Chapter 3

I am summoned to Dr. Sarah's office almost immediately.

The space is filled with other important personnel and I fight the urge to shuffle under their openly scheming gazes.

Dr. Sarah approaches me. She beams at me but I sense a falseness about it. "Gweneth. Everyone has been buzzing about the recent news. But we'd like to hear it from the horse's mouth. Is it true?"

She makes it sound like I'd just announced an engagement. To her question, I nod. "Yes. I... I'm his mate." Saying it out loud sounds surreal. Impossible.

Shifter-human pairings are rare. So rare there hasn't been any recorded cases of it actually happening. But to be fair, we only just found out shifters exist a few decades ago, so I'll give it time.

If possible Dr. Sarah's smile widens. She claps like an excited schoolgirl and my discomfort grows. "This is good news!" She turns her attention to the team behind, and in a voice breathy with excitement, she announces, "It appears we've just made a breakthrough."

White smiles pass around the group and I'm left in the dark, a foreboding chill starting to make its way through me.

Dr. Sarah turns back to me. "As of today, you're to resign your job as a scientist."

My breath stops. "Why--"

"Because you're going to be assigned another job, of course."

"What job?"

"Take care of the Alpha. Ensure he's well-fed. You're to spend a great deal of time with him so that the bond between the two of you can strengthen. He would never relax if there were cameras around or security guards patrolling the area, so we've decided to cut those short. We're relying on you to keep him...in check."

I search her eyes, growing uneasy. "Why?" And why would they trust me with such responsibility? Are they so certain I wouldn't betray them, or do they have something on me that'll ensure I won't? 

A dark look passes over her face. "That way he can do whatever we ask of him once he thinks you're in danger," she replies.

I suddenly find it hard to swallow. "I don't want any part in this."

Her eyes snap to mine like she didn't expect I'd not be on board with her plan. "What?"

"This." My arm does a wild sweep in the air. "I don't want any part in any of this. This is where I draw the line."

The people around all stiffen, glaring daggers at me like I am vile. Like I am damning humanity by refusing to partake in their plan. 

Dr. Sarah steps closer to me. Her voice lowers. "You could be forced."

So they do have something on me? I stiffen and draw up to my full height. "Is that what happens when you become a Hunter, have your free will taken away from you? I thought the very thing we fought for was freedom."

She doesn't waver. "Your report states a next of kin in Las Vegas. A sister. A drunk and a drug addict who cannot be trusted with taking care of her own son. But despite this, you love her. Wouldn't like to see her washed up dead in some lake, would you? And her son..."

My breath rattles out of me and I don't care if my terror is stark on my face.

The woman pats the side of my face gently before drawing away. "Now just do as we say and no one gets hurt."

When I go home later, I stare blankly ahead as I heat some mashed potatoes, giving halfhearted answers to Rylan's excited rambling.

When night falls I sneak into his bed, wrapping my arms around his little body. He soon stirs awake and blinks up at me blearily. "Mum? What are you doing here? You know I can sleep alone now, right?"

"Shh," I hush gently, feeling my voice crack. "Mummy just wants to hold you, okay?"

Perhaps sensing my mood, he just nods and snuggles deeper into me, falling asleep almost immediately.

The next morning I retrieve my car from the mechanic, driving it up the barren acreage of land surrounding Mount Pyre. Stopping at the front post, I slide my ID card against the slot and the huge gate budges, drawing up. I drive in.

The Hunters around cast me sidelong looks as I make my way through the Halls. A few of them stare at me with open animosity, no doubt having heard about my refusal to go on board with Dr. Sarah's proposal. Although you could hardly call it that.

Her office is wide open by the time I get there. She looks up when I come in, then a smile stretches the side of her lips. "Knew you'd make the right choice."

My jaw clenches. She waves towards the opposite table. I turn and see a trolley. It's packed with food.

"Werewolves have quite the appetite. Although this one doesn't seem to want to eat anything we give him."

"Can't imagine why."

She doesn't address the dry statement, instead motioning to the trolley again. "Take it up to him. There's every chance he's going to eat what's in it now you're the one offering the food."

I roll the trolley away. The elevator ride up is slow and, unfortunately, I have enough time to dwell on my situation. 

I am going to meet Malcolm. Dread tightens my chest. The image of him from yesterday flashes through my mind and I blanch. His eerie blue eyes, the canines lengthening past his lips, the horrific sharpening of his face. The sharp black claws. 

One swipe of those lethal contraptions and you'll be rent to shreds.

The doors slide open and I push through. Taking out my card, I slide the chip in and the metal door whirs open.

He's awake.

Steel grey eyes watch me narrowly as I enter the room. On instinct, my eyes fly to the emergency button. His gaze follows mine and they harden. 

"Good morning," I say, stomach in knots.

Like yesterday, his eyes do a bold sweep down my body. Once they land on the card pinned to my shirt pocket his eyes glow a fierce blue that has me backing up sharply. "You're one of them," he growls.

I realize it's the first time I've heard him speak. His voice is deep and gravelly, a combination that has heat slinking down my insides despite myself. Once what he says settles, I state, "You could say that."

"Then you are no mate of mine."

The rejection cut deep. The feeling is accompanied by a twinge of anger. "Do you think I want any part in this!?" I blurt. "Look. My life is in danger and--" I cut myself off, sucking in a breath.

He watches me closely. Pinpricks of gooseflesh break out of my skin. Out of my depth, I look away.

"Then set me free," he says.

My eyes meet his. "I can't. It's not... it's not that easy." I start to unpack the trolley. A plate of pancakes is dropped down on the space beside him. "You have to eat."

He's still looking at me in that disconcerting way. "Why do you say your life is in danger?"

I scoff, the bitter sound directed at myself. "It's nothing I shouldn't have seen coming. I got myself into this and by god, I'm getting myself out." Eyeing his bonds, I fork a helping of pancakes and hold it out to him. "Please eat."

His slate grey eyes are unmoving on my face and I feel a flush start to creep up my neck.

There's a calculation in his gaze that should've bothered anyone, but I'm too busy reeling from the all-consuming way he looks at me to care. Finally, his mouth budges open. That little action of surrender should've been the first thing to alert me something wasn't right. I'll learn eventually that Malcolm never yields. 

But I'm so relieved at finally getting to him that I inch closer. Oddly enough, I don't feel afraid of him. 

Reverse that. 

When the fork goes in his mouth, his lips close over it deliberately, eyes locked on mine with a dark intensity. At once, something raw and hot crackles to life between us.

When a smoldering blue glow simmers in the depths of his eyes, I suddenly feel like a prey.

Which is ironic, because he's the one in chains.

But a part of me, an instinctual part, knows I shouldn't count on that fact to keep me safe from him.