Chapter 7

I stood there with my head held high, watching as confusion contorted his features, he watched me for what seemed like hours before he growled, clenching his fists.

“How did you do that!?” He bellowed, his wolf nearing the surface as he began losing control of his temper.

I said nothing as I looked him in the eyes, almost a silent challenge, I would allow him to walk all over me, I was better than that. “I’m leaving.” I said bitterly, “Tell me your name so that I can reject you, you are not my mate. Not now. Not ever.”

I swore that his eyes darkened, if that were even possible, and in a flash he was pinning me to the wall, his hand grasped tightly around my neck. “You will not leave, little wolf.”

I knew he was using his alpha tone, I could feel the power that radiated from him, my feet close to his knees as he held me in the air. “I will leave.” I growled, attempting to match his tone. “You are nothing to me, I don’t care if you are an alpha.”

He leaned close to my face, so close that I could feel sparks brushing against my cheeks as I tried not to shake, not to show the horror I felt within me. “I can smell your fear.” He laughed. “You wouldn’t make it a mile before me or my pack caught you and dragged you back kicking and screaming.”

I growled, baring my teeth at him before I realised what I had done, sinking my teeth into his arm as I ripped his hand from my throat, unsure of my own strength. He howled in pain as I let go, his blood dripping from my lips and I turned on my heals and ran, rushing towards the door to the bedroom as I attempted to hold up the trousers that were four times my size, the jumper reaching below my knees. I could hear his thundering footsteps behind me as I slammed open the door and turned left, moving as fast as I weekend frame would allow. I could feel exhaustion at the corners of my mind, begging me to stop, to rest for a while, but that wasn’t possible. If I stopped now he would kill me.

I made it down the stairs, taking three or four at a time, my movements rushed and panicked as I almost tripped several times before I reached the bottom floor. Quickly looking behind me I noticed that the alpha hadn’t yet caught up, but I still didn’t dare stop as I burst into the cold night; crashing into something that resembled a wall. I was thrown back, my petite body rolling three times before it stopped, my lungs burning as they pleaded for air.

I snapped my head up, gasping when I saw what was before me, the beta who I had met back at the cabin stood with his arms crossed over his chest, watching me with those blue eyes. But that’s not what terrified me, it looked as though the whole pack was stood not far behind him, both men and women crouching into attack position, ready to subdue me for their alpha.

“You shouldn’t have done that, little wolf.” Said the beta, shaking his head as though he was a father scolding a child. But then, his attention shifted to something behind me, his blue eyes darkening to black and instantly knew why.

The rest of the pack growled, ready to strike me down for the vermin that I was, but they stopped after only a few steps, each of them seething with rage. I felt my mate before he reached me, I could smell the blood that was still pooling from the wound I had left on his arm. In that moment, I wished that I had died with my mother, the bravery and strength I had conjured seeping from me as he drew closer, taunting me.

I turned my head just in time to see his fist and dodge at the last second, crawling across the ground as my legs seemed to continuously give way beneath me. Tears flowed freely from my eyes and I scream of pain ripped from me as his foot connected with my side, the monster pulling me to him by my hair.

I could see the hatred and fury in his eyes as he forced me to look at him, his voice deep and cold. “I was going to allow you to sleep peacefully tonight, give you food and warmth. Clearly that is not what you want.”

I forced myself to hold his gaze, to not cower and submit as I knew his pack did, I was not his slave, I wasn’t his possession. I was my own person. I was free. I didn’t belong to him. I belonged to no one.

His snarl echoed through the night as he adjusted me so that I was pressed against him, one arm wrapped around me as the other remained wrapped around my hair. “You have no one to blame for this but yourself.”

I opened my mouth in confusion, but no words left my lips as he ragged my face to the side and exposed my neck to him, panic seeping through me with a new ferocity. The pack cheered and clapped as he sunk his teeth into the space between my shoulder and my neck, I felt nothing at first, but then I let out a blood curdling scream, the pain was like nothing I had ever known. Even Kayla howled within me, disgusted and afraid all at once.

I was barley conscious when he adjusted his grip on me carrying me as though I was a delicate baby, but when he spoke I wanted nothing more than to rip out his throat. “Now you can not escape me, little mate.”

He had ensured that he would know my location at all times, he had marked me against my will.

He had claimed me as his.

Kayla howled in mourning within my mind, the last thing I saw before darkness consumed me was his face, the face of the monster to whom I now belonged.