When she woke the next morning her eyes were sore from crying and her throat was dry. Her rumbling stomach also called for food but Simeon was nowhere to be seen. Sitting up in the makeshift bed she had slept on she looked around the tent to see if she could find anything to eat or drink.

The area was bare, the only thing that stood out was a small wooden crate that had been turned into a table that had knives and a few other weapons and placed on it. An unlit lamp dangled from one of the beams in the tent and a stack of clothes and blankets were shoved by the back wall.

In a corner by the opening flap of the tent a pile of all her bags lay in a heap, the familiarity of the bright red bags was a comfort to her after the long day she'd had. Sitting in front of her two bags she pulled out the small one and rummaged around until she found her stash of chocolate. Taking out a bar she stuffed a piece in her mouth and gulped down what was left of the water she had carried in her bottle as she thought back on yesterday.

Her response to Simeon irked her the most because the male had had no right to comfort her when he and his pack of wildings were the reason she had been distraught. Even now her body was still caked with her own blood that had begun to turn black as it dried along her skin. But Jana had let him, she had lay her head along his chest and let his heart lull her into sleep.

She assumed he had slept with her but the space where he should have lay was cold as if he had never been there. She was alone in the tent and there seemed to be no sign of life around her, but outside was a different story. From where she was seated she could hear the bustling of people talking and moving about. Children's laughter tinkled in the background as the sound of human body meeting flesh and the sound of clanging metal overpowered the sweet noise.

From the small gap in her tent she could see dark figures moving about outside, forms bending and pounding as the smell of warm food drifted through the flaps. The scent causing her belly to clench, the chocolate had done little to appease her. Chucking it back inside her bag, she opened the larger one to look for fresh clothes. She needed a shower but there was no way she was going to ask any of the wild ones lingering about, they would probably send her to the butcher house if they had one.

So instead she sat in silence, her eyes closed and legs crossed as she pondered on what to do, her skin tight and sore from abuse. Breathing in through her mouth and out through her nose she steadied her breathing. Taking in the sounds and smells of her new home. She was no wolf but she had figured out ways to enhance her other senses. Meditation helped balance her which made it easier for her to really push her body.

From her crossed legged perch she could smell the scent of the eggs, bread and was that blueberries being carried towards her tent. She could also smell the scent of the person who was coming. The scent blended in seamlessly with this tent but it was more earth ridden, it was nature kissed and sweat infested.

Her eyes shot open as the flap flickered and Simeon stepped through the make shift door. A tray of food in his hand alongside a tall glass of water. Making his way over to the DIY table he placed her food and drink down.

"Morning Pójdźka, I see you rise early" he greeted her with his heart stopping smile. Cheeks dimpling around his freshly groomed scruff, the beard now closer to his face.

"Apparently not early enough, I missed you this morning," her voice was soft with hesitation, unsure of how to act after the turmoil of yesterday. Was all forgiven? She couldn't be sure but Simeon seemed to think so and she had to commend his tenacity. He didn't even flinch at the way she looked at him, contempt dripping from her eyes even as she tried to control it.

It was nice that he had brought her food but there was a lot they needed to discuss before she greeted him with sweet smiles. He knew that.

"Ahh yes, I wake early to do the rounds and train with the troops," his voice tinged with nervousness as he ran his hand through his loose locks but his face gave nothing away.

Her head tilted to the side as she took in the vision he made. The rising sun glistened on his skin giving him an ethereal look, his large body was straight as he sat on his makeshift stool as if it were his throne and he a God.

Rising to her feet from her meditative position she cautiously made her way towards him, his body stiffening with each step. Standing above the table she looked down upon him before taking her seat opposite him. The quick nod of his head was the go ahead she needed before she began shovelling food into her mouth.

There was no holding back, just pure animalistic hunger as she chewed the bread and simultaneously scooped a handful of blueberries. The tart taste wetting her palette before she gulped down some cold water and continued eating, her eyes focussed on the morsel in front of her but she could still feel the way he watched her. The feeling was like a hundred butterflies fluttering their beautiful wings across her skin. Gentle but strong, it was not something she could miss or overlook, her skin tingled under his gaze.

"I know we started off on the wrong foot but I want to clear the air and apologise," his voice was like thunder, deep and strong, full of conviction with the reverberating sound. When her eyes remained on her food as if it were more interesting he continued speaking, trying to get her attention and her acceptance, "I also want to apologise for the packs behaviour, it was uncalled for."

"Pack? Troops? Is that what you call them?" she scoffed, her voice dry with sarcasm as she looked down her nose at his pack of feral wolves. They were no pack, sure there was some sort of hierarchy but wolves followed hierarchy with or without pack affiliation. They were animals that lived on domination and respect, their human counterparts were no better.

"Officially that is not what we are referred to but amongst us, yes we are a pack with troops" his gaze unflinching under her inquisition.

He had many people look down on his pack and he was not surprised that his mate would be one of them, she had witnessed the worst of them. It was no fault of their own but nevertheless, it did not make his mating with Jana easy. She clearly hated everything about his pack, from their attitude, their savageness down to the camp they lived in.

This was nothing like the compound she had been raised. There were no luxuries here and these wolves were not domesticated. Finding her a knife and fork to eat with had been one of the hardest things he had done in a while.

"Interesting" she murmured, her eyes blurring over in thought and her fork stopping by her mouth as she thought on his words. He could see the gears in her head turning as she took in each tiny piece of information he had given her, pondering everything he had mentioned about his pack from the moment they had met. She was reaching some conclusion and he knew it would only be negative.

"Eat first and then we will discuss the pack," at his words she quickly scooped up a few forkfuls of food into her mouth before she pushed her plate to the side. The metal clanging onto the table as she sat up in her chair, arms folded and legs crossed in wait for his explanations.

Heaving a deep sigh "I guess now is as good a time as any," he said reluctantly, Jana bobbed her head, "no time like the present" she agreed.

It was better he told her what this place was now so she could figure out if she was going to stay or leave, she was determined to see this through even if his pack was psychotic, it all just depended on what Simeon said to her now though.

An awkward silence filled the air between them as Jana waited for Simeon to begin explaining where the hell she was. His tongue clicked along his teeth as he thought of the right way to explain the situation to her, huffing out a frustrated breath when he realised there was only one way he could really make her understand the purpose of this dysfunctional pack.

"You know of the Resentiam, Tak?" Shivers skittered along her arms as she nodded her head slowly, any mention of the Resentiam was never positive. They were people who caused destruction in their wake, cruel humans who sought to be at the top of the food chain.

Every wolf, child and protected human knew of them from young, their name often left Khan's lips on a snarl or growl. His hatred for them was often clear in his voice but Simeon remained monotone even though his eyes exposed his true feelings of hatred. Their name was foreboding even though the abbreviated version only meant resistance, everyone knew what that resistance would bring, nothing but carnage.

"Good. Well, this pack is made up of rogues. Rogues who have lost mates, children and packs to these scum. This camp is one of many packs that have been created to avenge the lost bonds."

The existence of a pack like this was something Jana had never heard of before, something that they had not taught in school but Alphas had to know that such packs like this existed on their land.

"So this is a pack of rogues? And Alpha's just let you exist and move freely amongst their borders? Khan allows this" her voice incredulous.

Having rogues was not abnormal though it was extremely rare that a wolf would become a rogue. Only if a mate had been lost or if a wolf became older did they often choose a life of solitude, but these were ordinary rogues. Wolves who were young and physically fit. This was a pack of armed rogues with no allegiance to an Alpha living freely within the land, this was dangerous. She couldn't imagine any Alpha allowing this but they had to because a camp of this magnitude could not be concealed from the sentinel wolves.

"Allows this? No. He helps this, he funds us just like a hundred other Alpha's. Your father does more than most, he sends us intel and provides us with all that we need to survive in mother natures temple. Any medicine you name we have it, thanks to Khan."

Shock, all she felt was shock. For years she had been Khan's shadow, sitting in on meetings from young and strategizing over maps. She knew where his lands started and ended, all the secret tunnels within his region and all the weaknesses of is compound. There was hardly anything that Khan knew that she did not. Nothing but this and what a secret it was.

"How long has this been going on for?" she whispered, arms unfolding and head falling into her hands. There was too much information to take in but she needed to know more.

"Officially and to this level, about 2 or 3 years but many of these wolves have been hunting with me for over a century." His dark eyes as lifeless as his voice, the tone factual and lacking any warmth. Warmth that Jana needed at this moment, especially at the growing betrayal she felt by her father. What reason had he had to hide this information from her other than the fact that she was human and had begun fraternising with other humans in her late teen years. This was another betrayal served by her family, she could not take any more.

"Wow, okay okay," she murmerd her head rising as she bit pensively on the corner of her lip, brows creased in deep thought.

"I get it, but what I don't understand is why did your pack attack me and why did you let them" her face shuttering in anger as flashbacks of the night before flittered in her mind. The scratches were still raw and red, the blood crusted over and beginning to scab over.

"You were seen as a threat," his eyes holding no lies, there was nothing but deep sincerity in those orbs.

Jana burst into uncontrollable laughter, tears rolling down her eyes as she clutched her stomach, "Me? A threat, you have to be kidding me."

They thought she was a threat. Little puny Jana, who was ridiculously short to the giant men and women in this camp. She was sure their children were even taller than her that's how small she was. She was taller than Neema but Neema was five foot nothing so it wasn't that hard to be taller than her. At 5, 5 Jana was the average height of a human woman and the size of a wolf pup before they reached puberty and began going through the change. They really couldn't have found her threatening. There was just no way.

"When the only humans you encounter are out to kill you, you tend to attack first and ask questions later," he shrugged nonchalantly but she could see he was clearly annoyed by the rigid set of his jaw. Well that was his business, he had no reason to be annoyed at her reaction, not when they were the superior animals in the food chain. She was the prey not them.

"So, what, I'm the enemy because I'm human?" she understood that their lives had been shattered by these deranged and evil people, but could these wolves not see that humans were suffering too.

Just the other month a brand new high-rise that was built in the west was burnt to the ground, the building was filled with humans who had finally left the dank depths of those underground homes. Whole families had been burnt to ashes by their own kind, this was not a war about race anymore. How could it be when humans were suffering in the same way these wolves were by their own kin.

"Not the enemy but you are not pack," he shrugged imperturbably, this was the way of life and he saw no issue with it but Jana did.

Could these wolves not see that hatred was what caused these problems to start with. You could not fight fire with fire because in the end all that would be left behind would be cinders. This fight was about power, these wolves needed to accept that and to let go of their unwarranted prejudices and abhorrence. It would not get them anywhere.

"So what does that mean for me because I wont be attacked by these rogue wolves, Simeon" she spat the words out like they were a fowl taste in her mouth, her face scrunching up in distaste and her voice climbing.

"It is the way of the wild Jana, only the strong survive. I can't expect any different from them. Us wolves out here only know violence, blood, death. How can I demand more from them?"

There could be no compromise the strength behind his words ascertained that. Simeon was an Alpha and though he had remained soft spoken until now he would not take much more. He was wild and the wild had rules.

It was a truth that Khan had ingrained in each of his children from young, the way of the wild was based upon those three pillars and upon them survival came. The wild was no place for the weak and though she had only ever lived behind the safe walls of her compound, Khan had always been more wild than domesticated. He had taught them well, even her his little human daughter. She had learnt when to submit when to show dominance and when to run but being out here was different. Two thoughts were clashing in her mind, twisting and coiling until it became impossible to decide.

Submit or fight. There was only one option really but was it one she could live with?