Hunted and Tormented

Chapter 3: Mate indeed

The clanking of the bars of my cell as they were unlocked jolted me out of my daydream. Two guards walked in, made me stand and then roughly cuffed my wrists together. Testing the strength, I tugged on them lightly. Enforced steel. I had no chance.

It had been three hours since Cam had come to see me and I hadn't spoken since then. I didn’t even greet my favourite guard, the one I’d taunted the day before, which was very unlike me. I never missed an opportunity to show off my snark, Luke had told me that for years but my wolf had shut down since our conversation with Cam and the need to prove I wasn't scared just wasn't so great anymore.

I was marched up a series of staircases that led to a small wooden door. When one of my guards shoved it open, I bit back a gasp. The room I was walked into was cavernous, the ceiling at least twice the size of the gate outside and domed slightly, although I couldn’t tell if that was just the paint job. To my right, long, wide steps climbed up to a marginally higher platform. The room was bare of furniture but had plenty of werewolves lining the wolves. Cam was nowhere to be seen.

So it seemed my death wouldn’t be postponed any longer. And from what the positive part of me could see, there was literally no chance of escape. The front door was solid wood and heavy guarded and the door I’d just come from, well . . . I didn’t want to go back down there.

When I looked back round, I realised my guards had stepped away and I was standing in the middle of the room before the platform. The Alpha of Haven Pack, Jem Taylor had his back to me as he talked intently to who I could only assume as his Beta. He radiated enough power to be so.

For some reason, I felt my gaze glued to Alpha Jem’s muscular shoulders that bunched under his thin black tee shirt and the ones that rippled in his arms. I couldn’t see his face, but he was known to be very handsome. His hair looked so luscious I was sure if I ran my fingers through it, the strands would feel like black silk.

I shook myself. What was wrong with me? Was I really checking out the man who would surely kill me in the next two minutes like some starry-eyed teenager? Was this my brain’s default or something? Well, at least I would get to enjoy the last few seconds of my life. Not everyone got slaughtered by a sexy Alpha every day, did they? I was one of the lucky ones.

Yeah right.

He turned, still muttering to his Beta in a dead serious voice and then looked down at me. Our eyes locked and my mind went completely blank. It felt like amnesia or something, I just forgot everything. I no longer knew where I was, everything that had seemed important before suddenly seemed irrelevant and I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the electric green irises staring into my soul.

My wolf howled within me with joy.

Mate, she yipped.

Mate indeed.

The unstoppable hope inside of me surged to the surface at the sight of my gorgeous mate. He would save us, he would protect us. Most of all, he would believe us and that was all I’d asked of anyone. The way he was regarding me now, I felt like I knew him already. My wolf was overjoyed knowing our mate would save us from death. She was purring softly inside of me as my heart churned with desire for Jem Taylor.

But then he did something terrible.

He looked away.

He looked away from me.

And I knew in that second I was as doomed as I was before.

Emotion choked me, the initial rejection hitting me like a freight train and the pain of his denial twisted my chest agonisingly. Had he really just done that? Was he really pretending he felt nothing for me when I knew with all my heart he did?

My eyes glossed over and a scream of distress died in my throat as he spoke to me.

“Eva Sullivan,” he said shortly, his voice echoing across the whole chamber. The sound of him was beautiful, his honeyed voice flowing over me like rays of sunlight and filling me with pleasure as my name rolled off his tongue. “Do you plead guilty for the crimes you have committed against your Pack, your kind and your country?”

All hope was lost. I was going it die, so why fight my case? I couldn’t see anyone else doing it. “Yes, Alpha.”

“And do you agree that within the last two weeks of this month, you killed eight members of your Pack in cold-blood and denied it?”

I stiffened. “Yes, Alpha.”

“And do you deny that you should be allowed to die for the crimes you have committed to our kind?” he inquired coldly, his tone icy as he addressed me.

I nearly sobbed and it wasn't for the reason of dying. Desperately, I locked my eyes with his again, pleading him within the bond we shared not to do this. Not to shut me out when I already loved him so much.

The stare he returned was callous.

Then there was nothing else for me to plead for. “I don’t, Alpha,” I said, as my wolf howled with grief inside of me, nearly buckling me to my knees.

Jem, please, I begged, trying one last time, knowing that now we had met a psychic link had formed between us, meaning we could hear each other’s thoughts. If he ignored me, I would know since a bond like this was between every mated couple and Pack.

He flinched at the sound of my voice. Stay out of my head, Rogue.

Jem, don’t do this. I –

Don’t say it, he snapped. If you do I will not postpone me killing you.

Could you really do that to us?

Of course, he replied hardheartedly. Then he shut off the link inside of us.

Hello amazing readers! Hope you like this chapter. I know they are short but the next one will be in Jem's POV, and you'll be able to see how HE feels about Eva in a totally different way than she thinks......xx

Anyway, Comment, Fan and keep reading! <3