Twenty Five.

 Dylan

 "Tell me now Dylan, what was that man talking to you about," he growled so close to my face that I could feel his spit hit in a few different spots.

 Alpha Rogan has punished me before, but he has never hurt me in front of anyone else. Right now I wasn't sure if I was afraid or glad that we were not alone.

 These two men, regardless of how kind they may have been to me, were some of his personal guards and I knew that their loyalties lied with him and him alone.

 Apparently, my lack of response seemed to enrage him even more and he squeezed even harder. The pressure increased to the point where I had no choice but to try to pull away.

 When he felt me pulling away from him he responded by yanking me toward him so hard that I was forced out of my seat and onto my knees almost in front of him. 

 The force of my knees hitting the floor of the vehicle combined with the pain from his hand were too much. The sob that escaped out of my mouth was strangled from the way he still held my face.

 In this position I couldn't see if the two in the front of the vehicle were watching or if they could even do anything right now, but I didn't care.

Hot tears filled my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, but Alpha Rogan still didn't let me go. 

 There was a quick flash in his dark eyes and he seemed to be pleased or excited by my reaction to him just now.

 With me being so close to him, he turned my face to the side and I felt him lean his body extremely close to mine.

 His cheek brushed mine as he brushed against me and I could feel his hot breath against my ear as he whispered, "you will answer your Alpha now, or this will just be the beginning of what I will do to you."

Closing my eyes I tried to control the tears and sobs that were now flowing freely from me. 

 Trying to move my mouth to speak was painful and only odd sounding breaths and slurred words were coming out.

 Still holding himself against me, I couldn't pull away even if I wanted to, but he suddenly growled in my ear and I wasn't sure if he was getting angrier at me, but I knew he could feel my body begin to shake.

 Rae was furious. She was screaming in my head to the point that I wished I could shut her up because it was making my head hurt even worse.

 Suddenly, Alpha Rogan pushed me backwards and I ended up landing awkwardly on my a** behind the passenger seat.

 "Apparently, my driver thinks that you can't answer me when I grip you that way," he said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

 Afraid to move, I quickly explained the encounter I had with Roane with little to no detail. He listened intently, but looked out the window while we continued to drive back.

 LIstening to my own voice while I spoke, I could hear certain words come out with lisps on certain letters and I knew that my mouth and tongue were probably already swelling.

 The moment I was done speaking he asked, "Noel, why was she allowed to be alone in the room with that man?"

 I watched Alpha Rogan who was still staring at the window, and considered getting up off the floor.

 Noel responded to him immediately, "Mr. Winter's was adamant that he meet with her alone and questioned why she would not be allowed to have a meeting with her boss."

 He seemed to be contemplating Noel's words, because I could see his right hand clench and unclench. 

 Finally, he turned from the window and looked towards where Noel sat. "Regardless of what that boy said, my instructions were for you to stay with her at all times," he snarled.

 Fear filled me and even though Rae was trying her best to soothe me and remind me that I could handle the pain, it didn't help.

 Noel didn't bother with an excuse or explanation, instead he took responsibility for his actions and apologized, "I failed you Alpha, and for that I am sorry."

 Something about the way that Alpha Rogan looked at him made me think that he was already planning ways to make Noel truly sorry, and the tears continued to flow.

 Eventually Alpha Rogan looked down towards me and extended his hand. I flinched back so hard that I ended up smacking the back of my head on the door.

 Cocking his head to the side, he sighed softly and in the span of a heartbeat, his whole demeanor changed.

 He slowly reached out his hand to me and crooned, "Dylan, please let me help you get back into your seat."

 For a moment, I didn't move. I watched him seem to become a completely different person right before my eyes and I wasn't sure if I should really trust him.

 "Dylan, I'm sorry that I lost my temper a moment ago. I know your probably scared, but you know that I would never hurt you for no reason, don't you," he said.

 Questioning his words, I repeated them over and over again in my head as I still sat there on the floor.

Am I over reacting?

Did he just loose his temper?

Did I deserve his anger for going against his orders?

Would he really punish me for no reason?

 Rae was combating my thoughts just as quick as I was thinking them and she was practically screaming inside my head.

"Don't listen to him Dylan. He is manipulating you. He would hurt you if he could."

 I didn't speak, but since I didn't reach for his outstretched hand, he pushed himself forward almost out of his seat, and leaned out to grab me with both hands.

The only thing I could do was close my eyes and wait to see what he was going to do now. 

 My heart was beating so fast that I swore I could feel it pounding inside my head. But instead of feeling the pain I was expecting, he placed his hands under my arms and lifted me back onto my seat.

 A startled squeal escaped me the moment I felt his hands on me, but I stifled it the second I realized that his touch wasn't intended to hurt, but to help.

 My eyes flew open and I briefly looked at him before I glanced to the front of the car. Suddenly feeling very embarrassed.

 Both Noel and Vit were facing forward, so I couldn't see their faces, but I swore that the veins in Vit's neck were bulging.

 Not wanting Alpha Rogan to direct his attention to his guards in case he would snap again, and direct any anger towards them.

 Even though they were bigger and much stronger than me, I liked them and didn't wish to see Alpha Rogan hurt them in any way if I could prevent it.

 Trying to look anywhere except for at him, I looked past him to the window behind him and noticed that we had left the city far behind us. 

 With this being my first time off the pack lands, I wasn't absolutely sure where we were, but the scenery looked familiar and I was almost certain that we were nearly home.

A sudden ache settled in my chest at the thought of going back there so soon.

 I honestly had not had a moment to process any of the things I saw or heard and I truly wished we could stay away for longer.

 Going back there felt like I was going back to a cage. The pack lands meant freedom for most, but to me it felt suffocating.

 This is the place where I had to hide who and what I am from everyone around me so that I'm not persecuted for things I never had anything to do with.

 Freedom was one of the many things that was kept from me, and I knew the moment that we got back Alpha Rogan would try to hide me away and throw away the key if he could.

 Just once, I wish that there was someone that I could talk with to find out about my parents other than Alpha Rogan.

 He was never forthcoming with information about them other than restating the things that he has already told me hundreds of times.

I could feel his eyes on my face, but I still wasn't ready to look at him just yet. 

 Regardless of whether or not he meant to hurt me or not, the fact is that he did and has on many occasions.

 "Dylan," he called me softly so that he would draw my attention back to him, and of course, it worked.

 Slowly, I turned to face him, even though I didn't want to because I knew better than to show him anything other than obedience.

 I also knew better than to flinch again when he reached out to touch my face. With the softest of pressure, he caressed my cheek.

 Rae was seething, but she knew as well as I did that there was no point in fighting him. All that it would do is make him angry again.

He made a show of staring at my face as if he was inspecting the damage that he caused.

 "Dylan, were you aware that Mr. Winters was the owner of Aspen communications before coming to this meeting?"

The questions threw me off for a moment, but I didn't hesitate when I responded. 

 "No. Mr. Winter's has been my immediate manager for the past few years and I never imagined that he was the owner of the entire company. Why would someone work such a position when they own the entire thing. It doesn't make sense to me."

 Those last questions were more to myself than to him, but he was nodding along with me as if my questions were either the same or similar to his own.

 For a moment he just sat there nodding, but even though he was starring at me, he wasn't actually looking at me. 

I took the opportunity to push myself back in the seat and put a little distance between us. 

 Glancing back out the window I noticed that we were getting further away from all the signs of the city. It seemed that it took much less time to return home than it had taken for us to reach Aspen.

 The closer to home we got, the harder it felt to breath. I know it was all in my head, but it felt like I was headed back to hell. The only bright part of returning home was seeing Lecia.

 I had completely forgot to check my phone the whole time we have been gone and I was about to reach in my pocket to grab it out when Noel called from the front seat.

"Are you feeling well little miss, or are you starting to get car sick again?"

 That's right, I had completely forgotten how sick I had gotten when we first left. I'm sure that with everything that had happened, my mind had been so distracted that I hadn't had a chance to focus on it.

 Alpha Rogan, who had still been lost in thought, snapped out of it and looked at me again. "Yes, are you feeling unwell again Dylan? I'm sure you have gone through quit a bit today and being in a car is not easy the first few times."

Ha! Did he really think that being in a car was the hardest thing that I had to deal with today.

 Let's see how he tries to turn this into just another event where I forced his hand to discipline or punish me and he was only doing what he had to.

 "I'm not feeling great, but I don't think that the car ride is having the same effects on me this time as it did earlier."

 A small smirk played across his lips and he reached out and squeezed my left knee with his big hand. Not a rough squeeze, but it felt like he was telling me to watch my mouth.

 "Ay, that's very good to hear," Noel grunted from the front seat and Vit gave a quick nod when he caught my eyes in that mirror that hung from the ceiling.

 No one spoke for a bit, but it wasn't long until I saw the pack lands come into view and I almost let out a sigh of displeasure.

 As we approached the western gate, I noticed that there was quite a bit more soldiers here than there had been when we left.

 When I glanced around the gate and then back to Alpha Rogan, I knew that he was linking with someone. I kept looking between the gates and the man sitting next to me waiting to find out what was going on.

 Suddenly, Vit stopped the car and Noel got out. I watched as he started running and in mid stride shifted into a large gray wolf.

 I was so impressed by his size and the speed of how quickly he ran to the gate, I didn't realize that Vit and Alpha Rogan were speaking to each other.

 "This was a planned attack sir. We need to get within the walls of the pack lands and find out what areas were hit," Vit quickly spoke.

Attack.

Hit.

What were they talking about?

 Alpha Rogan looked between Vit, the gates, and then myself. His eyes had that gleam in them for a moment before he finally spoke.

 "Take Dylan straight home and stay with her there. No one, and I repeat no one is allowed to see her until I have taken care of this situation. Do I make myself clear?"

 Even though I knew he was talking to Vit he was looking straight at me, and all I could do was nod.