REWRITTEN 12/7/18

The trees were endless.

They were all Reyna saw when she looked out of her prison window. According to Beth who occasionally came to visit her, they were pine trees. Not that Reyna actually cared. 

The only thing she cared about at the moment was how she was going to escape. The odds of her pulling off a daring escape, unfortunately, seemed completely impossible. When she wasn't locked inside of her modern prison, the furthest she could go was to the kitchen and a small walk outside. However, after a few days, she had given up on the walk. The number of eyes, both seen and unseen crawled on her skin in an unfriendly manner, reminding her that she was nothing like them. Pack members' conversations dwindled to a stop whenever she walked by and she felt like a circus freak whenever she moved through the pack house. 

Elias had been wrong. The pack members would never accept her. As for him, Reyna rarely saw him. Whenever she asked Rodrick, the man would chuckle and point to the upstairs study, which was apparently off limits for everyone save for ranking pack members. The Alpha moved around her like a shadow. When she sat in a stool in the kitchen she could almost feel his burning gaze on her skin, yet when she turned around no one was there. She would hear his voice in the halls, but when she walked over, he was gone. It was a frustrating feeling, that was slowly building up as the days grew shorter.

On a bright November morning, Reyna decided she had had enough. She was invisible yet always in the spotlight. Elias claimed he needed her yet she never saw him. The strange bond between them was practically howling and finally, Reyna gave in. The same force that had carried her into the arena dragged her feet up a flight of stairs down the hall that led to Elias' study before tapering off. Anything she did now would be entirely of her own will.

As if she were approaching a dangerous beast, Reyna hesitantly stepped closer and closer to the door to his study. It was made of dark wood, with the words Alpha Blackwood engraved on it and in those moments, one of the most intimidating things she had ever seen. Still, it was early in the house and no one was clamoring over her disappearance from her prison. It was now or never.

Dragging in a deep breath for courage, Reyna's fist closed the distance between the door and knocked, the sound so quiet she could hardly hear it. However, Elias was a werewolf, and over the past few days, Reyna was learning the extent of their amazing abilities.

"Come in, Reyna." She gulped nervously and she slid the door open and faced her foe. Her heart was beating faster than a hummingbird as she saw his familiar rugged face and a part of her let out a sigh of contentment. Elias was dressed in a plain flannel button down, his casual attire doing nothing to hide his impressive physique. His study was simple yet sleek, exactly what she would've expected of him. Her wandering eyes around the room, however, were quickly distracted as Reyna became entranced with the swell of his arm as he set down his pen before she remembered why she had bothered breaking one of the biggest pack rules. 

"We need to talk," Reyna began before mentally facepalming herself. Those words made it sound like they were a couple going through a rough patch rather than a victim and her kidnapper negotiating. 

"So talk," Elias acquiesced, leaning back in his chair in obvious amusement. His amusement rather than anger irritated her, giving her the strength to carry on with their conversation. 

"Why am I even here? You obviously want nothing to do with me, so please just let me go." She sucked in a breath and crossed her arms, bracing herself for an angry Elias. 

"Let you go? I can't, my wolf and I need you in order to rule this pack. Alphas are always stronger with their mates, thus I need you." He said this as calmly as if they were talking about the weather. Reyna let out her breath in surprise. She spent a few seconds mulling over his words, getting angrier and angrier. She had been uprooted from her normal life and thrust into captivity all for... power?

"Why me?" she whispered to herself, forgetting he could hear her perfectly. 

"I had no choice in the matter. Frankly, I would prefer another werewolf, but for some reason, the moon saw fit to give me a weak human." Ouch. Reyna had to resist the urge to grab at her chest. 

"I need you and this pack needs you. It is as simple as that." He stood from his desk, once again reminding her of his huge frame as he stalked closer and closer. 

"But you... I...", she stammered out. Where was the possessive alpha from the hospital room? The man walking towards her with a satisfied gleam in his eye was completely different and Reyna once again realized, just how in the dark she was. Elias' body blocked out the sun from the window as he stood before Reyna. 

"Did you think I loved you and cared for you?" he chuckled as he saw the answer in her watery eyes. Each word felt like a knife digging deeper into her heart, the physical pain making her gasp. Slowly, ever so slowly, he bent down until they were eye level. 

"I have worked hard than anything to earn this pack and become the most powerful Alpha in this country. In order to maintain that, I need you. It is that simple. I'm sorry if I made it seem like some teenage fantasy. My wolf can get the best of me sometimes." he smirked. Silence hung in the air between them. His green eyes, once yearning were cruel and possessive as he leaned closer and closer to her face. As much as Elias wouldn't admit it, she could feel how much he craved her touch and her presence, just as the mating bond did to her. She knew what he wanted, what he was going to do. And for a moment she was tempted to let him. But letting him kiss her, that would validate everything he had said to her. A tear slid down her face, before being followed by another and another. She felt so small, so insignificant. Like she was nothing, like she didn't matter.

You should just let him kiss you, a part of her whispered. After all, she had already lost the game before it had started. Every atom of her being was pushing her to get closer, to close the distance between them. His lips met hers softly, before beginning to move more earnestly. Her entire being was submitting to his touch as a surge of desire grew within her. 

Incidentally, as she fell deeper into the kiss and their tongues came to play, her last memories before her kidnapping ran through her head. Her match with Phillip. Pretending to lose to him before flipping the tables. The pride in her as she showed everyone that she would never submit, never be beaten in a fight. So what was she doing, sinking deeper into herself and letting Elias win? 

Her lips were still moving in tandem with his when she summoned all her strength and pushed him away. With him being a werewolf, he barely stumbled back, but his surprise was evident in his now golden eyes. Still, he was quick to hide his lust, instead leaning back on his desk with a grin. The two stood facing each other, gasping heavily from their short make-out session. She had never been kissed like that before and it had felt amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Reyna's response? A resounding slap to the cheek. The clapping noise echoed throughout the study as Elias looked at her in displeasure and a bit of wariness, a mild red mark already developing on his face. 

Her tears were still streaming down her face, but that didn't stop her from uttering her next words. "Yours?" she whispered, angrily swiping water off her cheeks. "I will never be yours. You think you've won? Just because you're stronger and half animal?" Elias growled at the insult but Reyna kept going, her voice getting louder and louder. 

"Even if you are the last man in the world I will never be with you! This mate bond? I agree with you, it was a mistake. A mistake I will spend every waking minute trying to correct because being with you has been the closest thing to hell for me. Screw you Elias, and screw your dumb pack!" she shouted her last words, not missing the flash of hurt that ran through his eyes when she called their mating a mistake. Good, she thought, a burst of dark satisfaction weaving its way through her. Let him see how it feels. Elias' cruelty had unknowingly shattered any of the bond's shackles that had kept her from properly planning her escape. A fire was burning within her, stoked by his cutting remarks. Perhaps someday she would thank him for that because she never would have realized how much of a farce he had put up the few times they had encountered one another. He had really taken a lot of time and effort to pretend that he actually cared about her and like a gullible little lamb, she had been silly enough to fall for it. How could she so easily forget how he had locked her up in prison, treated her as less than trash? That man she had looked in the eye as she was dragged away from the arena, that was the real Elias. The same Elias that now stood before her.

Reyna threw open the door and fled and for once, he actually let her go. Reyna raced through the halls back to her prison, which was starting to feel like a sanctuary. No judgmental eyes and no Alphas. His hurt expression and his pleading green eyes ran through her mind, but Reyna shook her head. No more. No matter what crazy feelings the bond was trying to elicit she had to keep reminding herself that, "It's not real." She rocked back and forth on the bed, for once enjoying the solitude of the room. 

"It's not real, it's not real." she kept muttering monotonously. Anything she felt for Elias was the bond and not her. Her traitorous mind kept bringing up images of him. When she had seen him training wolves with his shirt off, the one time he had smiled up at her window. 

"It's not real!" she yelled, clutching her ears. 

"Luna, do you need something?" a concerned guard peeked his head in through the door, probably surprised to see her tear stained and crazy looking face. Reyna composed herself, gently stroking the glass on her father's broken watch, forever trapped at 8:52. She couldn't let herself or her father down.

"Yes please," Reyna replied, her voice as sweet as honey. "I've broken my watch, is there anyone here who could fix it?"

IMPORTANT: I have rewritten Chapters 7 through 9 so if you started reading this book before December 7, 2018, go back and reread them! The plot has changed drastically! 

Yay, kind of an intense chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, and I will try to update as soon as possible. Please comment and vote!

xx Katreadsabook