I closed the door after myself as I stepped inside the room. The scent of his cologne engulfed me, and I took a moment to appreciate it.

My Wolf purred at how amazing our mate smelled, but before I could get side tracked again, I snapped myself out of my infatuation.

My hands trailed over the rack of clothes with shirts on them, and all I could think was why he had so many of the same shirts.

I continued to explore Alexander's closet, but nothing of interest caught my eyes. There was no sign of any secret girlfriend or anything interesting out of his clothes, I was left disappointed. My Wolf, on the other hand, was happy.

Twenty minutes later or so, I was sat on Alexander's bedroom floor, with an astrology facts book in my hands. Half of the time, I was sat rolling my eyes at the 'facts.'

"I am sorry about that," Alexander said when he joined me. "It was my mother. She does not know of your existence as of yet."

I didn't need to ask him how he knew where I was, it was quite clear. If anything, my scent had guided him. And I was glad to know his mother wasn't aware of my existence. It saved my face for another while.

"You said you'd deal with it quickly," I muttered, closing the book shut. "I don't have to meet her, right?"

The boy arched a brow from where he was stood by the door. "Maybe not right now, but you will have to eventually."

I grimaced, but dropped the topic in hopes that I would not have to meet her for a long time. Formalities made me cringe.

"Let me see Jaxon," I demanded, and picked myself up off of the floor.

"No."

"I'm not asking for permission!"

"You are not seeing him."

Crossing my arms, I arched a brow at him. "Why not? You don't trust me?"

Alexander snarled. "It is him that I do not trust!"

I chuckled, humourlessly. "That boy has been my family since I can remember!"

"So?" he retorted. "I am not letting him take you away from me."

"No one is taking me anywhere. I can take myself," I snapped. "I just want to speak to him."

My mate guarded me with hard eyes, and proceeded to shake his head. "No."

"If you want me to stay with you then you will grant me permission which I shouldn't even have to ask for! I am seeing Jaxon, whether you like it or not."

"I am doing this for your safety," he sneered. "Being near him is not safe for you!"

"Jaxon would never hurt me!" I cried, feeling ridiculed by my own mate.

"You do not kn-"

"Alexander, if you don't let me visit my captured best friend, I swear on the moon God's, I will reject you," I threatened, cutting him off.

My words silenced him. He looked dumbfounded, and angry. His forehead creased, and I saw a faint glimpse of his canines. The white sclera on his eyes had turned completely black. He looked furious.

In a matter of seconds, he had me pulled flush in to his chest. I could feel sparks erupting through our bodies at the mere touch.

My mate was breathing loudly as he held me close. He looked like he was fighting a battle against his Wolf.

"Five minutes," he growled. "You have five minutes with the boy and I am going with you."

"You are absolutely not," I retorted, glaring up at him.

"Then you are not seeing him either," he told me with dark eyes.

"Then I am rejecting you."

Our eyes were glued to each other. His eyes were dark and furious, mine were angry and hard. I didn't want to fight with him, my Wolf hated it. And frankly, I hated it. Despite the anger that I felt, I wanted nothing more than connect my lips with his.

As if he had read my mind, Alexander placed his hand on my neck and brought his lips down on mine, sending sparks to erupt throughout me.

It was a soft, but intense kiss to help us both relieve of the frustration that we felt. His lips on mine drove me completely insane and before I could get lost in his touch, he pulled away to peck at my temple.

"Five minutes," Alexander reminded me.

After I had threatened to reject him, he had brought me to the underground prison. We were stood by the entrance.

"Five minutes," I agreed and turned on my heel to walk towards Jaxon.

Before I could take a step, Alexander's hand on my arm brought me to an abrupt halt.

"If anything was to happen," he began to say, his voice low.

"Nothing is going to happen," I snapped, not giving him time to finish his sentence.

He growled lowly. "If anything was to happen," he repeated, putting an emphasis on the first word. "All you have to do is call for me and I will be there in two seconds flat. Understood?"

My brows knitted at his words. He was so dramatic. There was no way Jaxon would hurt me.

But before I could utter another word, Alexander dipped his head down and pressed his lips against mine hard. I was caught by surprise, but felt myself giving in to the kiss and I wrapped my arms around his neck to get more comfortable.

The kiss didn't last long before he pulled away, making me pout, but I quickly hid my expression. He didn't need to see how desperately I wanted him. It was a short kiss but enough to excite my Wolf.

"Go before I stop you," he ordered, huskily.

When I nodded, he dropped his hand on me and I quickly scurried away. If I stayed close to him, I would end up not seeing Jaxon, and I didn't want that. My Wolf tried to argue otherwise, but I suppressed her. The darkness of the underground prison sent a shudder to curse through my body.

There were echoes of low howls and growls through the old walls. I was surprised an old place could hold such strong Wolves— then realised how easily I had escaped. It made no sense why Jaxon couldn't.

When my eyes landed on the cells where Jaxon was captured, I was shocked. The cell that I had been placed in was nothing compared to these.

The bars on these were at least five times the thickness of the one I had broken. The electrical currents on them were clearly visible. I was surprised it wasn't causing some sort of power cut.

Only Wolves would survive the high voltage, a human would die even coming close to it.

"Lyra?"

At the sound of Ava's voice, I snapped my head in her direction. What was she doing here?

My best friend with beautiful auburn hair looked beaten. She was thinner than I had remembered her to be last and there was dirt on her face. Her clothes were ripped and I saw a bruise on her arm. Wolves usually healed, why was Ava not healing?

"Ava, what the hell happened to you?" I gaped, running closer to her.

Only then did I notice Jaxon and Matteo, Ava's mate. I was shocked to know the trio had been none other than my closest friends.

Matteo was sat with his back against the wall, his eyes were barely opening. He looked beaten up and tired. This was the opposite of what I knew him to be like.

Then my eyes landed on the third person. Jaxon appeared tired, but other than that he looked healthy.

"Lyr. You're alive," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "You look well, I was worried that bastard had hurt you."

"Jaxon, careful," Ava warned, glancing between Jaxon and I.

"Why are you all here?" I sobbed, only now realising that I was crying.

"Shh, don't cry. It's okay," Ava cooed, glancing at me with eyes full of concern. "Everything is going to be okay, we're all okay."

"We freaked out when you were gone and searched for you," Matteo explained, his voice hardly stable. "Jaxon couldn't stop himself when he found out you were taken and we didn't want him to roam territories alone."

"We didn't mean to trespass, you know," Ava said, chuckling softly but no humour behind it. "We were blinded by concern for you, we didn't even realise until they attacked us."

"Is he really your mate?" Jaxon asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

I bit my lip, but nodded. "I guess."

Ava gasped. "He's scary but hot. I can't believe it!"

"Yeah, right. He's killed more people than anyone I know," Jaxon snarled, his voice cold.

He was right and I couldn't disagree with him, so I remained silent as tears flowed down my cheek.

Jaxon noticed and cleared his throat. "You need to be strong, Lyr. Don't worry about us or that bastard."

He sounded different. Cold. Stern. I sniffled and wiped away at my tears. Something was wrong. "What's going on?"

Jaxon swallowed loudly. Ava snapped her head in his direction and Matteo glanced up too.

'The Alpha's mate or not, you're going to help us escape.'

When I heard his voice in my head, I gasped out loud. That was the first time that I had been mind-linked. It was very odd but also very satisfying.

"That was so cool!" I beamed in excitement until his words finally registered and I panicked. "I'm going to do what?!"

'I'm glad it worked. Last time I tried to mind-link you, my thoughts bounced back.'

'It's probably because my Wolf is new. I'm still trying to understand her.'

"You got your Wolf? That's wicked!" Jaxon asked out loud, making Ava gasp in surprise.

"You what? Oh my god, congratulations!" the girl shrieked loudly.

I was in awe at Ava's reaction. She had waited for my Wolf to arrive so we could shift and train together. Yet here we were, under completely different circumstances.

'So what do you think?'

I turned my attention back on Jaxon at his question.

'I don't think I can get you out of here, Jax,' I mind-linked back and pointed at the big, heavy bars.

"You can," Jaxon argued, speaking loudly. "I will tell you how, you just have to trust me."

At his words, my eyes landed on my best friend. If I could trust one person in the entire universe, that would be Jaxon. He didn't even have to ask that of me, I would trust him no matter what.

'Are you up for a crazy challenge?'

I nodded. 'You have four minutes, exact.'

Jaxon grinned wickedly and proceeded telling me his plan.