Hunted and Tormented

Chapter 14: Process of elimination

The Alpha’s name was Shepley Enright. As far as I knew, he’d been Alpha since he was sixteen when his father had been killed in an ambush. From what I’d been told, before he claimed the title, he’d been living on the wild side, staying out late, not home for days, turning up with different girls under his arms when he returned. I knew it was all true. Hell, the pictures were still on the internet. He was fun.

The guy I was placed in front of did not seem fun.

Alpha Enright was regarding me like I was a damn inconvenience that he had been torn away from his duties to deal with. I knew how this would go. He’d ask me my name, my last Pack, why I was on his land, what my last words were to be blah, blah, blah. It was routine enough. And to be honest, I couldn’t work up the energy to put up a fight.

I’d been led by Jason and Wes through a maze of darkly lit corridors to the back of the house. Now, I sat on a simple wooden chair in a room with cream coloured walls, and a dark mahogany desk. I couldn’t help but notice that Jem had a bigger desk. It was a silly thing to think about but . . . yeah. I was pleased that my hands were free yet I couldn’t help feeling put out that they didn’t think I was threatening enough to be a problem to restrain. Damn.

“Before I kill you,” the Alpha said casually with a sigh, “it is protocol for me to ask you a series of questions. Naturally, I suppose you already know what they are.”

I nodded.

“Good, then we’ll skip that part then.” He paced behind his desk for a minute and then stopped in front of his window, crossing his arms and his voice took on a business, no nonsense tone. “You are trespassing on Lupus territory. You resisted escort by the Pack of this homeland. You damaged property enclosed in my boundaries.”

I raised my eyebrows at that and shot a look at Jason. He smirked at me and turned back to his Alpha.

“I wouldn’t say it was escorting,” I said, looking back slowly, “more like kidnapping.”

Shepley narrowed his eyes at me. “You were trespassing.”

“Ah, but can I guess from the past tense you used there that I’m not anymore?”

“Do you know the consequences of what you have done?” he arched an eyebrow challengingly. “Of what you are doing? You don’t seem particularly stupid since you know you are on Pack lands yet you must be a little idiotic if you walked over here willingly and think it is acceptable to talk to me like that.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, amused.

“Yes, you seem very broken up about it,” he snarked. He lifted his chin. “Who are you?”

“My name is Eva,” I said, keeping it vague as these people didn’t really seem to recognise me at all. Did Nathan really send that picture of me round or did this Pack just miss the memo? Either way I was probably going to die.

“Well Eva, do you know how unusual it is for a young female Rogue to be running around the countryside? Especially when she has been claimed by an Alpha?”

I stiffened as thoughts of Jem flooded my mind. I shoved them back, but my chest ached dully like I’d been hit with something blunt. God. I can’t believe I forgot about that mark. Was it really so obvious, even if my hair covered the scar?

“The mark of an Alpha,” continued Shepley proudly, “is powerful. The authority it sends off is great, especially when his mate is far from him. It’s a way of warding off other males and telling other Alphas that this female had wandered from her mate.” Shepley paused. “And I do believe someone must be looking for you, Eva.”

“He doesn’t want me.”

I felt Jason's eyes burning holes in the side of my face, anger rolling off him in heavy waves. Confusing as it was, I kept a straight face and my eyes on the Alpha. He didn’t look as furious as Jason did but did appear mildly surprised.

“You must have misunderstood. If he marked you –”

“He sent me away,” I interrupted, knowing how dangerous it was to do that but I didn’t want to be lectured on how it was a big misunderstanding. I may be a girl but I’m not stupid. Honestly, some guys just think we completely miss the point.

Shepley didn’t look pleased that I interrupted him by the tightness of his jaw. “Why?”

“I didn’t meet his expectations,” I said honestly.

“This is ridic –,” Wes started.

Shepley held up a hand, silencing him and turned his stony dark eyes on me. His gaze was so intense it could have speared me to the chair. “Nonetheless of the odd circumstances, I must send you back.”

“I told you, he doesn’t want me –”

“That may be true, but he is still your mate and has marked you as his, therefore claiming you as his own. You are part of his Pack now. It is only respectful that I return his mate to him.”

I sat forward in my seat, desperate to make him understand. There was no way I was going back to Jem. He didn’t want me, he’d made that clear. He was obviously still thinking of me as a criminal and his precious reputation. And what I would do to it.

You want him, my wolf said firmly. I can feel it in you.

That’s just you, I shot back, and your stupid bond with him.

We both know that’s not true.

I wanted to fall through the floor. The teeth marks that scarred my neck throbbed as the pain jabbing inside of me intensified. My hand went to my neck as I spoke. “I never agreed to be part of his Pack. I never said anything about joining or signed anything that said otherwise.”

“Did you not talk about it?”

“It never came up.”

“I still need to send you back, Eva.”

I stared up at him, suddenly defensive and pissed off. “I’m not a FedEx package, Shepley! And what is the point of sending me back when he sent me away in the first place? He did it for a reason, not for the amusement of it!”

The Alpha growled at me. “Talk to me like that again, and I will have you in a cell.”

I sat back, some of the anger seeping out of me now that I’d had my outburst. “If you have to send me back, fine. Just know that I’ll be sent away again soon after.”

There was a long, dreadful minute of silence. I sat there, my mind too frazzled to think, my wolf badgering me about returning to Jem and my other side, my more human side pulling away with all that she had. It was useless really, like the need for my mate was drawing me like a magnet to my more animal side. My wilder side.

I clenched the wood of my chair, hearing it splinter and jag into my fingers.

“I have a proposition for you,” Shepley finally said. “You will stay here, with my Pack. For a week. Only then will I decide whether to let you go free or return you to your mate.”

I arched and eyebrow at him, folding my arms. “And how will you know who my mate is?”

“By process of elimination,” he stated, returning the look I’d sent him. “I have the phone number of every Alpha in the country. One phone call is all it takes to find out.”

My heart suddenly pounded at that. How could I be so stupid? How could I have let this happen? A stone of dread dropped in my stomach. If Shepley did decide he wanted to send me home and called all the Packs, including Knox Pack . . . I would be dead within the month.

Crap.

As much as I hated the thought of sucking up to an superior, hostile Alpha, I knew it might be the only way to grant my freedom. And keep me alive.

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