ALEXANDER'S POV
I slowly fight my way out of the darkness. I try to move but find my wrists bound and so are my ankles and where ever I am lying; I am on my side and it's cold. I try to link Cole, knowing he was with me when I passed out, but there is nothing. I then try my wolf Austin, but all I get from him is a small whimper. Since I can't reach anyone through the pack link, I fight the heaviness in my eyes and force them open.
I look around to find that I am in a room that actually looks familiar, but I can't think of where I would be. I then see that Cole is still out cold on the other side of the room. He, too, has his wrists and ankles tied, but he also has a rope wrapped around his chest. Maybe as he is an Alpha, the female didn't want to take any chances with him. I then hear a whimper and look around again quickly as I remember Skyler was with us too, but she is not in the same room as us. I hear the whimper once again and know it came from Skyl
GRETA'S POV I watch as Master Alpha Chris whips Luna Skyler with his belt. I remember what that feels like and I still have the scars on my back as proof. I am surprised that she has managed to keep in her screams, I can hear her in her head begging him to stop, that she will be good, that she will do as she is told and that he, as her Alpha is always right, a gift from my other half. I want to stop him, knowing that this is not doing her unborn pups any good, but as soon as I interfere, he will know that there is something up. I stay on the floor where he knocked me until he pauses and whispers into her ear, "My brother should have given you to me when I offered to take and train you in every way at the age of 5. You wouldn't have then caused your mother's death and in the end, my brothers as well... You would have returned to him a female he could enjoy without the consequences, as I would have taken care of that as well... I can't wait to break you,
ALEXANDER'S POV I didn't mean to mark her, I just wanted to protect Skyler, and then once we had our hands on her, Austin wanted to taste her. I catch her as she faints. I know she is a werewolf and I know there is more to her than that, but I am just not sure what. Not that I care, she is my mate and I will protect her just as I protect Skyler. I pick Greta up and carry her over to the sofa. I lay her down, run my fingers down her cheek, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear. I lean down and kiss her forehead before heading back into the room I was tied up with Cole. I go over to where Cole is still passed out due to the amount of silver and wolfsbane he is still wrapped in. I cover my hands and quickly untie him, throwing the rope and cord to the other side of the room. While I wait for him to come round, I search the rooms and find one of Cole's mother's old blouses. It is old and out of fashion, but it will do. I then head back into the other roo
SKYLER'S POV It was heartbreaking to realise that the uncle I loved as a pup was even worse than my father was, and with the female Greta, I could understand where she was coming from. Doing anything and everything possible to escape the brutal punishments that would come your way when something wasn't done to perfection. When I felt Cole and Xander's Alpha aura return to protect Alexander and then he admitted that if one was punished, then the other needed to be punished as well. I couldn't watch that again, so I snap, "NO!... Not again!... Never again!..." I then run, I run out of the door, into the woods and straight to the lake waterfall field. I told Nathan about the time James stood up for me and then turned on me so he didn't have to go through it again, but he was not the only one to have suffered because of me after my mother died. The next one that tried to stop my father from doing what he did best cost them their life...&
*** FLASHBACK CON'T *** He gives me a soft kiss on my cheek and then steps back before slapping my face. My head snaps to the side, but I don't make a sound. Another thing I have learned not to do is the more noise I make, the more he likes it, and the more he does. He then turns to the other males, smiling, "Alphas! See, as I said, already trained not to make a sound..." As he turns back, he hits me again and again and again and with each hit; I keep in the scream of pain that wants to come out. When one of his hits knocks me to the floor, I glance over at James, who is still standing in front of the door. I can see the guilt in his eyes increase and I then get a light tug on our private sibling mind link. "I'm sorry sis, he didn't buy that Ryan and I were just mucking around and things got out of hand as the very first punch Rya
*** FLASHBACK CON'T *** I now haven't seen Zoe for 2 months and during that time my Alpha has been drilling into me what my place is once again and that I am to treat everyone as they are of a much higher rank than me. I knew that Zoe and her parents were due home sometime over the next few days and as soon as I heard Zoe's parent's car pull up out the front of the packhouse; I smile. Even though I know I shouldn't have, I dropped the plate I was washing back into the sink and run out of the packhouse. I ignore the pain that is running through me in waves as I run up to her and wrap my arms around her, making her fall to the ground. We are both laughing as she says, "Hey! Girl, did you miss me or something?" "Nahh, why on earth would I miss a wolf-like you??" I laugh as I shrug my shoulders, making
SKYLER'S POV I blink the tears out of my eyes as I remember making myself a promise that I would never put any of my friends in that position again. I would never ask someone to stand up for me when I don't deserve it. After that day I never saw Zoe's parents again once I had passed out in his office, my father told me that Zoe's mother had been asked to transfer back to her old pack and due to what I had caused him to do to her daughter he had accepted and allowed them to return. "After my father killed Zoe, his punishments increased in both frequency and intensity. He then threatened that if anyone ever interfered again, I would have to watch them take the same punishment he had given her. So to protect, every one of the friends I had made while I was friends with Zoe, I once again shut everyone out. I kept everyone at a distance, not allowing anyone to be my friend again for fear my father would eventually kill them all, even for just talking to them."
COLE'S POV It doesn't take us long, and we slowly managed to lighten the mood as we make it back to the Alpha house. Once we have returned to the Alpha house and head inside, Alexander heads straight through the sitting room and up the hall to the office. We all stop in the sitting room, Skyler yawns and walks up to Elijah, whispers into his ear, then gives him a kiss, when he lets her go he bows a little to her and then heads off in the same direction as Alexander and makes his way to the office. Skyler then moves over to Nathan, whispers into his ear and gives him a kiss as well. When he lets her go, she goes to step away, but he pulls her back into another kiss. This time, when she steps back, she is flushed and her breathing is a little heavy. Nathan then bows to Skyler and heads to join Elijah and Alexander in the office. She then moves over to me. I don't expect her to do what she did with my brothers as she truly loves them, but what she does surpr
ALEXANDER'S POV Three days later Elijah called us to the library, I smile as I walk in and find the library is a mess with books here and there, some open, some not and a lot of them had small pieces of paper coming out of different pages. I sit down at the conference desk as Cole and Nathan enter the library. I don't miss their smirks or slight laughs as they join me sitting at the desk. It is a few minutes before Elijah walks around the corner of one of the bookshelves to join us. He looks at the book that is open in his hand and then places it on the desk before picking up another one and then saying, 'Okay, I have narrowed it down to 2 species of supernaturals... The first is the Fae. Now I know they are meant to be extinct, but there have been a few rumours going around that maybe one or two survived, but there are no purebreds anymore..." "And what is the other one?" "Okay..." He puts that book down and searches in amongst t