Yasmin

It was going perfect.

The pack was getting on track. I was no longer Alpha, and Caine had Tyson arrange a picnic in the middle of the forest. One last hooray on my family soil.

I was never coming back.

My so-called family would now be lost to me forever. I felt not even a tinge of guilt when I ripped my father's throat out. My mother... well even though she was kind to me, her fate was sealed the moment she allowed for me to be sold like some object.

My temples throbbed as I gently rubbed them. Closing my eyes, my head resting against the cold concrete wall, Caine's face flashed in front of me again. But not the face of the handsome man who saved me from death the first time we met, but the ashen face of the man who had laid me down on the leaf-littered floor, only for a wooden stake to hit him square in the chest.

His body was like stone as it fell on me, only to be shoved off and the face of another man, grinning from ear to ear, replacing my mates.

Keith Ruby.

Even thinking the name left a sour taste in my mouth.

The only sense of relief I feel now is that I can still feel Caine. At first, my shock had paralyzed me. Unable to register anything other than the man I love, stone-like, wooden stick protruding from his chest.

The wolves had descended, and before I could shake myself free from the shackles of my shock, a different sort of restraints had bound my wrist. A new collar rested around my neck, and a chain and ball weighed down my feet.

Someone might be overestimating my strength.

My eyes barely spared the animals around me a glance, unable to look away from the mighty vampire left laying on the ground surrounded by the now wasted picnic and torn blanket.

My brain wasn't functioning correctly; otherwise, I would have fought, screamed, cried. None of those things matter now. They wouldn't have help, but I should have been paying attention. Overconfident in their ability to kill me mate, they didn't cover my face as they transported me.

If I had just been paying attention, I could have noticed what I was working with as they dragged me from the van, and lead me into the hell hole.

It has been two days since I last felt Caine's hands on my body, his lips on my flesh, his cock buried deep inside of me.

And still, no tears flowed.

It wasn't because I'm heartless. No. It's because I know Caine is coming for me. I can feel it deep in my bones.

The rattle of chains drew my attention for a split second. The heavy-looking metal door groaned and squealed as it was pulled open. My eyes snapping back down to my bare toes curling in the cold dirt floor.

I can't let them know. This is why I don't look them in the eye. Not the stupid reasoning of me bowing down to respect my real mate that Keith told his men.

I bow down to no one-especially, a flea-ridden mutt like him.

"I brought you some food, mate."

Even his voice made me want to be sick all over myself.

A scrap of the plate under the bars told me he was once again trying to drug me. What for?? Not like I was going anywhere with all this crap weighing me down.

"Come on, sweetheart, you have to eat. Just a little for you mate?" Keith crouched down, hands gripping the bars in front of him.

Still, I didn't move.

An agitated sigh left Keith's lips, hand raking his hair. "Listen here Bitch. Whatever that leeched planted in your head was a lie. I am your true mate. Don't you feel the bond?"

I could see him in my peripheral vision-the tension in the way that he moves, the sharp jerking movements of someone on edge.

What's made him on edge?

"Look, my love. My father has returned from wherever it was he went. No one really cares. But he has demanded I meet him in the office." He had started to pace only to stop and look at my once more, "So I will be going for a day or two. Not too far, but no one is allowed to know where you are until the mating moon. I don't need anyone else trying to claim you."

A stale silence filled the space. Was Keith waiting for me to say something, to beg him not to go? Maybe he will hold his breath while he waits for my reply.

With another heavy sigh, Keith turns, leaving the room through the same metal door he came. The chain rattled once more, and his footfalls died away.

But this time he had made a mistake. He had left the plate behind.