FIVE

ADRIEN'S POV

 All my life, all I've ever thought of was getting my finally revenge on all faes by wiping the entire royal family out of existence. The king was already dead.. killed him with own hands and watched in satisfaction as his people watched him die helplessly. 

But Sophia came in, and everything just got messed up when we realized she was our mate. No one knew she was our mate and we decided to keep it a secret, but we ensured no one dared try to kill her. 

We gave her everything... Well everything we felt was enough for her to replenish her strength and energy, because as bad as it sounded, we couldn't let her die. We wouldn't even dare. She had a room, and she was fed two times a day, and that was it. She wasn't allowed out, unless it was time for breakfast. That was her daily dose of punishment. She would have to share the dining room at the quarters with the pack warriors. It was total hell since she was the only woman there, and everyone hated her. 

She was guarded 24/7, and I was still impressed that she managed to escape, yet amused at her stupidity. Where did she think she was going to? 

Adam insisted that we go after her immediately, but I was the one who suggested we let her stay out there for some days. Maybe she'd realize there was really no place to run to. She'd come to know that her people had gone into hiding due to fear, and she? Well, if she thought she could save her people, then it was just utterly pitiful. 

Was she really going to fight an army of men, hybrids and pure blooded species? She knew better not to. 

After some days, we deemed it fit enough that she had learnt her lesson so we went after her, and just in the speck of time, we were able to find her, because we sensed her use her powers. 

We would have used her scent and that could have taken us much longer. Lucky enough, we were able to find her in time to save her life before she was made into rogue chow. 

It's only been a few days, and she looked like a skeleton with skin being thrown over the frame to make it look more human. My cheeks were hallow and her cheekbones had popped out more. Her eyes were sunk with dark eye bags around, but the fire of hate and fury didn't die for even a fleeting moment the entire time we rescued her and took her back home. 

I hated Sophia, and I could feel my brother's hate for her, but I could feel the love they had for her as well. Yes, I did love Sophia, but that was because of the mate bond, if anything, I would have killed her off without a second thought. 

I sighed before Lucas and Adam walked in. 

"She's locked up now, but I don't think she'd live a day more without food." Adam said, brows furrowed into a frown. He usually acted harsh and lenient with Sophia, but he was just a big ol' softie. Infact, he cared about Sophia more than she expected he would. 

He just would never let her see that, and neither would I or Lucas. 

"Send in Abel to bring her some food left of yesterday." I growl, dissatisfied that we had to break out promise of keeping her hungry. Yet, Adam made sense. She would die if we left her hungry for another day. "that's all we can offer to her until she's realized the danger she almost put us through by leaving "

"I think we should just chain her up in that dungeon and feed off her whenever we want. When we gave her the privilege of having her own room and eating good food, I think that was when she began seeing herself as a goddess or something..." Lucas said, arms folded with a dark look in his eyes. 

My fingers played over the keyboard of my laptop before I shook my head, resuming my typing. 

"Nope. I don't think that's necessary. She might fall sick, and when a guardian is sick, she'll have to replenish her former agile self by feeding on her mate's blood..."

"There's no way I'm letting her have mine." Lucas growled. 

"Me neither." Adam added. 

"I'm not planning on that too. So it's better we prevent her sickness than curing it. Because once she gets even a drop of our blood sample, she will regain enough power to escape and we'll be unable to find her this time."

"Have you guys ever wondered how she was able to escape with a guard at her door 24l7 with pack warriors patrolling the area around the pack house every second?" Adam suddenly asked and there was a grave expression on our faces as we all thought deeply. 

"Do you think.." Lucas started, but I cut him off. 

"If she had her powers back, she would have eliminated every single one of us without a thought... There has to be another way."

Right there and then, I mind-linked Abel, the pack warrior who guarded the underground dungeons and ordered him to get the bowl of soup left of yesterday for Sophia. 

Suddenly an email from one of the elders popped up my screen notifications and I rolled my eyes with a sigh. 

"What?" Adam asked, as my two brothers came over to stand behind my swivel chair, each one either side of me, leaning In close to stare at my screen. 

"It's the Elders again." Lucas pointed, a sneer on his face. 

"Are they seriously still insisting that we need to find a mate? They've matched us up with countless women already." Adam scoffed. 

"And well, they won't stop until we decide to mark and claim a random woman as our mate. You know how badly we need an heir."

"And since we can't tell them Sophia is our mate, we might as well just let them keep torturing us." I explain, shutting the laptop without bothering to read his message. 

"Until when? We have to tell them either way..." Lucan shrugged. 

"But If they do, we only have two decisions. We either mate with her so she could produce an heir, or the elders reject her and send her away..."

Just as I was ready to intervene in the matter, the door opened up and Abel walked in with furrowed brows. 

"She's refused to eat." I was in angry hearing his words, but not as much as I was in rage when he added. "In her words 'You should be the one drinking cold soup out of a bowl since you're a mutt.'"

A growl tearing from my throat, I barge out of my room, Abel quickly moving out of the way as I left. 

I couldn't kill her, but I could hurt her as much as I wanted to. She would eat her words whether she liked it or not.