna. I will never be your Luna.”

That was my fifth day in captivity. And Alpha Claudius was scheduled to meet me for lunch hoping for a positive response to his marriage proposal.

He was utterly disappointed when I rejected him outright. Bluntly. Unhesitatingly.

“I have no desire to join your pack or become a part of your life, Alpha,” I found the words flowing off my tongue easily. “I wish to rebuild my pack someday, far away from here, even though I don’t know when and where.”

“How stupid of you to wish that,” he blurted out in disdain, his tone laced with an ounce of sting and a pound of venom. “What kind of illusion are you under? What chance of finding a home do you have in the desert?”

“Maybe none. But I will still take my chances,” I replied curtly.

He stared at me with glaring eyes. His looks conveyed it all. The resentment he felt toward me, the animosity that had taken hold of him, the contempt he harbored in his heart. I anticipated him taking another shot at me.

He didn’t waste a second.

“Listen, warrior, widow … whatever you are,” he hissed at me venomously, “you are pure filth. You know that, don’t you? A girl like you has no place in this city, let alone in my life. I mean, look at you … you roam around like a nomad for god’s sake! What makes you think you are worthy enough to reject my proposal?”

I kept my mouth shut. I had anticipated this verbal vitriol. He didn’t merit a response.

But he was a force of nature. Relentless. Unstoppable. Unhinged.

“Your time here is over. You are no longer my guest. You are condemned and sentenced to prison with immediate effect. No need for me to show you any mercy.”

He spat those words out without pausing for a breath or batting an eyelid.

I stood stunned. I was being sentenced to prison? For turning down a marriage proposal! Is this supposed to be funny?

“What is this? A practical joke? An ego trip?” I fumed in rage. “My life is not a toy that you can pick up and smash to the ground on a whim. You cannot ruin my life like this. Nor that of my kids. Not because you want to.”

“I can, and I will,” he screeched in hostility that was as inexplicable as it was unnerving. “I am the Alpha of the Sentinels. Trash like you walk in through these gates every day. They all end up where they should—the prison or the graveyard.”

In less than an hour, I found myself thrown into a stone cell underground along with my kids. The cell was dark, damp and looked like a dungeon. Claudius supervised the whole process personally. And then walked up to the prison bars to utter those words which I will never forget.

“Between dying here in this cell without reaching your goals, or living happily as my wife and learning you can’t achieve your goals, which is more tragic?”

“I will let you know before you die,” I responded scornfully.

That night, as the world slept and the prison guards were nowhere to be seen, I noticed two yellow eyes glowing in the dark right in front of my cell. It was pitch black and there was no source of light. But the brightness of those yellow eyes was unmistakable.

“Nadia!” I exclaimed in shock and surprise.