As Sophie continued to tell her harrowing story she focused on a small stain she could see on the wall above Alpha Jacobs head, it was much easier to talk when she didn't have to look at his face and see the pity she knew would be there.

"I healed pretty quickly after the first time, my wolf was much stronger then." She paused to gather her thoughts. "He raped and beat me every day for the next month or so. Said he was "breaking me in." I think he was just trying to break me. He kept me chained like a dog in the corner of his room, only releasing me when he wanted to use me. Those weeks are pretty much a blur and for that I am thankful. I don't know if I would have survived with my mind intact if I was not on the verge of unconsciousness the whole time."

"After the first month or so he finally unchained me and I was allowed to move about the cabin freely. I think he thought I was too scared to try and run away. But I tried. I tried so many times over the years to get away, but he caught me every time. And every time he brought me back the punishment was worse than the last." Sophie finally looked at the imposing alpha sitting silently and tried not to see the pity and horror in his eyes.

Jacob swallowed the lump which had been wedged in his throat for the last five minutes and asked softly, "why didn't you approach someone in the pack and ask for help? You must have saw others at some point."

"Oh I did ask for help, numerous times. The first time I got out was a few months after the first rape. I was covered in bruises and filthy. I had climbed out of a window and ran. I saw a male walking toward the pack house and called out to him. When I ran up to him and tried to approach him he took one look at me and turned away. I called after him and asked him to take me to the alpha. He ignored me and kept on walking. He came running after me when he realised I had gotten out, grabbed me and dragged me back to that hell hole."

"I couldn't understand why the man had walked away, why he had ignored me. Turns out he had told them I was mentally unstable caused by the death of my parents. That I would attack him for no reason and the bruises where from him defending himself and disciplining me. He told them I refused to bathe and because I was a teenage girl he didn't think it was appropriate for him to bathe me." Sophie scoffed contemptuously. "Goddess he must have been a very convincing liar."

Shocked, Jacob could only shake his head incredulous at what he was being told. Oh how this pack had failed that poor child. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that everything he was being told was the absolute truth. He could scent no deception, only pain and despair. He knew that there was much she wasn't telling him. She had brushed over the mention of the punishments she received after her attempted escapes. He could only imagine how truly horrific those must have been. He cleared his throat once again trying to dislodge the permanent lump there.

"I'd like to move forward if I may to the day you turned eighteen. Can you tell me what happened that morning?"

Sophie frowned and focused once again on the small stain that had become almost a life line for her. "I knew the chances of finding my mate on the very day I came of age where slim, but when you live the life I lived hope is really all you have. I snuck out of the cabin early in the morning. He was still sleeping of the alcohol he had drank the night before. I made my way down to the creek where I knew many of the younger members of the pack hung out in the summer. He was the first person I saw."

"Who was Sophie?" Jacob asked.

"My mate! Zack. He had just came out of the water. I had never saw him up close before and I was surprised by my reaction to him."

"Why were you surprised Sophie, what was your reaction?"

She looked back at Jacob just for a second before turning her head once more. "I thought he was the most handsome man I had ever saw. It shocked me that even after everything that he had done to me I could still find a man attractive. And he didn't frighten me. That surprised me more than anything. Just as I was about to turn away the breeze picked up and I caught the most delicious scent riding on it. I knew straight away. I knew he was my mate. It was just like my parents had told me it would be. Even as weak as she had become, my wolf went nuts, straining to get to our mate."

"I knew then I was saved. I knew my mate would sweep me up in his arms and take me away from the hell that had become my life. I started to walk towards Zack when someone grabbed my arm from behind. He had woke up and came looking for me when he realised I had gotten out again. I told him he had to let me go. I told him Zack was my mate and he couldn't keep me from him. That is was against pack law. But he didn't care. Told me I was a whore, his whore, and that my mate would never want or accept me. Then he started dragging me back towards his cabin. I fought to get away, to get to my mate." Sophie sighed sadness etched on her expressive face. "But it was no use. He dragged me back to the cabin. He raped me again and beat me so badly that day for trying to defy him that he nearly killed me. It was almost two weeks before I could even stand up without holding onto something."

Jacob didn't think she could have said anything more shocking than what she had already told him, but in that moment he realised just wrong he was. The mate bond was the most sacred law within their species. Nothing and no one could or should come between mates. Ever! Their whole society was built around that law. Without mates there could be no young. He roughly pulled himself together his mind scrambling to catch up with what he had heard. "But you did eventually get to speak to Zack didn't you?" He asked. "You approached him outside the pack house a couple of weeks after your birthday?"

Sophie looked sharply at Jacob. She knew he was going to start asking questions soon about Zack's parents, and although they meant nothing to her, they were important to him. Once she was gone she at least wanted him to have something. Even if it was the people who had done nothing to help her.

"Yes thats right." she answered carefully.

"Can you tell me what happened when you first spoke to your mate." Said Jacob.

"He didn't recognise me. Either as a member of his pack or his mate." Sophie answered simply.

"How could he not recognise you as his mate?" Jacob asked incredulously. "He would have known from your scent that you were mates!"

Sophie took a moment to compose herself. "The day after my eighteenth birthday he gave me a tablet to take. I thought he had realised how badly I was hurt and was giving me something to help with the pain. I didn't know at the time it was a scent suppressor. Zack told me a few weeks ago that he had been putting it in my food from that day on to mask my scent from my mate."

"But....but...... where did he get those drugs from. They are not available to just anyone. They are only supposed to be used under exceptional circumstances." Jacob almost shouted, anger radiating from him in waves.

"I don't know where he got them from. I only know now that's what had happened. I thought I was going insane for those two years. My wolf was constantly calling for our mate and neither of us could understand why he didn't recognise us. Why he didn't come for us." Sophie sighed sadly. "It doesn't matter now anyway." She said carefully. "I have my mate now."

"Of course it matters. Frank Danes should never have had access to those drugs. I need to find out where he got them from!" He bellowed.

"How are you going to find out?" Sophie asked quietly. "He is dead. You can't ask a dead male any questions."

Jacob huffed out an annoyed breath, silently seething because he knew she was right. But there was no doubt in his mind, he would find out how Frank Danes had gotten hold of a drug he should never have been able to. And that person would be held accountable to the fullest extent of pack law.

He decided to move on to his last question. "I only have one other question at this time Sophie, I need you to tell me what happened the day you killed your uncle."

Sophie closed her eyes, pain filling her face at the memories flooding her. "He had come into the cabin just after lunchtime in a rage. He was the angriest I had ever saw him. He began ranting about others not doing what they had promised to do. I tried to stay out of his way but he decided to take his anger out on his convenient victim. He tore of my clothes and raped me repeatedly, beating me constantly. When he got tired of raping me he brought out his whip. When I saw the whip I tried to run. I knew if he used it on me it would be weeks before I was healed, but I was too weak from the beating he had given me during the rape to get away from him."

Sophie's eyes found their comforting wall stain once more. "He started whipping me. Over and over he brought it down on my back until I was screaming in pain. But this time I knew it was different. His rage was like a living entity. I knew if I didn't stop him or get away from him, this time I just knew he would kill me. Somehow I managed to push up from the floor and I rushed towards him, pushing him over as I went. I found myself in the kitchen without even knowing how I got there. There was a knife on the worktop from when I had been preparing lunch. I wasn't particularly sharp, he always made sure I didn't have access to sharp knives in case I decided to use one on my self. He didn't want to loose his......sex slave."

Sophie blew out a harsh breath. "I grabbed the knife and as he lifted his arm to whip me again, I stabbed it into his chest! I don't know where I got the strength from but I stabbed him over and over, till he fell down and stopped moving. I left him lying in a pool of his own blood. Just like he had done to me the first time he raped me."

Sophie looked at the shocked council representative and a small smile graced her beautiful face. "That was the day Frank Danes died and Sophie Danes was reborn."