Devon

An anxious feeling welled up in me before the confirmation that something was in fact wrong came. The frenzy of my pack increased with an interesting scent that they had picked up, and it did not take me long to put the facts together.

My heart pounded and I commanded them all not to hurt their prey. They wouldn't intentionally hurt a sentient creature who was not an enemy, but her status amongst us was murky, and on this night things could so easily get out of hand. Their acquiescence was immediate, but it did little to calm the racing of my pulse. I ran through the forest on my paws with the greatest urgency, and I was relieved when my brother sent me an image of her huddled on the ground, terrified but alive.

Finally I reached the location, and I sent them away. She was resolutely looking at the ground instead of at me, so I nudged the side of her face with my muzzle. She jerked away, raising wary eyes to meet mine, clearly concerned that I would hurt her.

I huffed my disappointment. She still smelled like herself, but she had clearly tried her best to cover her scent by stealing the clothing of my gamma in training, Rhianna. Combined with the backpack of another pack member, it was clear that she had planned to escape from me.

And why wouldn't she? I had tried to let her settle in, but had not told her anything about why she was here. For all she knew, we were still keeping her here as leverage.

I nudged her a couple more times until she finally got up and I indicated that she should follow me. Like always, she did not argue and simply followed me through the forest for long minutes. I was surprised at how well she navigated in the darkness, but I had heard many tales and seen many examples of the hunters' heightened abilities.

Although I understood why she might run away, my heart ached that my unaware mate might leave me. Surely she felt some of the pull between us. Even with a human, it could not all be on my side, surely. Maybe her fear of me was overshadowing it.

I wanted to talk with her plainly, and I had enough self-control to return to my human form even on the night of the full moon, but I was afraid at how she would react if I spoke to her without clothing.

Finally we reached the pack house, and she opened the door at my indication and I followed her inside. I climbed the stairs and entered my room before shifting my flesh and bone to my human form. It was difficult on this night of all nights, but I maintained my state and dressed myself in the shirt and jeans I had been wearing during the day.

She was sitting in the living room with her knees up to her chest, looking tiny and vulnerable. I sat across from her and waited in vain for her to say something. Finally, I broke and spoke. "Where were you going?"

"Nowhere," she said, her voice soft and forlorn.

"Were you returning to the hunters?"

Her eyes widened with what seemed to be genuine surprise. "No, of course not."

"Where then?"

She frowned. "If I tell you, you'll follow me."

So she still intended to flee? The ache in my chest increased. "I'll follow you even if you don't tell me."

"Why?"

"Where?"

She finally gave in. "I was going to go and live in the regular human world, you know, try to lose myself and have a normal life. I know it's a lot to ask, but could you just...let me go?" I would not have been able to hear her final words if my hearing were not so acute. Her eyes met mine, large and pleading, and if she had asked for anything else in that way I would have been helpless but to grant it.

But not this. Letting her go was the one thing I could not give her. The wolf inside me growled his protest at the idea of her ever leaving us, and I was unable to stop it from leaking out of my own chest.

She leapt in her spot and seemed to be terrified of me all over again, not meeting my eyes, but rather keeping them low while they darted everywhere else. She shivered as she assessed what was around us.

It hit me like an arrow. She was plotting.

She was certainly afraid, but the meekness was her disguise, her strategy. Even through her fear, she could attempt to reason a way out of the situation.

Had she not kept her head down and jumped and shook until she had an opportunity to flee this night? She was calculating. She wasn't entirely the meek and weak creature she portrayed. I smiled slightly and she eyed me warily again.

"I never want you to leave, Amber, because you belong to me."

Her eyes widened and then her brow crinkled. "No."

"You're my mate."

She finally looked me in the eyes. "That's not possible."

"It is possible, and it's true."

She shook her head. "Only wolves can be mated to wolves."

"There are uncommon exceptions, and we've long suspected that hunters have some vampire and werewolf blood deep in their lineage."

There was a long pause while she considered my words, and then she met my eyes again. "I'm not a hunter. They found me as a baby, just a common human."

"That changes nothing." But perhaps it explained a lot, perhaps why she had been so terribly treated by those criminals as if she were not one of them.

She studied my face, still cautious, but really looking at me. "So you'll keep me prisoner forever because I'm supposedly your mate? How does that make you any better than the hunters?"

"I am not like the hunters."

"I want to leave, and if I'm really your mate... Shouldn't you care about what I want?"

My wolf was close to the surface and I struggled to keep firm control of him. "I do care."

Her posture was submissive, but her words were not. "Not enough to let me go though?"

I exhaled slowly and tried to retain my calm. My wolf instincts wanted nothing more than to grab her and mark her right now whether she liked the idea or not, but my human side knew that was wrong and the surest way to alienate her further. "Please," I said to her.

She looked conflicted at my words and it gave me hope until she spoke again. "I've been a prisoner my whole life, Alpha."

"Devon," I said.

"I've been a prisoner my whole life, Alpha Devon." There was a quiver in her voice as she said my name. "I don't want to live this way anymore."

I willed her to understand me. "I don't want to keep you prisoner."

"You just stopped me from leaving, so what else am I?"