The infirmary sucked. Fortunately for me, not many days passed before I was released.

Xara came to tell me that I was free when I was about to die of boredom. Even in my uncle's mansion I had more things to do. It's not that I wasn't grateful to have left that horrible place but that didn't take away from the fact that I had gotten used to being constantly on the move. There was no such thing as rest for me and going from that to spending days lying in a bed was torture.

The blonde woman I had seen the day of the escape offered to show me my room. My new prison, at least until I was strong enough to start a new life on my own. Darla, that was her name, didn't say much along the way, I appreciated that, after all my desire to talk wasn't at its highest level that night.

We passed through several hallways after climbing the stairs. The place seemed like a maze, to the point that I was beginning to suspect that Darla wanted to confuse me to prevent me from breaking the rules. In a way I understood them, I was an intruder on their territory and they had to be careful.

At least they respected me enough to consider me a threat even in my shitty state. Though it was dumb to worry much about someone who could barely walk.

One hallway after another, all the same with black walls and small chandeliers. They only needed the creepy gargoyles to be a gothic mansion. Maybe the members of the rogues liked to look scary. In my opinion, they were trying too hard.

"This is your room," Darla said, pointing to the door. "The rest of the hallway is empty so no one should bother you. You have everything you need inside but if you are missing something you can let us know during the meals."

She opened the door and handed me the keys.

"Don't do anything crazy, we'll be watching you."

"Thanks," I said, faking a smile.

She frowned and turned to walk away. Well, apparently socializing wasn't her thing.

A gasp escaped from me when I stepped foot into the room. It was a huge jump from what I was used to, I went from having a single bed with almost no mattress and no windows, to a queen-sized bed and having giant windows that overlooked a beautiful garden.

I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. I was expecting them to give their almost prisoner the worst room they had, however, I had received a space worthy of the high ranks of a pack. The only thing that didn't surprise me was seeing more black, although at least it had some touches of red like the curtains and the padding.

After some exploring I discovered that it had a beautiful attached bathroom and that the large closet next to the bed was not empty. I don't know how they figured out my size but I had no complaints, it was a relief to have clean clothes to change into.

With my mind relaxed and body clean after taking a shower it was time to make some stupid plans.

Although they had made it clear to me that I could not move freely around the mansion, I had heard something during my time in the infirmary that made me decide to take the risk.

Xander, my uncle's beta, was captured by the rogues and they had him locked up in the dungeon. I would never have another opportunity as good as that one to force him to tell me what my family's plans for me were.

Plus there was something my uncle took from me that I wanted to get back.

Before he died, my father gave me the last memory he had of my mother: a necklace that was passed down from generation to generation and was made of moonstone. According to the beliefs of my pack, that necklace had the ability to increase the power of the wolf who wore it.

After killing my father, my uncle stole the jewel from me and hid it in a place I could never find, but Xander might have known where it was.

I just had to take a risk to find out.

Leaving my room wasn't difficult, just as Dalia had said there was no one in the hallway. The complicated part would be finding the dungeon and getting there.

Somehow I managed to get to the stairs without walking in circles. The good side to escaping at night was that there were almost no members outside their rooms and the few that were outside weren't that hard to avoid. Having a weak connection with my wolf wasn't so bad at times like those, it helped me make my scent almost imperceptible. It was perfect to avoid the guards.

Following my common sense, I went down to the bottom floor, there, the walls were made of stones and there were no windows, which added to the fact that it only had a few fluorescent tubes on the roof, meant that the hallways were almost buried in darkness.

I didn't have to walk far to find the cells. Most of them were empty and the few prisoners present were completely silent, some of them even kept their mouths covered with their hands.

"So you ran away with them," Xander's voice reached me.

"I did what I had to survive," I replied, approaching the bars of his cells.

The stoic and strong beta I knew was gone, in his place was a broken wolf. His once perfectly tanned skin had cuts and burns, his brown hair had been cut, and while his blue eye was still intact his brown eye was swollen.

He laughed, "don't think being here is better than where you come from."

"Everything is better than that place." I crossed my arms. "Well, I don't think it's any better for you. I see you're not doing very well."

"What do you want?" Xander asked me, limping until he was in front of me. "I know you're not here to say hello, nor to make fun of me. To be honest, I'm surprised you dared to come down to the dungeon."

"I want to know what my uncle's plans are. I know he wants to expand his power and that's why he's trying to arrange my marriage but it doesn't make sense for him to wait so long to get me engaged, I bet he could have found many alphas in a single day."

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you anything? I don't see that you have the keys to my cell."

"I thought maybe in the last moments of your disgusting life you would have some compassion."

He smirked. "I do not know what that is."

"I'm not really surprised considering you betrayed the man who took you off the street. At least you can do something for him now," I said, referring to what my father did for him when he was about to die in the street when he was only a child.

If he still had an apex of conscience in his rotten heart, my words would be like a dagger to him. Although after so much time I doubted that.

If I could, I would have made sure that he stopped breathing, he could take the blame to the grave because he was never going to find forgiveness from me.

Xander was quiet for a moment. His smile turned into a frown and that's when I knew I had already won.

"I'm only going to answer one question, so I recommend that you choose carefully," he agreed.

His condition complicated my plans, having to choose between the two questions that were running through my mind was not easy. In the end, I decided to give in to my sentimental side.

"Where is my mother's necklace?"

"I see you changed your mind. Callius has a safe in his office, it opens with a key that he always has on him. I hope you are not planning to return to the mansion just to take an old necklace. It is almost impossible for you to get in without being seen, get the key, and steal the necklace. You must be stupider than I thought."

"Whatever I plan to do is none of your business, you have other problems to be busy with."

Xander opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

Inside me, my wolf began to jump with excitement. That kind of reaction meant that Zaziel was close.

I was doomed.

Despite the fear, I signaled to Xander to be quiet and ran towards a cell with the door open. Being careful not to make noise, I hid under the small bed.

The footsteps grew louder and blended into the tune Zaziel was whistling.

Suddenly all the sound stopped and I thought I was finally safe until I heard his voice.

"I know you're here, little mouse, don't forget that I can smell your scent," he sang as if he was amused by the situation. "Why don't you go out so we can play together?"

Fuck him. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of joining his game. If he wanted to see me as his prey then he would have to find me himself.

With my back against the wall, I curled up as much as I could. Maybe even if he found me it would be difficult for him to get me out from under the bed.

Who was I trying to fool? Zaziel was a dangerous beast, he would have no problems with a weak wolf like me.

But at least I could say I put up a fight.

"Ready or not, here I come," he said.

My breathing stopped, my body was shaking and my heart was about to jump out of my body.

Any misstep could be my last moment. Murdered by my mate, that sounded like news worthy of the most important media. At least I could be famous, or kind of.

The footsteps reached the cell. I could already see his feet slowly approaching the bed, he seemed to be doing it on purpose to play with me.

He won't be able to move me. I told myself to calm my nerves.

I was so delusional.

In two seconds Zaziel lifted the bed like it weighed nothing and threw it against the wall. The thunderous sound made me flinch and let out a surprised scream.

"There you are," he said, smiling. "You can't hide your scent from me, my little pup."

There was no point in continuing to escape, I was at his mercy, and with a little luck I could convince him not to hurt me.

"Get up," he ordered me.

I obeyed him without saying anything. I didn't think anyone would have been able to rebel against Zaziel, he had an overwhelming presence capable of breaking down the strongest.

"Good pup, I like it when you do what I say, isn't it easier this way for the two of us?" He approached me, cornering me against the wall, and wrapped his hand around my neck without putting too much pressure. "What are you doing here? Didn't I make the rules clear?"

"I just wanted to ask Xander a few questions," I confessed.

"I imagine you're not thinking about betraying me, why would you want to help those who hurt you?"

"No." I tried to shake my head but Zaziel's grip stopped me. "I wanted to know where my uncle hid what he stole from me."

He leaned over me, his head next to mine. I could feel his breath against my cheek and his warmth spread to me.

I hated him, I hated his captivating scent that made me want to melt into his warmth. Zaziel was like a magnet that attracted me to him with a force that I was not able to counteract.

"I'll believe you for now," Zaziel whispered in my ear. "But I can't leave you without punishment for breaking the rules. You see, if the others find out and I don't punish you, I could end up looking like a weak leader, you wouldn't want that for me, would you, little mouse?"

"What kind of punishment?" I asked, scared of what he might have in mind.

Zaziel caressed my cheek with his free hand. "Don't worry, I know you can handle it."

I swallowed. My mind was confused. Part of me wanted to escape the dangerous alpha and the other, led by my wolf, wanted to submit to what Zaziel proposed.

The reality was that I didn't have much choice, if I decided to go against him it was likely that everything would be worse for me. So I nodded.

"I'm glad to see we're on the same page." He let go of my neck and moved the hand he had on my cheek towards my chin to lift my face. "You're going to stay here all night, if you're a good girl for me and behave I'm going to let you out tomorrow. Take it as a warning for now. Next time I won't be so soft."

Zaziel brought his face closer to mine, our lips were almost touching. I had to fight my instinct not to close the distance between us.

"See you tomorrow, little mouse. Don't forget to be good for me," he said and placed a kiss along the edge of my mouth.

I stayed frozen until he left the cell, then my body gave up and I sat down on the floor. It was going to be a long night.