Chapter 7

At my grandmother’s house, everything is cozy and relaxed. While there, I am scared that if I touch something, it will break, shatter, and get me in trouble. It is a lovely house but far too fragile for me.

“Henry?” I call out to him as we make our way down the same

hallway that leads to the alpha’s office. “I need a favor.”

He peeks back at me, looking rather curious. “What?”

“When I was in the cells, there was a girl in the same cell as mine. She needs to be free.”

He lets out a hum, telling me that he is thinking. Then he turns back to the hallway.

When we come up to the familiar gray doors, my heart starts to pick up pace and my nerves spike. The intoxicating scent of my mate fills my nose. Henry lightly knocks on the door, and I come back to reality. A low, familiar “Come in” prods at my ears. Slowly, the door opens, and I am almost too anxious to see him again.

I enter the room, but Henry does not. He shuts the door behind me as if to trap me in. I glance up and see the alpha sitting at his desk. Just like earlier, he looks powerful and intimidating. I begin to feel extremely nervous. Something about this man has me begging on my knees and hiding my face behind my hands at the same time. He makes me feel desired even without saying a word.

The alpha stands up and slowly walks over to me. My breath hitches when he is still a few steps away. He comes closer until he is right in front of me. His scent makes my mind go foggy.

“I see you found my robe.” His voice is smooth like music to my ears.

He rolls the very soft fabric right beside my neck with his fingers.

I can hardly speak, and I am sure if I tried, the words will come out as a squeak. I no longer have dirt smeared on my face and dusty clothes, but my hair is damp and possibly tangled. Here I am again, worried about my appearance.

“The g-girl in the cell, she needs to be set free,” I say with the last of my courage.

“Making demands so soon?” His hand gently scoops up my own.

His touch is soft on my skin, and I only begin to want more. The feeling of him is something so new, so addictive, and so good.

“I love the way you react to my touch,” he says in my ear, causing my mind to run blank and erasing all the things I had planned on saying.

A blush appeared on my cheeks, and I look away, not wanting him to see me as a gushing fool. I have never been in a relationship before and let alone kissed a boy. Obviously, at eight years old, I was not running around kissing every boy I saw for obvious reasons. With Grandmother, I did not think about boys at all, as there were none around.

“Look at me,” he says.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything about packs and hardly anything about mates. I barely remember my old pack.” I gaze up at him and look right into his emerald eyes. “I have to get back to my grandmother.”

His handsome face hardens. “Why are you not part of a pack?”

“I don’t—I don’t know.” Truthfully, I think I know, but I do not see the need for him to know.

My grandmother chose life to be this way, so I obey. My time in a pack was not great anyway, and now I have no desire to be in one.

“What do you mean you do not know? Have you always been rogue?”

“What’s rogue?” I question, confused.

He looks at me almost like he cannot believe what I am saying.

“Where do you live?”

“With my grandmother, across the stream,” I answer him while gently pushing out of his grasp, though I already miss the feel of him. “I have to get back to her. She doesn’t know where I am.”

Suddenly, a man comes through the office doors, and he seems startled. The alpha immediately looks at him with hard eyes.

“Alpha, we found two rogues on the border, so we brought them to the cells. What should we do?” the man asks for orders.

“Get rid of them.”

Get rid of them? The rogues? I do not understand. Andrew called me a rogue, so why did they not get rid of me?

“What are you going to do with them? Lock them up?” I question.

“I don’t have time for this. Ryker, just do as I say,” my mate grumbles and crosses his arms over his chest.