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Chapter 13

I park my car behind one of the main buildings at the pack compound. I place my head on the steering wheel and close my eyes. I just need a moment to myself to think through everything I've learned.

Eric is an incubus. A fucking pain-eating parasite who has been feeding off my patients. I should have known. Maybe I could have done something. I sigh with frustration. What could I have done? Told my boss? I would have been thrown into the psych ward before you could say werewolf.

My silent breakdown is interrupted by a loud bang on my car. Jerking up, I glance around for the cause of the noise. There, standing at the bonnet of my car, is a very pissed off looking Killian. Arms crossed, he looks like he's about to burst out of his shirt with a flex his muscles. His scowl makes his features look harsh, especially with the scar that runs down the side of his face. He strides to the side of my car and yanks open the door.

"Glad to see you got your lazy ass back here," he spits out, glaring at me with enough hatred that I wonder what I've done to personally offend him so much. "Training room, ten minutes," he orders, before turning on his heel and striding away from me. Nope, I think he is just a dick .

I was planning to go back to the medical wing, look over the supplies, and try to get my head around how things are run here, but I guess that's not going to happen now. I haul myself out of the car and walk towards where I think I remember the training room is.

"Again!" Killian barks at me for what feels like the thousandth time this afternoon.

I growl under my breath as I pick myself up off the mat where I had been thrown, brushing down my leggings in the process. Stay calm, Ari. Patience is a virtue. Or so I keep reminding myself. I would say I'm a pretty patient person—my job makes that a necessity. However, Killian seems to be an expert in pushing my buttons. Walking around me in a circle, with that look on his face, he looks like he has just stepped in something unpleasant rather than being in the middle of training me.

First, he had me running laps around the compound until I fell to my knees feeling like I was going to throw up, shouting insults at me all the way around. After that he had me boxing and weight training. He's been in a foul mood all afternoon, but he seems to have cheered up a bit. Unfortunately for me, this is because we are fight training, which means he gets to throw me around.

"I've never seen a more lazy and out of shape wolf in all my life," he tells me, disdain dripping from his words.

I try not to let him get me angry. At the challenge he helped me, encouraged me. Sure, he did it by insulting me, but he helped more than anyone else did. Being alpha of another pack meant that he didn't have to follow quite the same rules as everyone else. I hoped after the fight that he would have thawed out a bit, after all, we're similar, and neither of us belong here. However, I find myself disappointed. He's treating me with as much disdain as when he first met me. Sure, he seems to be rude to everyone, but he seems to have taken a particular dislike to me.

I face him again, dropping into a defensive stance. He has been trying to teach me basic self-defence. As it turns out, I'm useless in close combat, as Killian has delighted in telling me all afternoon. He walks up behind me and wraps his arms around me in a bear hug. I drop my weight and try to kick my foot back around his leg as instructed. In theory, I should be able to use his weight against him and throw him to the ground. In practice, I can't get him to go down.

"Twist your upper body more. You haven't hooked your leg properly," he scolds, his mouth close to my ear. I can feel his breath against my skin, and it distracts me.

He growls and shifts his weight. He moves his hands, and before I know it, I am thrown across his body and I land on the mat with a thud.

"Useless! Why the fuck should I bother teaching you?" he shouts at me, twisting his body so I'm pinned to the floor. "Fight me! Get up!"

I struggle in my position on the floor, but he's too heavy, and I can't get out of his grip. I try to kick him, but he pins my legs down with his.

"Pathetic," he scolds, lowering his face towards mine. His eyes have shifted so I'm staring at his wolf. I can feel his alpha power rising, pushing against my own. His voice has lowered when he speaks again. "Pathetic," he repeats, but I stop seeing his face as I'm dragged into my memories.

"Pathetic," the voice sneers at me.

From my position where I'm pinned to the floor, I can only see his face, and his dark eyes pierce me with his sick gaze as it rakes over my body. His eyes are so dark they're almost black. I'm too weak to fight back—months of being locked in the dark and being underfed will do that to you.

"Do as we say, and we'll let you rejoin the pack. You will get regular meals again. You can see the sun. And once you have proved your loyalty to Shadow Pack, we will start training you again."

I am still being punished for when I tried to escape nearly six months ago. Since then, I've been locked in the dark cell they call my room and only given enough food to keep me alive. The only time I have been permitted to leave is to see the alpha, like now. All these meetings go the same. I'm dragged before the alpha and the elders, and ordered to use my Shadowborn powers at their discretion. I refuse, and then get punished and dragged back to my ‘room.' If I'm particularly unlucky, I will get brought to the alpha alone. Without the elders to hold him back, the punishments are always significantly worse.

Today is like the other days. The alpha is stalking around the back of the room, watching as his young beta, Terrance, pushes me around and ‘teaches me my place.' I look up at Terrance and spit at him.

"Fuck. You," is the only response I give them.

My head snaps to one side as I'm backhanded for my comment. Terrance's hands move from my shoulders to my neck. My heart kicks into overdrive as my airway is cut off. I know he won't kill me—they need me—but that doesn't stop the panic as I can't catch my breath.

"Terrance," the alpha calls. Immediately the pressure from my throat is removed and I can breathe again. I lie on the floor, gasping, as Terrance walks towards the alpha. "Ariana, I have a different proposition for you."

I know I am in trouble since he's used my name. Usually I am just ‘the Shadowborn' or ‘girl.' I prop myself up on one elbow and look towards the alpha and the elders.

"Terrance has offered to mate with you. Now that you're nearly eighteen, you need to be mated. We can't have a female running around unmated. You will be given space and a small measure of freedom, food, and we will even begin your training again. I'm sure that under Terrance's…guidance, you will become a valuable member of our pack."

I feel the blood draining from my face as he speaks. I think my life is bad now, but under Terrance's ‘guidance,' it would be ten times worse. Guidance my ass. I would be under his control, and that's what they want. At the moment he can't be alone in a room with me, because of what I am and pack rules. As soon as we are mated, there will be nothing to stop him from doing whatever he wants. What I don't understand is why they're asking.

"Never," I rasp out, my throat raw after the abuse it's just been put through.

The alpha's expression never changes, but I can see by the way his body stills that I have pissed him off. Terrance looks like he wants to strangle me again. The alpha nods at him, and with a sick smile he walks up to me, kicking my arm out from underneath me. I fall to the ground with a cry and he straddles me again, pushing me into the ground as his hands circle my neck. He leans down so his mouth is next to my ear.

"There is only one way out of this, Ariana. You will be mine," he whispers, his breath hot against my tender skin.

I realise now why they told me. They weren't asking. The alpha was warning me that things could get much worse if I didn't do as they said.

Hands tighten around my neck again and I gasp for breath, my vision starting to dim around the edges. A small part of me hopes Terrance will take it too far, that he will kill me in his anger.

"Pathetic."

"Ari! "

I can hear my name being shouted. Why are they so loud? My head is pounding.

"Ariana, snap out of it!" the angry voice continues, but I'm sure I hear a tinge of worry hidden behind the growl.

"What did you do to her?" a familiar voice shouts, although I'm not used to hearing him sound so mad. What's his name again? A gentle hand touches my arm, and a warm vanilla scent surrounds me. Seb. I feel my body relax a little. He won't let me get hurt. I don't know where that assumption came from, I've known him less than forty-eight hours, but somehow, I'm sure I'm right.

"We were practising some self-defence moves and she just went stiff in my arms. I let her go and she went limp, staring at the ceiling. Then her eyes closed, and she started shaking like she was scared. She kept whispering a name. It was like someone was hurting her," the voice continues, softer now as he explains. Killian, I realise, although I've not heard his voice so soft before. Sounds like he actually cares. Ha!

"She gets flashbacks. Something must have triggered her," Seb mutters as he gently lifts my upper body into his lap.

Cracking open my eyes slightly, I see a worried Seb looking down at me. A cute smile crosses his face when he sees me awake.

"Hey, beautiful," he says, which makes me smile.

I'm aware of movement down by my feet, and I glance down to see Killian staring at me, his eyes glowing as he fights his wolf, his hands balled into fists at his sides.

"Flashbacks. Like memories. You mean this happened—" He cuts himself off, a growl reverberating through his chest. He holds his arms open and gestures for Seb to pass me across to him.

Seb looks down at me and then back to the angry alpha.

"Give her to me," Killian growls, and I can feel the power in his words, but I also hear an undercurrent of something that sounds like concern in his voice. I must be hearing things.

Seb is try to fight against the order, but there is no use. Even I would struggle to fight an order from someone as powerful as Killian.

I'm passed over to Killian, where he cradles me in his arms. I would protest, but I'm too exhausted, my breathing still coming in rapid gasps. I find that I don't have the energy to care whose arms I'm in. We stay this way until Alex comes storming into the gym. Killian's face is set in a turbulent scowl as he holds me, like he's being forced to care for me, but the whole time he's been slowly stroking my back, trying to calm my frantic breathing. I even tried to get up once and was growled at so fiercely that I decided to stay where I was. I'm not even sure I would have been able to break out of his grip. Eventually, my breathing settles and I become mortified at what's happened. Thank God no one else witnessed me having the flashback. It's bad enough that Killian saw it and the bastard felt compelled to comfort me. Face red, I try to sit up.

"Killian, I'm okay now. You can let me up," I tell him.

He just growls at me half-heartedly and tightens his grip.

"Bloody alpha male babies," I mutter under my breath, and smirk as he hears me and bares his teeth at me.

To be honest, although I bitch and moan, I feel safe in his arms. His alpha power calls to mine and calms me. If we didn't drive each other crazy, we would probably make a good match. Maybe in a different world that would work.

"What happened?" Alex demands, storming into the room, and I fight back my groan. I can hear anger and frustration in his tone. I'm not surprised. I have been nothing but trouble since I got here.

"She had a flashback, and now Mr. Macho Alpha over here won't let her go," Seb informs Alex, not worried about the backlash from Killian now that Alex is here.

Killian growls at both men as they try to get closer, sounding more wolf than man. His stance changes as he tries to put himself between Alex and me while still keeping me in his lap. I glance up at him and see his eyes have turned fully wolf. What the hell is going on ?

"Killian, let go of Ari, I'm here now," Alex comments, and he comes closer.

What is it with these guys wanting to hold me? I am perfectly capable of getting up and walking, I'm not bloody injured. It's embarrassing enough having a flashback without it setting off their protective instincts.

Werewolves are naturally very protective of their pack and those they consider family, but I've literally just walked into their pack. Besides, Killian isn't part of this pack either, so I don't understand where his protective behaviour is coming from. Seb seems to be behaving himself, but as one of the ‘lower' pack members, those instincts won't be as strong. His feelings towards me are his own, not some wolfy bullshit. The stronger the wolf, the stronger the instincts.

Killian growls louder at Alex, so fiercely that it causes the beta to stop in his tracks. He looks across at Seb, who also looks pale at this point. I thought it was from all this alpha power floating around in the air, but with the looks they are giving each other, I'm not so sure anymore.

"Mine," says a guttural voice from above me as arms tighten around me.

"Um, excuse me?" I retort, looking up at the alpha.

I hear Alex curse under his breath as he crouches down to our level like he's trying to tame a wolf cub during their first shift. What the hell does he mean by ‘mine'?'

"Seb, go get Alpha Mortlock. And Isa. We may need their help," he instructs, not taking his eyes off Killian, as if he's afraid what he might do if his back is turned. "Ari, just stay still. I know this will be difficult, but try keep your mouth shut."

I'm just about to protest when the angry werewolf holding me snarls again. Alex spreads his arms wide in a placating gesture.

"Killian, I'm not going to hurt her, but you need to put Ari down. "

I hear running footsteps and glance around to see Alpha Mortlock hurrying over, his eyes widening at what he is seeing.

"What happened?" he demands of Alex, who stands up and walks over to the alpha.

With their voices low, I can't hear much of what they are saying, only snippets. Seb is looking at me worriedly, but he smiles at me when he sees me looking at him, trying to comfort me as always. If anything, this makes me feel worse. Something is definitely wrong.

"Have they mated?" I hear Mortlock ask, which has me jerking in Killian's arms.

Fuck this.

"Mated?" I shout, ignoring the growl coming from Killian.

I jump up out of his hold, even though he tightens his grip on my arms to keep me close. That's going to bruise. Right now, all I care about is getting out of his arms. Killian comes towards me like he is going to grab me again, so I drop into a defensive position.

"Mine," he growls again.

I've had enough. I jump forward and punch him in the face, hard enough to make him take a step back. Stunned, he stares at me for a moment until I see his eyes start to turn back to normal. Hand on his jaw, he narrows his eyes at me, his hurt and anger clear to see before he glares at Alpha Mortlock and storms out of the room.

I spin around to look at the stunned males behind me.

"Will someone please explain what the fuck just happened?"

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