The humidity of the cell had already penetrated my bones.
I couldn't close my eyes all night. Most of the prisoners were on the verge of madness and screamed non-stop while I tried to sleep. There was only one moment when I thought they had finally shut their damn mouths but a guard had to come in and torture them.
In my state of anger I asked him why he thought of doing something like that in the middle of the night.
"They talk sooner if you don't let them sleep," he answered.
Empathy was not the rogues' strong point, although I couldn't deny that it was a clever technique to get what they wanted.
One thing was clear to me after witnessing the prisoners' suffering: I had to do everything possible to never return to the dungeon.
One would think that the task of torturing people all night would be horrible, the kind of work that no one would want to do, yet the rogues' jailers seemed happy to be there. They made jokes with each other, laughed while making the prisoners suffer, and, from what I heard, even worked overtime.
I made sure to remember their faces to avoid crossing paths with them, I honestly didn't feel like interacting with those psychopaths anymore.
An entire night locked in a cold cell, with leaks, without dinner, and surrounded by crazy people. For a moment I missed the nights in my old pack, at least I could sleep there.
Whoever will try to talk to me when I could get out of the cell would only see the worst version of me. I had already built up enough anger to take on an army, and I was saving the worst part for my supposed mate.
Yes, I knew that it had been my fault for breaking the rules and I deserved some kind of punishment, I was also aware that what I received was nothing compared to what the rest of the people locked in the dungeon were experiencing, but my tiredness was beyond my reasoning, and I just wanted revenge or at least to be able to vent.
I raised my head from where it rested between my knees, without standing up I saw the person who approached the bars of the cell. A thin young man of similar height to me stood in the hallway, raising his hand that held the key to my freedom.
"Ready to go out?" he asked me. "I hope you learned your lesson, you were lucky this time."
I stood up and stretched my back. "Doesn't the stay include breakfast? I'm a little hungry."
The young man ran a hand through his blonde hair before putting the key in the lock. "You shouldn't demand anything before you leave, maybe your attitude will bother me and I'll leave you here for a while longer."
I looked him up and down while I crossed my arms. "I really doubt you have the power to make those kinds of decisions."
His mocking expression changed from one second to the next, his brow furrowed and his posture straightened. He left his hand on the cell door without opening it.
"Do you really want to try it? If you're so confident you can take a chance and see what happens," he said.
"Don't be so sensitive, I'm messing with you, after being locked up all night I'm kind of bored." I walked towards the door and passed my right hand through the bars to touch his arm.
He moved his arm immediately as if my touch had burned it. "Don't worry so much about your boredom, I assure you it will end soon. Zaziel wants to talk to you, he asked me to take you to his office."
The opportunity I was waiting for came much sooner than I thought. If Zaziel made sure we were alone it would be a blessing to me.
I had a lot to tell him. The night I spent locked up made me think that we had not yet talked about our situation as mates, I needed to make it clear that I was not interested in consummating our bond. The good side is that Zaziel didn't strike me as the type of man who seeks to live the classic lovey-dovey mates’ life.
"What are we still doing here then? We can't leave the alpha waiting for us, I imagine you don't want to make him angry."
The look I saw on the young man was one of utter terror. He was terrified of ending up on the leader's bad side, it was so funny watching how he almost started to shake as he opened the door.
"Follow me." Was all he said before starting to walk, almost running, towards the exit of the dungeon.
"Are you really not going to give me something to eat?" I insisted although he ignored my question.
By the time we reached the office door, my guide already looked like a leaf in a storm because of how much he was shaking. He tried to keep a serious expression but it was obvious that he wanted to run away from there as soon as possible.
"Knock on the door to let him know you're here, Zaziel will tell you what to do next," he told me.
"Aren't you going to come in with me?" I asked, feigning curiosity.
"There's no need."
His excuse was very stupid, but I already had a new goal in mind so I didn't say anything and knocked on the door.
"Get in." Zaziel's voice was emotionless, it was as if nothing mattered to him, maybe I could ignite at least one emotion from him.
As soon as I entered the office I confirmed that the apathy was transmitted to his body. Zaziel was looking boredly at the papers on the table in front of him, his torso leaned against the back of the chair he was sitting in, and in his right hand, he held a cigarette. All of that in combination with the black suit he was wearing made him look like a tired businessman.
A sexy and dangerous tired businessman.
He looked up after I reached the desk and stubbed out his cigarette against the ashtray.
"Take a seat," Zaziel ordered, pointing to the chair next to me. "I think we have a lot to talk about. But first I have something for you."
Zaziel reached back and grabbed a tray from the small table against the wall, he put it on the desk in front of me and opened the lid. Immediately the cup of coffee, the plate with scrambled eggs, and the other with toast grabbed my attention.
“I imagine you must be hungry after what happened yesterday,” he leaned forward. “Because you were such a good pup I prepared breakfast for you with my own hands.”
“Thanks,” I managed to say before attacking the food.
My hunger was such that I didn't pay attention to anything that was happening around me while I swallowed the delicious breakfast. It wasn't until I ate every last crumb that I discovered Zaziel was looking at me like I was a monkey in a circus.
"Did you even taste the food?" he asked, raising one of his eyebrows.
"I would have if someone hadn't left me locked in a cell without food. You try to eat slowly when you're so hungry."
"Don't put the blame on me, who was the person who broke the rules and interrogated one of my prisoners without my permission?"
I leaned my back against the backrest and crossed my arms. "Would you have given me permission if I had asked you?"
"Of course not, I still don't trust you enough."
"So I had no choice but to break the rules."
Zaziel took the tray and returned it to its original place, then leaned towards me and caressed my right cheek.
"You had crumbs on your face," he explained to me. "I see that you eat and think like a child. What could be so important to make you break the rules just to get it back? I hope it's not a toy. Did it never occur to you that even if you knew where what you are looking for is, you wouldn't be able to steal it from your uncle?"
"I'll find a way."
He sighed, "You're a hopeless case. With that mentality you're going to be dead as soon as you set foot outside this mansion."
"What does it matter to you?" I spatted back.
"I don't care, that's the point." Zaziel looked me in the eyes. "But it's a different story with my wolf and I assume yours does the same. He won't stop talking about that mates’ bullshit, he's going to drive me crazy. I’m a busy man, I can't waste my time on something so trivial."
"I can't hear my wolf much yet, but the little we communicate is the same thing that happens to you. I wish she had a power-off button.”
It was a shame I couldn't shut her up. Before Zaziel came into my life I was happy every time I heard my wolf's voice, if I hadn't found my mate things would have been easier for me.
"I'm glad to see that we agree to disagree with our wolves. To be honest, I was afraid you were going to try to contradict me."
"What do we do then? Do we reject the mate bond?" I asked him and crossed my legs, the fabric of the shorts I was wearing rose up a little.
Zaziel looked down at my legs for a second before speaking. "I'm afraid that's not a good idea. If we reject the bond we're going to have to go through a period of great suffering while our wolves mourn."
Fuck, I forgot about that detail. My only way out vanished in an instant.
"Then what?"
"I propose that we maintain the bond without consummating it. I have no intention of accepting it and neither do you, but at least we can avoid unnecessary complications by keeping our distance most of the time. Besides, if we reject the bond it won't be a permanent solution either because our wolves would look for a second mate. And what happens if that person doesn't agree to go against the bond like us?”
"Sounds good to me," I said. "What about physical attraction? I heard that's a hard thing to control."
He leaned towards me, resting his elbows on the table. "I have no problems with physical activities. It's up to you, what do you say?"
My eyes drifted to his muscular chest. I had no problem with that either. Zaziel's sexy body was the only positive aspect I could think about the complicated situation.
"We'll see when the opportunity arises," I replied, hiding my true desires.
"Then everything is settled." Zaziel stood up from his seat. "You can go now, remember that the next time you break the rules you will suffer the same as the rest of the prisoners."
"Actually, I have something to ask," I said, uncrossing my legs.
"I'm all ears."
I took a long breath to prepare myself. Even though the idea had been circling my mind I wasn't sure how he would take it, it was a risky move for sure and I didn't know what to expect from someone like him.
"I want to join your group.” The words left my mouth, carrying with them the best opportunity I had to survive.
Zaziel let out a loud laugh, apparently, I had just said the funniest joke ever to him. He walked in my direction, still laughing, and then he leaned against his desk, looking at me.
“Why would you want to do that?” He asked. “You just got free from your family and now you want to join a criminal organization. I thought you'd want to improve your life.”
“I want revenge,” that's all I needed to say, nothing else matters. “If I had to die for that then I’ll do it.”
“What makes you think that you’ll get your revenge by joining us? I'm a very busy man, I can't help every pretty girl to get the revenge they want.”
“But you do.” I stood up. “Lion told me that once someone joins the group they have the chance to get their revenge, that's why you destroyed so many packs. I also know that anyone can request to join your group.”
“Tha fucking asshole, why can't he keep his mouth shut?” Zaziel mumbled to himself. “Alright, you know a lot of things, do you also know what you have to do to be accepted?”
I shook my head. “He didn't get to explain it to me, Xara interrupted us.”
His wicked smile made me shriver, I was fighting against my instinct to not give a step back as he got closer to me. Zaziel looked down at me, he was ecstatic about my lack of knowledge and that scared me.
Why was he so happy about it?
“Oh, little mouse, you put yourself in a very dangerous situation. There's no running away once you ask to be accepted, that's another one of our rules.” Zaziel grabbed my face and turned it to the side. “Do you see the security camera? You can't deny what you say.”
I hadn't noticed the cameras before, at that moment I felt like an idiot for not having thought about something so basic. My secret escape to the dungeon was already ruined from the beginning, they had surely realized my plan since I set foot on the last floor.
“What do I have to do?” I asked.
My legs were shaking and I didn't know if it was because I was scared or because of Zaziel’s touch.
“You have to pass three tests. First you’ll have to haunt a deer in the Spirits’ Forest.”
“Isn't that the cursed forest?”
“Exactly that one, It's a very dangerous area.” Zaziel let go of my face and ran his hands down my neck until it reached my right arm. “Then you’ll have to fight against one of our members. With the state of these muscles, I’d say that you have a lot of training to do. And the last one is a secret test, but let me warn you that it is the hardest one.”
“After that I’ll be accepted into the group?” I asked, holding his arm.
“Yes.” He caressed my cheek one last time before walking away. “But don't get ahead of yourself, concentrate on the trials one by one if you want to survive. You won't be able to participate until you are one hundred percent healed, you should use that time to practice. I’ll tell the others that you can go to the training room now.”
I nodded. Inside my mind the gears were turning while a survival plan was made. He was right, I should use the time to learn how to hunt and fight. The idea of having to pass the test made me nervous but I didn't regret asking to join them.
“I’ll be going, then,” I said and started to walk to the door.
“Don't be stupid and ask one of the members to train you, I’m sure that Artec will be thrilled to have a student.” Zaziel's voice reached my ears as I was crossing the threshold. “Who knows? Maybe you can change my mind about you with your performance.”