Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Heated Denials

Rhys’s P.O.V:

I wasn't going to die after all.  That was my first thought as I heard the hinges of the dungeon gate creak open.

It felt like I had been without food and water for about a century and the Goddamned bullet in my shoulder was finally going to be poisoning my blood for good and that would be the end of me. So when I finally heard noises from the doorway of the dungeon, I was ready to get the hell out of this place once and for all. I was even ready to fucking leave this pack alone and just return home only if it weren’t for the silver haired Alpha, my mate.

"W-w...t...r..." I could hardly breathe let alone speak. It felt like I had swallowed gallons of sand, my throat was that dry.

But I don't remember if I actually got the water I had asked for because black sports soon danced in my vision and the next thing I know, I had passed out from exhaustion and the lack of nutrition.

The next time I woke, I was no longer in some dark, cold dungeon with my hands tied at an unnatural angle, but I woke up to an annoying beeping noise that I knew all too well thanks to my reckless mountain climbing and training schedule.

I tested my eyes and fortunately got them open with little trouble. My left arm however, was a completely different story. I couldn't feel it at all. This scared me to thinking that the crazy mate of mine might just have cut it off. It wouldn’t be a bother since wolves were amongst the few shifters that could regrow body parts, but it would take a long time to grow back and I liked my body parts exactly where they belonged thank you very much.

Lifting my head off the pillow a bit I looked at my arm and sighed in relief that it was just fine and bandaged up. I looked around to make sure that I was not in some white-walled hospital room but it looked like I was just in a normal room.

From what I could tell, the room was an ordinary one with thick wooden walls and floors and there was a thick woolen carpet on the floor to keep the cold out. There was one tiny glass window at the far end of the room that provided some light but most of the light was artificial and from the darkness outside, I could tell that it was probably evening or sometime in the middle of the night. A fireplace was the only source of heat in the room and it was warm enough that I felt my wolf sigh in relief. Both my wolf and I weren’t too fond of the cold; we were desert wolves after all.

The queen sized bed that I was lying on had a red and black color scheme and the carpet was red too. Next to the bed was a heart monitor and a bunch of other medical equipments that monitored my health and an IV was connected to my arm, dripping some pale yellow liquid. From the readings of the equipments I could tell that I was back to my usual self and I was also doing just fine. The only problem was my arm and I could already feel it unfreezing, the nerve endings starting to spark back to life.

Well apart from that, someone had been kind enough to change me out of my dirty clothes and into a pair of black cargo pants and a black woolen full sleeved T-shirt, which was also doing a great job at keeping me warm.

"Ah! Sleeping beauty is awake." The sound came from the doorway and I instantly knew who it belonged to.

I whipped my head around to look at the tall white blonde beauty, leaning against the doorjamb, dressed in a green sweater and black jeans, her silver mane was down to her lower back in short waves. Her eyes were an unnatural icy blue in color and the way she was staring at me made it feel like an Ice Princess was staring at a lowly peasant. I could just sit here and admire her for days.

"How long was I out?" I asked, surprised to find that my voice was working alright. Someone must have fed me water.

"Almost two days", she said straightening and shutting the door close behind her as she strode to my side.

She looked complete eatable to me. "Great. That means I'll be M.I.A for about 4 days now."

"Five...actually," she looked a little sheepish as she admitted that as she came to stand beside my bed. “Your vitals seem to be doing just fine. Good. Now get out of my hair as soon as you can.”

"Five?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly, ignoring the last part of her statement purposefully. "Wasn't your punishment two days without food and water?"

"I forgot," she said nonchalantly. I wanted to bite her...hard.

"You-you forgot?" I asked astounded, she just gave me a what's-the-big-deal kinda look. "So who reminded you? That cat-eyed brat?"I didn't want to use the name of the girl that shot me.

"That cat-eyed brat," she spat the 'brat' part, "is my little sister, Aya. And you should be thanking her for reminding me to clean up the trash from the dungeon".

It happened so fast that I didn't even realize when my wolf had taken over, but the next thing I know, my mate was under me, we were both on the bed and I was holding both her hands above her head, my eyes had turned to golden, the color of my wolf, my teeth extended.

She looked up at me with eyes of pure, endless ocean, not the least bit hint of any fear. Her hair was spread like a silver halo around her head.  Her expression however, was marked with annoyances. It infuriated my wolf further.

“Never. Ever. Call. Me. Trash. Again! ", I gritted out through clenched teeth, my wolf seeping into my voice. “I'm your Alpha. I'm your mate. Your superior-"

The next thing I know, I was lying face down on the bed with my injured arm twisted behind my back at an awkward angle. It all happened so fast it gave me a whiplash. When did her wolf take over? I never even saw the shift in her eyes. And my arm seemed to have gotten back it’s sensation at the worst possible time.

"You may be an Alpha of your own pack but you are not my Alpha. I am an Alpha as well and I don't care if your stupid male pride accepts it or not, it doesn’t change the truth." She let my hand go and got up from the bed. "Now that you're awake and back to your 'Alpha' self, take that beta of yours and get the hell out of my land".

She was about to storm out but I couldn't let that happen, not yet. "You didn't deny the fact about us being mates. So you feel it too? The bond."

It worked. She stopped in her track, her back ramrod straight. She'd gone completely still. "We are not mates!" Her voice was strained, an unknown emotion clouding it that I couldn’t quiet pinpoint.

"We are. You feel it too, don't you? The pull, the awareness. You feel the bond too. Don't lie to me." I got up from the bed too and came to stand right behind her. "Maybe you're scared to admit it to me...or are you just scared of me?" I smirked.

She whirled around so that we were chest to chest; she was pretty tall for a woman. For a few seconds the coldness in her icy blue eyes threw me off, they were even beautiful from up close but there was something missing in them. They also seemed too mature for her age, like she had seen far too many hardships, endured things that I could only imagine.

"The only thing I'm scared of is killing you out of annoyance and starting an unnecessary war and bringing those filthy butchers to my doorstep," I just noticed that her eyes seemed to spark from within whenever she was angry. It aroused the hell out of me.

"Then prove it. Kiss me." I knew I was playing with fire. But right now, the thought of getting burned didn't scare me one bit, not if it was her doing the burning.

"I don't need to prove anything to anyone." Clear defiance in her voice and it made my wolf want to rub against her even if just for a little while. “Don’t forget, you’re in my territory and my rules apply here.”

"Let's see about that." I didn’t give her any time to guess at my intentions as I cupped her cheeks in my hand and pressed my lips to hers.

The onslaught of sensation threatened to throw me off balance. I had never kissed any of the women that I fucked before. In fact, I had forgotten the last time I've kissed someone. But right here, kissing her felt like I’d finally found my oasis. This was it. This was the moment I’d been waiting for my entire life. I’d found my mate, my Luna!

Fire. Liquid heat. It scorched my veins, fried my brain cells until she was all I could think about. I was so lost in the sensation that when I suddenly found myself being thrown back on the bed with sudden vengeance, I had no idea where I was until I looked up at her face. My silver haired vixen was seething.

"Never try that, ever again!"Her jaw was clenched but the heat in her eyes remained. "Do you have no manners or did your mother never taught you about consent?"

“Don’t you dare-“

“For the last time,” she snapped in an oddly cold voice that sent shivers down my spine. “Leave peacefully or I’ll send you home in coffins.”

She whirled around and opened the door but I stopped her once again.

"Things between us have just begun, mate. And I won't give up until I have my mark on your neck," I smirked as I said so.

"The only mark you’ll be seeing will be my fist through your heart." With that, she stormed out and slammed the door shut in my face.

"We'll see," I smirked at the closed door. The hunt is on Miss. Female Alpha.

"Oww!"

And I think I just realized that she had sprained my injured arm on top of the gunshot injury. But it was totally worth the try.