44

~Vanessa~

I ignored the guards as they chased me, barking and trying to get me to slow down. I just snapped at them, using my Alpha voice to make them stop. I shifted as I reached the porch and ran into the packhouse, trying to find someone. I sighed in relief when I found Christine in the kitchen, making herself a sandwhich.

"Christine!" I gasped, trying to gain my breath.

She shrieked and spun around, her eyes wide. When she realized it was me she narrowed her eyes, "Why are you back? To make Veloces feel like complete shit?" she spat.

"No, I need you to warn him about something."

"Why not do it yourself?"

"I have no idea where he is and I need him to know as soon as possible."

"No, find him yourself and tell him."

I gaped at her, is she really doing this? Clearly it's urgent, but she doesn't care. She's pissed off because I didn't want to be abused anymore and feared for my life. I growled loudly, storming up to her. Her eyes widened a bit with fear as I roughly grabbed her jaw.

"Listen, he needs to know. I'll go find him myself, but you're a pathetic female Beta. Refusing to warn your Alpha of something when it's clearly urgent because of what? Because your friend from childhood rejected him and left because he was abusing her? Because she feared for her life? You're truly pathetic." I snarled, letting go of her.

Her heart was hammering against her chest as she just stared at me, hurt flashing in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry, I-

"Save it." I growled before turning and running back out of the packhouse.

His scent was nowhere in there, so he has to be somewhere else. I shifted and ran through the forest, trying to gain his scent. I was relieved when I caught his scent and followed it. Fear of catching him with another female had me slightly faulter in my step. I came to a stop in the middle of the forest, feeling somewhat stupid. Why would he even believe me? He probably hates my guts now because I messed up something that is special to a werewolf. Something that was a form of a second chance to him. I sat on my hunches, just staring at the ground.

Why do I suddenly feel heartbroken? My wolf whimpered, telling me to move on. I shook my head, whatever, I need to warn him anyway. I was about to get up and run again when someone attacked me. I snarled and snapped at the thin wolf. He didn't smell of any pack and looked like a walking skelaton. A rogue. I bared my teeth, laying my ears flat against my head as we circled.

He suddenly lunged, mouth open as he prepared to bite my throat. I dodged him and grabbed his neck, digging my teeth into his flesh. I easily snapped his neck and threw him aside, growling for a little bit. I shook out my fur and turned only to stop.

Standing in front of me were at least six rogues, all of them baring their teeth with hunger sparkling in their dark eyes. Shit.

~Vanessa~

I bared my teeth, ready to attack whenever they lunge. They all lunged at once, only allowing me to break the neck of one. I howled in pain when a rogue bit my back leg, his teeth ripping through my flesh, cutting the artery in my back leg. I could feel the blood soak my back paw, but I didn't care. I dug my canines into another rogue's neck, ignoring the the rogue that bit into my back. I swung him around, causing his body to hit another rogue's body. As they both fell another rogue took their place.

I was tired and losing blood, my wolf tried healing it but she was too weak from the quick blood loss as well. My vision blurred, my heart hammered against my rib cage and my muscles started to get too tight and weaken. I was panting, trying to stop them from killing me but I couldn't handle all five. Suddenly one was pulled off of me and then two more. I collapsed onto the ground, stunned when I saw Christine's wolf killing one rogue, another tan wolf killing a second, and then a huge black one killing a third.

Veloces.

He bared his teeth as a dark brown rogue ran towards me, she never made it. Veloces tore into her throat and threw her aside. Her limp form crashing into a grey rogue that the tan wolf took care of. I shifted back, unable to hold my wolf form. I felt someone licking my wound on my leg. I slowly turned to see Veloces trying to stop the bleeding.

He looked at me, his blue eyes swarming with concern as he slowly walked up towards me. He shifted back and carefully scooped me up, pulling me against his chest. I rested my head on him, not feeling the greatest as he kissed my temple.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"For what?" he asked, standing up.

"For rejecting you."

I woke up to see bright lights, making me wince as my eyes adjusted. Once they did I studied the room; it was white and light tan, it smelled of medicine and cleaning products. I scrunched up my nose, way too strong for a werewolf's nose. I felt someone move beside me and snapped my eyes over to them.

Veloces looked at me and smiled a little, "You're awake."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "You stayed?"

"Well, yeah, you're my mate. I think...unless you...you know..." he trailed off, looking at me with a broken expression.

"I take back my rejection." I grinned. "I would say you owe me, but you just saved my life...so...I'm pretty sure that's good enough. However, you are getting medicine for your anger or every single time you lose your temper, I kick you where the sun don't shine."

"But, darling, don't you want pups?" he smirked.

I smirked back, "Adoption, sweetheart."

He opened his mouth to say something, but sighed. "Fine, I'll get medicine."

"And therapy."

"Really?"

"Yes or...you tell me what happened in your past."

He looked at his hands, "I don't want to."

"Why not?" I groaned. "I'm your mate."

"Yes, but...you'll probably think of me as a monster for how I ended it."

I stared at him, "You mean, ended your father?"

"You already know?" he asked, looking back at me.

"Olivia told me some of it, but just a brief summary. For the whole story, I need to ask you. I understand if you're not ready, but whatever you did to your father, he deserved it. He abused you for years and murdered countless number of innocent lives. He was pure evil, Veloces."

He stared at me, stunned into silence. He then blinked and leaned forward, placing his lips on mine. I was shocked at first, but I went along with it. We kissed for goddess knows how long until we parted and pressed our foreheads against each others'.

"What was that for?" I asked, breathless.

He grinned, "Something I've been wanting to do for a long time. And what I should have done a long time ago, that and treating you like a queen. I treated you like shit."

I suddenly remembered what I had to tell him, I gasped. "Listen, Alpha Jeremy is planning on attacking. I don't know when, but I'll try to convince my father to not attack you and to tell me everything. Or tell you everything. He's planning on capturing you and abusing you like your father did to you years back. You need to watch your back and make sure you double the patrols. I need to find out when he's planning on attacking and how he's going to do it." I blurted out.

He watched me with wide eyes, "He's...going to abuse me like my father did?" he asked, his voice cracking. I could hear the fear in his voice as he voiced his question and it broke my heart.

I nodded, "Yes, but you have a whole pack to support you and a mate."

"Wait, you're staying?"

I nodded and smiled, "If you want me to...if you don't-

"No, I want you to!" he cut me off, practically bouncing from excitement. He then blushed, "Um, I mean, yeah, sure. That'd be cool if you stayed."

I laughed, "Never ever try to do that again."

He chuckled, "Okay, okay."

For the rest of the day we cuddled, well it took about an hour to convince him to lay beside me in the bed. He was afraid of hurting me, but a death glare helped convince him. He pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me while placing a kiss on my temple. He then kissed down my neck before kissing my cheek.

"I love you and I swear on my life, I'll make it up to you." he whispered.

"You're going to have to start by gaining my trust." I replied, turning in his arms. "Just, promise me you're going to get help?"

"I promise."

"Good."

"Oh and Veloces?"

"Yes?"

"I'm the boss."

"But-

"Happy wife, happy life."

"We're not married yet."

"I'm your mate so damn it we're technically husband and wife. I don't even think my parents got married."

"Alright, so no wedding in the future?"

"Oh, hell no. We're getting a wedding."

"But-

"I'm going to bed."

"Seriously?"

"...."

"Well, love you too."

"Good night!"

"OW!"

"Sorry! Claws were out, forgot!"

"We're not damn cats, how'd you forget?"

"Go to sleep."

"Va-

"I will snore loudly if you don't sleep."

"You already snore loudly."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"OW SON OF A-

"Cuss and you're going to find yourself flying out the window."

"You wouldn't."

"Do you want to try me?"

"No."

"Good."

"Night, love you."

"Good night."

It's going to take me a bit to say "I love you", but I smiled. Curling up beside his body, it's going to take me a while to trust him again. To know he won't hit me, but until then, he's going to get all the help I can find. However, I'm going to teach him it's okay to love.