Not My Alpha (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Two - Bound

I stilled at his words. 

They're coming. 

I looked wildly up towards the sky, expecting to see heads peering down at us at any moment. Samuel was practically standing on top of me now, hiding most everything from view. 

"Who's coming? What's going on?" I harshly whispered.

He looked down at me for a moment before whipping his gaze back up. "All you need to know is we have a plan," Samuel rushed. "Just stay with me and you'll be fine."

I started to ask more questions, but they were cut off by a noise directly above us. I peered around Samuel's large frame to see the silver bars up above slowly raising towards the sky. Shadowed figures were lifting up the heavy metal while others were scattered around working along the edges. I struggled to make out their faces and recognize even one of them, but the setting sun made it impossible to distinguish anything but shadows. 

Once the bars were out of sight, a few of the figures started moving away. As they disappeared though, one person emerged. They came to the edge of the hole, like all the others, but stalled once they saw us. I noticed hair falling around the shoulders of the figure as they tucked their hands behind their back.  

"Here's how this is going to work," the person spoke. I immediately recognized the voice of Damaria, the silver-haired woman who everyone seemed to worship. 

As she spoke, two other people came to stand next to her. They stretched something between them, holding the edges about a foot apart from each other. Damaria nodded to the couple and they released part of what they held. It fell down the dirt wall of our prison, swaying as it came to a standstill around Samuel's waist. Now that it was closer, I recognized that it was a thick-roped ladder. 

"Samantha will come up first, then you. If you try anything, we will not hesitate to shoot." 

As she spoke, I heard the easily recognizable clicking of a trigger locking into place. I quickly started to get up and make my way towards the ladder, but Samuel held me down with one hand. He shot me a glance, silently telling me to stay in place. 

When Samuel was sure I wasn't going to move, he looked at Damaria and lowly spoke. "We come up together or not at all."

Damaria sighed. "You're not in the place to be making demands."

"Actually, I am. We're happy to stay down here for as long as we need."

My eyes widened. I tried to stand again, but Samuel's hand was still holding my shoulder down. My eyes darted to Damaria who was still as a statue, watching us with a neverending calculating stare. 

I gripped Samuels leg, grabbing his attention. "Samuel, I'm not-" 

"Wait," he whispered so only I could hear, squeezing my shoulder. Then, he lifted his voice to Damaria. "We come up together or not at all."

At Samuel's words, the two people beside Damaria began to raise the rope ladder. I watched in horror as it rose above my reach. It continued to ascend and neither she nor Samuel moved to stop it. They stared each other down as the rope kept climbing, inch by inch. Then suddenly, Damaria held out her hand. The two figures holding the ladder immediately stilled, the rope just a few feet from the surface. 

Damaria continued to stare but said nothing. She eventually nodded to Samuel who immediately turned to face me. As he did, she disappeared from view. A couple more people replaced her and took the rope, binding it down to something in the ground. 

"Get on my back," Samuel lowly spoke as he lifted me up by my forearm. 

I quickly obliged. I sprang from my position, holding onto Samuel's arm for support. When I was steadily standing, he crouched down low enough for me to climb onto his back. I hesitated only slightly, glancing between the rope that had just been dropped down, and Samuel's bare back. My stomach churned at the thought of holding onto him so intimately. Samuel noticed my small hesitation and turned to face me, sending me a careful look. He held my gaze for just a moment before turning to face forward again. I shook my head and took a shaky breath, trying to calm myself. This was the only way out. Once we were above ground, I could take off running and never look back.