Imprisoned By Love

Chapter 7

Katniss

"How much further does this place stretch?" I ask as Peeta pushes me up a ravine. I crawl up and offer him my hand, but he's already halfway up the flat rock. He stands beside and offers his hand to help me up. I take it and stand beside him.

"Our land stretches about ten miles from the manor in every direction," he says. "Where I'm taking you is very important to me, to my family. No one, not even the other packs know where this is."

"Why are you showing me then?" I ask.

"Because the next time I bring you here, it will be for our wedding," he says. "It is your secret now too." I glance at him and nod, showing him I understand what he is saying. That he can't keep stalling the inevitable any longer.

"You have to change me before the next full moon, don't you?" I say softly. He looks down.

"To keep my control over this little stretch of territory, I have to show that I'm strong and ready to take full control of my pack," he says softly. "And a true Alpha is only at his strongest with his mate at his side. My pack has been under watch since my mom died. They gave me my chance when I turned eighteen. They are tired of waiting. Before long, they'll start moving in to take our land."

"And they can't know you kept me like this," I say. "If they already have their doubts, you having kept me human would only bring more trouble."

"I'm sorry," he says. I turn to silvery half and moon and fill a shiver run down my spine.

"Just take me where we were going," I whisper. I feel his eyes on me for just a moment before he walks past me and towards a thicker, denser area of trees. I follow, feeling the beginning of fall breath around us and the occasional leaf flutter to rest in the corner of my eye. I nearly run into Peeta as he stops suddenly in front of me.

I look past him to see the largest weeping willow I had ever seen. The long trendles swish slightly in the breeze and I walk around him and stop.

"Peeta, it's a very nice tree, but I really don't understand what it means," I say. He walks to the tree and pulls the hanging branches aside.

"Look at the trunk," he says. I follow him into the tree's shelter and see pieces of the bark stripped away in seemingly random places. I reach out to touch one and feel thick groves beneath my fingers, running together.

"What is this?" I ask.

"Claw marks," Peeta says from the shadows near the willow curtain. "And the blood of every Alpha and Luna who ever had control of our territory."

"Why?" I ask.

"It's part of the wedding ceremony," he says. "We make our mark, make this ours, our place, by marking it with our mixed blood. Only the leaders, the protectors of the pack have ever stood beneath these branches. But every member would lay down their lives to protect this tree because it represents everything we are and everything we ever will be." I lay my hand over the marks and then turn to him.

"I'm ready," I say softly. "I'm ready to take my place at your side. For you to turn me into one of you and marry you." I see him frown and look down.

"Katniss, the moon is full," he whispers. "If I do it now, you will change now. You'll have no time to prepare yourself for what will happen." I take a step closer to him and push his blonde curls away from his face.