Chapter Five

*Ingrid*

As I lay in bed curled up next to Quinn one thought kept rampaging through my head.

I can't say for certain when the idea of killing Alpha Stone first crossed my mind. It could of been the night that father first told me Stone intended to take me as a mate, it could of been when I learned that they had been poisoning me, or it could of been when Ezra threatened that they would come for they Grey Ridge Pack. 

For a while now, nothing has seemed real.

Could I kill him and anyone else who dared to stand between us?

Random memories keep flash through my mind of Father and I many years ago, laughing and chasing eachother through the house. I was young and carefree, I was also a major daddy's girl. Everything changed when I first shifted, father stopped spending time with me and basically went out of his way to avoid me.

But I still kept asking myself if I truly believed that the man who I thought loved me could be capable of hurting me?

The idea has sat in the back of my head, festering like an infected boil for weeks until it suddenly burst, spreading it's contents all over my mind, Seeping into every orifice. I hated myself for thinking it, hated myself for even allowing the thoughts to come into my mind so clearly as that, but I hated myself even more for failing to see any other option.

Alpha Stone would never stop trying to come for me.  There's no chance that I would ever consider myself completley safe and let my guard down with him still lingering at the edges of my mind. But if I got this wrong, if I made one mistake in my plan it would cost the lives of everyone involved in helping me and probably countless others.

The only way to ensure everyone's safety was to remove Stone from the board all together. But even if I did that I knew Willow would never let it go.

My mind started to replay the awful incounter I had with Willow on my last day with the Black Ridge Pack.

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"I wont mate with you Alpha Stone." Despite the strength in my voice my heart was racing and I could hardly hold a coherent thought in my head.

"You say that as if you have a choice in the matter," Stone replied.

"I do have a choice."

He chuckled but it wasn't the sound of an amused man. It was dark, sinister. It was something to fear; the man behind the laugh was cruel and dangerous. I could feel the ice seeping into my veins, chilling me from the inside out, making me feel as if I would never be warm again. But I still stood my ground.

"I'm gonna let you continue thinking that, for today. I have somewhere else to be and I don't have time to deal with your insolence at this moment. We'll talk more when I return."

I didn't respond, just stood in place frozen. When Stone stepped towards me as kissed me on the cheek it took everything in my body not to recoil from him. It felt like a kiss of death, as if stone was marking me for the pack enforcer to come in and take my head. But what he had in mind was a fate far worse than death- at least thats the way I saw things. Stone might of killed his mates, but no before he tortured them for not giving him what he wanted.

I didn't move from the spot on which my feet were suddenly glued to until I heard his footsteps finish making their way to the front door, waiting for the tell-tale creeking sound as it opened and clesed. It was only then that I felt my knees trying to give out, my lungs burning from holding my breath for so long. 

He was gone.

"You're an idiot," A voice said from behind me.

My heart dropped into my stomach and then lurched upward again, beating widly in my chest. I took a deep breath, bringing more oxygen into my lungs to make up for the previous denial of constant air flow and tried to calm myself before turning towrds Willow. An ounce of weakness Willow saw was something to be used against me.

"What makes me an idiot?" I asked, trying and almost failing to keep my emotions in check.

"Anyone in their right mind would kill to be with the Alpha of our pack and here you are, just throwing it away like it means nothing to you."

"Willow," I sighed. "Anyone if their right mind can have him. It's not something that I want for myself." I whispered.

"Perhaps it isn't something that you want for yourself but have you considered how your behavior is making father and I look? Do you really think that Alpha Stone will take no for an answer?" she growled.

The distinct air of condescension was unmistakeable. WIllow was the daughter of a beta, she had her wolf. She always saw me an inferior and for sometime I haven't been able to bring myself to disagree with her. 

"H- he doesn't love me."

"Love? Love Ingrid? You've got to be fucking kidding me." The angered that was rolling off of Willow shook me to my core, she had been angry with me plenty of times. Hell she and her friends have made my life a living nightmare from the time I could remember. But she's never been this agressive towards me. 

Never.

"You will not embarrass this pack or father any longer, Alpha Stone wants you. You Ingrid, someone who doesn't even have her damn wolf. What in the fuck is so special about you? Huh? Oh, that's right. nothing. You've got nothing." 

The only thing i remember was seeing the pure hatred in Willow's eyes as she wrapped her hands around my throat, tightening beyond the point of just trying to scare me. 

Willow, my own sister was trying to strangle me.

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I shoot up from the bed, screaming as I clutch the heavy duvet to my chest. I can feel the tears leaking down my face, my body shaking all over.

The sound of my blood-curdling screams reverberate on the walls of our room, but I can't stop. I know I'm safe, I know I'm with Quinn but the rational part of my brain has completely shut off at this point and all I can feel is the mind numbing pain racking my body until a pair of hands land on my shoulders trying to pull me back into bed.

"Ingrid? You're okay baby, I promise. No one will ever hurt you again." Quinn whispers in my ear, pulling me back against his hard chest.