Ughhhhh , I thought in a somewhat conscious state. I tried to open my eyes, but found that they were too droopy. Confused, I tried remembering the last thing that happened. I was running from the Alpha, then he caught me, then...

It's not time for you to wake up yet, pup, Alpha Cain's voice penetrated my mind. The only way for him to be mindlinking me was if... he marked me.

Suddenly the memory came rushing back to me, and I suddenly was acutely aware of the soreness in my neck. I struggled to touch my neck as an automatic reflex, but found that I couldn't move.

My mind, still feeling fuzzy, struggled to piece together what was happening. I focused on what was happening around me, and I realized that I was being carried, due to the slight swaying motion I was experiencing.

Summoning all of my strength, I managed to pry my eyes open. I looked down and realized that I was once again wrapped in the pelt. I blushed, realizing that I was naked underneath, since I had destroyed my clothes while shifting out of them.

"Did you just blush?" Alpha Cain asked suddenly, and my eyes snapped up to look at him. I glared at him, still furious that he had marked me, even though he had followed our deal. "You can't be mad at me for marking you, mate. I should have done it the second I caught you in the forest the first time, back on Red Crescent territory. Does this seem familiar to you?" He asked, slightly mocking.

I continued to glare at him, hating the victorious look on his face. "I will say, you followed along with my plan beautifully. You did everything according to plan, although I will admit, the kiss was a surprise," He continued, and spoke again when he noticed the confused look on my face. What plan? "I didn't bring the knife along just for the purpose of the picnic, Ares. I knew you would use it to stab me and run, therefore violating the terms of our agreement."

I stared in shock at my conniving mate as I realized that he had been playing me the way I thought I had been playing him the whole time. F***ing A**hole. "You aren't as clever as you think, pup. I'm 10 years older than you, I've seen it all. You thought I was weakened because of how I felt about you, but you couldn't have been more wrong. I knew you thought I was blinded because you are my mate, and thought I wouldn't notice all of the eye rolls, glares, and flinches anytime I would touch you. The problem was, I wanted to mark you sooner than in two weeks. So, I constructed a situation in which I knew you would violate the agreement, so I could mark you sooner."

My jaw dropped open. I couldn't believe this jackhole had manipulated me the whole time. "You manipulated me first, little mate." Alpha Cain said aloud, shocking me. How could he hear what I was thinking? I hadn't spoken through the mindlink.

"One of the many benefits to being an Alpha is that we can read our mates' mind." He coolly spoke, looking straight ahead into the forest. I could tell that it wouldn't be long until we would be back to his pack house. "And yes, I heard all of the names you've been calling me."

I instantly thought of a million more bad things to call him, and he laughed, a loud bellowing sound that shook every leaf in sight. I focused on our bond that had resulted from him marking me. I realized that I could feel his emotions, and I was irate when I noticed that he was feeling happy and victorious. And why wouldn't he be? He bested me.

"And I always will," Alpha Cain commented on my thoughts. I growled, not liking that he could read my mind. I wondered if I could block him out, and instinctively imagined physically blocking him out of my mind with a huge barrier. As I did that, almost immediately, it felt like a pressure I didn't feel initially had been lifted from my brain. "How did you do that?" Alpha Cain growled, and I knew I was successful in making sure he couldn't read my mind.

I growled right back at him, feeling my internal hate fire renewed. "I won't hesitate to make you submit, pup." He snarled, his eyes getting darker. I smiled sweetly at him. He could try, but we both knew I wouldn't. He wasn't willing to hurt me enough to make me submit.

Stop calling me pup, I snapped at him through the mindlink. He looked shocked for a minute, and then quickly recovered. "It would do you well to remember who the Alpha is here," He growled, which I rolled my eyes at.

He growled again, and almost gave me a heart attack when he suddenly through me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing. I gasped as he spanked me hard, 3 times through the pelt. It didn't sting, because of the pelt, but it certainly was rough enough for me to feel the pain of being struck.

"I actually think that I rather like this method of carrying you," Alpha Cain smarted off, and I could tell he was smirking. I struggled to get out of his grasp, via kicking and punching. He stuck me 3 more times. "Tsk, Tsk," He chided, "That's no way to treat your Alpha."

I groaned, and stopped struggling so he would stop freaking spanking me. He continued to carry me this way until we got to the pack house, and I began thrashing again, assuming he would carry me in his normal bridal style way, since we were about to enter the Pack House, where there would likely be other people. He laughed, "I think the pack would actually rather find this position funny. I sure do."

I continued kicking and punching him as he walked us into the house and up the stairs into his room. I ignored the stares I got from various people in his pack. All of the people who watched the scene I was making looked completely shocked, and I wasn't completely sure why.

When we got to Caine's room, he threw me on the bed, none too gently. I struggled out of the pelt, until I realized that left me exposed, and then I wrapped it around me again. The whole time, Alpha Cain's eyes never left mine. "Why do you call me Alpha Cain and not Cain?" He suddenly asked, and I inwardly groaned when I realized I must have let the wall down during all of his carrying antics.

Truth be told, I only allowed myself to call him Alpha Cain to distance myself as his mate. Calling him anything else would be informal, and I didn't want anything to be personal about our relationship.

"Call me Cain in private, Alpha Cain in front of anyone. You are my mate, we should be on my first name basis." He ordered, and I rolled my eyes at him, knowing that it would make him angry. He growled at me and stalked towards the bed, and I smiled sweetly at him, and crawled closer to him on the bed. He stopped walking, and stared at me in confusion. I beckoned him forth with my finger, and he looked infinitely more confused.

When he got to the edge of the bed, I launched myself at him, hoping to catch him off balance and tackle him to the ground just so I could get a few punches in. Unfortunately, he either was expecting my attack or was just too strong, because it was like throwing myself at a brick wall. He easily caught me, and hadn't staggered back once.

He made the mistake of holding me by the waist and not restraining my arms, so I wound my right arm back and punched him right in the eye. "F*ck!" He swore, dropping me. I used this to my advantage, and kicked him in the shin, hard. He may be an Alpha, but I had years of training, and I certainly wasn't weak. Even though my hands weren't healed enough for me to summon weapons yet, I was still lethal.

As he bent over to grab his shin, I kneed him in chin, hearing a satisfying crunch. I lifted my leg up to kick him in the face again, but he grabbed my leg, and I hissed when he lifted me up off of the ground and held my upside down by my ankle. I struggled to get out, but he had an iron grip.

"Compromising position you seem to be in, pup," He taunted me, and I growled. "If you weren't my mate, I would kill you right now." I smirked at him, knowing he wouldn't hurt me. "But I can't let acts of violence against me go unpunished."

Still holding me upside down with one hand, he spanked me 10 times. This time, they hurt worse because the pelt wasn't around me, and it also seemed like he wasn't restraining himself. I had to admit, I was impressed by his blatant violence against me. I thought he would be too weak to hurt me. Unfortunately for him, this wasn't anywhere close to the worst pain I had experienced.

Suddenly, he dropped me headfirst, and I quickly rolled into a summersault, so I wouldn't land on my head. "You're quick, and throw powerful punches," Alpha Cain praised me, and I quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

I got into fighting position again, and Alpha Cain sighed heavily, looking completely bored and exhausted. "Submit already, pup."

Never, I mindlinked him, and launched myself at him again.

This time, he was more prepared, and sidestepped me. He kicked me in the back of the knee when I shot past him, and the bored expression on his face didn't falter.

I swung at him again with my right hand, knowing he would think that would be the main assault. However, when he grabbed my hand that I aimed towards the eye I had already punched once (and was starting to bruise already), I used my left fist to punch him in the gut, hoping to knock the wind out of him. That didn't happen.

I gasped as pain filled my left fist, hearing every bone in my fingers snap. It felt like I had punched a brick wall. In all of my years of punching sh*t, that had never happened before. "Are you done hurting yourself yet, pup?" He asked, and I could see in his eyes that he didn't feel bad about my hand.

I snarled, and rebroke the fingers, aligning them correctly this time, so they would heal properly. Due to quick werewolf healing, you had to rebreak the bones most times so that they could heal correctly. I had my fair share of broken bones to correct.

He looked shocked by the violent way I had just rebroke my hand, and I used his surprise against him, kicking him squarely in the chest. I heard the satisfying sound of his sternum break, and punched him in the jaw as he clutched his chest.

To my surprise, he just looked sadly at me, and left the room. I tapped into the mate bond to see what he was feeling, and could feel sadness and... guilt? What was he guilty for? I certainly didn't feel guilty for breaking any of his bones, and would do it again as soon as he came back.

He came back a few minutes later, with a syringe in his hand. His face looked stern, but I could feel his guilt in the mate bond. He was going to chemically knock me out.

I growled, and was about to attack him, when I was thrown back into the wall. My head smacked against the wall, and I could feel my head spinning. Alpha Cain held me by my throat to the wall, and my mark tingled where his hand touched it.

I kicked him in the shin again, but he didn't react. He held up the syringe, with almost nonexistent traces of sadness in his eyes. He quickly shoved the needle into my arm and pressed down on the plunger.

Almost immediately, I could feel myself getting droopy. I weakly lifted my fist and swung, hitting his arm, knowing it was too weak to hurt him.

I collapsed, and Alpha Cain caught me in his arms. I tried struggling to get away, but my limbs felt like Jello.

"I'm so sorry, little mate. I couldn't have you continue to hurt yourself," he mumbled into my ear so softly that I almost didn't hear it, and I wondered if I was meant to.

For what felt like the hundredth time since meeting the Blood Alpha, I sank into unconsciousness. Now, the darkness was a welcome, familiar comfort.