Bronze

Chapter 5

Not gonna lie- I totally based Wendy's look after Alice from Twilight. I don't really want to put a picture of her up- one: because the height is different- And two: because the two character's personalities are completely opposite.

Just FYI- Wendy is Alice, but shorter and has none of her traits. :D

Leah

There was a tray of tarts left outside my door when I woke up. 

I took it and only ate a small portion before I fell back asleep. I was going insane. Being locked up in this room, not seeing anybody has really put a damper on my mood. 

Wolves have always been social creatures. We travel in groups and relish the closeness of being a  pack. Our instincts were to congregate together. 

I decided right then that I would go explore some of the Pack House. This was the building where all official meetings were held, pack gatherings took place, and where the alpha lived. To be a guest in his home was the highest honor given to a wolf. 

If it's such a high honor, I told myself. Then he will have no problem letting me roam around. 

I wrapped a jacket around my shoulders and quietly made my way out into the hall. I wasn't scared of him, but rather the woman with the wooden paddle. And maybe Kathrine, too. 

I walked around aimlessly until I bumped into a small person. She looked up at me and her eyes went wide with fear.

"I'm sorry," I smiled at her. She was the same girl who came into my room that first day. The tiny pixie with the bobbed hair. 

Her eyes gazed down at the floor as she mumbled. Her back pressed against a metal cart and she stumbled backward. Using my speed, I catch her before she falls, and pull her up against the wall. 

"My name is Leah," I told her. I release her arm and wait for a response. By the outfit she wore, she looked to be a type of maid. No wonder she was scared of me. That woman with the paddle must have been the overseer. 

"Let me help." I began pushing the cart forward. She froze and stared silently at me. I raised an eyebrow. "Are you coming?"

She jumped and scurried over to me. "I'm Wendy," she whispered. Her voice was higher pitched than mine and airier. She was so innocent, I wondered how older she actually was. 

We didn't talk for a long time. I pushed her cart and she would enter each room we stopped at to clean it out. I asked if she wanted me to go in, too, but she always denied any need for help. Even when it looked like she was struggling, I respected her wishes and stood off to the side to watch. 

I don't know why, but I found myself drawn to her. By some magical pull I couldn't explain, I felt a need to get closer with her and to get to know her as if we were destined to be friends. The Moon Goddess was cruel that like. First, she mated me to an impatient man who hits his mate, and now she gives me a friend who can't even speak to me without getting anxious. 

I groaned inwardly. 

Out of all the things she could have blessed me with, Alpha Kane as my mate was the last person I would have chosen. Anybody but him. He was cold, demanding, and an alpha. I'm not Luna material. I wasn't high in rank or had any qualities a leader should have. 

I was still so young. He was ten years older than me with the world at his fingertips. I was a runt, born to omegas and suddenly became a rogue, the lowest rank in all of Lycan kind. I was a traitor to my pack, a criminal charged with treason for refusing the alpha's orders. 

"How old are you?" I asked Wendy. 

She relaxed and turned her lips upward. "Twenty-two." 

Great. I was hoping for another she-wolf my age. At least then I wouldn't seem like such a pup in front of Kane. If I was going to fight this mate bond, I'd have to show him I wasn't backing down. By challenging him, I can skillfully tell him and his wolf that I am not his to own or control. But if he saw me as a little pup, all of it would be for nothing.

I was a rogue now. I didn't follow under an alpha rule. I still had the instinct to obey, but I was more or less in control of it.  The moment I betrayed my pack, I felt the change. I couldn't mind link anybody I loved, I couldn't feel them or sense them. My scent changed. 

Being without a pack was the worst punishment a Lycan can go through.

Wendy peered at me curiously. I blinked back the tears and continued forward. The air in the stuffy hallway filled my lungs like smoke. 

Take away a wolf's home, his family, his life, but do not take away his pack. Soon, if rogues don't form their own mini packs, they will die. Wolves without a group die of loneliness, even if they are surrounded by other people. 

I hugged the jacket closer to me as we deceased a set of stairs. They spiraled down and soon I found myself staring at the most luxurious kitchen I had ever seen. Coming from a small pack, we didn't have the riches Alpha Kane possessed. 

Two marble pillars held the ceiling from the center of the room. In between them was a large island counter. The whole back wall was lined with counters and even had two double doored fridges. To my right was a massive pantry shelf. 

"Want anything to eat?" She asked me. Not wanting to bother her, I shook my head. Wendy pulled out a bowl of strawberries from the fridge and handed it to me. "Take it anyway." 

I pulled out a strawberry and plopped it in my mouth. The juices exploded out making it hard to chew it all. Finally, when I had gotten it down, I asked, "Do you live here?"

"My father owes a debt to the Alpha," she murmurs. I took to the seat next to her at the island. "Alpha Kane saved my family from a fire four years ago. My father offered me as payment for his kindness."

"And he accepted?" I gasped in shock. I knew Kane was psycho, but not that crazy.

"Not exactly." Her face flushed as she looked away. "I begged to come with him. I felt it was my duty to help in any way I could."

"So you came willingly? Why would you do that?" 

Unfortunately, our kind lives in a male-dominated world. The old system is outdated and, in my opinion, obsolete. The world constantly changes, therefore, the rules must change with it, but most packs haven't learned this yet. They stick with it, hoping that their way of ruling will come back.

"I had to repay him," she shrugged her shoulder as if it weren't a big deal. I wanted to protest and tell her that she was an independent woman who didn't need to repay anybody, but a sudden old witch came in at that moment with a look that could kill.

She studied me carefully. Her lip twitched and her arms moved behind her. I jumped dup form the stool and hid behind Wendy.

She, too, stood and began backing up. 

"We should probably go," I whispered in her ear. She nodded and we bolted for the exit.