I froze fear suddenly consuming me. My wolf was shouting at me for feeling afraid of our mate. Our mate will never dare do harm to us, she was saying. I could feel her anger towards me but I tried ignoring that trying to focus all of my attention on our mate.

This was Alpha Thaddeus? The cruel Alpha that decided to hurt my pack. He did look intimidating but I wasn't going to admit that. I hadn't realized that he was also looking me over. His dark eyes roamed up and down my body until his gaze stopped back on my face.

The look he gave me made me shiver with desire. I felt lust pool within me as he continued gazing at me. He took a step forward and stopped. He inhaled deeply only to exhale heavily. A loud growl erupted from within him.

My heart pounded inside my chest. I thought he was going to order the guards to open the cells that was separating us but instead he took another step back. A pang of hurt instantly hit me. I could hear my wolf whining softly.

I couldn't tell if his eyes were shifting color or not. But I knew that he was close to losing control of his wolf. He uttered one word making my heart stop beating for a moment.

"No."

His deep sonorous voice made my toes tingle. I realised this was the first thing he said and I had been waiting for him to use his voice. But what did 'no' mean? Did he not want me as a mate? Was he rejecting me?

My wolf howled in agony at the thought. He wouldn't want to reject us, she said. I could feel his wolf wanting us; the human is resisting.

With one last glance at me he turned and trudged away. My heart shattered at his actions. Wasn't he suppose to come save me? Or come comfort me?

One of his pack members lingered and examined me before leaving. I wasn't sure but I think he may have shot me a sympathetic look before he left.

I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder. I did not need to look up to know it was my mom. "Annabel I'm so-"

"I need some rest," I interrupted, "I'm just going to lay down for a bit."

She didn't object; she let me do as I want.

•

I woke up later on to shouting. I sat up curious of who it was even though my stmach roared in complain. I really need something to eat.

"That bastard rejected her?" I jumped at the familar voice. Mason.

"Mason," Rose said softly, "Please don't wake her up."

I made a sound making heads snap in my direction. Mason stood up from the cell he was in and peered through his cell bars to look at me which was kind of hard because we were two cells away from each other.

"Anna," he breathed out in what I'm guessing is relief, "Are you alright?"

I don't know, was I? I mean my mate, my other half had just rejected me. If you call that a rejection. My wolf growled out in anger. She along with myself was very sadden about the fact our own mate did not come to comfort us.

"Yes," I responded my voice hoarse. From the look Mason, Rose, and my own mother gave me they could see through my white lie. I turned my head not wanting to recieve any more looks from them or the others in different cells.

I observed the younger girls beside my cell. The girl I gave my bread to earlier was kneeling in front of her younger sister who was crying. She was rocking her back and forth on her lap.

"Is she hungry?" I asked. The girl looked up at the sound of my voice and nodded. I couldn't help but watch as tears rolled down her cheeks too in silence.

"Does anyone have extra bread to give to these two young girls?" I raised my voice making sure everyone heard. Everyone erupted into murmers and a few moments later a loaf of bread was being passed down.

I handed the bread to the young girl who gave it to her younger sister to eat. I watched as the three year old munched on it. I thought the eight year old would at least take a bit for herself but she watched the younger one eat it all.

"Eat some," I spoke up. Without looking at me she shook her head. "What's your name?"

She didn't answer soon which made me think she didn't want to answer my question. But minutes later she finally spoke up.

"Elizabeth," she replied softly,"but you can call me Beth. My younger sisters name is Savannah."

"My names Annabel but most people call me Anna."

She didn't say anything after that and neither did I. Everyone fell into a deep sleep a while later but not me. I already slept and I wasn't tired so I simply replayed the past events this past week. I sighed closing my eyes as I fought the tears.

Preparing to go to war. Then being attacked. Getting locked up. Then finding out my mate was the one who locked me up. And finally the best part - I was sort of rejected. All in less than three days. Wasn't the first one enough?

I sighed again laying down and staring up at the ceiling. I saw movement at the corner of my eye finally realizing that I wasn't able to ignore the conversation I really dreaded. I patted the spot beside me indicating her to lay down beside me.

"You aren't OK," Rose stated laying down and shifting to get comfortable. I didn't bother telling her otherwise so I kept my gaze locked on the bug crawling across the ceiling. "Hey, listen to me."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "He wants you. Trust me, he does. That one word could mean anything. He probably just walked away because he was in shock from seeing his mate in a cell. Like you, he wasn't expecting to discover something like this. He probably feels guilt for what he's done to you and he might think you hate him for hurting our pack. To tell you the truth he might had just needed to clear his head."

I nodded slowly understanding what she was saying.

"But I didn't run away after seeing him." I stated. Rose surprised me with a snort.

"Maybe because we're in a cell and if you haven't looked around there's nowhere to go."

I chuckled bumping my shoulders with her. She bumped me back before shifting on the ground again. "What do you think is going to happen to us? I mean do you think he's just going to leave us here to rot?"

I shrugged in disappointment. "I have absolutely no idea what is coming next and I don't want to know."

"Do you think it'll be bad though?" Roses voice went high for a second making me remember that I wasn't the only scared person here. Instead of answering I stayed quiet. She turned to me her eyes wide with concern and fear. She wasn't bothering to hide it.

"I don't know," I mumbled out after a moment of silence. "When the time comes we'll find out."

She shifted again before sighing. "Hope you don't mind but I'll be sleeping right here so don't bother me."

I rolled my eyes turning on my side while staring into space. But even though I slept less than an hour ago, sleep was taking over me again. I couldn't do anything about it so I let myself go.

•

The doors slammed open jolting people awake. Guards swarmed in like bees. I guessed about thirty guards and from the look of it more guards were situated outside. Everyone awoke at the sound of barking orders being thrown left and right. Guards opened the cell doors making us all look at eachother in confusion.

Rose gave me a questioning look before our cell door was opened. Two men came in with stern faces while roughly gripping us by our forearms. I winced out in pain letting out a whimper. A shriek that was barely heard by all the commotion going on had me twisting my head in time to see Beth reaching out for Savannah but being pulled in the opposite direction.

"Let her go!" I exclaimed. The guard holding onto me recieved a kick to the knee before I made a sprint towards Beth and Savannah. I wasn't able to reach them of course because the guard I kicked was much faster than me. I whimpered when he pushed me up against the bars and gripped my wrists in a tight grip. My face was pushed against the bars roughly. I have no doubt that a bruise was already forming.

After this I didn't try to run I just let the guard take me to wherever. I couldn't see my parents or Mason or even Rose anywhere. I have to say I was scared.

My wolf whimpered aggressively. Find our mate. He'll protect us. She kept telling me this so I responded.

They won't comfort us. Remember he sort of rejected us?

She growled in response before going quiet.

The guard that was still holding onto me tightened his grip if that was even possible. The guards all led us to a giant room where a man probably in his early twenties stood at the front. From his stance, I knew he was possibly Beta or even third-in-command; My best guest was Beta.

Everyone stopped talking as soon as the Beta cleared his throat. He stood tall but not as tall as Thaddeus. He crossed his arms across his chest in an intimidating stance but his eyes made everyone focus on him. His eyes -not as dark as Alpha Thaddeus though- had a menacing look to them. He didn't start talking until he was sure all attention was on him.

"The Alpha will be here in a short moment to discuss future plans for the prisoners."

Everyone from my pack led out a gasp including myself. When I gasped the Beta glanced at me making it hard for me to breathe. His eyes lingered on me for a few moments before I broke the eye contact first.

Whatever that was about I wasn't anticipating the arrival of my mate.

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~MissieA out!

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