Five: Sloane

"Where have you been?" Ellie asked, not bothering to peel her eyes away from her phone to look at me as I rushed up to stand beside her in the center of the pack land.

I didn't bother responding as I stared down the long stretch of road, trying to catch my breath. There was a thin layer of perspiration on my body, and I gathered the hair from the back of my neck, lifting it and letting the breeze hit the damp skin.

The entire run back to the border, I had felt Greyson hot on my heels. It had been exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Butterflies had swarmed my stomach, and on several occasions, I almost giggled from the excitement.

I would have, too, if he hadn't sounded so angry as he chased me, growling and snapping at the backs of my legs. No one had ever kept up with me before when I ran. I loved it.

A small part of me wanted to let him catch me, just to see what would happen, but the larger part wanted to prove myself and show him how fast I could run. I wanted to impress him.

"You smell awful," Ellie said, and I turned to glare at her.

I knew rogues usually smelled bad to pack wolves. I had heard it from them before and even smelled it myself while I was in their town. But Greyson didn't smell bad to me.

He smelled incredible and intoxicating.

I had figured that with how delicious his scent was, no one would notice if I had it on me from the little contact we had.

Ellie's nose was wrinkled, and I watched as she forced her stare away from her phone and turned to look at me. Her eyes widened as she glanced at my frizzy hair, over my damp face, down my sweaty dress, and to my dirt-covered heels. Compared to her polished, waxed, and manicured appearance, I must look like a mess. "Are you kidding me?"

"What? I don't look that bad." Greyson sure seemed to like it. I bit back the thought. His opinion shouldn't matter, and I shouldn't care that much about what he thinks of me.

He was as much of a stranger as my future mate was, and I had no business thinking about him. We spent less than two hours together over the past two days, and they meant nothing.

They were some of the most memorable hours of my life, but still.... they couldn't mean anything.

He was probably just having fun with me, laughing about the gullible pack girl he was toying with to his pack of rogues. After what they did to me during my first and only visit there, I imagined they would get a kick out of hearing about how he had me in the palm of his hand.

Once they learned I had shown up today after everything that happened yesterday, they would think I was more of a joke than they did before.

It wouldn't surprise me if he had planned to kill me once he finished his little game with me.

Yet, the way he had looked at me and touched me... I was having a hard time believing that was the case. It felt too real, too different.

My short time with him made me feel things I had never felt before and never expected to in my future arranged mating.

"Those men are coming here today to fight for your hand, some of them against their will, and you show up looking like you were just doing yard work. Show a little decency!" Ellie snapped, and I felt my cheeks burn under her glare.

My parents scolded me thousands of times, but having it come from my little sister and in front of our pack was humiliating. She sounded just like our father. He would be so proud if he had heard her. It would be just another thing she did to earn his love and respect while I continued disappointing him.

"Always getting in trouble, aren't we?" Cori, the Beta's daughter, asked as she joined us, her parents only a few feet behind her.

Cori was a beautiful redhead with stunning green eyes.

She was always friendly and understood the pressure I was under, but we never had a chance to become close. She was a year younger than Ellie, and they were close friends. I didn't have anyone my age around me.

"It seems that way," I muttered bitterly as Beta Thompson, Cori's mother, looked at me with the same disappointed expression my mother had mastered over the years.

I glanced over my shoulder, wondering if I would have time to run home and change, but I tensed when I saw my parents walking up to join us. Their displeasure at the way I looked was evident on their face.

My hair dropped from my fingers, and I quickly used my palm to press down the frizz around my face.

"What are you trying to prove?" My mother hissed as she stood at my side.

My father's face was red with anger, and I glanced down at my feet when he turned his glare on me as I used one foot to wipe dried mud off the ankle of the other.

A few pack members laughed as they watched the scene unfold.

It was nothing new. They were used to me failing to live up to my parents' expectations and getting reprimanded. Public or private, my parents held nothing back.

There was nothing I could do about my sweaty clothes or hair now. It was too late.

The road would be filled with cars any moment now, and if I wasn't standing right here when that happened, my father might lose his mind. The best I could offer our guests was a smile and to play the sweet, charming role I was forced into when they showed up today.

"I raised you better than this. The way you are presenting yourself to your future mate is disgraceful! Did you really think this kind of public humiliation and disrespect would make us call it off, or were you just trying to insult our guests?" My father snapped, not bothering to lower his voice, and I knew it was because he wanted to make an example out of me. He hated to repeat himself, and by scolding me, he was setting the standards in the pack for everyone who heard him.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I had a few things I had to attend to and didn't get a chance to clean up and change." I shifted uncomfortably, hoping he would let it slide this time, but it was unlikely.

"This is unacceptable, Sloane. You will apologize to all of the packs once they get here." He growled, and I looked back to the empty street. They weren't here yet. Maybe I could go change after all.

I turned to make a run for it, opening my mouth to tell my father that I would be right back when my mother blocked my path.

"We don't have time for you to go running off and causing more problems." My mother said, grabbing my shoulders and turning me around to pull the pin holding the top half of my hair out before pulling it up in an uncomfortably tight bun.

I winced, my cheeks hot from embarrassment as she did this in front of the laughing pack. I felt like a child, not a twenty-year-old woman.

"I expect you on your best behavior from here on out, Sloane." My father snapped as I winced when my mother pulled my hair. I knew it was accidental, but I still tried to turn and glare at her.

"I will be! This was accidental…" I trailed off as my father let out a low growl.

"I don't just mean right now. Once the games are over, you will go with your mate back to his pack, and I expect you to make your pack proud. None of your usual nonsense!" He growled the last few words, and I looked away as he reminded me of my fate.

I knew I would be forced to mate them, but I hadn't given much thought to where we would live. My first thought was that my mate would live here with me, but now that I knew that wasn't the case, I felt empty.

A few people began to mutter with disappointment between each other about me representing their pack instead of Ellie, and from the corner of my eye, I watched her stand up straighter, tucking her phone away.

The pack fell silent as the distant rumbling of vehicles reached us, and I felt my stomach twist. Knowing that one of the men in that convoy was about to become my lifelong mate made me feel sick. I would leave with my mate in four weeks, losing my home, friends, and family.

Movement to the left caught my attention, and I held my breath as a familiar wolf charged toward the road.

The giant black beast raced through the trees, perpendicular to the vehicles, and I gasped at the sight of him. He was moving quickly, and I looked back and forth between Greyson and the convoy about to breach our border.

My father took one step forward, having noticed him too, and my breathing picked up as Greyson collided with the first SUV. The crash was audible from here, and I flinched at the sound of his body making contact with the metal, sending the vehicle onto its side.

Another crashed into it from behind, and I watched in horror as wolves started jumping from the cars further back, ready to fight.

"No," I whispered, my hand flying up to my mouth as I lost sight of Greyson.

Our border patrol raced forward into no man's land, and I held my breath. A tense silence fell over the pack before Greyson stepped out from around the car. His eyes were on me, pulling me in as he limped forward.

I stepped toward him only to be stopped by my father's hand clasping tightly on my bicep.

Ellie let out a loud cry of surprise at the sight of the Rogue Alpha, and Aiden moved to my side, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me away from my father.

No wolf in the world could compete with Greyson's size or strength, and none could have survived that impact. Yet, he did.

Greyson braced himself, looking as if he had taken minimal damage before letting out a deafening roar of anger, his eyes never leaving mine as he did so.