Chapter 3

When I finally woke up, my throat was killing me. I was sure there were bruises there and I guess it was my own fault.

I used words and sarcasm when I'm under pressure. It's a natural reflex to conversations I didn't want to have and it was my way of protecting myself from the world around me.

The only people I had ever spoken to were my family. They were the only ones who really understood me and actually knew what it was like to be in my head. They helped me when I had no one and I hated that they were gone.

I hated that I couldn't just speak to them and ask for them advice. I hated that they weren't just round the corner from me so that they could tell me what was the right thing to do, tell me that what I had planned was the wrong thing to be doing because it would make me just as bad as they were. In fact, I hated that they were dead and I was alone in the world.

The only person I actually had was my mate and I didn't want anything to do with him right now. I couldn't just jump into his arm and allow him to comfort me, not when I hated everything to do with his existence.

"Ah. I see you're awake." I looked over to see Jayson was sitting in the corner of the room with a smirk on his face.

"Apparently," I muttered.

"Do I need to remind you who's in charge again?" Jayson continued to smirk. I had a response on the tip of my tongue but I held it back. I was an idiot, not going to deny that, but I knew when to stop and I also knew it was pointless pissing Jayson off anymore.

"No. I'll answer any questions you have." I sighed in defeat as I raised my hand to my neck in a lame attempt to sooth the pain which was raging through my muscles.

"You know, considering you're the reason most of Blake's family is dead, he seems pretty insistent that you be released and allowed to live in our pack," Jayson spoke.

You can't avoid him forever. He is going to claim you eventually. My wolf's voice chimed and all I could do was sigh at the thought. It was all well and good hating him right now, but if he spends any more time around me, it's only going to become a thousand times worse to continue hating him.

Are you really going to go through with your plan? Are you really going to seek your revenge now, knowing Blake could end up dead? For the time being it shouldn't be too hard. He just needs to make sure he keeps his distance, though even I know he's not going to do that and he's only going to fight until I submit.

"Perhaps you should speak to him about that. I don't know what's going through his head," I replied calmly.

"You are a rogue who killed. I mean, you didn't even kill to defend yourself, you killed for fun," Jayson said. He moved so that his hands were resting on the table and he was leaning forward a little more, his eyes never leaving mine as he spoke.

"There's a pack of rogues on the western border. They are planning to attack in the early hours of tomorrow morning," I said without so much of a thought. I didn't really want to die and I didn't want anything to interfere with the plans I had put in motion.

"I have patrols covering every single border. They haven't spotted anything."Jayson raised an eyebrow at me.

"They are hidden. There are around 300 of them and they want nothing but your head. I have no reason to really tell you this other than I don't feel like dying today. Well, I'm already metaphorically dead, I don't want to be literally dead," I found myself explaining. I was actually explaining myself to a man who had tried to kill me because of my sarcasm.

This was the first time I had willingly offered an explanation to any Alpha. Every other Alpha had been left with no choice but to torture me in order to obtain the information they wanted, but that usually took them at least a month to get anything from me which they could actually use.

I had a pretty high pain threshold and could easily go for weeks before anything actually effected my body. I just gave them what they wanted after a month in return they gave me what I needed, which was their full support when the time came.

"Why are you rogue?" Jayson asked me.

"My pack were slaughtered when I was eighteen. I was happy, just living my life with my family, but that was all taken away from me in one night..." I paused as I brought my head up so that I was looking at Jayson who had now taken on a far more informal position. He was leaning against the back of the chair with his arms folded across his chest, his eyes looking like they were trying to detect some hint of a lie in my words. "The life of a rogue was the only option I wanted. I didn't want to start another life so I went at it alone and for the last ten years I have done what I needed to do to get by."

"How many different Alphas have you encountered?"

Enough to know your ass is going to be kicked when the time comes. And more than enough to know the name of every single person who hates you for some reason or another. So that was pretty much every Alpha from this side of the land to the other.

"Enough," I settled on.

"Blake wants to see you. He wants to know that I haven't hurt you," Jayson changed the topic without so much as a second thought.

"I don't want to see him. Just tell him you didn't touch me and he has nothing to worry about," I muttered.

"I doubt he will believe me. He did this," he turned his head to show me the three claw marks which cut deep into his neck, "when I refused to stop strangling you."

"Look, Alpha, I am your prisoner and I don't want to be treated any other way. That means no visitors, regardless of whether they are my mate," I replied in the hope that he would get the message. I didn't want to see Blake and no amount of guilt tripping was going to change that.

I could sense that my wolf was pissed with me, but I was the one in control right now and while I was in control, I wasn't going to allow Blake anywhere near me.

"At least tell me your name. Don't you think he has the right to know that?" Jayson asked me, until he asked that question, I had totally forgotten that I hadn't given them my name. No one knew my name, they only knew I was a rogue to be feared.

"It's for the best he knows nothing since I don't plan on accepting him anytime soon." I sighed, my gaze never leaving that of Jasyon as he continued to study me and process the answers I was giving him.

"You know he's outside this room right?" Jayson asked. As wolves we had extremely sensitive hearing so that meant Blake had probably just heard what I told Jayson about not accepting him, which meant there was going to be a whole load of shit for Jayson to deal with.

"I didn't but thanks for telling me," and there she was. The defensive sarcastic bitch who would say anything to get a rise out of the man sitting in front of her.

"I think we are done here for the day. I will have Jackson take you to your cell and we will resume this chat tomorrow. I do, after all, have one hell of a pissed off Beta to deal with," Jayson spoke. I could tell that he was unimpressed as he walked out of the room, fastening the buttons on his suit jacket as he went.

When he opened the door, I could hear shouting and banging, though I wasnt sure who either was actually coming from. I could only assume that the people were doing what they could to calm Blake down after he had shifted into his wolf.

You need to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. I don't need to do anything. I just need to sleep and I need to prepare, neither of which involve Blake and his emotions right now.

I looked over to the door to see Jackson standing there. Just as Jayson had been, he was wearing an impressive looking suit, only his was a navy blue with a black shirt and red tie while Jayson had been in a grey suit and white shirt without the tie.

"Did you really have to reject Blake to the Alpha?" Jackson asked emotionlessly.

"I didn't actually reject him. I just said I wasn't ready to accept that he was my mate. There's the difference between the two."

"Come with me." Jackson ignored my comment, and beckoned for me to follow him from the room, which I did without question. When we stepped out of the room there was blood everywhere and two of the guards were pretty much dead in the corner of the room.

I looked around in shock. I couldn't believe that Blake had done that just because he assumed I had rejected him.

I mean, to actually reject him, I would have to do it to his face. I would than have to say the words I, Ellie Pierce, reject Blake Jackson, Beta of the Moon Shadow pack, as my mate. An then he would have to accept that I had rejected him; something I couldn't see happening even if I did reject him.

"That's another two deaths on your conscience. Daniel and Peter were two of our best guards," Jackson's cold tone filled the corridor. I just added that to the eighty lives I had already taken and continued to follow him.

We walked past several empty cells before reaching the one where I was going to be spending the night. There was a bed in the corner, a plate of dinner on the table with a glass of orange juice beside it and a copy of 'The Scarlett Letter' on the edge of the bed. There was even a game of Jenga on the bedside table.

I was in awe of the cell. It looked more like a mini bedroom than it did a cell. It was definitely nothing like what I was used to, I was used to being chained to the wall over night with silver chains and being left to starve for a couple of days.

Jackson then removed the handcuffs and my wolf was immediately grateful for the release. I even managed to smile at myself because I was finally able to move my hands after tey had been bound together for however many hours it was.

"Blake pretty much demanded that you be given this cell. He said if the Alpha wasn't going to release you, the least he could do was ensure his mate had a proper meal and a good nights' sleep," Jackson finally spoke as he pushed my into the cell before locking it.

"Tell him I said thanks," I muttered while walking over to my bed and taking a seat.

"You will also find some clean clothes in the drawers there. Another Blake thing," Jackson added.

I opened the drawer and there were four pairs of jeans in the top one, vest tops galore in the second one and underwear in the third. I even noticed the new shoes which were lying beside the bed.

As Jackson went to walk away, I managed to stop him before he could leave. "I haven't rejected Blake because I can't bring myself to do it, I know it's not the right thing to do. But, right now, I can't accept him either."

"You know, I don't actually think you're a bad person. You don't seem like the sort of person who kills for fun which means you killed our men for a reason, not just because you felt like doing so," Jackson surprised me when those words came out of his mouth.

He was the first person who had ever really looked close enough to see that there was a reason for what I did, he was the first person to se that there was more than a killer to who I was, but I knew I couldn't trust him with the reason why.

"My name... It's Ellie. But tell Blake he can call me El," I said in what almost sounded like defeat as I revealed my name Jackson, mostly because my name had been my best kept secret and it had been the one thing no one could ever get from me.

Now I was giving it up to a man who I was supposed to hate because he was the enemy, instead I wanted his friendship and I wanted him to see the real me. The real Ellie Pierce who has hidden behind masks and stories for the last ten years.

"I'll be back tomorrow, Ellie. Tomorrow it will be interrogating you because the Alpha is busy and Blake will need a couple of days to calm down before he's ready to face you again."

"Good. Because I'm still not ready to face him either."