Chapter 7 Death for two, make that three

Alpha Jack continues, "to make sure everything is fair, we will be allowing each interested male 5 minutes alone with Renata to decide if she is his mate or if they would be interested in having pups with her. At midnight we will begin discussions for breed price and order of mating. For everyone else we have drinks and food ready in the pack dining hall," Alpha Jack says.

Everyone starts to shuffle out when someone says "how do you determine who gets to stay and what order we go in," says the man who won't take his eyes off of us. "Don't worry Alpha Thomas, we're drawing numbers in the dining hall. Got to be fair, right?" Alpha Jack asks. "Let's head over now and get started. Beta Eric you will stay and guard the door. I don't want anyone getting ideas to sneak in and try to steal her," orders Alpha Jack. " Yes Alpha," says Beta Eric. 'I've got no problem following that order thinks the man gleefully. 'Alpha didn't say where to watch from. Now I'll get a little alone time with the little bitch. I'm finally going to take what should be mine. She can't escape me anymore.'

As a group of men pass by my cage, the scent of cookies and cappuccino hit me again. "There's too many together to know exactly who is our mate," cries Adira. "That's okay," I say. " We have narrowed it down from hundreds at least. We just need to keep track of the men in that group." After everyone leaves, Beta Eric locks the hall door. "Now let's see how fast you can run from me," he says, causing chills down our spine. "You should have chosen me when I said I wanted you as my mate, before this happened. Now I get the chance to have you and not have to train you to be a perfect, docile little mate," Beta Eric says with a grin. "When it's my turn, I'm going to love having my pleasure over and over while you get to suffer." Beta Eric has been after me for a long time. Once I got older, I was able to fight him off or just run from him. "And now you know why I never chose you. You're a pathetic excuse for a human, even more so as a wolf," I say through pack link. "No sane wolf would ever choose you. All the females you think act like they're too good for you. That's because they are. You can only get them by force. You're a sniveling, whining coward who can only feel good when you pick on people weaker than you," I link. "You'll pay for that, you bitch," he roars in anger. "You ready, Adira?" I ask her. "Hell yes," she answers happily. She's been wanting to him apart for a long time now. "I've opened the link to the entire pack, but he's so angry he closed his. He doesn't know he's being broadcast live," Adira gloats.

Beta Eric approaches our cage in a rage. He yanks the door open and grabs us by our throat. "I'm going to kill you. But I'm going to have a little fun fucking you first. The drawing will take a while, so by the time they get here, I'll be sated and you will have broken your neck trying to escape this cage. On the bright side, you won't have to worry about other men trying to put a pup in you," Beta Eric says with an evil grin. "On your last breath, I will remind you this could have been avoided if you and crazy father had just agreed to you being my mate." He pulls us out, struggling with all we have. Thanks to the Alpha's command to shift, we can't return to my human form. So teeth and claws can only reach as far as we can bend. As the beta, Eric is trained for combat so he can outmaneuver us at every turn. Still, I hope he'll lose his grip long enough for us to get away.

"They're coming, Renata. And Alpha Jack is beyond pissed that his beta is disobeying him. Of course it's not because of what he's trying to do to us, but that he is making him look bad," Adira says in the middle of a snarl and snap of jaws. "Open this door," bellows Alpha Jack in the double timber of an Alpha Command. Beta Eric tries to ignore the order to finish what he started, but we're still fighting him causing his pack link to open. "Open this door and face your punishment," comes the Alpha Command again. This time he can't ignore it, but he wasn't commanded to release us. His grip on our throat tightens each step towards the door. By the time he opens it, we aren't breathing anymore. Adira barely had the strength to tell me goodbye. Then darkness falls on us.

"What have you done, you crazy fuck. You killed our only chance to become the strongest pack around," Alpha Jack says in fury. "She should have been mine long before you knew what she was," Eric is just as furious. "I've asked you to let her be my mate for years." This infuriates the Alpha even more. He grabs Beta Eric by the throat with extended claws. "You disobeyed an Alpha and caused the death of a pack member. I sentence you to death as well," Alpha Jack roars. He extends his claws and rips Beta Eric's throat out.

While this is going on a couple of men check on Adira and me. "They're barely breathing and heartbeat is very faint, but they're still alive," a man says. "Where is your medical center. I'll get them there." Since we're passed out, neither Adira nor I notice the cookies and vanilla smell is right next us. Nor can we see the panic on the face of the man who's speaking.