Devon

I walked to the room where Amber was confined and knocked on the door before cracking it open. She was sitting on the windowsill looking out again like a caged animal who longed for freedom, and I wanted to throw open the door and let her loose.

But that was impossible, because she was a hunter as much as I was a wolf, two sides diametrically opposed to each other.

As the alpha of my pack, I could release her with a few words, but my people would not be pleased. We had lost more than one precious member over the years to those violent dictators and there was ample resentment to go around. They wanted me to attempt a prisoner swap to get my sister and her mate back, but it was hardly so simple.

"Come with me," I ordered her.

She did as I said without complaint and it frustrated me. She was so wan and lifeless, simply going along with whatever she was told to do. Where was her spirit?

It was bad enough that my mate was a huntress of all things, but did she have to be the most passive huntress I had ever encountered? How could she ever stand beside me when all she did was flinch and flee? I could not imagine how she was in any way equal to the challenges before her.

The only sign that she had any strength at all was the way she had tried to blind her assailant with dirt. Fear shot through me at the memory. If I had been any later, he probably would have killed her.

It had been laughably easy to take him out. I would have liked to play with that blinded hunter who dared lay his hands on my mate, but my instinctive rage had me go for his throat. I could not quite hold in the deep growl that rumbled out of me at the memory. My wolf was constantly pushing at the surface, ever since I first caught my mate's scent.

While I had found her, the mission to rescue the prisoners had otherwise failed, and the female who I had claimed I brought back for questioning knew absolutely nothing of value. Our cover had been blown, and we were no closer to saving our family than we had been before.

I hadn't yet told my pack who she was, not only because of the destabilizing news of a huntress as future luna, but also because I was not entirely satisfied with this female fate had gifted me. She seemed completely unequipped to lead beside me, meek, weak, and apparently terrified of everything.

In spite of her alarming lack of assertiveness, the wolf inside me howled for her, and I had no intention of letting her go. I might have hoped for a more fitting mate, but only a fool questioned the bond. I would never reject her, but I half expected she might flee in terror upon finding out her destiny. I had no idea how to tell her. It was probably best to wait a while until she became accustomed to me and the pack before breaking the news.

She walked before me, and I could not help but let my eyes wander over my tiny female, from the top of her light brown hair to her small waste and shapely legs. Even the sight of her made me want to announce my possession, mark her, and take her at once, but she wouldn't respond well to such abrupt action. She was not a fellow wolf who had spent her life with the expectation of finding her other half, but instead a human huntress with no expectations of finding a mate.

So I bided my time.

—————

I took her to the kitchen where a meal had already been prepared and set out. I had already sent everyone away from the area so that I'd have time alone with her. "I'm going to allow you free rein of the pack house from now on."

She glanced at me with uncertainty.

"The house is well guarded. You won't be able to escape."

She kept her gaze down on her food. "So, are you keeping me here?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" Her hands trembled with her unease as she lifted a bite to her mouth.

I tried to think of a reasonable response that wouldn't send her into panic mode. "Because I'm not sending you back to the hunters."

I watched her reaction. Did her tension lessen at my non-answer, or was it my imagination?

She ate, and I helped myself to seconds, letting the silence drag out between us. I watched as she picked at her food. "You need to eat."

Amber started bringing bites to her mouth mechanically. Would she do anything that I told her to do? My wolf was as frustrated as I was with her subservient attitude, and a slight growl escaped me again.

She froze with another bite halfway up to her mouth.

"Why are you so afraid?"

She turned those wide eyes towards me. "Well, you took me prisoner. And you're my enemy. The hunters have been at odds with werewolves for generations."

"Have I been treating you as an enemy?" I ground out. Surely she didn't believe that all prisoners I took received this sort of deference.

Her eyes went back down to her plate and my frustration built like a smoldering fire. How was I supposed to get through to such as skittish woman? I pushed to my feet before I said or did something I would really regret.

—————

After I left her there, I made my way to my office in the pack house. Oliver met me on the way there, but I was in no mood to deal with him.

"What do you need?" I asked my brother.

"Nothing much. I just brought you Ray's patrol reports for the week." He lifted the folder he had in his hand as if to demonstrate.

It was clearly an excuse for him to talk to me. I narrowed my eyes at him and glowered.

Oliver was undeterred. "What's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing," I muttered as I pushed into my office. Unfortunately, he followed me in.

"I know you too well not to see something is bothering you," my forever-obtrusive brother said, ignoring the hint.

"Yes, you." I walked over to the chair behind my desk.

"She's your mate, isn't she?"

I froze before sitting. "Why would you say that?"

"It seems obvious."

I didn't bother arguing, instead sitting down and playing nonchalant. "Who else knows?"

"No one, but people are starting to question. Does she know?"

"No. It would scare her to death."

"I think she's more resilient than that. You should tell her."

There was something about Oliver analyzing my mate that got my wolf's back up, but I forced the prickling feeling that I needed to shift down. "Enough. I don't want to talk about it."

"Pulling the alpha card, are we?"

My frown deepened. "I'll deal with the situation."

My brother rolled his eyes. I turned my attention to my work.

—————

I dealt with the situation by giving her more time to settle in, but as the first couple weeks passed, there was no positive change. Her ankle healed, but she remained as quiet and withdrawn as she had been at the beginning, and any attempts I made to assure her she was not a slave or a hostage did nothing to change her uneasy mannerisms.

I began to believe that what I observed was just the way that she was, and I would have to find a way to run the pack with a demure luna. I'd always imagined that my mate would stand beside me as my equal, but apparently that was not what fate had in store for me. It seemed things would be much as they were now, but I could manage that. If she wasn't capable and willing, my gamma could continue with his role as it currently was.

She still needed to be informed of the truth of the matter, but every time I tried to find a way to tell her, the words escaped me. I probably should have simply announced it the first time her eyes had met mine, but at the time I had been convinced she was fully a loyal huntress and would use our connection against me.

My agitation continued to grow as the next full moon approached. While my pack had been ordered not to harm her, she was still, to their eyes, an enemy. I worried what would happen if she encountered one of my pack on such a night in their most wild and uncontrolled state. I pulled her aside and spoke to her.

"Tomorrow night, you must stay locked in your room."

She nodded without complaint. "Why?"

"It's another full moon and our natures run wild. You were here for the last. Promise me you'll stay where you'll be safe."

She met my eyes for the briefest second, and I was lost in the hazel depths, before she looked down and deprived me. She nodded again. "I will."

"Thank you." Relief flowed through me that she would stay locked away for the night. It was one less thing to worry about.