Chapter 7

Maddox. Light shone through my eyelidss, forcing me to blink them open. But the moment I did, I shut them again as I groaned in annoyance. Immediately I felt someone grab onto my hand and I frowned, tirbing slightly and opening my eyes again slowly this time when I saw the familiar blonde hair of my mother. Tears were stained on her cheeks as she smiled in relief before pulling me into a hug. “You’re awake!” She exclaimed as she gave me a peck on the cheeks before helping me sit up. Gently, I rested my back against the headboard as I looked around. It was my old room before I had moved out. The bed had been changed to a bigger one to accommodate my larger size. The room was exactly the same way I had left it the day I moved out. “What am I doing here?” I asked as I looked around confused. “Mother? What’s going on?” “Don’t you remember?” she asked as she squeezed my hand. “You and the others went to get the human and then you sprinted off ahead of them. Willis said it was like something had taken over you and you went ahead to bite the human and mark her as yours.” She said and the memories of last night went flashing in my head. I remember it was like something really had taken over me. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know why I had felt so intrigued and overwhelmed by her. Nor did I understand why I had chosen her as my mate by marking her. She was a human, for heaven's sake! A human responsible for the death and sickness of my people. “Where’s she?” I asked coldly as my mother sighed. “Locked up in the dungeons” “I want to see her.” I blurted out as my mother frowned. “Why do you want to see her? She’s dangerous. Three more deaths have been reported since we brought her in. There’s been an increase in the number of check-ins at the pack hospital. It’s getting worse, and she’s at the center of it all.” My mother spoke and I looked away. “She’s my mate…” I said so softly that I couldn’t believe I had uttered those words. A part of me felt different, in a way I couldn’t explain it but it was a feeling like I had been born again. A part of me was longing to see her face. I closed my eyes for a second letting the new emotions wash over me. There was a new sense of warmth within me and I wondered if it had always been there. I frowned, pushing down the desire as I started to get on my feet. “Send for Willis,” I ordered as my mother glanced at me before leaving the room, closing the door behind her. “You sent for me?” I heated the door open as Willis entered, his eyes looking so heavy and I wondered how long I had been unconscious. “Yes. What happened after I marked the human?” I asked him, going to my window to overlook the dungeons just at the end of the house. Something called out to me. It was her. This time I recognized it, it was the same feeling that had taken over me when we had arrived at the cabin. It was calm, soothing, and it felt like a missing part of me. “You passed out Alpha. We have never seen that happen to you before so we brought you back to the pack. With the human too, your parents ordered that she’s locked up.” Willis finished and I said nothing as I went to my walk-in closet and changed my outfit before netting him outside again. The walk to the dungeon was silent after Willis relayed all the information from the past two days. More wolves were dead. The pack was in panic and there was a human who I had not only mated but was the cause if it I resisted the urge to slap myself as we pushed the door open to the dungeons. And I felt it again, that irresistible force that drew me in. It was an invisible thread that connected me with her and no matter how much I tugged on it, it never let go. As I approved the cell, the sight I was met with tore at my heart. There she was, lying on the cold hard floor in a dark cell. A tattered figure that was curled up at the end of the wall. I remembered those vibrant red hair the first time I had seen it. Now they were dull and filled with dirt as it lay around her head. Her eyes which had been a bright shade of blue were closed as she was deep in sleep and hadn’t even noticed that we had entered the dungeon. The air was damp and it clung to her like a second skin making her appear paler than usual. Pain surged through me, sadness and despair tearing at my heart as I stumbled backward. These feelings weren’t mine. They were hers. I thought as I leaned closer, pressing my hand to the cold iron bar as if to teach her and take her out of there. “Be careful, Alpha” I heard Willis say behind me but I paid him no mind as I watched her silently. It felt like she was speaking to me through the connection that had been made. I felt the pain like it was mine, the emotions threatened to consume me and there was the desire to reach out to her. As if finally sensing our presence, she stirred and my heart leaped in my chest as she turned towards me, and those eyes softly opened. For a second, the world stopped as I got lost in those blue eyes. There was a glimmer of recognition, a spark and I knew there was more to what met our eyes. Her eyes were filled with so much fear and vulnerability. It was like she had lost all hope as she stared harder at me with no other emotion. “Please...” she started to say and at the sound of her voice, my heart stopped. It was so beautiful and my chest tightened at her next words. “Kill me please.” Sorrow filled me as her words echoed in my ears and I staggered back, unable to hear her utter those words. “Please. I don’t want this pain anymore. Take it away,” she said again, her voice carrying the weight of pure anguish and I wondered why she was this way. The request cut through me as I watched her close her eyes once more. She was weak. Tired. And beaten. “Alpha. It’s best we kill her and end this,” Willis said and I turned sharply at him and grabbed him by the neck, shoving him against the wall. “No one touches her. Not even one hair on her head.”