1 Chapter 1. Time to Collect

Eighteen year old Eliana Hark adored Summer mornings in the remote quiet countryside of Montana, she loved to trek across the acres of farmlands her parents owned until she came to the prettiest stretch of land you ever saw in your life, the whole one mile stretch was peppered in various hued wildflowers that sweet like what Eliana thought was pure utopia... there was nothing more wonderful in the world than to lay down on her back among the flowers and stare up at the sky as the sun began to rise and paint the sky with beautiful oranges, pale reds and various hues of pink until finally it all began to ultimately melt into the sweet light blue of a clear Montana sky.

To be perfectly honest, Eliana didn't just make the trek out here every morning just for the hell of it, it was an escape from reality for her, an escape from the reality of the financial woes her family was enduring concerning their precious family farm... the crops weren't growing as well as they'd hoped lately and they weren't making enough money to pay the bills, buy more seeds, fertilizer and everything else that just faded into a stressful blur... she didn't want to leave her beloved home, she loved Montana, she loved her wildflower field, Eliana was happy here...

What would happen if they had to leave? Where would they go? They could always go and stay with her father's family in the city, but...well... they were the sort of people that loved to hold it over your head that you owed them something, that they did you this big tremendous favor, which was just one of the many bigger reasons her father moved them all out to the country... he confessed to Eliana once that he didn't want her growing up about that selfishness, he wanted to be able to nurture her heart and teach her true kindness and compassion for all of nature and humankind alike. She didn't mind, she appreciated the person her parents had taught her to be,she saw the world with her heart, not her eyes.

She lifted her wrist and to glance at the time, when she realized that it was in fact six in the morning... she instantly had a strange feeling... where was the obnoxiously loud noise of the tractor? Her father was always awake at five thirty and had the tractor going promptly at six, it never ever failed... Eliana held still for a few more minutes as she listened and waited for it... but it didn't come...

Something was wrong... she knew she was being paranoid and perhaps her father just by chance was accidentally running late, but... it was so out of character for her father, he was never late with his farm duties, he was always prompt even when he felt like shit! Something inside Eliana screamed at her that something about this just wasn't right...

Eliana knew that even at this distance, she would have heard at least the faint rumbling of the tractor's loud engine, her father wore earplugs to filter out most of the noise for heavens sake... she carefully climbed to her feet and began to make the walk back home,her heart pounding nervously in her chest... she hoped and prayed it really was just a coincidence and her father was just having his first late start, she hoped she was just being irrational and illogical... it was far more preferable that something actually legitimately being wrong at home...

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When Eliana approached her house, she noticed that the tractor was still parked beside home and didn't look as though it had been moved at all this morning... that alone made her blood run cold... was her father sick this morning? Perhaps so seriously sick that her mother put her foot down? She had heard her mother threaten to do that once or twice when her father insisted on pushing himself too far when he was weak from the flu or a cold or whatever was going around really.

Out the corner of her eye, she noticed something shiny and black poking out from the other side of the house, Eliana took slow cautious steps to investigate and found herself a little stumped when she came around the side of the house to see a rather nice looking black car,it looked like it cost a pretty penny, nothing any of the farmers around here could have afforded... so whose car was this? Why were they here?

She wasn't as frightened of something befalling her father now that it was clear they had visitors, but at six in the morning? Who came calling at peoples homes at such an early hour just after sunrise?More important, what did they want? Eliana didn't consider for a second that the visitors could be friends of her parents, the vehicle was too nice and her parents didn't know anyone with that kind of cash... at least... she didn't think they did...

Eliana made her way back around the house with much more harried footsteps as she rushed to take the porch steps two at a time until she reached the door, she turned the door handle and stepped inside the house...only to have a hand grasp her by the throat and slam her violently into the wall... she tried to scream, but the constricting hand at her throat made that a little bit on the difficult side.

When she realized she had clenched her eyes shut upon the shock, she opened them only to find herself gazing into the most handsome face she'd ever seen in her life, but the features of the golden Adonis were twisted with anger, his light blue eyes glinting with the promise of danger if she did anything to piss him off further.

Her eyes flitted across the kitchen to see the limp figures of her parents slumped against the wall on the floor, they looked more unconscious than dead, prompting her sapphire gaze to fly back to the handsome blonde pinning her to the wall by her throat, she did her best to force out speech as bravely as possible "Who... are you?!What... do you... want?!

"Lowell! Stand down, now!" A deep male voice boomed "You'll hurt the girl!"

Eliana glanced to the far right to see a tall and well muscled older man that very closely resembled the younger male that was making harder and harder for her to breathe, she looked back to the younger male then as she heard him gasp loudly as if he'd just realized what he'd been doing, his hand immediately released it's grip on her and she fell flat on her ass to the floor choking and desperately dragging gulps of air into her lungs.

They both looked as rich and luxurious as the car parked beside the house, both dressed in sleek expensive looking entirely black suits cut in a moderately casual, but still refined style, who on earth were these people?!

She looked up at the younger male addressed as Lowell and his expression was one mixed of shame of what he'd almost done and something else... was it curiosity of sorts? He seemed to be studying her intently before he looked over at the older blonde male "I like her... I... don't look at me like that, father... I lost control, it won't happen again, she just surprised me is all! I wasn't expecting someone to come bursting in like that! I swear!"

"Calm down, junior" the older male chuckled as he took a few steps closer to get a better look at the frightened flame haired beauty with confused sapphire jewels for eyes "I'll approve this, but don't ever handle her like that again, the welfare of your mate is to be your top priority above everything else"

Eliana's eyes widened as she glanced back and forth between father and son before she finally spoke up "Mate?! What the hell is going on here?! Are my parents alright?! I swear, if you hurt them, I'll...well... I don't know, but I'll think of something! Now, who the hell are you and what the fuck do you want?! I want answers!!!"

The older male lifted his right brow and amused smirk curved his mouth"The fates smile on you, my son, this one has fire... she'll need that spunk when you take over and become Alpha, it will serve her well when she is ruling at your side and giving you pups"

The older male knelt down then in front of Eliana "You're parents are alive, don't worry, they just simply resisted our demands when we arrived to collect what we are owed... but they didn't tell you anything about this I see... it's in your eyes that you really are completely confused by all of this. We'll do our best to explain everything and help you adjust to your new life. We'll disclose everything you'll be needing to know when we reach Chevelle Manor"

"You're insane..." Eliana whispered, her voice and body alike trembling with fear "You're both crazy..."

The older male smiled a little, it was as if he was already expecting those words "No, my dear, we're not crazy and everything will be made clear to you very soon, but now... we really have to be getting going, much to do and I think you and Lowell will like all the time you can scrounge to get to know each other before the wedding"

Eliana didn't even have time to blink before a cloth was immediately brought to cover her nose and mouth, she tried her best to struggle, but everything quickly began to get woozy and blurred before she ultimately lost consciousness altogether and fell into an unconscious heap upon the floor.

She was completely out cold and unaware as Lowell knelt down and scooped Eliana up bridal style in his arms, he and his father rose to their feet and strode out of the house without another exchanged.