Chapter 1 Still A Prisoner.

~ LAYLA ~

I will not die today.

The cold metal cuffs dig roughly into my wrists. My head aches with a painful, pounding migraine that won't go away.

I don't want to believe this is real. But the truth hits me like a punch in the stomach.

I am chained up. Again.

Even after everything I did to stop this from ever happening, I am back in this nightmare.

I am a prisoner again. Caged like an animal.

But this place... it's different.

I do not fully know where I am. All I know and feel is that I am not in Kaliq's cage again like some rabid animal he locked up and almost turned me into.

This isn't Kaliq's prison. No. It doesn't smell like him. It doesn't feel like the moldy cage he locked me in and nearly broke me.

But I am a new prisoner in another cage nonetheless. Another cage much bigger and colder than Kaliq's.

Probably even worse.

When I pull at the chains holding me to the wall, the silver sizzles my skin with another painful burn. The pain shoots up my arms as I bite back a mournful cry and pull again.

Still nothing.

I am helplessly hanging here. A prisoner all over again. Nothing is happening.

Will I ever be free?

The thought makes me want to scream both in anger and for help. My heart bleeds when I remember my family-my parents. And my baby brother, Erin.

They died protecting me, and I swore to myself that I'd never let myself die or get caught again. I swore that I will never let myself be captured again by the one man who has sworn to own and destroy me and my entire family.

The monster who destroyed everything.

Kaliq.

I am sure he killed them. He enslaved me for years.

But I finally escaped, and I swore that I will never let him take me again.

So... why am I locked up now? Did he eventually succeed in dragging me back that night?

Is that why I'm here? Did he find me again?!

Fear rushes down my throat and spine like a pair of wicked cold hands. My breath hitches as I desperately try to hold onto anything around me that might make sense.

I force myself to look around, searching for answers.

The roof of this place is covered in cobwebs. The wall bricks are dark and cracked. To my right, there is a small window, way up near the top of the wall. Sunlight shines through it, forming a soft pale yellow glow pattern on the floor. I can hear birds singing outside.

Okay. I know I am not underground.

But I am still locked up in a cell.

Just where the fuck am I?!

I close my eyes and try to remember. I dig through the messy fog inside my mind, grabbing at any detail I can find.

Running. I remember running. I remember gasping for air and how my heart pounded like I was about to die, but I kept running. I remember those harsh sounds of chasing footsteps behind me. They belonged to Kaliq's men that were trying to capture me and drag me back into that smelly cage that night.

And... and then, I think I remember-

"She is awake, Alpha."

The voice makes my eyes fly open.

It is deep. Male. And just outside my cell.

Right then, something shiny catches my eyes on one of the iron bars. I squint at it.

My heart sinks.

It is a symbol of a crescent moon crossed by three claw marks.

I know that symbol!

Everyone knows it!

It is the pack symbol that only belongs to the BloodHounds Pack!

A chill runs through me. My whole body goes cold.

I am a captive. A rogue captive in the hands of the BloodHounds Pack.

No! This... this can't be happening to me!

This is bad.

Really bad.

The BloodHounds don't take prisoners. They kill rogues like me on sight.

Their Alpha is worse than all the horror stories. Cold. Deadly. No mercy.

His name is Raelin Michaelson.

But the world calls him the Midnight Alpha.

Three years ago, he wiped out a whole rogue camp in one night. They had attacked his pack and killed fifteen women and children on the night of his Alpha Ascension Ceremony. The massacre happened in the dead of midnight, and he made sure no rogue in that camp survived.

Ever since then, every rogue pack has steered clear away from his territory.

I am such a fool. A big, massive, rogue fool who somehow stumbled into the territory of the Midnight Alpha after that night I escaped Kaliq.

And now, I am locked up in his prison. I am doomed. I am never getting out of this wretched place alive.

Crying, I start yanking on the chains again. The force is hard enough to make my wrists bleed, but I don't care. I just want to get out of here by any means possible. I keep pulling at the shackles again and again, but my efforts are completely useless.

More tears spill down my face. Whoever put these chains on me expertly knew exactly what they were doing.

What have I done?

How could I be so stupid to have wandered into the Bloodhounds territory after I escaped Kaliq?

This is it.

I am going to die here.

"No, no, no," I whisper to myself, encouraging whatever little strength I have left. I keep tugging harder and ignoring the pain.

I can't give up. I won't.

However, the sounds of footsteps make me freeze.

And then, I hear keys clinking, and the creak of my cell door swinging open.

My breath catches in my throat.

Am I fucking scared? Yes.

But will I die today? No. I don't believe so.

I will fight until the last drop of my blood if that is what it will take for me to keep myself alive.

If I go down, I will go down fighting.

The room seems to shift. The air feels more stuffy now.

Then, I smell it. The comforting scent of pine trees, cinnamon, and fresh earth.

Something inside me stirs.

My wolf.

She moves inside me for the first time in so long. She recognizes what just entered the cell.

A strong, powerful presence.

An Alpha.

I can feel the power in my bones. I feel it everywhere.

And something else-something deeper-pulls at my chest like a hand softly reaching out to touch me. It is a feeling I don't understand. Like a fire starting in my heart.

I have never this before. It makes my pulse race in my veins.

Wait a minute-

Something snaps like a lock and key together inside my heart, and instantly, I recognize the feeling.

My mate bond.

No!

The deep, invisible connection settles inside me, but my tears are rolling down faster now. I yank at the chains again, but nothing happens.

No freedom. Nothing.

I don't want to believe what I just felt inside my heart.

But I can't lie to myself.

I know the truth. I feel it burning in my blood and screaming in my soul:

I just found my fated mate in a dark, forsaken place like this.

And he is a fucking Alpha.