Tyler had carried me all the way back to the house in silence. He walked me up to his bedroom and laid me down on his soft, red bed and then he left.

I sat up, thinking about the frightening events that had previously happened. My mind was spinning as I felt the throbbing pain in my ankle finally catch up to me. I move closer to inspect my bloody ankle.

I roll up my jeans to my mid calf and gently pull my foot closer. The gash is like a ring around my ankle. The bear trap really tried to eat my foot as I can faintly see bone. The bleeding has slowed down to a minimum, but it will take at least until morning to heal even though I have the blood of both a werewolf and a vampire running through me.

Tyler walks back in the room with a small first aid kit. Great. He sits gently on the bed and reaches for my ankle only to be met by my small growl. He looks up at me with a glare then takes my ankle into his hands.

Tyler examines the wound and then opens the first-aid kit revealing what treasures it held inside. Tyler grabs a miniature sized bottle of rubbing alcohol and I know what comes next..

He opens the lid and raises the bottle ready to pour. I quickly grab his shoulder to stop him.

"It's okay, this will just clean it out." He reassures me.

"Yeah and it'll hurt like hell-" I start out but he shushes me before I can finish.

He tipped the bottle letting a small stream of the clear liquid escape onto my deeply wounded ankle. The liquid made contact with my skin and immediately sent an immense sting through my leg. I wrap my fist around the sheets and whimper out for the pain to stop.

"Why did you run away without asking me what happened?" He questions. I tear my eyes away from the gash in my foot to stare at him.

"Is it true that you have been raiding the weaker packs?"

Tyler grabs some gauze and dabs away the blood and rubbing alcohol as the pain slowly dies down.

"Raiding is a very dangerous word, Alex." He does not make eye contact with me.

"There are rumors, Tyler." I press.

"Rumors you say? About what." He raises his eyes to meet mine.

Tyler then wraps my ankle in a tan bandage. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"They say that the SilverMoon pack has a ruthless leader." I begin.

The corner of his lip curls up as he continues to wrap my foot.

"They say that in this pack it is a sport to hunt down rogues."

He nods in amusement.

"And that the SilverMoon pack has been taking over the weaker packs with an ultimatum: Join or Die." The words haunt me. I have heard of this for the past six months. They had been inching closer to my pack. That was why we trained so hard. That was why we worked so hard to become stronger as a collective.

Tyler finishes wrapping my ankle. He lowers his head to it and places a gentle kiss on my wound. He then straightens his back and leans in closer to my face.

The dim lighting in the room makes the shadows in his cheekbones look darker. The hollow sockets in his eyes become more menacing. I cannot read his emotions.

"The SilverMoon pack has indeed been taking over the smaller packs." He finally says after an excruciatingly long pause of silence.

My lips part slightly. This can't be true.

"The entire bloodline of werewolves is at a standstill. There has been a shift in power recently. The original seven founding pack of werewolves want complete regime. So instead, I want my pack to grow strong enough to become the eighth." He explains, his tone holding no joking whatsoever.

"So you force people to join your pack or die by your hands?" I blurt out not even caring to hide my tone from him.

"No, Alex. No I wouldn't do that." He grabs my hand.

"So is that a rumor that I am just supposed to believe is false because you say so?"

He lets out a deep sigh.

"We have a special team that ventures out to the smaller packs. We lay out the situation with the grid and we give them an opportunity to join us. A lot of packs have agreed too. Our territory has expanded by thousands of acres." His eyes light up with hope.

"Oh." I whisper, my eyes dropping to my hands.

"Any other rumors you'd like to address?" He raises a brow.

"Did you have to murder someone to become alpha?"

"Yes." He answers unblinking.

My eyes go wide. My heart thumps a little faster.

"Alex, I'm kidding." He nudges my arm. I feel my body relax as I huff out a small laugh.

"We will need to keep that clean until it heals." he says softly, motioning towards my ankle.

"Thank you." I let out. He simply smiles.

He then pulls his shirt over his head and climbs in bed next to me. He pulls the blanket up to his chest and then turns to me.

"Goodnight, Alex." He says before he flips the lamp off.

I lay on my back and stare into the darkness. A man I just met is sleeping next to me in the same bed. Is this a mate thing?

Yeah, we are soul-bonded or whatever but I barely know Tyler. There is no dating phase, there is no family introduction. We are now sleeping in the same bed like we have been together for years.

Tyler then reaches his arm out to drape it across my stomach. Tingles move down my arms as his vanilla scent intoxicates me.

Maybe this isn't so bad.

~~~~~~~