Imprisoned By Love

Chapter 2

Peeta

She cries herself to sleep in the back seat of my car, her her sobs quieting to small hiccups and eventually soft snoring. I wish it didn't have to be this way. I wish she had grown up like the rest of us, in a pack where she would have understood why I had to take her away. But she didn't. She grew up in neutral human territory where she had no idea of what her destiny could be or that one day a man would come and add her to his family.

As we enter my territory I glance back at her to see if she's okay. She's curled up in a fetal ball, her back turned to me and her long dark braid trailing from her the back of her head and falling in a coil on the floor. I feel terrible for doing this to her but if I hadn't, there would be no continuation to my pack. I wouldn't survive without my mate and I'm my parents' only male child. The Alpha bloodline begins and ends with me at this point. Without her the pack would cease to exist and another branch of our once great nation will die.

I pull up the steep drive and see many of the pack members standing near the pack house, curious to see if I actually had the courage to bring their queen home this time.

I turn off the car and Katniss wakes up. She looks around and then looks at me with curiosity.

"Where are we?" She asks. "Where have you taken me?"

"This is my home," I say. "Your home now." I look at how uneasy she looks and decide now is not the right time for her to be bombarded by her new family. "Wait here. I'll get you once I've spoken to them." I get out of the car and look at all of them. They all stare behind me towards the car. My sister steps forward, frowning from beneath her choppy red and black hair.

"She doesn't know, does she?" She says. "Otherwise you would have just brought her out to meet everyone."

"No," I say. "And I don't plan on telling her until I'm absolutely sure she can handle it. She wasn't raised the way we were. Everything here is going to be extremely new for her. She doesn't need more of a shock then she's already had, Jo." She nods and turns to the pack members.

"You heard your Alpha," she says. "We will not reveal ourselves as a pack to the Luna until he sees fit. Until then, go home and wait for your assignments from me."

"Yes Beta," they say and they begin to move away, the few that work in my house going inside to prepare things for when Katniss comes in. Johanna turns back to me, still frowning slightly.

"You shouldn't have brought her here until you changed her," she growls. "Father would never have approved of this." I turn away from her but she just walks around me and gets in my face. "This pack's Luna is living a lie and you delaying telling her the truth is going to make us all suffer. You need to marry and change her as soon as possible."

"I don't care if Father wouldn't have liked it," I growl back. "Last I checked this was my pack, Johanna. I may have named you my second in command, but I will take that away faster than you can beg forgiveness if you question my decisions again." Her gaze softens and she shakes her head.

"Peeta, you are my brother," she says. "It hurts me just as much to talk about him. But you are not like him. You are no where near as strict and in my opinion a much better leader. But you do need to think sometimes about what he would say about this."

"He hated me, Jo!" I say. "I was nothing but a disappointment to him, to both of them."

"It wasn't like that in the end," she says. "You know that." I nod.

"Check that no one followed me," I say, "I don't need humans coming up here and snooping around." She nods and whistles for one of her raptors. A proud red tail hawk lands on her arm.

"Tell Cato and Brutus to meet me at the Whispering Cave," she says. "They are needed for the dawn patrol." The great bird spreads her wings and takes flight. She looks at me with a bit of concern.

"What?" I ask.

"Just remember that you can't hide us from her forever," she says. "And the longer you lie, the more painful it will be for her when she learns the truth." I watch her walking slowly towards the trees, shifting into her deep red wolf as she gets out of sight of my car.

I walk over to the car and open the door. Katniss stares at me for a moment until I hold out my hand and she hesitantly takes it. I help her out and she looks around, her eyes missing nothing.

"Who were they?" she asks, "All those people?"

"My family," I say and after thinking a moment, "Well, they are my extended family. My sister is my only blood relative." A tear slides down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away. "What's wrong?"

"Besides the fact that I will most likely never go home again?" She asks. I look down.

"I wish there were an easy way to explain why I brought you here," I say, "but I can't. At least not until I really figure out the best way to tell you. But I promise, some day this will all make sense."

"I wish you'd tell me now," she says.

"If I knew how, I would have told you long ago," I say.

"Can I at least know your name?" She asks. I look at her to see her not looking afraid, but somewhat reserved.

"You can call me Peeta," I say. She nods and looks to the house.

"So I guess this is where I'll be living from now on," she says. "With you?" I nod.

"That's right," I say. "This is your home now."