Chapter 3: Surrender

Lucas

The mutt under me doesn't cry or plead for her life. Instead, she assures me that it's okay to kill her. What in hell is wrong with her?

The pleading, begging, crying, it's all the best parts of a kill. Knowing that you're taking away what they want most. Irritated, I remove my paws from her arms and pull away from her. Shifting back, I reach my hand down to her. She looks at it with creased eyebrows, as though she didn't understand what I was doing. 

I drop my hand without her taking it with a huff. Running my hands through my hair, I look at the little thing lying in the snow, soaking up the moisture of the snow into her hair and clothes. She doesn't shiver or cry. Her eyes are dry as she stares up at me in shock. 

Silence passes between us for long seconds before she finally speaks, crawling to her knees at my feet. 

"No, no, no, no!" she shouts, putting her head in her shaking hands. 

"What are you doing?" I ask calmly, though my interest is piqued in the little creature with white hair. She drops her hands, stumbling to her feet with a sway, and I watch the blood drip from her shoulder with the arrow burrowed into it. 

"You were supposed to kill me! You were supposed to- just, just do it now, please." She says while shaking her head distraughtly. I don't respond, only continue to watch her as her eyes become glazed from her loss of blood. 

"Please," is the last thing she whispers out before she collapses into the snow. I can hear her heartbeat, but it is faint. The girl smells like death, and a part of me wants to just leave her out here. Instead, I lift her limp body into my arms and start my hike back to her pack house. 

Just as we get back to the house, the alpha of the Montana pack meets me at their front door before I can enter.

"I can take her, Alpha." He says with a nod. I am about to hand her over when I remember the scent of blood on her when I arrived. The same scent I had caught when we went to the basement of the pack house for inspection. Her heart rate increased to echo in my ears with every sentence Chris said. My grip around her tightens, and I remain glaring at the guy.

"Arch," I call out to my beta and listen to his shuffling feet come up behind me. 

"Yes, alpha?" He asks immediately.

"We're taking the mutt with us. Gather her items," I tell him, and watch as Chris's mouth parts in surprise. I shouldn't care about what happens to this creature. Being a mutt is disrespectful to the wolf world, and we would typically kill any mutt on the day of birth. 

The humans despise us because of our...issues. It was a well-known fact that battery and sexual assault cases increase when wolves are integrated into the human population, so we tend to stay away from them, and they stay away from us.

Arch leaves me, taking a group of nearby omegas to collect her things with him. 

"A-alpha, I-I don't understand. Why would you want a mutt like that?" Chris stutters out, gesturing to the woman in my arms. I look at him with an empty expression, letting him know I am not interested in his questions.

"W-wait, you can't just-" he chokes out when I turn around to put her in the car that pulls up behind me. This time, I do respond, cutting off the end of his sentence. 

"Actually, Chris, I can. And I just did," I tell him with a smug grin as the driver opens the back door for me to place her into. Chris remains there once Arch returns empty-handed, earning a glare from me.

"Where are her belongings?" I ask in a harsh tone that has Arch bringing his eyes to the ground in submission. 

"Alpha, the omegas of the pack claim she doesn't have any." He says shortly, trying to get me off his case. My eyes turn to Chris this time, waiting for his explanation. When he doesn't provide me with one, I turn back to Arch.

"You checked her quarters?" I ask hurriedly, ready to get out of this pathetic pack.

"She doesn't have any alpha," he says, and I can't help the grumble that comes out. We have strict pack laws for all wolf dwellings, and one of them straight-forwardly states that all wolves must have their own quarters for living. 

"Better start talking, Chris." I let my alpha tone seep between us, and I take pleasure in seeing his eyes find the ground. 

"She's not a wolf, alpha. Our laws don't apply to her." He explains his thinking, but for some reason, it irritates me more than knowing she didn't even have a room.

Arch and I leave Chris standing in the driveway, dusted behind our driver. Montana was the last stop on my inspection list, and it is a long drive back home to Alaska. Only about an hour of the drive had passed when the little creature in the back seat started stirring. 

She wasn't awake. Sweat coated her body, and she thrashed against the seat violently with screams. Arch and I didn't say anything, and I expected it to cease after a few minutes, but nearly another hour had passed when I couldn't stand it any longer. 

"Pull over, Arch," I say in a low grumble, unbuckling my seatbelt as he pulls to the side of the deserted road. 

I pull the back door of the car open with force, grabbing the woman by her arm and pulling her out of the car backwards. I expect the movement to jolt her awake, but her eyes remain closed as I pull her to her feet. I add pressure on her arms until her eyes flutter open. They don't stay that way for very long as she slips back into unconsciousness. 

With an irritated sigh, I bring my hand across her face with stinging force. This time, her eyes fly open in fear as she starts to struggle to get away from me.