Kayla's POV
My mind raced. My hands shook and my arms ached under the weight of the heavy brass drinks tray. Scanning the crowd for people without a drink was impossible with my eyes glued to the floor. I tilted my head slightly, not so much that I would make eye contact with anyone but enough so I could see their hands.
Immediately I was drawn to tattooed forearms. They belonged to a well-developed torso barely contained in a black cotton shirt. My gaze drifted downwards to a pair of bulging thighs and muscular calves and a large pair of feet encased in soft leather biker boots. Alpha Maddox. The Alpha Regal. Basically, royalty, as Alpha of the largest pack in our region he was in control of all the smaller packs and outranked all other Alphas including Alpha Patrick.
My stomach flipped. A soft purr echoed in my mind. My wolf. She either wasn't strong enough to speak to me yet or I was too weak for her to want to speak to me. Probably the latter. My palms started to sweat and electricity tingled through my body. An overwhelming urge to look up took over me. My head started to lift and I was powerless to stop it like my body was in control, not me. I held my breath.
His neck was tattooed, he had a strong square jaw covered in dark stubble and his lips were thick and lush. A heat built in my core. My foot tapped erratically on the floor. Goose pimples rose on the back of my arms.
His nose was straight and cheekbones high and prominent. With my eyes constantly glued to the floor, the only men's faces I saw were Alpha Patrick and his son in the picture frames I dusted. They did not look like Alpha Maddox. My gaze rose further. I'd given up trying to force my head back down when I reached broad chest. His eyes were brightest, bluest blue I'd seen. Bluer than the sky on a clear summer afternoon. Bluer than the lake in the clearing. My feet started to inch forward. Oh God, I needed to hold this man. I yearned for him to meet my gaze.
"Eyes down, Runt!" Alpha Patrick screamed in my ear. His words were lost in the din of the room. Alpha Maddox didn't turn around and no matter how much I strained my gaze fixed on him. "Eyes down." His command came as a low, steady snarl.
My throat vibrated. A rumble echoed in my chest. Panic rose in my throat. I clenched my lips as hard as I could, biting down on my tongue. It didn't help. A low, rumbling growl erupted from my chest.
Alpha Patrick's fist tangled into my hair. He forced my head down, calling for his beta and gamma males. They rushed to his side, each grabbing my arms so hard I was certain my bones would shatter.
"The runt just challenged me."
Shit! Fuck! Help, oh Dear Moon Goddess, help!
I tried to speak, to beg and plead but nothing came out. Tears stung my cheeks. My heart pounded so loud I could feel it beating in my throat.
Alpha Patrick, the gamma and the beta dragged from the dining hall. My left shoe came off, my heel scraped the floor. I wasn't allowed in the packhouse much. I'd never been outside of the kitchen and dining hall. I had no idea where they were taking me but it was nowhere I wanted to be.
The Beta kicked open a heavy metal security door. Pain radiated through my body from Alpha Patrick's grip on my hair to the Gamma and the Beta grasping my arms so hard their hands ground against my bones. We reached a dark stairwell to narrow for us all to fit down. The Gamma went first as Patrick ushered him forward. The Beta followed up. Alpha Patrick yanked hard on my hair, dragging me down, step by step.
"Please," I finally choked out. "I beg you, please." Alpha Patrick tightened his painful grip on my hair. My scalp was about to come off, I was sure of it. The agony was blinding.
We reached the end of a long, damp corridor. Gamma Graham opened a heavy padlock attached to a thick, heavy door. Alpha Patrick finally released his cruel grip on my hair. The blood rushing back to it sent a shudder down my spine. The pain was almost worse now than when he had my tresses wrapped in his sweaty fist. The sobs came hard and fast, so fast I couldn't breathe.
I kept my head down, silently begging for mercy.
Don't speak unless spoken to. Don't speak unless spoken to.
Don't look anyone in the face.
Don't even breathe without Alpha Patrick's permission.
The damp seeped from the grey stone floor through my jeans.
"Strip her!" Alpha Patrick demanded.
Please, no, please I wanted to plead for forgiveness but knew better than to open my mouth. I forced my quivering body to remain still as the Gamma and Beta tore my hand me down clothes from my body, knocking me off my knees and onto my back to yank my jeans off.
The damp bit into my skin. Someone gasped at the sight of my prone and naked form curled on the stone floor. I swallowed hard, hugging my bony knees to my chest trying to hide as much of my body as I could.
"Chain her," Alpha Patrick commanded. Strong, calloused hands gripped my wrists, pulling me from the floor. Heavy chains were clasped around my tiny wrists. Someone yanked the chains tight pulling me up off the floor. My entire weight hung from my arms. My elbows strained and ached.
"Look at me, Runt." Alpha Patrick growled.
"A-a-a lesser n-never l-looks a s-s-uperior in the f-face, M-m-master," I managed to choke out between gulping sobs. My cheeks burned so hard they throbbed. I felt their eyes crawling over my naked body.
"And a runt never challenges her Alpha, do you wish to challenge me, Runt?"
"N-n-n-no." I shook my head until my neck ached. Tears flew from cheeks landing in soft splats on the floor. Strands of hair stuck to my soggy cheeks.
"Then you will be punished. Pass me the whip."
I froze. My breath stuck in my throat. I pulled violently at the chains. Leather hissed through the air. I sank in my chains.
SMACK!
The leather tore into my skin. Searing pain ripped through me. A sound only an animal could make vibrated through the room. My throat was dry and horse.
Hiss! SMACK!
The leather tore against my buttocks, wrapping around my hip and kissing my stomach. Blood trickled from a thick red welt beneath my navel and dripped onto the floor at my feet. My vision blurred.
Hiss. Smack. Hiss. Smack. He whipped every part of my body, my back, my buttocks, my thighs and every time the whip curled around my front stinging into my breasts and stomach. Over and over until the floor was crimson with my blood.
"She's had enough," Gamma Graham said.
My vision blurred. Darkness crept in. Every inch of my body burned with the fire of a thousand suns.
"I'll say when it's had enough," Alpha Patrick snapped.
Hiss. Smack. My chin sunk to my bloodied chest. Blissful nothingness took over.
"RUNT!" The words echoed around the room, faint and distant as if they came from miles away. I tried to open my eyes. The mat I lay on felt wet and sticky. "RUNT!" My body shook violently. "RUNT!" My hands scrambled on cold, sticky tile. I urged my feet to move, straining my legs until I was breathless and laced with a cold layer of sweat. No matter how hard I tried my body refused to move. Every inch of my body ached and burned. The pain grew with each tiny movement as if a thousand needles were driving deep into my limbs. "RUNT! UP NOW!" Alpha Patrick. His snarl sounded closer. His hot breath crept over my clammy cheeks. Still, my feet refused to budge. My palms gripped at the floor, my arms ached as I tried to pull myself from the mat. Eyelids closed tight I sighed, sinking back to the mat in exhaustion. "You dare to cha
Maddox's POV My head sank into the pillow. A cinder block probably weighed less than my sleep-deprived brain. I reluctantly inched an eye open. A burnt orange glow seeped through the crisp white blinds. I bolted upright, my eyes darting around the room and my heart pounding hard. "We're at Cedar Wood," Shadow snapped. "And our mate is missing." I pressed my hand over my eyes blocking out the bright spring sunrise and yawned. Shadow kept me up most of the night, demanding something terrible had happened to his mate, pleading with me to find her. I relented at 3 am, delirious with exhaustion and scoured the packhouse. Her scent lingered in the kitchen and dining room and along an ominous narrow hallway but there wasn't a single trace of her in the sleeping quarters. "You don't find that strange." Shadow snapped in my sleep-addled head as I went over my foggy memories from
Kayla's POV I was gripped in a pair of massive arms. My heart pounded hard against my ribs. Trembles shook through my limbs. The harder I shook the tighter he gripped me. His racing heart echoed in my ears as he pulled me close to his expansive chest. The rogue was real. He tore through the forest taking me far from my pack. Far from everything I knew. Ever giant step he leaped sent waves of agony cascading through my broken body. It was all too much. The terror of what he would do to me, the pain, all of it. I passed out, falling into a nightmare filled sleep. The rogue was real and I was his prisoner. *** I sighed. A blissful warmth enveloped me. Small, soft hands stroked my tattered skin. My frail body rested on soft ground. A fire crackled beside. I struggled to
Alpha Maddox's POVLena stood guard outside the ramshackle packhouse, guarding the entry, preventing anyone but Blake from entering. I've interrogated enough suspects during my military career to know I wanted the Gamma and Beta males nowhere near the rest of the pack. Something about them didn't sit right with me. Shadow didn't trust them. They refused to meet my gaze. Their shoulders hunched when they spoke to me. Alpha Patrick's repulsive flamboyance was toned down tenfold. They knew something and the Hell was I going to let them coach the rest of the pack to fill me with the same lies they were telling me."Warrior Carl," Blake announced as he shoved a sweaty, underweight adult male into Patrick's office.&nb
Many lower-ranking packs think the buck stops with me. I am the ultimate power and if they challenge me it's only my pack they need to face. They're wrong. Just as humans have their governments we have the Elders, a group of well-loved, well respected retired Alphas. They've watched over us since the dawn of time, protected us, loved us and ensured we acted fairly to those who wrong us. Even the White Wolves could have been overruled by the Elders."Thank you," I sighed. A tiny slither of tension flowed from my body. I slipped my cell phone back into my pocket and massaged my temples."The Elders will be here within the hour," I told Blake and Lena, eager to pass off responsibility for this hot mess to someone older and wiser than myself.I blinked, a desperate effort to relieve the migraine threatening to send me crashing to my knees at any moment, and stepped back surveying the dismal scene behind me. Cedar Wood pack huddled on the dusty mess hall floor. Lucil
Kayla's POVSerena sobbed quietly in the corner of the cave. Her Grandfather paced the perimeter mumbling all the ways in which he would make Maddox Mason hurt before he slaughtered him and reclaimed dominion over our people.I sat in silence on the warm, thick sleeping mat, with a heavy wool blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Izzy offered the odd comforting word, promising me it would all work out. That we'd find a new mate, one worthy of us."Mate?" I asked her."That's the connection you felt with Maddox Mason. That's what woke me. But if he's everything Casper says he is, I reject him. I want more. We deserve more."I sighed, pulled the blanket over my head and sank back into the sleeping mat. My head throbbed and my heart ached. A million questions raced through my mind.Why would the Moon Goddess match me with a monster? What connection could a Princess, a powerful White Wolf, have with me?
Maddox's POV "Lock it down," I sighed into the phone. "Lock it all down. Spread the word to other packs. Until the rogue is caught and brought to justice no wolf leaves their pack alone." "Got it," Blake said. I sank to the bed. I'd remained at Cedar Wood, refusing to leave until my mate was found. In the weeks that passed, the rogue grew bolder, upped his killing and stealing. Two of my pack were missing, presumed dead. Some smaller packs were decimated. Slaughtered while they slept and still, we were no closer to finding him. Patrick admitted nothing about his mistreatment of my mate or his pack and even with him locked away they were still too afraid to speak. Graham's testimony helped but the most he could be charged with was assaulting my mate. The elders sentenced him to five years in the dungeons and stripped him of his title. I pinched the bridge of my nose. My mate was missing. My peop
Kayla's POVBarefoot, I wriggled my toes in the soft, warm sand and inhaled letting my gaze roam over the turquoise ocean. Casper was out hunting wild boar. Serena was sleeping and I'd finally heard the words I'd waited all my life for."I'm ready."Izzie, my wolf, was ready.The sun warmed my face. All my life I wanted those words, none more so than when I turned 18 and she still didn't appear. When I was a pup, held prisoner by Alpha Patrick, forced into slavery I used to dream about my wolf rescuing me. The evening of my eighteenth birthday she would come to me. I'd let her out and she'd be the fastest, strongest, most majestic she-wolf to ever roam our lands. My pack would bow down before me in awe and together we would overthrow Alpha Patrick, rescue the missing Princess and I would live in Castle Rock, the whole Kingdom indebted to me. But it never happened. Izzy never showed and I wasn't the strongest wolf ever to liv