Rebel woke up to the smell of breakfast. She practically jolted upward as she inhaled a deep waft of the aroma-filled air.

The smell of eggs, pancakes, syrup, a mixed berry concoction, sausage, and Gods—bacon filled her nose. Her stomach rumbled in response. Needless to say, it had been a damn long time since she had smelled a meal that delicious.

She practically tore off her blanket and jumped out of bed, sliding on the tan, fuzzy slippers left by her bedside. Rebel didn't know who had left them for her, but that didn't matter much. Right now, she was solely operating on the fact she was hungry and couldn't wait to find the source of the delicious smells and get the food into her belly as soon as possible.

She walked over to the en suite bathroom. Brightness filled the room as the lights clicked on. She looked over at herself in the vanity mirror, rubbing her eyes before getting a second look at her reflection.

Hallowed cheekbones, eye bags, pale skin, and visible collarbones. She raised a hand, puckered her lips, and gazed at her waist. She had never been this thin, either. Life in Sangrea's prison had done a number on her appearance. And her fighting in the Pits of Tartarus. Her consciousness reminded her that her mental health had been just as impacted.

Usually, she and her opponents traded nothing more than blows. Those were easy to get through, routinely if anything, and the outcome of her victory could be expected. Yet, she was sure she would never forget Emmett's vacant, eerie eyes as his life left him. Yet another she had taken.

Just like all the others. . .

She sighed. For most of her life, death had lingered around her like a dark, faceless stalker. It constantly loomed in the corner of any room she walked in, not making its presence known at first. It watched her for a while before events began to unfold, and it was clear she had to make a choice. Fight, or it would be her in the coffin next. And even when it came to those she loved, she was too young, too powerless to do anything to save them at the time.

She mumbled a silent apology to her parents, aunt, and uncle. And she pushed away the uncomfortable thoughts. Brewing in her misery would do her no good. She needed to refocus.

If not for herself, then for them.

A shower was a good place to start. It had been ages since Rebel had showered with proper bath products and washed her hair under hot water. Then, changing into clothes and having breakfast. Maybe, even a workout later in the day. That is if she found any time for it.

Who knew what the Alpha, Silas, would want her to do? His face sprang up in her mind. He was handsome. More handsome than most men she had spent her time with, even the casual hookups she had, but their worldviews didn't match up with one another.

For a moment, she remembered that he had attacked her.

She gave him no choice, to be fair. After all, she was the one who took off on him.

Although, was injecting her with a sedative necessary? Or tying her wrists? That was to be debated.

Whatever, she'd let it slide.

As long as he stayed out of her hair, she'd stay out of his. It was settled.

All she could hope for was to get through this first day of this new chapter of life without too many mishaps.

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽

When she walked out of her shower, a note was waiting near the bottom of the doors to her room. It was an invitation from Silas for breakfast.

I heard you woke up. Meet me in the dining room (take the stairs to the level below) once you're done getting ready. There are some things I'd like to discuss with you.

- Silas

Rebel arched a brow at the note as she dried the ends of her hair with a towel. Was she reading this right? He wanted to have breakfast with her to talk. After another moment and reading through the note again, she huffed out a breath and set the paper aside on her bedside table. It seemed a bit soon for a sit-down conversation, but she figured not to question it. This would be her new path forward.

After drying her hair, she rummaged through the closet and picked out a simple off-the-shoulder black top and light grey sweats. The sweats were a little big for her, but she made sure to tie them, so they wouldn't slide down.

She wondered who this room belonged to before, the closet was full of women's clothing, so it was reasonable to assume another woman, but. . .what happened to her?

She pushed the thought aside. Maybe Silas would tell her during their breakfast conversation. She exited the room and walked down the stairs to find Silas sitting alone at a wooden table. Platters filled with breakfast foods surrounded him, so he waited for her to eat.

His light brown eyes caught sight of her. "Rebel," he greeted with a curt nod, "please take a seat."

She took a moment to consider her seating options. The table could accommodate up to eight people, but this was for the two of them, at least for now. The platters were within his arm's reach. It would be silly to sit on the opposite end and for what, just to keep her distance from him to prove a point?

 No, that'd be silly, so hesitantly, she settled to sit to his right.

"How's your morning been?" She took charge of the conversation and undid the napkin beside her, setting her utensils on her plate before throwing the open sheet on her lap.

"It's been well, thank you for asking." He mirrored her actions. "How's yours been? Did you find the room to your liking? I hope it was."

"The bed was cozy and I enjoyed the shower this morning. I still have to explore it a bit more in the future."

"You'll have time," he said with a ghost of a smile before taking a sip of coffee. "I'm glad you're awake, the doctors said it might take another day given your medical work." A pensive look took over his face, "your blood sugar was low."

The statement caught Rebel off-guard, but she schooled her features into neutrality with the news. "Really? Must be because I didn't eat the morning we met with King Salvatore."

He considered her response carefully, lips pursed ever so slightly as the space between his brows creased. "Huh, well, you're free to eat as much as you like now." The corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly to form a polite smile. "Please, serve yourself," he referred to the platters. "And would you like coffee or orange juice? We also have tea if you'd prefer that."

"Coffee, please." She served herself some toast and slapped on some strawberry jam on the piece of bread before taking a bite.

"Mm, wonderful." She beamed at him.

One of the lessons that Rahim drilled in her was that by expressing gratitude towards people, especially those who have newly entered your life, they would appreciate it and it would get you far. It wasn't advice she put into much practice at the prison, given everything, but maybe here was time to engage the sentiment.

Silas's smile widen, the dimples on both sides of his cheeks making an appearance. It was cute. He could be cute, and handsome, but then she reminded herself that their worldviews didn't align. 

Ugh, even the most seemingly perfect men always had some problem. 

He poured herself the cup of coffee she requested and placed it near her plate before pushing over to her the small rectangular container of creamers, sugars, and sweeteners. 

After that, he served himself some scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and toast, watching with interest as she prepared her drink.

A splash of half-and-half and two packets of vanilla sweetener.

Rebel caught Silas's gaze from the corner of her eyes, and broke the silence. "It's pretty simple, but undeniably delicious." Some vanilla remained on her thumb and she absentmindedly sucked off the remnants before serving her plate. "How do you like your coffee?" She asked to keep the conversation going.

"With a splash of half-and-half too, but I like to sprinkle some cinnamon in it. It's how my mom prepared hers and how I drank my hot cocoa as a boy." His smile died down and Rebel swore she recognize a flash of pain go through his golden eyes to which she noted for later use. "Old habits die hard, am I, right?" he muttered trying to salvage the conversation.

"I suppose so." 

She didn't know what to say in response, but wanted to get to know him better. Not on a friendly level, she was reluctant about that, but as a person. It was always good to know about who you had to be around on a daily basis.

"Tell me a bit about your mom. She seems a nice lady if she used to make you hot cocoa." She lifted the coffee cup to her lips, eyes not failing to break from his. 

"Me and my little sister," he clarified. "When we were younger, during the holidays, it was tradition for us to drink hot cocoa every night after dinner as a dessert of sorts. We know we didn't have much, but we had each other, and the small treats she gifted us here and there through our day-to-day lives made us feel special."

"Aw, that's very sweet. Do you still celebrate the holidays with her?"

"My mother is no longer here. She passed years ago."

Things had shifted to awkwardness again. "I'm sorry for asking."

Silas shook his head, seemingly in an attempt to dismiss her worries. "You didn't mean any harm. Besides, talking about her keeps her memory alive." 

He seemed like a natural optimist, tending to prefer to look at the brighter side of things, or at least that's what it appeared to be. 

After a few moments of quiet in which the two ate, he asked another question, "Do you have any siblings?"

"No, it was just me." She took a bite of bacon and nearly moaned at how amazing it tasted. "But before I lived with Rahim, I lived with my aunt and uncle in the Elmhurst Woods, actually."

"Oh, Elmhurst's Woods?" At this, Silas's eyebrows lifted. "Hellsgate is not quite in Elmhurst Woods, because of how the territory verges off on maps and land ownership claims. His dimples appeared again as explained, and Rebel could tell that some sense of pride came from talking about Hellsgate. The haven he crafted for his pack and a few other supernaturals.

"But we're so close that I'm sure sometime in the future we can pay a visit to them."

His eyes looked intently in Rebel's, and she swore, in that instant, they look like golden honey. She had never seen anyone else with those kinds of eyes, so much warmth, so much love and sincerity to offer but under the surface she got the sense he had seen great loss too and she couldn't help but wonder why.

Did it have anything to do with the woman who had her room before? She didn't have a clue, and asking at the breakfast table would be impolite, but she could assume so.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized, glancing downward as his brow creased. 

Hmm. So he took her silence as something he said wrong. Interesting. 

"Sorry for what?"

"For overstepping, that was presumptive and brash of me to suggest to pay a visit to them. I don't know how your relationship was with them. I'm sorry." 

"Oh no, no," Rebel recovered. "It's a lovely thought, but I'm don't think that'll be possible for a while." She gave him a soft smile, and without thought, she reached over to brush his hand with hers.

It was a simple, comforting gesture, but something to sell it. To sell that she saw him as an honest man and could begin build some sense of trust with him. 

Her aunt and uncle were dead, but Silas didn't need to know that. She'd simply let his assumptions of her speak on their own. 

For now, she'd only reveal the essentials. The memory of Selene and Henrik were private. Things he could use as potential ammo to make her react emotionally. Vulnerabilities she would not expose if she had the choice. 

But despite her intent, when their eyes locked again, Rebel felt the slightest bit breathless.

Before the moment was disrupted by someone urgently knocking at the door and broke their attention away from each other. Rebel retracted her hand.

"Silas?" The voice—a female voice—called from outside the door. "Are you almost finished with your meeting with her? I can't wait to show her around. I'll give her a whole tour of the grounds and even a bit of the woods and I baked some cinnamon buns just to welcome her!" The girl on the other side of the doors spoke exuberantly.

"Oh Azura," the Alpha blew out a breath, glancing at Rebel with an apologetic, soft smile. "She's really excited to meet you, as you can see," he mouthed.

Oh, she could tell.

"We're nearly done," Silas called over. "I'll have someone fetch you in five minutes and then you can give her a tour. I don't know if she'll be able to eat the cinnamon buns though, as we're having breakfast at the moment."

"Oh darn," the voice replied, with the slightest tinge of disappointment. "They'll probably be cold after the tour, but maybe I can give them to her then!"

"Maybe."

And then another voice joined the female voice from outside, though this one more noticeably discreet. Or at least trying to be.

"Az," the male voice whisper hissed. "You're not suppose to be here right now. Not until Silas gave us the go ahead through text, remember? You're probably scaring the poor girl away."

"No, you knucklehead, I'm being welcoming!"

"No, you're acting like a crazy puppy and disrespecting Silas's wishes."

You could tell Azura quieted like whoever was speaking to her caught her disobeying the Alpha's wishes, and that embarrassed her a bit. "It doesn't seem like he minded much and it's about time I'm not the only woman in the Inner Circle. You don't know how tiring it is dealing with a brood of brutes for decades. Then again, he said to come back later. ." Azura's voice trailed off.

There was a bit of silence before the exchange went back, and this time, the male didn't even try to quiet his voice.

"Kaine, why are you here? Don't you have somewhere to fly?"

"That's none of your business."

"Ouch, you turd! You're gonna pay!"

When Rebel turned to look at Silas, he held his face in his hands. Then, with a flick of a wrist at the door, the voices went silent.

Wait. How'd he do that? 

"Azura and Kaine have the tendency to fight like brother and sister, but they love each other like siblings too," he explained, golden eyes sliding over to her. "I'm sorry about them, but was there anything else you wanted to say?"

"Uh, no. I don't think so."

Like she said, Silas didn't have to know that she lost Selene and Henrik, that her aunt and uncle were slain when she was young. She'd have her secrets, and maybe, she'd share them with him in the future, until then her childhood memories were something Rebel would hold close to her heart.

She ate the last bits of food on her plate. Silas, already done, waited for her.

"I want to say thank you for eating with me. And I'm sorry how we started yesterday," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "That is no way you should be treated, but I do hope I can show you I'm a good work partner who is respectful and loyal."

"That's very kind of you, Silas."

He nodded his chin in understanding, wanting to make clear he meant every single one of his words. "And as long as you are in my home, you'll be treated as an equal. Also, if you ever have any requests of me, please ask me. I'm here to listen to you."

"Of course." She smiled. "Thank you for breakfast."

He got to his feet but gave a gentle smile in return. "Wait, here. I have somethings to do for the pack, but I'll get Azura, and she'll give you a tour of the property." He walked to the door, and she thought he would've gone, but then his head poked in again and said, "I'll see you soon."

For now, it seemed like they had some kind of truce. Would it hold up? That was for time to test  

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽

this is more of a filler chapter, but it sets things in motion for the Hellsgate pack and whatnot.

you guys are gonna love the rest of the wolves (and everyone's favorite honorary Hellsgate member, kaine, too)

stay safe and lovely angels <33