Chapter 40

Zara

I stared at my one time fiance. Adrian's smile was as charming as ever, but I wasn't falling for it anymore. He wasn't a wolf, he was a snake.

He’d dragged me through the woods to a run down shack that only barely qualified as shelter. It had a metal bed frame with a thin mattress, a metal foot locker, and a wood burning stove. Other than that it was empty.

“What do you want with me, Adrian?” I asked.

“Well, that depends whether you’re asking me, specifically, or the Rogues in general,” Adrian said.

“Start with the Rogues,” I said, “I don’t care what you want.”

Adrian smirked. “Sure you don’t, sweetheart. All right, I’ll tell you. The Rogues know you’re special.”

“No, I’m not,” I protested. How was I special? I wasn’t special enough for Adrian to choose me over my sister.

“Oh, you are,” Adrian said. He smiled and stepped close so that we were only inches apart. “You have no idea.”

“Why don’t you explain it to me,” I said.

“Well, for one thing, you’re a valuable hostage,” Adrian said.

“What?” I yelped.

“Hey, hey, don’t freak out,” Adrian held out his hands. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. You’re not, like, a hostage hostage. I’d never let anything happen to you. It’s just that those brutes running our old pack need to think you’re in danger.”

“You think Lucian and Kieran would do a single damn thing to get me back?” I scoffed. “Are you crazy?”

“I know the younger twin had you at his side almost constantly leading up to their Mate Ball,” Adrian said.

“He had me in a freaking collar!” I reached up, half expecting to feel the leather strap against my skin.

“And that’s awful,” Adrian said. “It must have been so humiliating for you.” He rested a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t you want to get back at them for that?”

I pulled away. “Please, like you care. You want to talk about humiliating? How about the way you left me for my damn sister, on our wedding day!”

Adrian winced. “Zara, that was… complicated.”

“You decided I wasn’t good enough for you,” I said, “and you preferred my sister. How complicated is that?” I turned away. “I sure wasn’t special then, huh?”

“I didn’t know then what I know now,” Adrian said.

“Oh, what do you know now?” I asked. “Oh, wait, I know. You learned how little you matter to Chloe.” I sneered. “Did she even bother to say goodbye when the new Alphas banished you?”

Adrian flinched. “I couldn’t expect her to come with me,” he said.

“Of course not,” I said, “She had to try and win a pair of murdering Alpha twins. Couldn’t let a little thing like loyalty get in the way of that.”

“Well, obviously I made a mistake,” Adrian said. “You wouldn’t have chosen to stay in the pack, would you?”

I shrugged. “Maybe I would’ve stayed with you,” I admitted. “But that was then. You’re nothing to me now.”

“You’re my fated mate,” Adrian protested.

“No, I’m not,” I argued. “You rejected me. In front of our whole pack. On our wedding day.”

“I admitted that was a mistake!” Adrian shouted.

“Only because you want something from me,” I said.

“I want to complete our bond,” Adrian announced.

I stared at him. His words hit me like a punch in the gut. Six months ago, I would have given anything to hear them.

Now it just made me sick.

“You what?” I squeaked.

“Bond with me,” Adrian said. “We can be together.”

“As Rogues?” I asked.

I didn’t really mind the idea of being banished from my pack. I was, after all, trying to escape. But I didn’t want to join the Rogues. I wanted to be free of all the wolves.

“No,” Adrian said. “There’s a plan. We’re going to take down those damn twin Alphas. We can go back.”

“I don’t want to go back, ever,” I said. I had run away from Kieran and Lucian, true, but they weren’t the only reason I left. My sister betrayed me. My pack mates watched me belittled and humiliated at Keiran’s feet, and not a one of them ever said a word in protest. I couldn’t expect them to stand up to an Alpha, but they could at least say something. No one even tried.

I was done living among wolves. I wanted to go find my human family, if I had one. I wanted to try to live in a world not defined by murder and power.

“Then we’ll join another pack,” Adrian said.

He paced around me until I had to face him, and rested both hands on my shoulders. He leaned in close.

“Come on,” he whispered. “Just say yes.”

He was going to kiss me. Just like the kiss that had told him we were fated. For one tiny flicker of a moment, I almost let him.

And then I remembered the kisses I’d shared in that bathroom with Lucian. I remembered how that felt, how much I’d wanted it. How much I’d risked.

I shoved Adrian away. I didn’t care whether we were fated or not. He had left me. He chose Chloe over me, and now he wanted me back? No.

“Chloe, you have to listen to me,” Adrian said. “You want to be my mate.”

“No,” I said, backing away until I hit the wall, “I don’t.”

Adrian stalked across the room. “You’ll help us defeat them one way or another.”

“Why me?” I asked. “I told you, I’m just a toy, a pet to them.”

“Is that really what you think?” Adrian said. “It’s cute. I can’t believe you’re so blind.”

I shook my head. I knew that I was the twins’ fated mate. But no one else, not even Lucian and Kieran knew. Adrian certainly couldn’t know. Could he?

“We have spies everywhere,” Adrian bragged. “I know how they treated you. And I know that you’re valuable to them.”

I blinked. “The Rogues have spies in the packs?”

“We do. We’re more powerful than you think.” He traced a hand along my jaw. “Come on, Zara. Give me another chance. Bond with me, be my mate. When I kill the Alphas, you’ll be Luna. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“No!” I shouted, shoving him away.

Somehow the thought of Lucian and Kieran dying made me sick.

Adrian shoved me back into the wall and held me in place. He leaned in, like he was going to kiss me. I turned my face away.

“Don’t struggle,” he said, “just let me claim you. I’ll take care of you. You’ll see.”

“Let me go,” I growled.

“No,” Adrian refused.

I shoved at his chest. I needed space. I couldn’t overpower him, but if I could get just a little space, I could think. I could escape. Something, anything. I refused to bond to him. I wouldn’t let him force our bond to completion.

“Just accept it,” Adrian whispered.

I shook my head and braced myself for a fight.

Before either of us could say or do anything else, screams pierced the silence outside. And then the door slammed open, revealing an enraged wolf.

Lucian had come to find me.