Chapter Seven: A Sturdy Deal

Kinsley’s POV

“She was never the target,” Jonathan says, his voice warped and far away. “She was an unfortunate byproduct of his raid. Turns out; they’re mates.”

Cold hands work at my neck, pulling my hair and making me groan. I want to slap them away but my hands fight against metal cuffs linked behind my back. I can tell it’s Ace kneeling over me now, his rough fingertips hooking onto my jaw and cocking my head sideways.

“No mating mark, thankfully,” he snarls. “Without a mating link, she won’t be able to signal for help. He is coming back tomorrow, right? That will work well for me. We have time to create distance.”

“N–no–” I pant.

My face is bruised and my eye is swollen, but I open them anyway. I fight the metal cuffs but they’re too tight, hooked together at the center of my back without any leniency. Ace is staring through me as I’m laid out on the ground, his fingertips running through my clean, vibrant hair with a growl.

“That was a good try, girl. You’re coming back with me now. If you don’t get your wolf soon, I’ll have no use for you anymore,” Ace says. “If you want to live; call your wolf.”

I look to my father for sympathy, or at least some answers, but found nothing in return. He only glares down at me with the same disappointment as Ace, his attention shifting elsewhere before waving his warriors away, and turning to leave.

“I assume our deal is back on, right?”

“Good as always,” Ace answers my father.

I pull my head from the dirt, pressing my shoulders down as I try to level myself upright but it’s useless. My body is still weary, my mind fogged and Ace’s hold on my chin doesn’t help. He looks through me like I’m a bug in his path, a thorn in his side, yet he still wants to take me captive.

I wish it made more sense.

“You smell like him,” he snarls, showing his teeth as they turn into fangs. “Did you shift while you were away, too? Or did you just have sex with that Alpha mutt? I wouldn’t be surprised if he is already in the act of rejecting you, girl.”

“Kinsley,” I breathe, the word soothing and easily recognized in my mind. “My name is Kinsley.”

Ace pushes his hold from my jaw to my throat with a hard shove, slamming a kick into my spine when I hit the ground. I fight with my restraints but it’s useless. I’m trapped with the Rogue Prince yet again.

He barks for the other rogues to come near, yelling orders that I can’t make out. My body burns from the pain of his kick and I fight to hold back a whimpering cry. He hates when I cry. He hates when I speak. It may be new to me, but I think he hates that I can now remember my name.

“We’re moving the camp!” he barks, fighting about orders with the other rogues. “I don’t care if we have to leave the woods and head for the mountaintops, we are getting far away from that Alpha!”

“Why, Ace?” one rogue ponders aloud. “Does it really matter? He will reject her, she’s a filthy mutt; why would he want that as a Luna?”

“He knows she is an Alpha’s daughter now!”

The crowd goes silent. I shift onto my side, eyeing the Rogue Prince carefully.

“That’s impossible,” someone says.

I realize now that even when watching the trade happen, no one knew why Ace took me. I’m sure they assumed, as I have, that it was a rogue thirsty for a weak mating toy. Instead, it makes a little more sense now.

Ace didn’t want just any mate. He wanted a rare Alpha’s daughter.

“Her bloodline is pure and it’s powerful! I will mate with her and she will bear my powerful pups,” Ace declares, flicking a look over his shoulder as he stares down at my pitiful state. “I just need the damn girl to go into heat first.”

I swallow hard. I’ve never wished for my wolf not to come, but I do now.

I’d rather die a mortal than allow Ace Whitfield a chance of Alpha gene pups. He won’t need a pack and he won’t even need his ragtag group of rogues. With a small pack of Alpha breeds, he could easily wipe out any pack he would want to.

So why would my so-called father allow this?

“You won’t,” I breathe, pressing my temple into the dirt and pulling my legs to my chest. If I position myself just right, maybe it won’t hurt. “I won’t go into heat. I have no wolf!”

Ace starts a laugh that filters through the other rogues.

“You think so, Kinsley?” He bites down purposefully hard on my name. “You really think you have no wolf? I guess we will find out. You’re nineteen, so you’re ready to have your first shift any day now. You just found your fated mate. That should get your mutt’s attention, don’t you think?”

I hesitate to speak. By his explanation, he is correct. Most females shift around eighteen, but it’s possible to be late with it. I have heard of some as young as sixteen shifting when they found their mates, but Ace never talked too much about it in front of me.

Right now it makes sense why he would always change the topic. I swallow my fear. He can’t know that I am worried about his words coming true. If this does happen, if I go into heat after meeting my mate, then Ace will swoop in and take advantage of it.

“He will come for me,” I whisper to myself. “He has to.”

Ace knits his brows at the hope in my words. He isn’t used to me speaking and I am sure he thought I never could. Now that I have, he probably wishes I never will again. He doesn’t like opposition, and I’m not exactly one for confrontation. That’s why I was a perfect captive for so long.

I don’t think I can go back to it after meeting Terron.

He lets me sleep in a real bed, in a home, not surrounded by bugs and unruly weather while covered in chains. He looks at me with something special in his ocean eyes, not like prey waiting to be pounced on. I loved his eyes even if I didn’t get to stare at them for long.

Ace sinks to his knees in the dirt, working over the sight of me curled in a ball at the feet of his pack of rogues. I hate the way they are all staring at me now. I’m a wounded doe at the sharp teeth of a hunter. Their unsavory thoughts practically drool from their pursed lips.

I wasn’t safe before. I’m even more unsafe now.

“I hope you got enough memories made with your darling Alpha,” Ace spits. “They’re the only thing you’re going to get from this point onward. You’re mine, Kinsley Linc. All mine.”

I try to tame my wild streak but it doesn’t work well.

“My mate is Terron Matthews. He will come for me.”

“Then you will watch him die!”

I shut my eyes to ignore the sting of the slap that follows his words. It does little to distract me but in the folds of darkness in my mind, I spot the bluest ocean I’ve ever seen. The waters are calm but ebbing in and out all the same. They beckon for me, as I beckon for them until it’s only the two of us together.

We will be together again.