Chapter 3

Thankfully, Derek rushed out and left me immediately after that.

 He didn’t have a choice. Alpha King Sylvester was the Alpha among Alphas. He was the ruthless beast that even the worst rogues where scared of.

Rumors say that he has never lost a battle, and he bathed in the blood of his enemies after a fight. If you were to be so unfortunate as to ever cross his bad side, then just say your last prayers because King Sylvester would not hesitate to track you down and skin you alive.

But that was only for his enemies, and luckily for us, we weren’t his enemy.

In fact, King Sylvester was sort of our friend with benefits. The rogue attack that killed my mother was still happening for years after that, so our former Alpha made a deal with Sylvester to protect us from the rogue attacks.

Alpha king Sylvester was to use his men to protect his border, and in exchange, we would give him a human tribute every other year. So every other year, Alpha Sylvester came to our pack and picked any woman he wanted for himself.

But the problem with that was that when the women went with him, they never ever returned, and no one ever heard from or saw them ever again.

There were many rumors as to what happened to those women, some thought that Alpha Sylvester locked the women up in his dungeons as sex slaves, some said he shared the women to his men, others said he just killed the women for fun.

But no matter which of the rumors were true, the conclusion was that you were doomed if you were ever to be chosen by Alpha Sylvester as tribute.

A few hours later, Derek returned to my prison looking calmer than before, he held a luggage bag in his hand.

“Happy birthday sweet heart.” He said as he hurled the bag at me and I recognized it immediately. It was mine. Everything I owned in my step father’s house was inside it.

“You touched my stuff?” I hissed at him and he rolled his eyes at me.

“Oh please, there was nothing valuable in there, only your raggedy clothes and the trash your dead mother left behind.”

I rushed forward and grabbed the bag, hugging it close to my chest. I didn’t care about any of the clothes, I only cared about the few things of my mother that she had left before her death.

Derek shot me a condescending smirk as he watched me hug the bag with tears in my eyes.

“Aren’t you going to thank me for my kindness? I brought the bag for you so that you can start getting used to the idea that this is your new home.” He announced like he expected me to reward him for his accomplishment.

 I chose to ignore it and focus on more important matters. “What about Alpha Sylvester? Isn’t he causing problems in the pack right now? You should be there dealing with him like a good Alpha.” I told him.

“Oh don’t worry about that my little pet. Alpha Sylvester isn’t here yet. It was just some of his men coming to inform us that he will be coming by in a few hours to pick up his tribute.”

My eyes widened at that. “But he’s one week ahead of schedule.”

“I know, it seems he’s eager to get his hands on a new plaything, whoever the unlucky girl might be.”

A sudden thought crossed my mind at his words. “What if he picks me as his tribute?” I asked and Derek’s eyes immediately darkened to a very dangerous color.

“That will never happen.” He growled.

“But what if he—-“

“I said that will never happen! Because he’ll never ever see you to begin with. While we are carrying out the selection process outside, you will be here, locked in your room, waiting for me, your rightful owner to claim you as mine.” He announced with pride.

“And besides, why would Alpha King Sylvester ever want a pathetic, useless little Omega like you? He only picks the best of the best women. Powerful women who are special and fit for a king.” He mocked and I glared at him.

“So what does that make you then? Since you chose to keep a pathetic, useless little Omega like me, doesn’t that mean you’re also pathetic and useless?” I hissed and Derek grabbed me by the hair and yanked painfully.

“Don’t test me Vera, do you think I’m dumb? Do you think I don’t know that you’re trying to provoke me to release you? Well news flash little girl, I will never ever let you go, and if you ever run away from me, I will track you to the end of the world and get you back. You belong to me and only me. Do you understand?!” He yelled and I had to bite back my response.

A plan was quickly forming in my head and I didn’t want to spoil it by provoking him too much. I nodded at him in fake submission and he finally let me go with a look of triumph on his face.

“Good girl. I have to go and prepare for the king’s arrival now, but when I return, you and I will have a real birthday celebration just for you. I’ll even show you the moves I made in bed that had Amanda screaming till her throat was sore.” He said with a wink and I gagged in disgust.

When he left, I finally breathed in a sigh of relief. I needed him to go so I could flesh out my one and only plan.... My plan of escape.

 My plan was to wait for the selection process to start. Everyone would be in the central square not far from here. All the single women would be lined up for King Sylvester and he would pick one unlucky soul who we would never ever see or hear about again.

Since it was such a huge event, everyone would be there, so no one would be here to stop me from escaping.

I knew that Derek would lock me in doors but that’s why I was so grateful that I had my luggage, because it contained pins and needles that I could use to pick the lock.

Now that I was alone, I finally started getting ready. By the time Derek would realize I was gone, I would be too far to be caught.

**

A few hours later, Alpha Sylvester arrived, and the selection process began. As expected, Derek locked me in the small dog cage, then he locked the doors.

After I was sure that the house was empty, I picked the lock of the cage open and slowly snuck downstairs.

The central square was at the front of the house so I decided to sneak out the back. My body started shaking with from the nerves, anxiety and adrenaline rush.

I was so close to freedom that I could almost taste it. All I needed to do was walk out the back door and run straight into the woods.

There was always the danger of being attacked by a rogue in the forest, but anything was better than staying here to be abused and humiliated by the one man I had given my everything to.

I twisted the back door open and to my joy, I saw that there was no soul on the road to stop me. I adjusted my bag tightly on my back and immediately took off running, making a beeline for the forest.

My heart was pounding but I pushed forward. I was close, so close. I was literally 5 more steps away from the forest when a tall dark figure suddenly appeared in the corner of my eyes.

With speed faster than I had ever seen in my entire life, the tall unfamiliar figure made a beeline straight for me.

“Oh goddess help me!” I begged as I tried very hard to enter the forest, but the tall, dark figure literally ran into me from the side.

He struck me with enough force to throw me on the ground so roughly that I knew I would have multiple injuries.

 From the my position on the floor, I glared up at the person who had dared to ruin the one opportunity of escape that I had.

The first thing I noticed was that this strange man was very tall and very muscular. It was really a miracle that I didn’t break a few bones from that collision.

Then I noticed his very sharp jawline, his beautifully carved face and his full dark hair.

And it was then that my eyes finally met his and I felt every single cell in my body light up with an excitement I had never ever felt in my entire life.

My eyes zoomed in on only him and the whole world fell away. I didn’t have anymore problems anymore. All I was interested in was the burning desire I had in me to touch him.

Suddenly, he opened his beautiful sumptuous mouth and his lips moved. “Mine!” He growled. “My mate.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. At first, I felt sweet desire slide down my spine at his words, but then my mind finally processed what he was saying and my eyes widened with horror.

I didn’t know this man, and I didn’t want a mate. If he was my mate and he made me stay here, Derek would easily kill him and take me back. And no matter what I had to do, I would never allow Derek take me back.

So with that thought In mind, I jumped up, shoved him away and burst out running into the forest.

“Wait!” I heard him call me but I didn’t stop. Nothing was going to keep me with Derek. Not even my fated mate