Chapter Two

Laina

We had been standing by the window for atleast twenty minutes now, listening to the screams unable to do anything when the door exploded inward catching me off guard and I screamed.

My father barely had time to turn before three men stormed into the room, they weren't from our pack, I knew that immediately.

Their clothes were dark, their weapons unfamiliar, and the expressions on their faces held none of the panic I had seen on our warriors outside.

"Who are you?" I managed to ask

The largest of the three men lifted his weapon.

"Don't speak unless you're spoken to"

My father froze as I grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Father" I yelled but he didn't look at me.

"Who sent you?" he managed to ask though but no one answered.

One of the men moved toward us as my father shifted into a defensive stance.

"Don't touch my daughter."

The stranger smiled.

"That's not your decision anymore."

Before my father could react, another man grabbed him from behind.

My father had been Alpha of our pack for more than two decades. He wasn't going to surrender quietly.

He threw one man against the wall as another attacked him.

"Father!"

I tried to reach him, but someone seized my arms as I kicked backward.

"Let me go!"

The man holding me tightened his grip and I bit his hand and he cursed.

I twisted free for half a second before another pair of arms wrapped around my waist. 

"Get off me!"

My wolf surged beneath my skin, for one brief moment, I thought I could shift, then something sharp pressed against my neck.

"Try it." and I went still and my breathing became fast.

My father was on his knees now as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His hands were tied behind his back.

"Father!" His eyes found mine. "Don't fight them." I said shaking my head slowly. 

I had seen my father in hard situations before but not like this, there was something in his voice, fear. 

Before I could say anything else something went over my head and it was dark. 

I don't know how long they carried me, minutes maybe before my feet touched the ground and someone pushed me forward as I stumbled.

"Where are you taking me?" I tried asking again but there was no answer. 

The hood was ripped from my head as light flooded my eyes and I blinked rapidly.

I looked around and that's when I realized I was in a large room with stone walls, high ceilings and several armed men stood around the edges.

My father was there his hands were still bound but he wasn't the only prisoner.

Someone was sitting in a chair across the room and his hands were tied behind his back as his head hung low.

I stared at him, at first, I didn't understand what I was seeing, then I recognized the silver hair, the broad shoulders, the expensive ceremonial suit.

The face I had spent the entire morning trying not to think about.

"Alpha Oliver?" I found myself saying out loud and he lifted his head, his face was pale and there was blood on his cheek.

He looked at me with the same disbelief I felt.

"Laina"

I turned toward the men surrounding us.

"What is happening?"

No one answered, I looked at my father who seemed just as clueless, he was staring at the floor.

"Father? Do you have any idea what's going on? Who this me are?"

My father just shook his head, before I could say anything else I heard footsteps coming from somewhere behind me and suddenly every person in the room went silent, even Oliver stopped moving.

A man stepped into the room and the world suddenly stopped because I knew him, I knew that face way too well, the face that had haunted me for years, my knees almost gave out.

"No." i whispered almost to myself and our eyes met, something inside my chest shattered, it was Trey. 

"You" I said my lips trembling, "You can't be here."

He did not say anything, his expression remained cold.

He slowly walked closer to me every step felt like a knife twisting through my chest.

"You are supposed to be dead."

But he did not say anything, there not even a flicker of emotion in his face, I stared at him, desperately searching his face for the man I remembered, the man who used to smile whenever he saw me, the man who used to sneak into my room after midnight, the man who used to whisper my name like it was something precious, my mate, my Trey he was alive and standing in front of me like I was a stranger.

I looked at my father who was too silent, he still hadn't spoken, he was the one that told me Trey was dead and I needed answers from him but he did not say a word. His silence frightened me more than Trey's presence.

"Father"

His eyes finally lifted and the look in them made my stomach drop, he had lied to me I could see it in his face, he was not shocked to see him. 

Trey stopped a few feet away, his gaze traveled over my wedding dress and for 

 the first time, something changed in his expression, his jaw tightened and his eyes darkened.

"You were getting married."

It wasn't a question really it was more of a statement. 

I swallowed "I" but my voice disappeared.

He looked at Oliver then back at me, a bitter smile touched his mouth.

Four Years Earlier

I remember the first time I noticed him, not because he was the strongest wolf in the pack, he wasn't, Atleast not back then. 

Trey was an omega and he worked wherever he was needed, he carried supplies, cleaned the training grounds, delivered messages, ran errands for warriors who barely remembered his name, most people looked through him, he was just one of the servants but I didn't.

I noticed him because he was always smiling even when people treated him badly.

I had been walking through the eastern training grounds when I saw him carrying two heavy crates and one slipped from his hands, he cursed under his breath which made me laugh and he looked up, 

"You think that's funny?"

"A little."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You could help you know."

"I could." I crossed my arms "But then you would never learn."

That made him laugh, it was the first time I heard it, a real laugh warm and unrestrained and something in me shifted, I did not understand it then, I was only sixteen but I later did. 

We started finding reasons to be around each other. A conversation near the stables. A walk through the forest. A stolen meal after everyone had gone to sleep.

He told me about his dreams and I told him about mine.

He wanted to become a warrior and I wanted to travel beyond our territory.

Neither of us knew how impossible our dreams were back then or how many obstacles we were about to face.

Then one night, everything changed, I was returning from the river when my wolf suddenly jolted awake and my heart slammed against my ribs, my entire body tingle and then I smelled him.

He stood several feet away, his eyes were wide, his breathing was uneven.

"Laina."

My wolf practically screamed inside me.

Mate, mate, mate

"You're my mate." He swallowed.

"You're mine."

I should have been afraid, Instead, I ran to him and he caught me, his arms wrapped around me so tightly that I could barely breathe, I laughed against his chest as he buried his face in my hair and for the first time in my life, I felt completely safe but we bothknew our love would never be easy.

An Alpha's daughter couldn't simply announce that she had chosen an omega as her mate, my father would never accept it and the pack wouldn't either given I was the heir of the pack, so we kept it secret for months.

Trey would meet me in the forest after dark and sometimes we would simply lie beneath the stars and talk, we would kiss until neither of us remembered what time it was, he promised me things no one else ever had and promised he would make a life with me and I believed him, until the night everything changed.

I still remember the last night I ever saw him, he had kissed my forehead before leaving.

"I will see you tomorrow." he had said, 

"Promise?"

"Always." and I watched him walk away not knowing I will never see him again, he never came back.

The next morning, the warriors returned without him, they said there had been an ambush and that his body had never been found, but everyone knew what that meant, Trey was dead.

Present Day

I stared at the man standing before me, the same eyes, same face but nothing else felt familiar.

"Trey" I said his name slowly and his eyes met mine, there was no warmth "What happened to you?"

He just smiled but it wasn't the smile I remembered, it was cold. 

"You really want to know?" 

I nodded slowly and he stepped closer.

"I spent four years asking myself the same question."

His eyes moved toward my father then back to me.

"Why did Laina leave me?"

I stopped breathing "What?"

"You heard me."

"I didn't leave you."

His expression twisted "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying."

He laughed bitterly "You were my mate." His voice dropped "And you abandoned me."

I shook my head desperately "I thought you were dead, I was told you were dead!"