Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Mate?

Chapter 3

Scarlett's POV

I sat in the back seat with my arms crossed against my body. Leo was sitting on the other side of the car while his Beta and other guardsmen were in the front seat. His beta kept grinning at me mischievously and his eyes would flash between me and Leo.

"So, Luna, what pack did you come from?" the Beta asked. I simply glared at him and did not say a word. Leo was looking intently at me from the side.

"Scarlett, which pack did you come from?" Leo asked after waiting patiently for me to not answer for several minutes. I hated the way my name rolled off his tongue so easily. I hated the way he looked at me like I was some kind of prize. And mostly I hated the fact that it took every muscle in my body to prevent me from jumping him.

"Green Tide pack," I simply answered him, because technically I did come from that pack.

"Oh, then I'll ring up Alpha Eli and tell him to bring your stuff over to my lands," Leo said casually. My eyes widened. If Eli were to find out where I am, he could possibly try to kill me to prevent anyone from finding out about his little evil plan.

"That won't be necessary, I was leaving the pack anyways so I don't have anything on their land," I lied simply.

"Why were you leaving?" Leo asked me, confusion written all over his face. Oh, shit.

"My dad married into another pack," I lied again. Wow, I just met my mate and I've already lied to him twice. Some Luna I'll be. Luckily Leo seemed to drop the subject and I continued to remain stubborn as hell and simply stare forward. I could see Leo sneaking me glances and my body almost ached at how close he was. It seemed like all my nerves were standing on end, waiting in anticipation for him to touch me...

"Uh, Luna, did you hear that?" the Beta asked, snapping me out of my dirty thoughts. I shook my head because I didn't trust my voice at the moment. "I asked if you wanted to play a game to pass the time. We have quite a long road trip ahead of us." I cocked my eyebrow. I didn't expect these wolves to be the type to play games.

"Oh c'mon Luna, I'm sure you've played I Spy before," the Beta whined like a little kid.

"Scartlett," I said rather suddenly, suprising myself.

"What could you possibly see that is scarlett out here?" the third in command asked in disbelief.

"No, I meant my name is Scarlett. I would prefer that you call me that or Scar instead of 'Luna'. I'm not really one for official titles," I corrected myself. The Beta gave me a cheeky grin and turned to Leo, "I like her, she's not gonna let the power go to her head." I rolled my eyes at his comment. He didn't understand that I wasn't planning on staying for very long. In fact, as soon as the car reached a rest stop, I decided that I wanted to make a run for it. Mate or no mate, I would not be controlled by a person who just met me.

"I'm Flynn by the way, and the third in command is Blake," Flynn introduced himself. Leo then spoke up and said, "Blake, I'm assigning you to be Scarlett's official guard. You'll be in charge of her security." 

I was practically melting at the sound of his voice when I realized just exactly what he said. "Wait a second, 'security'? Are you seriously going to make your third in command babysit me?"

"Yes," Leo confirmed in a "duh" tone. "I trust Blake and he will take good care of you when I am not around." Blake seemed to grunt in response as he continued driving, his eyes never shifting from the road.

"I think I can take care of myself, thank you very much," I said stubbornly. I didn't like how I was being treated as some little kid. Clearly my mate did not understand what a fighter I was. Guess I'm just gonna have to show him..

"How much longer?" Leo asked Blake.

"Three hours, Alpha," Blake said. I closed my eyes. If I was gonna be stuck in a car for this long, I might as well get some shut eye. I'll need my energy for when I make my escape.

"Aw damnit. We didn't even get to start I Spy!" I heard Flynn whine as I quickly embraced sleep.

-3 Hours Later-

I woke up to Leo lightly shaking my shoulder. I could instantly tell it was him because of the little sparks going off and how fast my heart was racing.

"Hey, Scarlett, we're here," Leo smiled down at me. I took a moment to stretch my limbs. If I was gonna make a run for it, I might as well do it now. 

I followed Leo out of the car and watched him walk up to the front door. I couldn't see Blake or Flynn anymore so I assumed they were just inside. When Leo was a good 20 yards away from me, I took off in the other direction towards the woods. It took Leo a moment to register what happened and then I heard him swear as he took off after me. He was probably going to call back up and he was starting to gain on me so in mid-stride, I shifted into my all white wolf and kept pumping forward. I have fled fights before and I like to think that I am pretty fast. I got to the woods before Leo and I hoped that the amount of trees would serve as obstacles and held me make my escape.

What I wasn't expecting was Leo to shift as well into a HUGE midnight black wolf who growled so loud that the whole woods seemed to shake. I understand that making an Alpha angry isn't the smartest thing to do but it wasn't the first time I had done it and I needed to escape as soon as possible so he couldn't mark me. If he marked me, there was no way I would be able to stay away from him for long periods of time. 

I kept focused on what was ahead of me and made sure to dodge trees and fallen limbs but when I peaked to the right side, I could see flashes of black through the foilage. Shit, he's gaining on me.

I broke out of the woods to find myself in a clearing and just managed to stop myself right before I bumped into Leo in wolf form. He must have outran me and doubled back to the clearing because he knew I would come through here. I immediately crouched in a low position and showed my teeth, I was not going down without a fight. Then I realized we were not alone since I heard other wolves growl lowly. They probably saw me as a rogue who was challenging their Alpha but at the moment I didn't care. All I wanted was to get out of there.

Leo shifted back into his human form. "Scarlett, shift," he demanded. He sounded angry and the light in his eyes was replaced with a cold harshness. His command felt like a little pressure on my bones but I refused to change in front of all these men. Just because he was comfortable being stark naked in front of these wolves doesn't mean I was.

A wolf walked up to Leo with a t-shirt in his hands and gave it to him. He gave me a sideways glare in a way and walked back to join the half circle of wolves that surronded me and my mate.

"You can change into this big t-shirt but if you don't shift, I will and then I will mark you against your will," Leo threatened. I whined slightly, knowing that it would hurt if it was done against my will. I thought mates never wanted to hurt each other! Then again, I was the one trying to run away from Leo.

I gently took the shirt and went behind a bush. A few of the wolves followed me at a distance to make sure I didn't bolt for it but I wasn't going to be foolish. I was too outnumbered here and if I was going to make an escape I would have to do it much more subtly. 

I shifted and put the t-shirt on and resumed my spot across from Leo in the clearing. His nostrils seemed to flare in frustation and the anger seemed to roll off him in waves. In two big strides he made his way over to me and clamped his hand on my wrist. 

"I'm taking you where I can keep a better eye on you," He muttered, angrily. His grasp was beginning to hurt my wrist but I didn't protest. Some of the wolves gave me glares for threatening their Alpha while others gave me pity looks because of the wrath that I was about to endure. Either way, I didn't care. What these wolves and my mate were about to understand was that I am intimidated by no one, controlled by no one, and I am going to keep it that way.