Chapter 4(b)

Jasmine’s POV

I couldn’t muster the ability to care that I was now sprawled out on the floor of the wooden cabin I had been unceremoniously dumped in two days before.

I had been brought here after my mate had pronounced my sentence and I had cried my eyes out.

As I laid out on the cold floor, allowing the cold to seep into my bones and ignoring the second plate of oatmeal and dried fish that had been brought earlier by one of the guards of my cabin prison, I discovered an emotion that was though strange, yet comforting.

That emotion was anger.

I had gone through several emotions since being thrown into the cabin.

The first was pain. Literal pain from the injuries I had sustained while being rough handled and treated like a criminal, and emotional pain from all that I had gone through.

The second was shock because I could not believe that it was all really happening. I wished I was evil enough to have done what I was accused of but I was not.

The next was heartbreak and betrayal that my mate intended to execute me after rejecting me. After everything I had gone through just to be with him.

The mate I had hoped to find after my mother had urged me to in my dreams now wanted to reject and kill me.

A humourless laugh escaped my chapped, bleeding lips at the thought.

He had even treated me worse than my so called guardian had. I looked away from the wooden roof of the house that I had been staring at and turned my head to look out the window where I had a clear view of the full moon.

The Moon Goddess must hate me a lot to have given me such a cruel mate.

“I swear to you”, my voice came out in barely a whisper, “I will kill him and that witch in my next life. I will make them pay”, I vowed.

The emotion I had thought as anger began to grow at the thought of those two and I realised what it was.

It was hatred I felt.

I hated them and I wanted nothing more than to make them pay for everything.

Before I could think of anything else, there was a loud crash from somewhere in the cabin other than the room I was locked in.

If I had a wolf, I would have probably heard the noises now coming my way sooner.

Before I could scramble to my feet and find a place to hide, the door was kicked down and one of the guards was dragged in by a blonde man.

His eyes immediately locked on my small figure as I tried to somehow disappear into the wall behind me.

“Is that her?” the blonde man asked the bleeding guard who immediately nodded. “Yes, that is her”, he choked out.

The blonde man pulled him to his feet and gave him a smile I could only describe as scary.

“Thank you”, he said and snapped his neck.

I screamed in both fear and shock as the guard’s body dropped to the floor.

The scream stuck in my throat as the blonde man began to make his way towards me.

“Calm yourself”, he said in a soothing tone that scared me more than if he had growled at me. “He deserved that for the things he said about you”, he said and crouched down to my level. “Unlike him, I do not intend to harm you. So would you kindly do me the honour of coming with me quietly so I do not have to change my mind?”

I stared at him in both fear and amazement.

Surprisingly, he waited, as if giving me time to make the choice.

I had to think fast.

If I refused to go with this obviously dangerous man, he would still take me, but by force.

If by some miracle he let me be, which I highly doubted, I would be rejected in the morning and executed by my heartless mate and his witch.

If I did as he said, how could I really know that he meant me no harm?

So far, all he had done was give me a choice and patiently wait for me to take it.

Despite the fact that he was obviously dangerous, I probably had a better chance at least with him than waiting to be rejected and executed.

With my decision made, I slowly nodded to let him know that I would do as I was told.

“Wise choice”, he said and held out a hand to me.

Masking my surprise at the gesture, I reluctantly took his outstretched hand, allowing the warmth of it seep into my cold fingers as he enclosed mine in his and pulled me to my feet.

Rather than let go, he instead led me out of the room, out of the cabin, and into the woods where some other men obviously waited for him.

They immediately bowed their head as we approached and from the looks on their faces, I knew they were mind linking each other.

After a short while, the blonde man let go of my hand and turned to face me.

“Shift”, he ordered just as his companions began to shift into their wolf forms.

After the last of his companions had finished shifting and I still remained in my human form, a humourless smile curved his lips.

“I do not like to repeat myself”, he said.

Not liking what that smile could mean for me, I looked down in obvious submission and spoke quietly.

“I cannot ”, I told him, trying to ignore the shame that overwhelmed me each time I had to say that.

“And why can you not?” I heard him ask and looked up to see him observing me closely.

I don’t know what he saw, but something in my expression must have clued him in on what I really meant because one of his eyebrows rose in surprise and a moment later he turned away to mind link his companions who began taking off.

“When I shift, climb onto my back and hold on tight”, he instructed and waited until I nodded before shifting.

His wolf was a big blonde and grey one and as he hunched down for me to get on, I was reminded of my father’s brown wolf in my dreams.

I carefully climbed onto his wolf and held on tightly to his soft furs. A growl told me I was probably doing it wrong and as he moved his head a certain way, I quickly realised how he wanted me to hold on.

I wrapped my thin arms around his big neck, barely able to link my fingers together and held on as he immediately took off.

He was really fast and we caught up to the others in no time, with him leading the pack.

Since it was still dark and cold out, I buried my face into his fur and held on for dear life, relying on the warmth from his wolf to ward of the night’s chill.

I don’t know how long or how far they ran but by the time their pace began to slow, the sun had just started to rise.

We got to a clearing and his companions disappeared and later reappeared in their human form with clothes on. One of them held a set of clothes in his arms and waited as the blonde’s wolf hunched down for me to get off.

Once I did, his wolf walked out of sight with the one holding the clothes and I rubbed my arms to try to warm them and avoid the eyes I could feel on me.

Before long, the blonde came back dressed and tilted his head for me to follow.

Without a second thought, I did.

I was really uncomfortable from the curious stares I was getting from his companions and I somehow knew that only he could keep me safe, so I followed his lead quietly.

After a short walk, we arrived at what seemed like the side of a large pack house. It was far bigger than the one at Blackmoon pack.

Rather than go through the front door, the blonde led us in through a side door and led the way through halls and past several doors until we came to a stop at a set of double doors.

Once again, rather than knock, he simply threw the doors open and stepped inside what looked to be a huge study.

The sound of the doors closing behind me drew my attention away from studying the space and to the fact that no one else had come in after us. I turned back to send a questioning look at the blonde when I finally realised that we were not alone and there was someone else in the study.

Seated behind a huge desk was a terrifying man.

Not that he was hideous to look at, the opposite was the case in fact. But this man radiated so much power that even without a wolf, I knew he was a powerful man to be feared. The way his dark eyes watched me from across the room terrified me so much that I didn’t know when I started to tremble in fear.

I did not even notice the presence of the blonde as I stood there shaking while he watched me until he spoke.

“Come”, the blonde’s voice broke through my thoughts and he pulled out a chair for me to sit.

The problem was, I could not move.

I just stood there shaking in fear of the man on the other side of the desk.

I heard the blonde chuckle in humour and make his way to me.

His warm hand wrapped around my wrist and he began to pull me towards the scary man.

When we were before him, he let go of my wrist and gently pushed me down to the chair he had held out earlier.

I immediately brought my eyes to my trembling hands in my lap, clenching them to hide their trembling even as I could feel his eyes burning into me.

The silence lasted for a while where I was sure the blonde was mind linking the scary man who was obviously his Alpha, probably telling him everything that had happened with me. I waited quietly, not wanting to draw any more attention from the scary Alpha.

“Are you truly Carson’s mate?” A deep voice that could only belong to the scary Alpha rumbled causing me to jump slightly in my seat from it.

I quickly nodded.

“Speak”, he ordered.

“Yes”, I managed to squeak out as fast as I could.

He was quiet for a short time.

“Why could you not shift?” he asked after a moment.

My head subconsciously hung in shame.

“I do not have a wolf”, I confessed quietly.

I expected the usual questions to follow.

How do you not have a wolf?

Are you cursed?

How could you be a werewolf without a wolf?

But no question of the sort came. “Why were you in the West border cabin?” he asked instead and my head lifted to look at him in shock.

His hard expression gave nothing away.

Did he really not care that I was a werewolf without a wolf?

My eyes met his piercing dark ones and I immediately looked away, remembering that I was asked a question.

“My mate ordered for me to be held captive there”, I said staring down at my hands that had stopped trembling.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because he was going to reject me and have me executed”, I said honestly.

Even as I said the words, the familiar pain shot through my heart but rather than let it fester, I let the newfound emotion of hatred burn through me.

“Why?”he asked once again after a long pause.

“I was accused of killing his unborn child”, I told him, my voice coming out firmer and my hand clenching in anger.

“You aborted his child?” the blonde finally asked, his tone one of surprise.

My head snapped up to meet his in surprise. Not surprise that he spoke but at his words.

“Aborted his child?” I repeated incredulously. “I was never pregnant with his child”, I quickly clarified, the thought of it alone sounding absurd to me.

“Then who was?” Blondie asked again.

“That witch, Bianca”, I spat with so much hatred that I surprised even myself.

From the expression on the blonde’s face I could tell that my outburst surprised him as well. I did not dare to look towards the Alpha to try to see his expression.

“Then again, she was never pregnant either”, I added. “Then who was?” Blondie asked again, recovering from his earlier surprise.

“No one”, I told him, keeping my gaze solely trained on him. “There was never a child”, I continued. “Bianca needed a reason for Tyler to reject me so she lied about being pregnant and framed me for poisoning her to loose the child that never even existed”, I said honestly, momentarily forgetting my fear. “I thought werewolves had excellent senses, so how did no one not realise that she was lying about being pregnant the whole time?” I asked no one in particular. “And of course that blasted Tyler believed her. He did not want me as his mate after finding out I had no wolf and no rank, he just did not want to weaken his wolf by rejecting me”, I said and a humourless laugh escaped my lips.

“What a bastard”, I hissed, only realising what I had said when a long silence greeted my rant.

I gasped and covered my mouth, horrified that I had spoken in such a manner but when I looked up at blondie, there was a look of surprise and something similar to humour on his face. He looked somewhat impressed.

“Then you are of no use to me”, the deep voice of the Alpha pulled me away from everything else and back to my reality.

“Luke, take her back”, he said to blondie whose name I had just found out was Luke. “She is useless to us”.

Realising what it would mean, I quickly dropped to my knees in fear.

“Please do not take me back”, I pleaded. “I will be rejected and executed”.

“That is no concern of mine”, the Alpha said.

“Please I will help you in any way that I can”, I begged. “It is clear you do not like Tyler and neither do I”, I told him. “I know a lot about his pack that I will gladly tell you. Also, he has not rejected me yet, so you can use me against him. I do not care. Just do not send me back to my death”, I pleaded desperately, tears already falling down my cheeks.

It was silent for a while as I tried not to sob.

I knew that they were mind linking each other and I sent a pleading look to blondie - Luke since I believed he was the kinder one.

After a while, the Alpha spoke. “Very well”, he said. “You may stay here in my pack so long as you pull your weight and obey my rules”, he said and I readily nodded. “One mistake and I will send you back to your death, do you understand?” he asked and I quickly nodded.

“Yes”, I answered, remembering that he preferred that.

“You may address me as Alpha and stay out of my way until I have need of you”, he said.

“Yes, Alpha”, I readily agreed.

He turned to Luke and spoke. “Get her out of my sight and settled in”.

At Luke’s nod, I scrambled to my feet.

“Thank you, Alpha”, I bowed and immediately followed Luke as he made his way out of the study.

As I walked away, I could feel the heat of his eyes burning into my back.