Chapter 96

Alyson

I fall asleep in his arms. On one hand, it feels comfortable, almost familiar, but definitely safe. On the other hand, if Ryan were to see me in Olivera's arms like this he would be furious. I can't help it, though. I am ripe with fear. I tremble in his arms for what feels like forever, my legs and arms covered in bruises, my eyes replaying the moment of the rogue ready to defile me.

I sniffle a cry, turning into Olivera's bare chest as his arms squeeze around me tighter.

"Do you think Ryan will find us soon?" I ask, needing to hear some kind of reassurance.

"I don't care," the rogue Alpha growls under his breath. "I will get us out of here, sweetheart." He pulls his lips near my ear, breathing low into my hair while both of us sneak a look over to the dead rogue that has been laid out, bleeding and lifeless for what feels like forever. "I will rescue you, princess."

I shiver, hearing a noise down the hall but not being able to see who, or what, it is. Instead I hear the steps and turn my face against Olivera's chest, hiding like a child in his warm, strong hold. The steps cease and a loud, audible growl is set loose not far from where we cower.

"We have a mess in here!" Someone shouts. "Get backup to carry this body out!"

"Who died?"

"Looks like they killed off Cryon," after a short pause, the voice adds, "and he is half naked, so that explains why the rogue Alpha is in the same cell as her still. He was supposed to separate the two. I guess we will have to figure that out."

"You touch her and you're both fucking dead," Olivera promises coldly.

I cling to him tighter, almost ready to sob.

"How about a deal?" one of them remarks. "We get out our guy and you two don't throw a fit and I let you stay together. Deal?"

Olivera hums a snicker. "Sure. Deal."

I shifts slightly, as though ready to pounce, and I know to back off of his chest ever so slightly. He will attack them, no matter how weak he is after they hit him with some kind of poisonous needle. My heart aches at the thought of him getting stabbed with that serum again. I don't want him to get hurt again or pass out and not be able to help us both escape. I'm counting on him to do as he promised, no matter how sentimental he sounded when he said it.

The cell door is swung open and three wolves all enter to carry out the dead guy who threatened to assault my body. Olivera keeps his hands on my hips, eyes bore into the rogues who move swiftly to clean up their mess of a dead friend, and when they are all turned away, that's when Olivera pounces.

He shifts, his wolf snapping the mortal necks of the two guys closest to us, both of them too stunned to shift and fight back before they are also dead on the floor. The last guy has time, his wolf timid and scrawny, nothing like the dark, brooding wolf of Olivera's that snarls an ungodly noise.

I open my mouth, almost pitying the last rogue who obviously won't last in this fight, let alone seem like he wants to partake in a battle at all. I reach for Olivera, barley reaching his hind leg before he absolutely tears into the rogue, killing him instantly with a crunching bite into his throat. My heart shatters at the death in this cell. I may have wanted ill for the wolves who crossed me in the past but this is totally different.

Olivera doesn't blink at the sight of death before him.

His wolf turns back toward me, then stalks out of the cell, examining both ends of the hallway. He nods me forward and I follow hesitantly, my eyes shifting back to the wolves on the floor of the cell, dead and bleeding out on a broken deal. We make our way down the hall and the air grows colder the closer we get to the doorway. I can't picture what is behind it other than a massive army, or a menacing guard worthy to defeat Olivera's wolf.

Instead the door is kicked open and nothing stands in our way.

The only thing outside the door is a vast room, dark without any lights, and a long narrow hall that seems to stretch on forever. Everything is so dizzying as we walk through the darkness, each step almost on faith, unsure if the floor is truly there in the abyss of blackness.

I hold onto Olivera's fur, keeping myself close to his hip, worried I may be separated from him in the bleak room, walking toward the hall without a ounce of knowing if we are walking anywhere that leads to an exit.

"Olivera," I hum, still picturing him killing off those rouges like they were fleas. "I have a question."

His wolf harrumphs a sigh, as though to say go ahead and ask.

His words ring heavy in my mind still.

SHE IS MINE.

"Why do you protect me?" I ask. He could have easily left me behind and still tried to take down the elders by himself, forgetting me in this rogue cell and uncaring to my wellbeing but he has been protecting me since being here, including that comment that still haunts my mind. "Why did you say that? Why did you say, she is mine?"

His wolf halts in the dark and the fur turns to warm skin after a quick shift. I can't meet his cyan eyes in the dark, only feel his hands brushing my own, gently pulling me forward to his body in the black, unlit room. I feel small in his hold, so small he could crush me with his fingers and I'd be obliterated instantly.

He pants a warm breath against my neck, something about his touch swarming around my bare back almost causing a shiver to travel down my spine. I subdue the rush.

"Because, sweetheart," he hums, his words dancing across my cheek. "You will be mine, all in good time, of course."

"Ryan is my mate," I say.

Both of us can't ignore that my voice trembles.

"Does he smell like your mate?" he asks pointedly.

I never told him the fact that when I came back from Allissa Clark, the moon goddess didn't return my ability to recognize the scent of my mate. How he knows that information is beyond me but I know Ryan Alexander is my mate. He is my best friend, my partner, and I love him more than life itself.

That doesn't seem to stop Olivera from pondering the setup anyways.

He brushes a hand across my cheek in the dark, then in one swift motion, his lips pressure tightly against my own. I gasp, his bruising kiss more defiling than the one before where he kissed me before trying to get rid of me as his ransom. This kiss is endless and tight.

This kiss is the type that shows he doesn't plan on returning me to Ryan.