A True Alpha. Kaine was a True Alpha. Which meant whatever creature he was before the alpha had bitten him was nearly non-existent.
He had yet to tell Ellie what he was exactly before he became a werewolf, but he said it was still there. It wasn't gone. Whatever Kate kept drugging him with, kept that side of him at bay and brought the wolf forward.
Ellie sat silently against the wall as she pondered over what Kaine had just told her.
"A True Alpha is the strongest. It's earned, not taken or given. I became a true Alpha the second I saw Kate as my enemy. It wasn't the alpha that I killed that made me an alpha. That spark didn't go to me. This spark is my own."
She looked up from the dust covered ground and opened her mouth to ask a question when the door to the basement opened once more.
Ellie lowered her head and sank back against the wall, pretending to be asleep while Kaine stayed seated against the fence. This was what they had agreed on, their plan to keep Ellie safe.
"Awe... Little girly is sleeping." Kate's voice cooed mockingly.
Ellie listened to Kate as she walked over to her prone form.
Kate kicked at her foot and Ellie let out a groan and rolled her head to the side but stayed 'unconscious'.
"Pathetic. What does Derek see in this girl?" Kate knelt before Ellie. She moved some hair out of her face and frowned as she spotted the mating bite.
"Oh, this just got even more interesting." She grinned before standing once more and turned to Kaine.
"You held back that night at the school. You didn't kill her when you easily could have. Like you should have. Tell me... Why did you resist? And why won't you change her? Do you know her? Or is this some sort of wolf thing?" She paused, examining his face as he looked past her and towards Ellie.
"Or... Is she your mate and you're doing all you can to protect her because someone else has already claimed her?"
Ellie winced internally. That wasn't it. Ellie wasn't sure what it really was, but whatever she was feeling in the rapidly forming bond between her and Kaine, it wasn't romantic.
Kaine refused to answer. He refused to fuel her sick games.
Kate chuckled before turning to face the stairs. "Bring him down, boys!"
She turned back to Kaine with a large grin. "Let's see how her mate feels about this, shall we?"
Ellie peeked through her lashes as she heard heavy footsteps dragging something down the steps.
Ellie opened her eyes fully and cried out as she watched two men drag a shirtless, shoeless and unconscious Derek down the stairs roughly.
She threw herself forward, her hands yanking to the side harshly as she fought the chains.
"Derek!"
Kate turned to face Ellie with glee as the men chained Derek to the fence alongside Kaine, only Derek was cuffed directly to the linked fence, arms held above his head while each ankle was cuffed individually.
He didn't have chains like she and Kaine. He wouldn't be able to move at all.
How did she manage to get her filthy hands on Derek without Peter knowing!?
Ellie watched in horror as Kate's men attached something under the right side of Derek's ribs with black tape and attached it directly to the battery that powered the electric current for the fence.
Kate approached the small table with a large smile and turned a small dial and cackled when Derek's body jerked, and he let out a scream that tempered off into a howl as his face morphed completely.
His eyes shot open, and Ellie cried out as she felt his pain, curling in on herself, arms instantly curling around her torso as she cramped up.
As she regained her senses, she felt warm hands gently rubbing against her back as the pain subsided.
"Good. Your bond is sealed enough for you to share pain. Oh, how lovely. This is going to be fun." Kate grinned as she finished, turning the dial back to zero.
"I had this made so that I could electrify Derek without electrifying my asset as well. I'm going to need you in tip top shape to fight that alpha." Kate grinned, speaking to Kaine directly before she turned back and approached Derek's heaving form. She licked her lips.
She let her eyes roam over Derek's sweaty chest with no shame. The man was watching her through slotted eyes, the blue blazing through viscously against the darkness of the room.
"If I had more time, I'd have a taste of him... Right here and now in front of you. But sadly, I have a guest waiting for me." She ran a manicured nail down his sternum, past his belly button and through the happy trail. She ran it along the seam of his jeans before she finally pulled back.
Derek's tense body seemed to sag once more as her touch left his flesh and he let his head fall forward as he closed his eyes.
If looks could kill, Ellie would have slaughtered Kate. She wanted to claw the bitch's eyes out for touching her man. Wanted to gut her for even thinking about her implication of raping Derek once again.
If Kaine's arms weren't around her shoulders, Ellie probably would have started crawling toward Derek, even knowing she wouldn't be able to reach him.
Kate took one last look at Ellie, taking glee in the tears streaking down the younger woman's face as her expression screamed with rage.
"I'll be back soon. I want to show the truth to our guest." She paused to run her eyes over Derek's prone body one last time. "Besides, I want him awake for this."
Ellie watched Kate's every move as the blonde made her way back up the stairs, her men following right after her.
The second she heard the door shut, she turned to Kaine, who was already moving to Derek's side to assess the man's injuries.
"He's fine. He's just out cold."
Ellie let out a relieved breath, her body sagging in relief.
She took a deep breath to try and center herself. They needed to escape, to get the hell out of here. She closed her eyes and tried to think. Her mind was racing. She needed to calm down.
She isn't sure how long she sat there, trying desperately to calm her nerves, to think of something she could do to help them.
She fiddled with her chains, watching as they slid back and forth along the drain grates.
She lifts her gaze to look at Kaine's chains. His were much thicker than hers were. Maybe because she was a human and would never be able to break hers unlike a wolf could.
He was sitting right beside her, offering her his comforting presence without touching her. If she needed him, he'd be right there. It was funny how Kate made it so Ellie couldn't reach either of the men, but Kain could reach her easily.
"Kaine. Your claws... how sharp are your claws?"
Kaine shot her a confused look before he held out his hands, claws out and as deadly looking as ever.
"Yours look different from Derek's... Is it because you are more than just a wolf?" She pondered to herself as she gently took one of his hands in hers. Her fingers began playing with his claws. They were long, thinner than Derek's and black. Very black. The ends became needle points while the sides were like that of a knife.
She opened her mouth to ask if he could break her chains at all, either with his strength or his claws, but something made her pause.
Something tugged in her chest and her brow furrowed in confusion before her bond with Peter flared. She let out a soft gasp, dropped Kaine's hand and clutched at her chest.
Peter was trying to sooth her, trying to calm her down. "Papa..." She whimpered and tried to tug back, to let him know she was alive and thankful that she could still feel him.
"He's close." She whispered softly.
Kaines head turned toward her. "Who's close?"
Ellie turned her wet eyes towards Kaine and opened her mouth to answer, but someone beat her to it.
A deep, raspy, pain filled voice drifted through the damp, dark basement.
"Our Alpha."
Vivid blue eyes glowed through the rapidly darkening room. Nighttime was approaching and their alpha was out for blood.