I wanna scream
and shout
and let it all out
It seemed that someone had forgotten about the whole "finish me off tomorrow" part because no one had come to me in three days. One girl brought me some bread and water, but she wouldn't speak to me no matter how hard I tried.
I had been sleeping as much as I could, in an attempt to heal myself and conserve my energy. By now, I was fully recovered and despite the minuscule nutrition I received, I had still regained enough power to do a wicked amount of damage on whomever tried to hurt me.
The confusion of my mate still whirled around in the back of my mind, but I had done my best not to dwell on something I couldn't make sense of. Instead, I had been focused on how I would get out of this place.
So far, I had come up with the brilliant idea of ...
Improvising.
Yep. That was my grand plan at the moment. Go with the flow.
I had to stop myself numerous times from having a panic attack; being in the basement cell had brought back heaps of unwanted memories that I kept reliving.
On the bright side, it seemed that Uncle Eddie had figured out where I was located. He had even sent me a tiny vial of my scent-masking perfume and I was incredibly thankful. The spray had started to wear off, and I was lucky he sent it before the girl came around to give me food and noticed. I assumed he was making arrangements for where we would go before he came to get me. But I wanted to get out before that happened - I didn't want to put him in a position where he could get hurt.
My eyes however, were becoming severely irritated from the contacts that I had been forced to continuously wear for the past three days and it was driving me mental.
After what seemed like an eternity, I heard the sound of distant footsteps descending down stairs. They were heavier than the girl's, so I knew it was someone else. It wasn't my mate either, judging by the lack of his scent. A pack warrior maybe?
I pushed myself into a sitting position, propping my back up against the wall. The same two men that had driven me here came to my cell. Scar-armed guy just stared at me with a scowl on his face, while the other one jerked his head, indicating for me to get up.
"Alpha wants to see you."
My brows furrowed as I cautiously stood up.
"Why?" I asked, walking towards him.
"Didn't say," he grunted out, motioning for me to turn around.
I spun so my back was facing him. His hands grabbed my wrists through the bars as he handcuffed me, before opening the cell door.
Was this it? Was the Alpha going to try to kill me?
As I exited the cell, he began walking away, while scar-armed guy followed behind me. Leading me back to the basement stairs, they placed a blindfold on me before bringing me out.
Once again, I trailed along with them as they dragged me to another unknown destination. Finally, we came to a stop and I heard one of them knock on a door.
Based on the scent around me, my mate was most definitely on the other side of it.
After a moment, I heard the door open and scar-armed dude shoved me through. The blindfold was yanked off my head, leaving my hair in a disgruntled mess. I heard the click of lock as my handcuffs were removed, freeing my arms.
I blinked open my eyes to see my mate seated behind a desk. His attention was focused on some file in front of him and I had the largest urge to rip it out of his hands.
He couldn't even look at me.
Taking in my surroundings, I noticed I was standing in an office. To my right, there was a couch, some chairs, and a table placed in front of a fireplace. The walls beside the fireplace were lined with bookshelves that were cluttered with books in an extremely disorganized fashion. There was also a glass door, leading to a balcony. The tone of the room was primarily browns and reds, giving the whole space a very gloomy ambiance.
"Leave us." His voice was calm, yet sharp.
I heard the men shut the door as they left me alone with Alpha Eastwood.
Come back! I wanted to scream.
Based on our past two encounters, I had definitely become uncomfortable in the presence of my mate.
I stood there awkwardly, glancing around the room as I fiddled with my earlobe. My mate was still leafing through the file, scanning each page as if it was the most important thing in the world.
My wolf was irritated with him, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, I was hurt by his actions.
As his mate, I deserved to be acknowledged at the least, didn't I?
After a painful two minutes, I cleared my throat lightly.
He didn't move.
I cleared my throat again, only much louder this time.
He still didn't look up.
Suddenly, I was so angry at him.
"What is wrong with you?" I yelled, slamming my hand on his desk. "You take me from my pack, throw me in a cell for three days to practically starve, get your goons to drag me to your office and suddenly you have to read papers?"
My chest was huffing as I finished. There was still a lot I wanted to say, but I knew I had to stop before I made my situation any worse than it already was.
He finally lifted his head, regarding me with a hardened expression. His eyes had darkened, so I knew he was madder than what he was showing.
"Why am I here?" I asked, growing tired.
"You will not speak to me that way again, or there will be consequences," he said coldly.
"Why am I here?" I repeated, glaring at him. "You said I was going to die two days ago."
In a flash, he stood up, shoving his chair backwards. He walked around the desk, stalking towards me with a predatory glint in his eyes.
"You're here, Ms. Reya Willows," he spoke in a low voice, his hot breath tickling my neck, "because I want to see just how truthful," he circled behind me in slow, steady steps, "my supposed-mate is." His face was merely inches away from me, his voice sending shivers down my spine.
His scent was swarming around me, causing my body to ignite on fire.
"Truthful?" I spun around to face him. We were standing so close that I was a slight movement away from touching him. "Why would I lie?"
He eyed me distastefully. "A last minute effort to save your life, perhaps? Or maybe you're just power-hungry and hoping to climb the ranks - you are an omega after all."
I was fuming and I knew he could tell, but I did my best to keep my cool.
"Or," he continued, "you're simply crazy."
I wanted to scream at him. My nails cut my skin as I clenched my hands tightly, grasping on to the last ounce of self-control I still had.
How could he not believe me?
The entire situation was so puzzling and I couldn't understand why he was doubting me.
"Because how could you claim we're mated when I feel nothing for you? No sparks. No scent. Nothing," he coldly stated in my ear, making my blood run dry.
He didn't feel the pull of the bond.
Suddenly it all made sense - his indifference and lack of acknowledgement.
He pulled away from me and walked over to a side table.
"This is water from Fate's Well," he stated, picking up a clay bowl.
I sucked in a breath. Fate's Well had water that was used for extremely powerful magic, as it was given to us by the Goddess herself.
He placed the bowl on the desk in front of me. "I've had it bewitched with Mate's Query."
Mate's Query was an ancient spell used to test the mate bond between two wolves. It was used if there was any doubt about the bond or mates, as it was the only test that could confirm or deny the existence of the bond between two people.
However, it was extremely risky.
By using the spell, we were sending a clear message to the Moon Goddess that we didn't trust her, and she didn't take it lightly. There were stories of many wolves that had faced horrible fates after questioning her using the spell. Only in rare cases were people spared.
To perform the test, a witch or wizard had to first cast the spell onto water from Fate's Well. Then, the two wolves doubting their mate bond had to each put a drop of their blood into the water. The water would then disappear and leave behind a stone.
If rose quartz appeared, the stone for unconditional love, it meant the soulmate bond was true. However, if black obsidian appeared, there was no connection between the two individuals.
Alpha Eastwood brought out a small knife that was wrapped in a cloth. Holding out his palm, he sliced open his skin with the blade. As the blood began seeping out, he closed his fist and squeezed a droplet into the bowl. After cleaning the knife with the rag, he held it out to me.
"Oh hell no," I shook my head. "Pissing off the Moon Goddess is the last thing I want to do right now. Look, like I said before, I'm not going to hurt your pack and if you don't believe me about being mates, then that's fine too! We can go our separate ways and forget this ever ha-"
"You will do this," he glared at me, the command clear as day.
"And what if I don't," I said, glaring at him back.
"If you don't, Princess," his lip curled up, but there wasn't a trace of humour in his expression. "I'll show you what Shadow pack does to unwanted trespassers."
He was threatening me with death and I knew he intended on following through on his word.
"Fine." I took the knife. "Once I prove you wrong, will you let me go?"
"I'll let you live."
"How kind of you," I scowled at him.
Opening my palm, I held his gaze as I cut my flesh and spilt a drop into the water. "There."
Alpha Eastwood was immediately focused on the bowl. He was staring at it so intently that I thought it might break. I took a peek at it and saw nothing had changed. The water was clear and unmoving. The blood however, had already dissolved in.
A moment later, the water became cloudy. Little white particles were swirling around, and the water was almost shimmering. It slowly began to evaporate, the mist twisting out of the bowl as the amount of water shrank.
And suddenly the water was gone, leaving the mist to cover the bottom of the bowl. I held my breath as we waited for the mist to clear out - the anticipation was beginning to make me think I hallucinated the mate bond all along.
The pale pink of rose quartz glistened as the last tendril of the mist faded.
I grinned in triumph. "Ha! I told you we're ..." my voice trailed off as I looked up to the Alpha wearing an angry expression.
What crawled up his ass now?
His eyes were squeezed shut. When he opened them a moment later, his face has been cleared of all emotion.
"No one can know."
What?
"What?" I whispered.
"No one can know we're mates." He made it sound like it was illogical to think otherwise.
Was I that unappealing?
"Why?" I asked, masking my emotions.
"Because I said so," he looked at me blankly.
"I want a legitimate answer as to why." I all but yelled at him. "Are you ashamed of me?"
"I never wanted a mate," he spat out, his face contorting in anger. "They bring nothing but trouble. And even if I did, I wouldn't want you." He spoke the last word with so much disgust, causing me to slightly flinch back.
"An Alpha with an Omega?" he chuckled. "We'd become the weakest pack around."
It seemed that I was unwanted everywhere I went. Lunar Pack hated me, Shadow Pack hated me, and most importantly, my mate hated me.
I felt a stinging sensation behind my eyes. My vision began to blur slightly as tears began to pool in my eyes. An unrecognizable emotion flitted across his face, but it was gone in a millisecond.
"Well then," I blinked my unfallen tears away, wiping away any trace of vulnerability. "I guess I'll be on my way out."
"You know I can't let that happen either," his eyes bore into mine. "Our wolves will grow weak if we're apart."
"Who knows?" I growled out. "Maybe it's different for us. You can't even feel the damn bond for fucks sake!"
"True," he shrugged. "But that's a risk I can't take."
"So what, you're going to keep me here just for the sake of keeping yourself alive?" I asked incredulously.
"Well, no, not just that," his voice was empty, lacking any emotion. "I do respect the Moon Goddess and her decision, so I will make sure you are safe and provided for."
"I can provide for myself, I don't need you for that," I gritted out.
"You have nowhere else to go," he stated.
I shut my mouth. He was right; Uncle Eddie and I had no idea where we would go without causing any suspicion. There was no way we were going back to Lunar Pack either.
And not to mention, the Reds were almost everywhere. The only place they rarely went to was ...
The Shadow Pack.
"I'll stay here," I looked at Alpha Eastwood, who had been watching me the whole time. "On one condition."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "You aren't entitled to conditions."
I ignored him. "You have to let my father join the pack as well."
He was silent for a moment.
"The second you tell someone we're mates, I kick him out," he finally said, daring me to challenge him.
I sighed, knowing that was the best I was going to get out of him. There was a part of me I could feel dying off, growing numb. In some way, I guess I had always hoped I could find some sort of comfort in my mate. His rejection stung, and I felt more alone than ever.
"Deal," I said icily.
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Let me know what your thoughts are on this chapter!
What do you think of Rowan (Alpha Eastwood)?
Until next time :)
xo