Chapter 3

Mia

I sat in the corner of the cell, racking my brain over and over, coming up with ideas to get out of this place. But guess where it always ended up? Exactly nowhere. There were like two guards right outside the cell and I'm sure a number of them were guarding the main doors of the dungeon. There were absolutely no windows that I could break to get out. Only a narrow horizontal open space on the ceiling of not more than four inches and one foot horizontally long that could hardly get my one arm out even if I tried to reach it. But those two were covered with grills and were doing a pathetic job of ventilation. If these people were ever late for killing their prisoners for more than a day or two, I'm pretty sure they would already be dead thanks to absolute no-air-zone. I don't know if these werewolves breathe on something else. But at least I was still a human and needed more than enough oxygen to stay alive. 

Let's not forget I was also starving because the last thing I ate was that apple before the war. And it had been twenty-four hours now since the war ended. Or since I fainted, I believe. Remembering how I fainted. There was someone who attacked me. Someone who was not on these people's side, or wouldn't have hidden their face and come covered in robes. I was only able to get a glimpse before fainting in Christian's arms. 

Christian.

What is that man? My thoughts immediately pondered back to the last meetup we had. 

"Because she is mine!" 

His words were affirm. And what shocked me was that the Alpha King went silent after they were uttered. His eyes had visibly widened and the shock was evident on his face. I wasn't stupid either. I knew what those words meant. It all made sense why he was being like a protective lunatic. Why did he not attack me during the war…? It all added up.

I knew how these werewolves went crazy when it came to the protection of their mate. And now I knew why I was feeling those stupid feelings. But did it make me change my opinion on them? 

Absolutely not. 

They are still going to be killers. Him being my mate does not make any difference because I had nothing to do with it. I was not functioning or programmed to be someone's mate. That was not my goal. My aim. 

My goal was to only make those bastards pay. Make them pay for taking away my mother. Make them pay for making me spend my whole life without a mother's love. I can never forgive them for it. All I need to do is find a way to get out of here. And then I'm going to destroy each and every werewolf that comes in my way. Mate or not? 

I'm not a werewolf, so these feelings can't fool me. They are going to go once I train my mind. But what confused me more were Sylvia's words. 

"Zero percent," she had said. How was it possible for me to be his mate when werewolves couldn't have human mates? Or even any other species? They were only to find their mates in werewolves. Could it be possible that maybe Christian was mistaken? 

My mind traveled back to our last encounter once again. After his words and Alpha's shock, there was only one thing that was spoken. 

"My office," the King had gritted and left without even giving him as much a glance. Christian only heaved out a rough sigh. The tension at that moment was so sharp, I could feel a blade slicing through the air and my heart thudding in my chest. And then finally he turned to grace me with his gorgeous face with a longing look. It felt like he was waiting to have the courage to say something. And then he just disappeared. 

I broke out of my thoughts when I heard the door to the dungeon opening and heavy footsteps echoed in the air. I stood up, knowing once again I had a visitor. But I wasn't expecting him.

Think of the devil and the devils arise. He was carrying a brown paper bag in his hand. The guards opened the door to the cell and he entered my vicinity, making sure to maintain our eye contact. I didn't cower from it. I needed to show him he did not affect me. 

He bent and placed the bag down in the corner, while I held his every action under my scrutinizing gaze. Rule no.1; trust no one. I knew I was helpless at the moment, in their territory and ripped off every weapon I carried. 

He stood back up to start his staring game again. Let's say I wasn't going to lose. 

"Leave," I heard his firm tone, and the two guards watching over me left for the moment on his single command. 

His arm muscles bulged as he clenched and unclenched his fist quite a few times and I observed the tension in his rigid figure. 

He finally started advancing towards me in slow yet steady steps. I made sure to not cower and stood my ground firmly. Although I was second guessing my choice when he invaded my personal space. Another step and we would be chest to chest. His closeness was sending my nerves on edge. So just when he was about to take another step towards me, I finally decided to take one back to maintain at least an arm-length distance. It made him smirk. This, however, only remained until my back hit the wall and I realized I was finally trapped. 

Great. 

Calm down Mia. He can't do anything and you are freaking strong! I reminded myself, keeping my mind alert to capture any hint of danger or fight. 

He leaned in a little and I almost felt him take a deep but discreet breath. He was inhaling my scent! Agh, that werewolf dog shit, of course. Well, if he was trying to be discreet about it, he surely failed! 

His hand cautiously inched up, his palm crawling towards my face in the air and ready to sit on my cheek when his jaw clenched, followed by his fist and he abruptly stopped his movement, leaving his hand hanging in the same position near my cheek. I saw the flash of golden in his eyes before he quickly shut them tightly and opened them back to give me a view of his emerald orbs once again. I couldn't help but stare at them. There was no denial about the fact they were gorgeous. He was gorgeous. 

He then slowly inched his hand closer and this time decided to tuck the loose strand of my hair that was hanging freely and pushed it behind my left ear while his other hand rested beside my head, against the wall. Hot!

I noticed he had bent down, trying to test how close I would let him get. And what appalled me was I didn't even try pushing him away. What the hell was happening to me? 

"Come with me," he muttered softly, leaving me confused. Him bending a little to reach my height and to have a better look at my eyes because of our height difference kind of made me feel things. At the same time, he also made me feel terribly small in front of his hulk figure. But I quickly pushed them away. He was close enough that I could feel his breath fanning my face. 

"Leave them," he continued. "Join me, my pack and I'll fix everything for you. For us. It'll all be okay and you won't have to fight like this ever again." I finally understood what he was implying. Foolish of him to think I would betray my father for him. So what if he was my mate? I wasn't a werewolf and hadn't accepted him. Moreover, I didn't believe in mates. Mates are nothing but weaknesses.

"Indeed they are nothing but weakness," I remember Sylvia's words. And one thing I was sure of was that I would never be weak. One thing I would never have would be a weakness. I couldn't. I couldn't disappoint my father. 

"Huh," I scoffed, rolling my eyes, taking him by surprise." I thought betas were supposed to be clever, intelligent. But your moon goddess made an exception for you, I think." My plan was to rile him. To hurt his ego. But what actually happened? He had the audacity to smile. To give a freaking smile at my words, showing off his fucking amazing pearl white teeth. A genuine one on that! But sooner than I expected, it turned into a challenging one, as he bit his bottom lip, and nodded ever so slightly thrice at my comment, his eyes squinting as if he was figuring me out.

Things got way awkward when my stomach decided to interfere and growl, speaking the oppression it had borne after not being fed for a long, long time. My eyes widened, my embarrassment visibly making its way, making my cheeks turn red. And that was all I needed to see his eyes fall onto my stomach and his smile turn into a full blown beautiful laugh. For a moment, I thought I had melted. But then again, I only thought. Or at least that's what I told myself. He took his time enjoying the sound my stomach made before deciding to push back and stand straight. 

"Eat up," he pointed at the bag he left on the corner of the floor when he entered. With one final half smile, he drank me in for the last time and left. Once I heard the main doors of the dungeon close, I rushed to the bag and tore it open. A fried chicken burger with fries and a bottle of water.

Delicious. 

Just for this once, I was thankful secretly for having a mate. At least he gave me the food to let me regenerate my strength to escape this place.