Chapter 6

• Emma was overcome with fear and didn't dare question Ethan's decision to flee the haunted house and strange town. However, her physical fitness was no match for her brother's.
• While Ethan bore the weight of the heaviest luggage, Emma was burdened by her own suitcase, which hampered her movements and made it more difficult to climb the small hill that led to the property. The freezing temperatures, her anxious state, the snowy conditions, and the limited oxygen supply added to her difficulties. However, her biggest obstacle was the treacherous ice.
• Emma felt her feet slip, tried to get up holding on to the suitcase without much success, and after several stumbles she ended up lying on the snowy ground.
• "Go on, Ethan!" she pleaded, as if offering herself as a sacrifice. "I'll catch up with you later, but if not, go on without me."
• A strange memory flashed through her mind, like a déjà vu. She saw an image from years ago, when they were both eight years old, running through the woods that sheltered them in Pennsylvania. Her brother, Ethan, had tripped and fallen, but in this memory, his hair was a vivid shade of red.
• That day, her brother had also urged her to leave so their mother wouldn't punish them, but she had refused. Instead, Emma had tried to help him to his feet. The memory triggered a sharp pain in her head that made her scream in pain and curl up on the floor.
• "You must be out of your mind if you think I'm going to abandon you here!" Ethan's voice resonated beside her, as he turned around to offer his assistance, causing the memory to fade away just as abruptly as it had appeared. Fortunately, the intense headache had also dissipated with it. "Grab the lightest thing you can find, and I'll carry you on my back. It doesn't matter if we have to leave our belongings behind; what matters is getting out of here as quickly as possible."
• Emma complied, still sore from the fall and disoriented. She picked up a smaller suitcase as her brother pulled her along, eventually hoisting her onto his back.
• Part of her wanted to resist, not wanting to hang onto Ethan's back like a sack of flour. It used to be fun when they were kids, but in this moment she knew it would only slow him down, and she didn't want that.
• "I can walk, Ethan," she insisted, but he adamantly refused to let her go.
• She had no choice but to wrap her legs around his hips to hold on and prevent herself from falling as her brother began to run as if she weighed nothing.
• When had Ethan transformed into a man of such remarkable strength? He had never been weak, but the way he fearlessly sprinted through the snow and cold, disregarding the burden he carried, left her astounded.
• "We're almost there, Emma! That's where we're headed," Ethan pointed ahead, and she nodded in agreement.
• "You can set me down now. I believe I can manage to walk..."
• Emma couldn't finish her sentence because her brother appeared determined to win a race against an invisible opponent. Instead of slowing down, he sprints as if his life depends on it. Perhaps they were fleeing to avoid dying there, only to find themselves dying in the mountains once they left.
• Suddenly, a resounding thud reverberated through the air. She felt the impact in her body and then, an supernatural force threw them through the air until they crashed to the ground and landed on their backs. Ethan and Emma ended up tangled in a mess of limbs, sprawled across the snowy terrain.
• It took a few minutes to recuperate from the fall, and Ethan was the first to stir and check on her. As Emma gazed back at him, she noticed a trickle of blood running from his nose down to his lip.
• "What the hell was that?!" Her brother stared at the town's exit, bewildered by the impact of an invisible barrier that had struck them with such force. "Emma, I don't want to scare you."
• "Then don't," she stuttered. "You have blood on your nose, Ethan."
• Her brother nodded, but didn't wipe it off.
• "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" she heard him say as she struggled to get to her knees in the snow. "Either way, I'm going to tell you both. The good news is that it looks like we'll be sleeping indoors tonight, so far so good. The bad news is that it looks like we're trapped in this town, and the roof over our heads will be that devilish house."
• Emma's horrified expression must have been enough for her brother to realize how scared she was, and he hurried to reassure her. "But don't worry, you've got me, and I won't let anything happen to you. I'll figure out what's going on; you just stay calm and don't panic."
• Emma didn't want to tell him that with the bloody nose and those eyes silently expressing how scared he was, he wasn't offering much comfort. But she nodded to ease his mind. Ethan was about to give her a hand to help her up from the ground when his gaze shifted, and his mouth opened in surprise.
• "May-maybe it's not so bad being here," he stammered. "If the people in this town are going to welcome us like this, it might be a fantastic place to live. I see two huge and good reasons to stay!" Emma looked in the same direction to understand what had him so excited and saw a beautiful naked woman.
• Behind her, at least twenty people were approaching, most of them men, and they were as naked as the Adonis who had shown up at their house an hour earlier. "Ethan, I think I hit my head too hard. I see naked men everywhere. This is almost like a market, but for penises," she said, holding onto her brother's arm.
• With every passing moment in that place, the fear grew. The idea of the nudist town hadn't seemed so bad when it was just that attractive man, but now, seeing so many people like that was making her very nervous.
• "You're not losing your mind; I see them too. But I'd rather just ignore them and continue appreciating her. Wow, what a beautiful woman, Emma! Seriously, I'd wreck every single bed with her and even marry her," whispered her brother. Hearing his nonsense, she pinched him hard to snap him back to reality.
• They were surrounded by naked people! And not only that, they had just crashed into an invisible barrier; Ethan's nose was bleeding, and all he cared about was enjoying the sight of those huge breasts.
• "Shut up and stop staring!" the naked woman shouted. Although her words were directed at Ethan, her hateful gaze was fixed on Emma. The intensity of her malice sent shivers down her spine.
• Her brother tried to comfort her with a hug and gentle pats on the back, but it offered little solace at that moment.
• "We just want to leave!" Emma's terrified scream echoed through the air, causing the strangers to turn their attention to her. "Please, we can't get out! What have you done? We just want to go," she pleaded, only realizing she was in tears when her brother wiped them from her cheeks.
• Ethan stood and held out a helping hand, which Emma accepted. As she stood, however, she was caught, her eyes focused on the man she recognized as the leader of the crowd.
• Her heart raced, unsure if it was fear or the anticipation of seeing him again. Emma couldn't understand the connection she felt to this man, or the inexplicable reaction her body had in his presence. She should have been struggling to free herself from her brother's embrace and sprinting toward the exit of the city to escape. Instead, she could only watch as the man made his way through the crowd.
• A hushed silence fell over everyone as they parted to give him a clear path. He radiated an air of authority, and the way people looked at him indicated his importance. The man's unwavering gaze remained fixed on her, adding to her trembling, especially when his eyes shifted to her brother and the way he held her.
• Then he observed their belongings scattered on the ground. "Were you leaving?" he said with a deep and much calmer voice than when he had presented himself at the cabin.
• The alpha stopped too close to them, and she could feel her brother tensing up, his grip leaving her breathless. "We just want to go home," Emma mumbled in a voice so low that she almost doubted if she had said it or just thought it. "But something attacked us, something invisible."
• After telling it her face reddened with shame; they probably thought she was crazy. But at this point, she did not care if it meant getting out of there. As soon as her brother heard her, he touched his nose and wiped away the blood.
• "Fortunately, I got the worst of it," Ethan murmured. "We just want to go; we didn't do anything wrong. Let us go."
• The Alpha ignored her brother, continuing to stare at her, but raised an eyebrow and a brief mocking smile appeared on his face. He pointed to the exit of the town and said, "Go ahead, you're free to go... if you can."
• "Th-thank you," Emma stammered, gently pushing Ethan to let her go so she could bend down to pick up her suitcase. When they did so, in silence and this time at a slower pace, they walked towards the exit of the town. But when they reached the same area, they again found an invisible barrier that prevented them from taking another step.
• Emma and Ethan quickly backed away; they didn't want another blow that would send them flying. "You know what's going on, don't you?" her brother grumbled, getting more and more annoyed. "What is this?! If you're part of some satanic cult, don't even think about using us as sacrifices, because we're not going down without a fight."
• The general laughter that followed didn't help ease the tense atmosphere. They were laughing at them. Emma squeezed her eyelids shut, hoping to wake up from this nightmare.
• "We're not keeping you here," she heard the Alpha's voice, and she opened her eyes to look at him. To her surprise, he was looking at her as well. "We're trapped here too, and you know it."
• At that moment, Emma exploded. All the tiredness, fear and stress overwhelmed her and she went crazy. "No, this is impossible! We can't stay here; we just wanted to start a new life. We've been trapped for many years; we want to be free, we want to be happy!" she cried, closing the distance and standing in front of the Alpha without realizing it. Desperation overcame fear and she grabbed his arms. She felt him shudder at her touch and a loud roar escaped the naked woman. Apparently, she didn't like Emma approaching the Alpha, but at that moment, Emma didn't care. "We're scared; this house is haunted, or has ghosts, I don't know, but strange things happen there. We don't want to stay; please, help us."
• For a moment, Emma thought she saw the Alpha's hard and inquisitive gaze soften, but she must have been mistaken because he pulled her hands from his arms and looked at his people. It was all very strange; he hadn't said a word, but four men were moving.