My senses return slowly before I even open my eyes. I hear harsh breathing and low moans. I smell old and new blood. Death, mixed with sweat and fear. I can feel the burning of the silver cuffs that are being used to restrain me. My back flat against the wall with the silver anchoring my body upright. The cuffs had already burned through the first layer of my skin. Blood was starting to trickle down my arms in little wavy lines. The silver blocked my connection to Lyra. My arm is still broken. Along with the bones in my face. With the connection to my wolf blocked at the moment I wasn't going to heal.

I open my eyes and see that I am in a deep, dark hole. A hole in rock that has a cell door, probably made from silver, standing guard at the entrance. I chuckle to myself softly as I realize that I am once again in a cell. Both so different but still serving the exact same purpose. I couldn't help the hysterical laughter that bubbled up my throat and out of my mouth. A full bodied laugh that in no way expressed mirth. I didn't notice the guard that had been standing there out of sight until we made eye contact.

He was looking at me like I had grown two heads. The thought made me laugh harder. Until tears flowed and my laughter turned into gut wrenching sobs.

I had escaped one prison just to wind up in another.

I sobbed out my guilt at leaving my pack mates behind. The anger and frustration and sadness over the lack of control over my own destiny. I was experimented on and forced to push my body and mind to the breaking point. Not breaking when others had crumbled. If you crumbled you were dead. The tears slowed and I looked up and into the eyes of the nameless guard. He was looking at me with so much sadness in his eyes. I watched as a lone tear rolled down his face.

"I don't know why..." He croaked. " But my wolf is very sad that you are so sad."

I didn't know what to say. He cleared his throat and stepped back out of sight. I turned my head and looked at my left forearm that is decorated with tiny, bloody trails.

97861-D-G-S-B

The tattoo was the number that represented the batch number of my birth. The D stood for dame. The G meant her wolf was grey. S was for sire. The B for his black wolf. The only connection besides my DNA to the two people who had created me. Werewolves could not be grown in labs.

The pounding in my head grew more intense. The pulsing pain in my brain was reverberating through my skull. I saw the darkness start to fill the edges of my vision. I welcomed it as an old friend as I slipped back into the void.

Alpha Bishop Wright

"Welcome home Alpha Bishop." My second in command, Beta Thomas, greeted me as I shifted. My wolf form receding as my human form came forth.

"Good to be back Thomas." I clapped him on the back as I walked past him toward the pack house. The sun was just starting to make an appearance on the horizon. No one would be up yet so I did not bother with clothes as I walked inside and headed straight to my office. I have been feeling antsy and frustrated since I crossed my border back into my own territory. My wolf was feeling it too.

I could feel a heaviness emitting from my beta as I entered my office and went to the desk. I opened the bottom drawer and put on a pair of shorts. I turned to face Thomas as he looked at the floor with his eyebrows drawn together.

"What has you so distracted?" I asked, irritated. I do not know why I am so on edge.

"We have a few rouges in the cave that need to be handled."

"Is that all?" I raised my eyebrows. Thomas hesitated for a moment before he answered. His delay in answering made my frustration rise.

" One is a female." He finally answered. My eyebrows rose again but this time in surprise. Female werewolves were precious. They birthed the next generation. They were meant to be protected. " She's different..." he continued. " I can't explain it. But the guard that was relived an hour ago said that his wolf was so upset about her being chained and sad that he almost let her go."

I was very surprised by this information. Wolves were loyal to their pack and their pack alone. Unless they had a mate. " She's not his mate?" I inquire. When Thomas shakes his head I decide I need to see this female wolf that is affecting my men so.

I feel like something is about to happen, my wolf spoke.

I changed into jeans, a white shirt and dark brown boots. Thomas and I made our way to the cave about a half mile from the pack house. We followed it down until it opened into a large cavern. Stalagmites reaching for the sky and stalactites above us reaching for the ground. In the semi circular room there are 14 cells carved into the dense rock. The area reeked of vomit, piss and death held together with the underlying tone of unwashed bodies. My sensitive nose twitched as the smell of lavender and sandalwood drifted to me. Such a beautiful scent did not belong here in this place. I followed the scent to the last cell on my right. Inside chained upright with blood running down her arms and broken bones was the woman that I had been searching for the world over. I have been looking for her for so long I thought that maybe she didn't exist or maybe that she had left this world without me. But I returned home to finally find her bloody, chained and broken. My mate.