CHAPTER FIVE

THIRD PERSON'S POV

Aiden. No! No! No! She pinched herself until it hurt as the footsteps drew closer. Karla abandoned all the training her father had taught her. How to stay calm in every situation so she could come out on top. To be fair, she had been doing that before that pleasant, horrible smell. She grabbed the bars and shook them loudly, hoping they would somehow give way so she could escape. Zeal was not helping matters, she whimpered in pleasure and chanted for her mate.

Had she seriously forgotten what he had put them through these past three days? Karla wondered in frustration. He was the reason they were in so much pain and starving too. How did he even manage to find her? She was far away from Blue Moon Pack. What did the moon goddess have against her? All these questions raced in her mind.

She realized that there was nothing she could do in this moment other than to try to get as far away as possible, so she drew to the back of the cage, ready to attack him.

To her greatest surprise, the person that strolled up to her was the last person she ever thought she would see ever again.

"Ace?" She whispered and pinched herself again, hoping desperately that this would not be a dream.

Even though the two men were identical twins, she had never mixed one up for the other. So she was definitely sure that her best friend was the one standing in front of her. He was also the one that Zeal was eager to get her hands on.

Ace was her mate? How was this even possible? She was still reeling from the pain Aiden had caused her, and now she had another mate? Not any other person? Ace?

Ace, on the other side of the bar, was going through his own shock and confusion, too. Like Karla, he had recognized her instantly. Yes, it had been years since he last saw her, and she was haggard and tired, but he still recognized her straight away. He was so stunned that he could hardly speak. Karla. His Karla was right in front of him. She was the last person from his past that he thought he would see again.

She had been a big part of his teenage years. Their friendship had been unconventional, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. She was the only person he regretted leaving behind, and now she was in front of him. What's more? He was struggling to keep Zeus, his wolf, at bay.

When his beta had informed him that they had caught a new rogue, his first reaction had been to leave it to his men to figure out what to do about him.

"It's a woman, Alpha." That had caught his interest. There were hardly ever female rogues. For a woman to be sent out of her pack, it meant that she had been wronged or that she was a traitor. Usually, it was mostly the latter, so he wanted to check it out for himself.

In the Rogue pack, of which he was Alpha, they welcomed everyone, for he too was been cast out by his people, but that was a story for another time. They had a system to determine who would be accepted into the pack. If an evil man like a rap*st had been cast out and he happened to stumble upon the Rogue pack, he would be killed.

They were outcasts, not evil. Ace would usually leave it to his men, but there was something that urged him to take care of it by himself. The urge made sense to him when he reached the outhouse where the prisoners were kept and the most delicious scent wafted up to his nose.

If not for his extraordinary restraint, his wolf, Zeus, would have taken over him. He remained calm so he would not be blinded by the bond. There was no way to know if his mate was a woman who had done wrong or had been wronged.

So, to find out that it was Karla had to be the greatest thing that had ever happened to him.

He was so lost in his reverie that he forgot that his woman needed medical attention. Karla was disturbed by his silence. Had he not recognized her? Was he disappointed by how she turned out? Was he disgusted by her appearance? Or worse, was he going to reject her like his brother had?

"Ace." She said again, but he simply stared at her still, his face void of any emotions. "It's me, Karla."

Ace was so surprised by the turn of events that he thought that he was dreaming. He had to be. There was no way the moon goddess would be that generous to him, was there? So, he stood there and stared at her.

It was her sound of hurt that brought him back to earth. He had not been dreaming!

"Mate." He finally said gruffly, but the moment was lost on Karla, who could no longer hold on to her consciousness. She collapsed in a heap on the floor.

That finally prompted him into action. He flung the door open and scooped her up in his arms. Without fail, he ran to the pack hospital and yelled for someone to get the pack doctor to come look at her.

Sometime during his race to the hospital, she opened her eyes and smiled weakly before fainting again.