Chapter 5

Kenzie Hope

I had been in the cells for an hour by the time anyone had come to greet me. Usually, you get your initial beating when you first arrived, but not this time apparently. When someone had finally come, my thoughts had been gathered and I was prepared for what was to come.

"You are to be here for three days," The man informed me, looking at his clipboard. I nodded my head at the ground, not wanting to anger the guard. Then much to my surprise he said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why," I asked.

He laughed a laugh without humor and looked me dead in the eyes. I adverted my gaze to my barefoot feet. "The alpha found his mate." He laughed again. My wolf started chanting 'mate' over and over again until he starting speaking again, then I hushed her.

"Oh?" I asked.

"His father has minutes left, so the alpha has to be with the late alpha, but the new Luna is rumored to be in the cells. That's why we were ordered to not touch a single inmate." He laughed again, then continued, "Honestly, if my new Luna is in here, she doesn't deserve our loyalty. She's probably a scum anyway, you know?"

"Yeah probably," I replied, shrinking back into the corner of the cell.

"If she's in here and can't take a beating, she's no Luna to me." He laughed. I felt myself shrink even further. The man walked away to the next cell and relayed the same information.

My eyes began to water and my heart began to feel heavy. I was Alpha Winters's mate. I was meant to be the next Luna. The man was talking about me, whether he knew it or not. His words stung me like no other. I had been hurt before, people had talked bad about me before, but his words, for some reason, hurt me more than ever.

Mate wants us! My wolf perked.

What makes you think that? I responded grumpy.

He doesn't want the guards to hurt us, duh.

That's what you got out of that? I laughed.

Yeah?

Well, I got out that we aren't fit to be Luna, Lex, She stayed quiet for a moment so I continued. He'll reject us when he finds out we aren't right for the part. At that Lexus whimpered and she began to paw at my mind. I felt bad for what I had told her, I knew it had hurt her, but it was true and she needed to be ready.

I want mate, She cried. I sighed at her and apologized, saying I couldn't get mate for her. She whimpered again and pawed again, making my head start to hurt. I laid down on the thin, dirty mattress and hugged my legs.

I wasn't one to dwell on what could have been, but right now, when life couldn't seen worse, I did. What the hell is my life? If my grandpa hadn't of been such as ass, both my parents would have been alive. I would have become Alpha of a good pack, a pack that had morals. Brady would be finding a moral mate, not someone in this fucked up pack. We wouldn't be living in a tiny apartment, we would live in a large Alpha Manor.

My dad use to tell me that I would've made a great alpha with the proper training. He would tell me stories of how there had never been a female alpha before, but no alpha had ever had a girl first. Well, that was a lie. There had been female first borns, but the father's had killed them shortly after their first breath. My father told me that even if he was the alpha, he would have trained me to become alpha, not have killed me.

My dad would have made a great alpha. He was trained to become the best the world had ever seen. He was a caring yet firm man who crafted punishments to accordance of the wrong doing. He fathered Brady and I wonderfully and I couldn't help, but think how he would have fathered a pack. I loved my father so much and for a long time he had been my best friend. I missed him.

I must have been there for a few more hours before a new man came running down the narrow prison halls. I was half asleep and could barely hear what he was saying. The man was skittish and he was sweating from nervousness. I could hear his rapid, irregular heartbeat and he was shaking.

"Hope? McKenna Hope?" He yelled down the corridor. He was yelling my name and I would have probably responded if I had not been so tired. But I was exhausted and I had no more energy left in my body to care. My once tear filled eyes were heavy and my eyelids fell closed.

I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep before I had heard a thundering roar. You would think I would have shot up from terror, but no. I just stirred in my sleep and rolled over. That was a bad idea. My hand hit the bars of the cell, which were laced with wolfsbane. I hissed in pain and rolled back to my other side. That was my bad idea number two. My back scraped the bars and burned through my shirt.

I jumped up in pain. Quickly, I threw my shirt off, leaving me in only my sports bra. That was my bad idea number three. The man in the cell next to me wolf whistled and instantly I felt disgusted. My wolf whimpered because there was another man looking at our body. I tried to cover myself with my hands and walked toward the other side of the cell, away from the man.

I backed into the bars again, you would think that I would learn from my other two mistakes, but no. There was searing pain on my right shoulder blade and I jumped away from the cell, into the center. I looked back at my shoulder to see large scorch marks. My wolf whimpered again at the pain and I did the same but out loud.

"Oh, is the princess hurt," The man in the cell next to me hissed hatefully. I don't know whether it was his comment, the pain, or the entirety of today that caused it, but my wolf scratch at my mind, screaming to take control. I was too weak to stop her.

"What did you call me?" She screamed, walking toward the man. His eyes went wide, probably because of our eye color. When we get angry or Lexus comes out, our eyes turn amethyst, a purple color. It's rare for eyes to turn anything, except black, when our wolves are out. That's why he was surprised.

Lexus didn't wait for him to get over his shock. She reached through the bars of the cell, despite the searing pain that shot though our arm, and took his throat in our hand. His eyes widened further as she squeezed just enough for him to lose some air. Her intention wasn't to kill him, but to give him a decent fright so that he didn't bother us for the duration of the time we were here.

Once her goal was accomplished, she dropped his body, leaving him gasping for air. She nodded in satisfaction and then retreated to the back of my mind. For a split second, I felt the satisfaction too. That was until the consequences of her actions hit me.

My arm felt like it was on fire. It looked like I had put it in a bucket of lava. I screamed out and cradled in my bare chest. I felt tears, that I didn't realize I had, fall. I would be here for another two days, at least, and while in here I wouldn't get medical attention. Although, I couldn't be mad. All of my injuries were basically self-inflicted. I did this to myself. I would be the reason for my death.

Wolfsbane, the most dangerous thing to a wolf, slows down our healing process and burns us. In liquid doses, it would put up a wall around of wolves, not allowing us any of their powers. In solid form, it acted as fire would, burning us, but the pain was worse than that. Wolfsbane, not treated, would kill a wolf within hours depending on the dosage. Looking at the damage I caused, I estimated I would last a day, maybe less.

I was so caught up in my world, of choking a man and wolfsbane, I didn't hear someone yelling my name. Once I was caught up in the real world, I heard it. It was Alpha Winters, my mate, and he was not happy.

"Kenzie! Kenzie!" He yelled frantically as he sniffed the air for my scent. I didn't dare say anything in fear of him getting upset. He got about three cells away and I put my head down in shame. When he finally got to me cell, he stopped. I didn't dare look up.

"Kenzie," He sighed in relief.

"Yes, Alpha," I responded, respectfully, still not daring to put my head up. I heard some rustling of mechanics and then I saw the bottom of the cage lift up. Slowly, I lifted up my head and dared to look at my savior. His eyes were filled with concern and a hint of anger, of what I wasn't sure. His eyes did a once over my body then looked back up at mine. They were pitch black. It was then that his wolf took control.

His wolf stalked over to me at a painfully slow pace. He got directly in front of me and stopped. We stayed like that only for a second, and then he quickly picked me up bridal style. I squealed out of surprise and wrapped my good arm around his next to try to stabilize myself. My other arm I kept wrapped up next to my body.

He put his face in the crook of my neck and I felt his heavy breaths against my skin. His nose feathered along my neck as he breathed my scent. This calmed him down a considerable amount, thank the Goddess.

"Mate," He whimpered which made my heart ache. "My little mate."

Out of instinct, I took my hand, that was wrapped around his neck, and rubbed the back of my hand against his cheek. "Mate," I whispered back as he leaned into my touch. It would have been a perfect moment if I wasn't in incredible amounts of pain and the stench of blood wasn't overwhelming.

He pulled me closer and my arm rubbed against his shirt. I hissed in pain. I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't help it. It just hurt so much. Instantly, he pulled back and looked at my arm. Regret filled his black eyes and he looked back up at me.

"Oh my Goddess," He said as he started rushing out of the cells using his werewolf's speed. After a few moments we arrived in what looked like a pack hospital. As soon as we arrived, people stopped and stared at us. I felt my face heat up and I leaned into Alpha Winter's neck. He tightened his grip on me but not enough so that it hurt.

"Alpha," What sounded like an older man greeted him. Alpha Winter grunted in response and started walking fairly quickly. He placed me on the stiff material of a hospital bed. He let go of me and I was greeted with the bright lights of the hospital room.

The two men were standing over me. On my left side was the doctor who was looking at my arm. On my right, Alpha Winter was looking back and forth from my arm to my face with his black eyes. Then the two men looked at each other.

"Alpha, permission to put her under general anesthesia?" The doctor asked. Alpha's eyes flashed from their natural green to his wolf's black. Looking at me, he sighed and his eyes fell back to their vibrant green. Alpha nodded his head at the doctor. A mask was placed over my face and that was the last thing I remember.