Final compromise

Something wasn't right. I knew it long before I opened my eyes. Something bad, something I didn't want to remember, had happened and it was waiting for me on the other side of wakefulness. And though my subconscious tried to protect me from the pain that waited for me on the other side, my body was already resuming its normal functions without any prompting from me. My eyes sprang open. I immediately squinted at the bright lights overhead.

I sat up quickly, too quickly. The room spun for a moment, then steadied. I groaned as my fingers touched a raised bump at the back of my head. The bump immediately brought everything into clear, sharp focus. I remembered trying to run away from the huge men. I remembered Lora screaming for me to be caught while my father looked on. I remembered being grabbed and knocked out cold.

I whimpered in fright. That meant I was in Alpha Ryder's pack now. I took in my surroundings. I was in a small room, sitting on a single sofa. The only window here had bars. Was I some sort of prisoner then? Was Alpha Ryder already angry with me for trying to run away?

Lora's words echoed in my head.

"Alpha Ryder is a ruthless man... There are rumors, terrible rumors of what he does to people who make him angry."

I put my hands in front of my face and saw that they had begun to shake. But there was no one in the room with me. Perhaps I could still escape. My gaze darted to the door and just before I could make a move towards it, it opened. The biggest man I had ever met walked in. Apart from his build, his face was breathtaking. Nearly overlong lashes framed his vivid green eyes, while a tousled thatch of glossy, black hair framed his handsome face. We stared at each other for a long moment.

"Finally. You're awake," he said in a deep rumbling voice only a man of that build would have.

Seeing him sucked my breath away. I was transported back to the night of the mating ceremony. I felt an inexplicable pull towards him as though my life had been leading to all this moment. My wolf stirred within me, claiming him as her mate. I gasped at the realization that this man, whoever he was, was my second chance mate.

"I was beginning to think that my people hit you a little too hard," he continued. "You may have guessed who I am, or maybe not," he amended as he took in my still-wondering expression. "I am Alpha Ryder."

I gasped again. I didn't think I was capable of normal speech just yet. Ryder? This was Alpha Ryder? I had heard of him. Everyone in my pack had heard of him. Everyone said he was a savage, cruel man. How could a man everyone thought of as a beast be so devastatingly handsome? And why was he acting as though he couldn't sense our mate bond? I was curling my hands into fists to keep from launching myself into his arms. So far I was succeeding, but my wolf was by far harder to control.

"Alpha," I said breathlessly. Then I paused as I tried to marshal my thoughts into words. He merely raised a brow, watching me struggle. Apart from the fact that he was completely disregarding our mate bond, he was also more than a little intimidating. "Alpha, don't you... feel it? The- the bond? The mate bond?"

He was quiet for a long moment and I thought he wouldn't answer.

"I suppose I need to make some things very clear," he said. "Firstly, you are not here to relax, to be at ease." He looked meaningfully at the sofa I was still sitting on. "Secondly, you will be working in my pack as a slave to pay back the money your father owes me. Yes, a slave," he acted, reacting to my startled look. He kept looking me over, like I was a particularly good specie of cow he wanted to trade. "As for the bond you mentioned, it's quite laughable that you would think for a moment that I would claim you as my mate. Kiara, you aren't even worthy to be a member of my pack in the first place. Did you get that?"

I simply stared at him, as my brain desperately tried to play catch-up with my ears.

"I said, did you get that?" he repeated a note of menace in his voice.

He took half a step towards me. His eyes flashed and burned. It was at that moment I knew why people referred to him as a dangerous man. Fear pooled in my stomach. I nodded twice jerkily.

"Yes, Alpha," I squeaked.

A muscle in his jaw jumped as he stared down at me. "You will find that I expect prompt answers whenever I ask you a question. And like I said, completely erase the notion of a union between us because that will never happen." He was almost at the door before he turned once more. "I hope for your sake that you're physically strong enough to work. I have no patience for weaklings."

The door clicked shut behind him and the tears I had been desperately holding back spilled over. I buried my face in my hands as I wept uncontrollably. What was wrong with me? I had been rejected by my first mate and turned into a slave by the other. What had I done in my past life for the moon goddess to punish me so cruelly?

I nearly fell off the bed when I heard the door open again, thinking Alpha Ryder had returned. I quickly wiped my teary eyes and looked up. Another devastatingly handsome man had walked in. He was staring right at me. For the third time, I felt that this stranger was a missing part of me, the part that kept me whole.

'Mate,' my wolf screamed.