Chase Me , Alpha

Chapter 22

The bindings on my wrists had long since rubbed the skin raw.  Despite the angry burns, I continued pulling at the thin rope and let the spots of blood run down my forearms.

I had been placed in this study for hours before.  Dalton didn’t want to have his men looking for me while they did a perimeter sweep.  I was confused still on how the rogues got together like this, how they could look through their madness and find a leader.  I had to only assume Dalton was a high standing wolf in his own pack before he became a rogue.  There was no other explanation.

I wasn’t sure how long a perimeter check took, but I assumed Dalton would be back soon.  He’d taken to biting his mark most every night, especially when it began fading.  Clayton’s mark would always shine through until I accepted Dalton as a mate, it was inevitable that our bond was stronger.  Dalton refused to accept that though.

As though remembering his teeth, my neck tingled.  The mortifying guilt I felt with the pleasure from Dalton’s touch was making me go insane.  I had to get out of here, I needed and escape, someway.  I needed Clayton.

Letting out an aggravated growl I twisted sharply on the chair.  It wobbled on its legs, and I froze for a moment before propping my legs up on the desk in front of me and shoving.  The chair was heavy, and it took a few attempts to push it back.  But using my body weight, I twisted so the corner of the chair hit the ground and the arm cracked, allowing me to pull my bound hands up.

Just for good measure, I kicked the chair when I was standing.  I rushed to the door and picked it quickly.  I’d gotten so good at picking the locks of whatever room they locked me in that it seemed almost pointless to try and lock them at all.

I wound my way down the hallway, quietly descending the steps.  If enough of the rogues were on patrol, I might be able to grab a car and use that as my escape instead of blindly running through the forest.

But, as though fate was honestly refusing me any luck, the moment I opened the front door Dalton and his men emerged from the trees completely naked, indicating a previous shift.

He met my eyes instantly, grinning maniacally when he figured I was trying for my hundredth escape.  “Come on.” I swore under my breath, feeling a despairing depression settle in my gut.  Was there honestly no escape? 

“Alice, love, how grand it is to see you up and about.” Dalton called as he crossed the yard.  Several men behind him came out tugging a female alone by the arms.  She was badly beaten if the bruising along her ribs told me anything, and her head was hanging low.  Brown hair covered most of her face.

“What are you doing with her?” I asked Dalton, motioning with my bound hands to the woman his men were dragging.

He looked over his shoulder and lifted an eyebrow.  “Ah.  She crossed onto our lands.”

I stepped onto the lawn, the grass tickling my bare feet.  “So you beat her because she didn’t know your boarders?”

Dalton grinned at me, languidly walking forward as though I should be impressed with him and all his naked male ego.  “If we don’t set examples now, then we never will.”

What sort of twisted logic was that?  “I don’t think—“

“Your wrists are bleeding.” He said, coming to a stop five feet in front of me with his nostrils flared.  “Was someone trying to escape again?”

I lifted my hands to brush the hair out of my face, refusing to let it show how desperately I wanted to run.  His eyes were glinting, shining, his wolf rising.  He was going to bit me, and I could do nothing to stop him, and it was devastating how weak I felt.