I lay awake the next morning, hearing him move around the house. He walked quietly but I could hear the creaks as he opened doors, and the pouring water as he took a shower.

I wasn't an early riser, but having slept nearly all of yesterday, I couldn't sleep much more. Unable to cry anymore yesterday I had just stared up at the ceiling, drifting off to sleep without even realizing it. Woken up only when the Alpha came in three more times to force me to eat.

He would bring a tray with two different meals, and sit at the edge of my bed, watching me intently as I forced myself to eat a little bit of one. When I would push away the tray he would look disappointed in how little I had eaten, but say nothing. He would simply take the tray and leave, leaving me to stare up at the ceiling.

I had slept so much during the day that at night I had been able to sleep only for a few short hours. I had no measure of the time, but it was only beginning to be light out when I had woken.

I wondered how my family was doing, hoping they weren't too worried. Alpha Russel surely would have spoken to them, and would have left out the details. My family knew me though, they knew I wouldn't have simply just gone along with some Alpha without putting up a fight.

I wished again that I had my phone. Maybe I could ask the Alpha to let me call home. The thought of having to talk to him was daunting.

All day yesterday after breakfast I hadn't spoken a single word. He didn't try to start any conversations, only ordered me to eat or drink.

Surely he couldn't refuse if I were to ask to talk to my family. He would hear everything I said, I wouldn't even ask about Ethan.

My door was pushed open and I pushed myself up on the bed to sit leaned against the headboard. Feeling uncomfortable showing any sort of vulnerability to him.

"Morning mate." He said as he came in. Already holding a tray, probably having realized it was futile to ask me what I wanted given I never responded.

He walked in to the room, setting the tray on my lap and sitting down on the edge of the bed. There was no coffee today, not that I would have touched it had there been. Instead there were glasses filled with water, juice and milk.

He had brought an omelet today containing veggies and covered in grated, melting cheese along with a bowl of porridge like yesterday. A bowl of berries sat next to it, and two slices of buttered toast.

For some reason although he had already brought me up 4 meals and watched close enough that I had no doubt he knew very well I wouldn't eat this much, he kept bringing up enough food for two. He himself never ate, just watched me eat.

"I want you to eat more today. I allowed you to starve yourself yesterday, but no longer." He said.

I picked up the glass of milk, taking a few sips of that before picking up a spoon to eat the porridge again.

"You don't like eggs." He stated simply. I glanced up at him as I brought the spoon up to my mouth but silently looked away as I met his eye.

I wondered how I would ever bring myself to ask to call home when I felt like I was hyperventilating every time he came into the room. Not only was he intimidatingly large, but he had also proved himself to be capable of terrible things and seemed to have only bad intentions towards me.

I hated the way he watched me, making no effort to hide the hunger in his eyes. No one else had ever looked at me that way, with a kind of ravenous want that made me want to hide away.

Ethan was kind and sweet, as had been the way he had looked at me. Even when we kissed his gaze remained loving, pure even in comparison to that of the Alpha.

The Alpha looked at me as though he wanted to consume me whole, tear through everything I was and make the pieces his own. It was terrifying to see that type of a fierce want in someone's eyes when all you wanted was to get as far as you possibly could from them.

I ate spoonfuls of the porridge silently, keeping my eyes focused on the tray. Trying to work up the courage to open my mouth and speak to him. My mind unhelpfully flashing images of the way he had reacted to catching me trying to use his phone just a night ago.

Having eaten half of the large bowl, I ate a few berries before pushing away the tray. I could feel him staring at me silently, and had to grip the blanket draped over my lower half to keep my hands from trembling. I had truly eaten as much as I could force down, and had finished more today than I had of any of the meals he had brought up yesterday.

"Finish the milk." He ordered, picking up the glass from the tray and handing it to me. I shakily reached out to take it from him, careful not to let our fingers touch and drained it quickly. My heart beginning to pound as I realized he would leave now, so I would have to ask now or angst over doing it for the next few hours until he brought lunch.

He took the glass from me, giving me a curious look as he picked the tray up, getting off the bed. My heartrate sped up until it was thudding against my ribcage painfully.

"I-Can I call home?" I asked finally as he turned to leave. Resisting the urge to childishly dive under the covers as he turned back to look at me.

Setting the tray on the edge of the bed, he came to sit next to me, much closer than I would have liked. I bit harshly into my bottom lip, fighting to keep still even as my body tensed up. He grew angry every time I moved away from him, the thought of getting the chance to speak to my family forced me to brave his proximity.

"Why do you want to call?" He asked seeming to have attempted to soften his gruff, deep voice. He was sitting so close that I could feel the heat his body was emanating against my side.

"I just want to tell them I'm okay, they're probably worried." I answered, voice cracking even as I tried to keep it steady. I stared down at my hands that rested in my lap as I spoke.

My breath hitched as his warm large fingers came to rest under my chin, gently lifting my face. Unable to stop myself, I pulled my face from his grasp, keeping my gaze level at his collarbone, afraid to see the reaction to my actions.

"You're not okay though mate." He said, making me frown up at him.

"You're not eating. You reek of sadness, and you've cried nearly the entire time you've been here. You haven't spoken a word since breakfast yesterday, and haven't moved from this bed in hours."

I could feel the anger building up in me at his words, for once wanting to scream at him. To scream that it was all his fault, everything that was wrong with me, wrong with my life was his damn fault so how dare he bring up that I wasn't okay when he was the reason for me not being.

"Because of you." I bit out.

A slow smile spread on his face at the words. There was nothing happy about it, it seemed as hurt as it was mocking.

"Is that what you want, do you want to complain to your family about me? Tell them how terrible I am for taking my mate, mine, to come live with me?" His words were as mocking as his smile.

"I'm not yours." I said.

His eyes hardened at my words, eyes flashing red making my heart stutter in my chest as I backed away from him. Scooting over to the other side of the bed, I whimpered as he followed me, prowling over on his knees and seeming to tower over me.

Jumping up off the bed I tried to make a break for the door, wanting to be as far from the rage in his eyes as I could. I was caught before I even got close, pinned up to the wall next to the bed by my wrists. Each of my wrists feeling so feeble in his large hands.

I inched as far back as I could into the wall as he leaned forwards, pushing his face into the crook of my neck. Lips pressing against the very base of my throat, wrapping around the skin and tugging on it making me gasp.

"No, please." I begged, eyes filling with tears as he moved in closer, eliminating the little space between us. My chest was crushed painfully against his as he moved in to fit into each curve of my body. Ignoring my words as he began to suck a bruise into my skin. I could feel his fangs drop against the skin of my throat but he didn't bite. The very threat they posed made it feel impossible to get any air into my lungs.

"Do you have any idea what your scent does to me?" He asked, punctuating his words by grinding the hard evidence of his arousal into my stomach. I screamed loudly in fear, the sound ripping from my chest and through my throat painfully.

The sound seemed to have knocked him out of whatever trance he had been in and he backed away enough to get a look at my face. Eyes melting back to their whisky brown as he saw the tears pouring out of my eyes, the way I panted for breath between every sob.

"No, don't cry my sweet little mate." He said, hushing me as he released my wrists in favor of wrapping his arms around me and crushing me to his chest.

I struggled against his hold, fighting to get out of his arms. Clawing at him when my strength proved to be no match for his, tearing his shirt as my nails caught in it.

"Quiet little one. I'm sorry, I won't do anything." He promised into my hair before releasing me. I ran from him back to the bed, pulling the blanket up to just under my chin. My body shaking violently as I sobbed uncontrollably.

"Okay, okay, you can call your parents sweetness, just calm down for me." He said, holding his hands up in surrender, thankfully not making a move to come any closer. I gasped for breath as I tried to force myself to calm down. Wanting to be away from him as much as I wanted to speak to my mom right now. What I wouldn't give to be able to hide in her arms, away from this terrible brute of an Alpha.

He slumped down against the wall, sinking down until he was sitting with his knees bent loosely, arms balanced on them. I kept an eye on him as I forced myself to breath. Counting to four in my head as I inhaled, and doing the same as I exhaled.

My chest ached terribly, but I fought through it. Continuing to breathe deeply until I no longer felt light headed. I wiped my cheeks with my hands, feeling them wet with tears and wanting to cry all over again just thinking about how I had never cried like this in my entire life. Never ever cried this much.

"Ready?" He asked, getting up onto his feet and I nodded.

"I'll get my cell phone." He said, giving me another worried glance as he left the room.

I put my face in my hands, forcing myself to stay calm and fight down the well of misery that was building up inside my chest. I had the rest of the day to cry over what had happened, I couldn't afford to waste an opportunity to talk to my family. Not when he had showed such obvious reluctance to let me speak to them when I had first asked.

He walked back in to the room, coming to stand on the other side of the bed, and reached his arm out to hand me the phone. He pulled it out of my reach just as I was about to grab it making me glance up at him.

"Don't ask about him." He warned and I bit the inside of my cheek but nodded.

"One more thing." He said making me want to yell in frustration as he still held the phone close to his side.

"Tell me your name." He ordered making me frown at him in bewilderment. How could he possibly not know my name? Surely he could have easily asked Alpha Russel for it.

"I wanted to hear it from you for the first time." He explained, seeing my expression.

"Athena." I answered, voice strangely thick, the sound making it obvious that I had just cried.

"Athena." He repeated reverently to himself. Making the name sound as though it was that of a god's he worshipped devoutly in the way he said it.

He held the phone out to me again and I carefully pulled it out of his hand. Unlocking it and pulling up the keypad so I could dial the number.

I could see from the corner of my eye that he had sat down on the corner of the bed but ignored him. I didn't want to have to speak even another word to him to ask him to leave, but was angry that he didn't even have the decency to give me the illusion of privacy.

I raised the phone shakily to my ear, biting into my lip as I waited with baited breath hearing the phone ringing. My breath hitched as the ringing stopped midway as someone picked up the call.

"Hello." A quiet melodic voice asked and I let out a big breath of air in relief.

"Nora, baby it's me." I cried into the phone, closing my eyes tightly as I heard her gasp.

"Theenie is it really you?" She asked shakily, my heart aching as I heard her voice crack.

"It's me, it's me Norie." I assured her. She called for my mom, yelling that it was me on the phone.

"Are you okay?" She asked in a small voice.

"Athena?" My mom's voice asked suddenly, having probably taken the phone from Nora.

"Momma." I said, eyes filling up with tears at the sound of her voice.

"It's me momma." I said into the phone.

"My baby, are you okay? Where has he taken you, tell us, we'll come get you." My mom said desperately. I glanced at the Alpha to see him glaring at the phone, eyes glowing red.

"No mom you can't. I'm fine, I just called to tell you I'm fine." I lied, wanting nothing more than for them to come take me away from this red-eyed monster, but knowing I couldn't say that or they would come here and get ripped to shreds by the insane werewolf who had claimed me as his.

"You're lying Athena, has that bastard hurt you? Tell me honestly."

I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep her from hearing me sob. I bit into my bottom lip roughly as I fought to contain myself, having wanted nothing more in the past two days than to cry to her about all that had happened to me and now that I was talking to her I couldn't say a single word.

"No, really mom, I'm fine. I promise." I said, feeling lucky that my voice didn't crack.

"He broke Ethan's nose, Athena, and he-" The phone was ripped out of my hand before she could finish what she was saying. My eyes widened and I dove after it, nearly on top of the Alpha as I tried to get it back.

"Please." I pleaded, so close to his face but not caring as I was able to hear my mom yelling for me through the phone. He hung up the phone making my stomach fall.

"No, no, call her back." I said frantically, reaching for the phone again but he held it out of my reach.

"You got the chance to tell them you're okay, that's what you wanted. I said no talking about Ethan, your family must learn to respect our bond before they can talk to you." The Alpha growled his eyes still a blazing red.

"I'll tell her not to talk about him, please look she's calling back." I said, seeing the screen light up with an incoming call from my house number.

"All your mother has done is assume terrible things about me, disrespect me and talk about that boy. You can't talk to her until she comes to her senses and stops being a terrible influence."

"My mom's not a terrible influence. She's just worried about me and doesn't need your dog-like hearing to tell that I'm lying." I spit out through gritted teeth.

"Your family does not understand the mating bond. I don't want them developing a negative view about our relationship and enforcing it on you. I'll have Alpha Russel talk with them, and once they've understood, we will go see them together."

"I don't want you going anywhere near them." I said, dreading to think about his short fuse near my family.

"They're your parents, that makes them part of my pack. Of course I will have to meet them eventually. Perhaps once you've come around to being my mate." He said. I blinked in bewilderment, wondering how he could sound so serious while saying that.

"Do you really think I'm ever going to come around to you?" I asked.

"You're my mate, Athena. Of course you will, no one can make you happier than I can. We're destined to be together." He said reaching for my hand. I yanked it away from him.

Was he truly so deluded as to think we were eventually going to be a happy couple? That I would just forget all he had done and fall for a violent man that had twice already sexually assaulted me? A man that seemed to have no regard for what I wanted?

The lurking fear of what had happened just minutes ago when I had told him I wasn't his forced me to keep my mouth shut and simply stare at him incredulously.

"I'll leave you be for now mate. Come out of the room if you like, this house is yours, walking around it will make you feel better." He said before getting up and leaving, taking the tray with him.