Kane's nails continue to dig painfully into my arm as we reach a pair of white metal doors, the sign above them displaying "Infirmary" in aggressively red letters.

I wait for Kane's grip to release, but it only tightens, and I wince sharply.

"Let go of me, Kane." I growl quietly.

With a yank, he pulls my face in front of his, and my wide eyes meet his beady ones, squinted in rage. His breath smells of mold and meat, like a dog's. I struggle to pull away from him, but he only holds tighter, breathing harder.

"Listen to me, you little runt," He hisses, spraying my cheek with a vile stream of saliva. I choke slightly, reeling with nausea. "Back in your pitiful pack, you were no doubt the little princess, getting everything you wanted. But here, in my world, you are only a beetle underneath my shoe. And one day, I might take a wrong step and crunch." Glee fills his eyes, and I wrench myself from his hold sharply, stumbling back a step or two, falling against the doors.

"How dare-"

He cuts me off with a shove into the infirmary, and I barely catch myself from landing on the polished marble floors.

"Here you are, brat." Kane grins devilishly, the curve of his lips falsely sweet. "Have fun playing patient, you'll be back in the Tombs before you know it. Ta Ta." And with a wave of his hand, he's gone.

I turn around, and come face to face with a sea of frozen doctors and nurses, all eyes focused directly on me. I gulp, straightening my ragged hair, clearing my throat.

Just ignore them.

I step forward to a desk, and knock slightly on the wood of its surface, causing the dark eyed woman behind it to look up.

"Alpha Octavius already phoned in. Follow me." She moves away from the desk, and my eyes focus on the round shape of her stomach. Images of my stomach bloated with a beast's baby fill my mind, fear and wonder mingling in my chest like some unbalanced soup.

Never the less, I follow the woman into a white hospital room, and take the generic pants and shirt she hands me. She taps her foot at me impatiently, and I nod, moving behind a screen to change. I slip my shirt over my head, the soft fabric leaving my body with a cold and empty feeling. As if, by discarding my clothes, I am shedding the last visible sign from my life in Moonrise.

"I have other appointments to get to, please, with haste." The nurse's voice snaps, and I shake my head of thoughts, numbly tying the tie of the slightly too big hospital pants.

She rolls her eyes once I exit from behind the screen, a spool of gauze bouncing up and down as she tosses it.

I am conflicted between wringing her neck and slapping her across the face, but before I can decide the mode of my tantrum, she is pushing me towards a creaky hospital bed, and I sigh with exhaustion as my body comes into contact with the odd-feeling fabric.

The nurse bandages my leg wound quickly, with an aggression that is completely unnecessary. I just bite my tongue, not wanting to anger the woman with access to syringes and scalpels. She finishes, and takes hold of my chin, examining the fading bruises that line my cheek bone. With a shrug, she just tosses me a lopsided ice-pack, which I just lay next to me.

She steps back, looking me up and down, wobbling slightly due to her large belly.

"Is that it?" She questions, annoyance dripping from her tone.

"Yes?" I respond hesitantly, frowning at her confusion.

"That's all? And the Alpha still requested that you get medical care?"

"Seeing as it was his men that caused my injuries, it was only cordial for him to do so, was it not?" I snap sarcastically, scoffing with irritation.

I know sound like a spoiled brat, but as of now, I couldn't give a shit.

"Incredible, you Moonrise pack members are as pathetic as I've heard."

And she disappears through the door before I can retaliate.

I exhale with a huff, and scoot back in the bed, exhaustion flooding through me, but my mind is keeping me awake, so I settle for counting ceiling tiles.

Although Octavius said that my "living arrangements" would be decided once I was discharged, it has been two hours since my examination was finished and nothing has happened. After getting tired of counting the same number of tiles seven times, I have been entertaining myself by shooting rubber bands at the box of gloves on the wall, and creating a slingshot from the bands, a pen and cotton balls. Desperate boredom calls for desperate entertainment.

As I am loading my final cotton ball and aiming at the box, I am startled by the door opening, and the cotton ball flies towards the intruder.

I watch in horror as I realize I have just hit Octavius in the nose with a cotton ball. He watches as the cotton ball falls to the ground, rolling pathetically on the tile floor.

He looks shocked from the ball to me and to my makeshift slingshot. I am frozen in humiliation and fear as I wait for his response.

And this murderer, this cruel villain chuckles. Chuckles.

"I must say, that is the saddest rubber band weapon I've seen." I am both offended and entranced by his words.

Without stopping myself, I snap, "I worked with what I had. I've been locked in here for like an hour."

My sassy tone seems to snap him out of his humor because his face goes to stone again, and I almost whimper at its departure.

"I had to deal with your late-pack. Some of your members were less than cooperative."

"What did you do to them?" I whisper.

"What had to be done." His tone is flat, the same as if he were talking about the weather.

"Those people," I whisper again, "Are my family."

"This pack" He growls, slowly gliding closer to my hospital bed, "Is your family now. And my decisions will not be questioned."

Anger builds in my stomach at his height, looming several feet above my lying form on the bed.

"Moonrise Pack will always be my family. Blood Moon is just a hoard of kidnappers and murderers. Your pack is the scum. Not mine."

Fury shines behind his eyes at my words, and I see blood peek out from his gripped fists.

"Don't test my self-control, Alessandra." And composure changes once again, snapping back to his regal and bored state.

"Listen, Alpha-"

"I recommend silence, Alessandra." He snaps, interrupting me with a wave of his hand.

He pauses a moment, waiting for me to retaliate, but something in me tells me to listen. Most likely the growling of my stomach and the lingering boredom still present in my mind.

"You will be living in my wing of the pack mansion, you will have your own room. This is not up for negotiations. Come." And he turns on his heel and leaves me fuming on the bed.

I roll my eyes, lifting myself off the bed, my bare feet meeting the cold ground.

I scramble up and after him, feeling like a puppy following its owner. I hated this sense of total dominance he had over me, but my wolf loved it, craving the moment when he would take control. I curse my wolf, knowing that this internal conflict is not helping my situation in any way. But deeper inside me, I hate the fact that I vaguely agree with her, and that is what terrifies me more than anything.

We pass through the infirmary, nurses and doctors staring as we passed by, sizing me up, I can almost feel the heat of their judging stares. The woman at the front desk watches me with confusion and shock in her eyes, her gaze drifting from me to Octavius and back in awe. I almost want to send her a triumphant nod, but I know that none of us have won in this situation.

She's not good enough for the alpha, the stares seem to gloat.

Like a kicked puppy, I just continue to follow Octavius down the halls, making about three rights and lefts until we reached yet another large wooden door. All this time, I am stuck staring at his back, well, more gazing. Gazing at how the muscles move and mold with the swinging of his broad shoulders, the length of his stride, the power in his step. I am all too entranced by the man I am supposed to despise.

I nearly collide with his back as he comes to a halt in front of the door. This one has a large, golden padlock attached, and I bite my lip thinking of all the secrets held behind that one key stroke.

Octavius pulls out a key and twisted it and with a click, the door opened to reveal, "The Alpha's Wing".

The door enters into a large foyer, with mahogany walls with golden trim, and black rugs cover the entire floor. The wing feels rich and dangerous, as if trap doors hid under each golden painting. I feel entirely too small in such a weighted room.

Octavius clears his throat, pulling my attention from the intricacy of the room to him. "Your room is across from mine down that hall" He pointed to the right, to a long and red hall. "You may not leave this wing without expressed permission from me." I gape at him.

"You can't be serious! How am I supposed to see my family, my friends?" He looms over me, peering at me through thick lashes.

I gulp at his closeness, but instead of sparks, I feel fear of this man, his sheer size intimidating as well as alluring.

"Then I will be there, or be alerted to wherever you are going, whenever you are going somewhere. This is your new life, Alessandra, and you might as well get used to it. I do not deal with disobedience well."

"Stop using my name as if I am a child!" I stomp my foot, totally contradicting my statement.

"Then I suggest you stop acting like one, Aless-." He stops himself before finishing my full name. "I have to attend to the rest of your late-pack. I will return within the hour."

And my profanities are left unheard as he slams the door behind him.