5. Fate Is A Sneaky Little Bitch.

~ RAELIN ~

I slam the door of her cell shut, the loud bang echoing down the hallway.

Damn that stupid rogue.

She is way more stubborn than I thought. I know she is hiding something. I can feel it in my guts, like she is playing some kind of a long game I haven’t figured out yet.

But I will find out what it is. I always do.

Whatever she is hiding, I will drag it into the light.

She can’t keep secrets from me. Not in my own pack.

The cold air hits me as I walk down the hallway, but it doesn’t calm me down. I am still burning inside with anger and frustration.

Two guards stand straighter as I pass them.

"Alpha." They greet me.

I barely nod in response.

I don’t care about them right now. My thoughts are a mess, each one leading back to her.

Layla.

Rogues are not welcome here. Period.

Their kind brings chaos. Blood. Betrayal.

Normally, it is very easy getting rid of them because here in Bloodhounds, once a rogue gets caught breaking my rules, we take them in, find out if they know anything important, then… end them.

Simple. Clean. End of story.

But this Layla? She is different.

And that's because she is not just some random rogue.

She is my mate.

And I wish she wasn’t.

Fate has played the cruelest joke on me. The bond between us is real. Undeniable.

But unwanted.

She is still alive now, but if I ever find out she is dangerous... if I ever find out that she is hiding something that can hurt my pack, I won’t care that fate tied her to me.

I will gladly do what needs to be done, even if that means breaking every single bone in her body to get the truth.

By the time I reach the main entrance door of the cells, I have made up my mind to choose the hardest path: visit her later to sniff out the truth.

I push the door open. It creaks loudly as I step outside.

The morning sunlight hits me right away. It is warm, bright, and the sky is soft blue with barely a cloud in sight.

It looks way better now after the storm that rocked the weather last night.

That storm was a nightmare.

I hate storms. They always take me back to the worst night of my life.

The night Wes and I became orphans.

On that terrible stormy night, we lost our parents to a strange, incurable sickness that no healer could name. Our parents withered away before our eyes, and we were fucking powerless to stop their deaths.

Now, all I have got left in my life are Wes, Cupcake, Derek, Caleb, Brie, Zuby, and Aunt Gaia. They are everything to me.

If I ever lose any of them… I don’t even want to think about it.

“Ray," I hear my brother’s voice and turn to see him walking towards me. He is still in his black training clothes and sweat is dripping from his forehead.

Wes is taller than me, built strong, and has those sharp brown eyes that always see through my crap.

Just like Dad used to.

I have always had more fire—more temper—just like Mom.

But Wes? He is the calm one. The smart one.

The one who keeps me grounded when I am losing my shit, just like mum always calmed dad.

Wes is my Beta and he is the only person I trust completely.

He stops in front of me. “You okay? You look like you want to punch a wall."

“Everything is so fucked up," I groan.

“Did she talk?” he asks, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Does she know you are her mate?”

“She knows,” I reply and start walking towards the packhouse. “Also, she is driving me crazy. She just keeps saying she wandered into our pack by mistake.”

Wes walks beside me. “Do you think she is lying?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, rubbing my temple. “When I used my aura, I didn’t feel like she was lying. But I didn’t push harder. I didn’t want to hurt her more.”

The words feel like sand in my mouth, but they are true.

I didn't want to hurt her more because if I keep hurting her, I also keep hurting myself.

That is the curse of this stupid mate bond.

“I don’t like her,” I tell Wes. “I also don’t trust her. I hate that this bond is making me feel anything at all. Maybe I should have rejected her back there.”

“Don’t say that,” Wes says firmly, putting his arm around my shoulder. “Look, I get it. She is a rogue, and we all hate them. She is not supposed to be here. But fate doesn’t care about rules sometimes. She is your mate. If you reject her, it might mess you up badly and you can’t afford to be a mess right now.”

“I know that.” I say through clenched teeth.

“Exactly. So we wait. We keep investigating. Killing her now or kicking her out won’t solve anything if she is actually a spy.”

“Wes, she has been here for two days and just woke up today,” I snap. “Two long, agonizing days and we still know nothing. I am not a patient man. How long do I have to fucking wait?”

Wes sighs. “I hate it too, man. But we can’t jump to conclusions. Besides, you have got another problem to handle.”

"What problem?"

"Look over there," he nods towards the water fountain near the front of the packhouse.

I follow his gaze.

Fuck.