"I'm not your soulmate," I said, as a matter of fact, crossing my arms over my chest.

My heart sunk. If he was truly my soulmate (not that I thought he was), then what would Pa think? Surely, he would be disappointed in me, but more importantly, I could see him being disappointed in himself, thinking he failed me. I longed to reach out to Pa and hug him.

I had hugged him just the other day, but I was struggling to remember what his embrace felt like, and my heart rate picked up.

"You're mine, Sage," he moved even closer, his lips barely touching my ear. "I told you'd I'd show you that whether you liked it or not."

His scent was alluring — a mixture of pine and rain. Instinctively, my body swayed into his hold, leaning in closer to him.

"You may think I'm a monster, but your body is telling me a different story, sweetheart," he whispered into my ear, one of his hands on my knee, inching closer to my thigh.

Quickly, I swatted away his hand and pushed him off of me. I shook my head. He must have spiked me with something to act like this. That had to be it.

"What did you drug me with?" I asked, maintaining eye contact with him, as he took a step back. My hand was tingling from where I had touched Theo; it was an addicting kind of sensation.

"It's the mate bond," he smiled lazily. "It is one hell of a drug, don't you think?"

"Don't be ridiculous," I scoffed, realizing I would get nowhere with him.

He's a monster, after all. You can't reason with them. He was just saying that to provoke me. But why? I couldn't understand why he had captured me.

Then it clicked.

He had to know I was from the Borderlands... He must want to use me for insider information to bring down the Border. I simply wouldn't let that happen. I would rather die than betray my family and friends. While the idea of dying didn't settle too well with me at the moment, I knew — if it came down to it — I might have no choice.

"Where are my friends?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from him.

"Safe," he responded, "for now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That it depends on you, little mate," he was too smug about the whole situation that made my skin crawl. How could he be so casual about holding my friends captive?

Fast footsteps were heard scampering on the hardwood floor, slowing down once they reached closer to us.

"Alpha, I went to check up on the Luna, and her food was left untouched and she's missing!" the same voice from earlier this morning said frantically.

"It's okay, Mabel, she's right here."

"Oh, thank goodness," a petite woman came clamoring into the kitchen, with a tray full of cold food. It looked like there were pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, bacon, and sausage on the plate. My mouth was nearly watering at the sight of it. I hadn't eaten in a while. "Luna, you caused me quite the fright."

I froze.

It hadn't clicked earlier when I was still was bogged down by sleep. Theo was an Alpha and this stranger had called me Luna. No, it couldn't be — a fate worse than death. I couldn't possibly be a Luna.

"I'm not your Luna," I declared. "I'm Sage."

"Well, not officially, but you are Alpha Theo's mate," she said like it meant something. I was confused. I knew what a Luna was — or at least, I thought I did. I didn't know what being a mate had to do with that.

"And?" I asked, critically.

"Did they not teach you this in school? Where are you from?" I paled. I couldn't tell them the truth, even if they knew I was from the Borderlands.

"Uh, I'm from Boston," was my quick reply.

"Massachusetts?" Theo looked surprised and skeptical.

"Yeah," I tried to act confident when in reality I had picked one of the cities I had learned about in school. I wasn't too sure where Boston was exactly — if it even existed at all anymore.

"What are you doing in Washington then?" He countered back, smugly. His words meant little to nothing to me, as he could have told me Boston was in Washington, and I would have agreed with him.

"Vacationing."

"Where at?" He seemed to see through me.

"You know," was all I could offer as a response.

"I don't like liars," Theo expressed, as Mabel went around working in the kitchen. "Especially when the one lying to me is my mate."

I wanted to roll my eyes. Here he was again with the soulmates thing. Maybe he had conditioned himself into thinking it was true?

"I don't particularly like being kidnapped," the words left my mouth before I could filter them. I was ashamed of being so sassy back to Theo, even if he did kidnap me.

Gran used to say being sassy is just an excuse to be mean, and I didn't want Theo to get the better of me. He was pushing at some of my buttons, but I couldn't let him affect me more than he already was.

Mabel chuckled off in the distance, as she went to reheat the food from the tray. Theo lightly escorted me to the island that was between the kitchen and eat-in dining space — not to be confused with the grand dining room. This place was huge.

"Eat," Theo demanded as the pancakes, waffles, sausage, bacon, and some fruit were laid before me. "You need to take care of yourself."

He was so hot and cold – it made my spine tingle.

"No," I fought back.

Truthfully, I wished so badly to take a bite of the food. It clearly wouldn't be as good as Gran's cooking, but it would be better than anything I could cook for myself.

However, since Theo was so persistent in wanting me to eat, I simply couldn't will myself to listen to him. I wasn't going to let him wear me down so easily.

"Eat."

"N-o," I spelled out, resting my head on my hands that were propped up on the counter. Theo took a seat down next to me.

Slowly letting a breath out, I knew I was being difficult, but I had just been kidnapped, after all. While my situation might not be stereotypical, I knew I couldn't fall under the spell of my captors. They're Outsiders.

"Sage," he said in a kind of whine that tugged at my heartstrings.

"Alpha."

"Don't call me that. It's Theo to you," his eyes turned back to black; he was not pleased.

"Let me see my friends," I wagered, tilting my head slightly, so I could look him in the eyes.

"No."

"Please," I pouted, extending my bottom lip while also enlarging my eyes as wide as I could.

While Memphis was known around the Borderlands for his crooked smile, I was known for my puppy-dog face. I used it rarely, but when I did, it was often hard to say no to. Pa always said it was one of his only weaknesses in life — my stern Pop even agrees.

"Don't look at me like that." He shifted uncomfortably, his eyes returning to normal.

"Pretty please?" I made sure to extend my lip a little more and soften up my voice.

"Let's make a deal," he started. Pa always told me to never make a deal with the devil, but I wasn't sure I'd have too much of a choice. "You eat, and I'll let you see your friends."

"Deal," I agreed without even thinking.

Scarfing down some food, a couple of bites of pancakes drenched in sweet syrup and as much bacon as my stomach would allow, I took a sip of water. The food — while not at Gran's level — was still really good.

My lungs constricted at the thought of my sweet Gran. I missed her greatly already, and I couldn't have been gone for more than twelve hours. I needed to get home. Once I knew where Gracie and Natasha were, I'd be one step closer to escaping.

As I finished up eating, I turned back to Theo. "Can I see my friends now?"

He nodded his head, and I followed along behind him. We went back towards where I had been originally looking before I accidentally opened up his office door. Continuing down that way, he came to an unassuming door and pulled out a key from his pocket.

Okay, so I would have never been able to get in without him, that's good to note.

Unlocking the door, there stood a staircase downstairs. From what I could see, the walls were stone and looked out of place in the updated building. I looked skeptically at him, thinking that he was going to lead me down to my murder.

"Are you going to murder me down there?"

He growled lowly at me.

"Do you want to see your friends or not?" He questioned me, eyes narrowed.

I nodded my head, staying silent. I didn't want to upset him any more than I already had. He was my captor, after all. While he didn't act like he wanted to extend his nails and slit my throat, this could all be an act, and I had to be cautious.

He lead me down the cold stairs, the stone reminding me of the cobblestone that lined the town square back home. Hopefully, I'd be back there soon, I thought wistfully.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, I gasped. He didn't keep his monsters under his bed, he kept them under his house. He had a dungeon underneath his house, and I was now convinced that I would be killed tonight.

I should have just jumped out the window when I had the chance.

"Follow me," he said, as we walked down the only hallway that extended from the stairs. We passed by several cells, each filled with humans (I assumed) and wolves alike.

We walked for a while until he abruptly stopped in front of a cell. "Here we are."

"Gracie, Natasha?" I asked as I went closer to the cell.

The cell was small, with one tiny bed and a torch on the wall. There was one figure on the bed and one resting their back on the wall behind, knees to their chest. The lighting wasn't good enough to determine if it truly was Gracie and Natasha.

"Sage," a relieved Natasha made her way to the cell bars. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, I'm surprisingly intact," I could feel Theo's eyes staring at me from behind. I turned around with a smile. "Could you please give us some privacy?"

"No."

"It's fine, Sage," Natasha expressed sadly.

"Are you okay? You guys aren't hurt, are you?" I asked frantically.

"We're fine for now. Listen to me, Sage, come closer." I inched closer to the cell, hands resting on the bars. "Don't worry about us, Sage. You need to escape as soon as you can. He claimed you as his mate. If the bond is complete before you escape, you won't be able to leave. Ever."

He growled from behind, teeth chomping together. I could feel him coming closer. He came up from behind me, trying to pull me away.

"We had a deal!" I exclaimed, as my palm glided against Natasha's, my hand forming a fist.

"And I upheld it," he expressed, dragging me away from the cell. "You're infuriating to deal with."

"You're not so peachy yourself," I glared at him, but he couldn't see. He was walking back towards the stairs, as he dragged me along with him.

In the low light of the basement, I un-balled my fist ever so slightly -- making sure to do it behind Theo's back -- to find a piece of paper. Natasha must have snuck it into my clutches.

Maybe I would be able to sneak out after all.