The Rogue Alpha’s Claim

Ariel staggered back to her room; her limbs had suddenly lost the ability to perform their functions, and she was holding the walls for support. After all she had just heard, she needed a breather.

She managed to get to her room, and she was beelining straight to her bed, slowly lowering herself on it. She lay on her bed, her eyes fixated on the ceiling, but she wasn’t even seeing anything.

All she was doing was replaying everything that had happened a few moments ago, trying to determine if he was really telling the truth or if her mind was just playing tricks on her.

But she knew Kane; the man hardly jokes, especially on a serious matter like this. It had to be the truth.

She needed to tell someone, just in case something bad happened to her, so they could trace her or, if the worst happened, get revenge for her.

There was only one person she could think of, and she was picking up her phone to call her. The heavy silence was pierced by the noise of the ringing tone, and she was coming back to herself.

If they knew that she told someone, they could hunt the person down, and lord knows what they would do to her.

On a second thought, she brought the screen close to disconnect the call, but Claudia was already on the line.

“Hello? Ariel?” Claudia’s thick accent pierced through the receiver, and for a moment she was startled by it. She had been in America for a while, and she had forgotten how heavily accented the Australian accent could be.

“Hey Claudia.” Ariel called out cheerfully, trying to hide any hint of fear from her voice. Claudia had very sharp hearing, and she could somehow manage to pick out that she wasn’t fine.

“How are you doing? I don’t mean to sound rude, but you called me earlier today, and I am just confused.”

“Yeah, my bad. It was an honest mistake. How are you doing?”

“Girl, you know it is too early for that. We have already talked, and you know how I feel. I will call you when I have had a good night’s rest. See ya.” And Claudia was hanging up on her.

Ariel stared at the blank screen, not at all surprised but somewhat relieved that she didn’t have to spill anything. Then she remembered something Kane had told her, and she was freezing in place.

Can they hear what she just said?

She was fucked; if she was going to stay in the house and remain alive, she had to find a way to be ahead of them to ensure the continuity of her species.

Ariel was picking up her phone from where she had thrown it away, and she was going straight to the search engines. The only way she could have an edge over them was to learn about their weaknesses.

Obviously, no werewolf is going to provide her with that, so it was going to have to be the trusty internet. But even that wasn’t helpful; she couldn’t get anything meaningful from the net, and the pictures she had seen were going to terrify her for a while.

She had, however, managed to learn that sliver and wolfsbane were lethal for them, and she had never been so thankful that she lived a frivolous lifestyle.

Ariel was rushing to her wardrobe and grabbing one of the jewelry sets she had gotten. She wasted no time putting on the necklace, earrings, and bracelet, all pure silver. It was only after she had done this that she felt a little peace.

If anyone tried something, she would press the jewelry in their hands, and it should give her a little time to escape. She had also gone ahead to order the wolfsbane flower that she was going to make into spray.

Ariel went back to her bed and tried to ignore whatever he had said in the back of her mind, but that was the hardest thing to do. Another yawn tore from her lips, and she was having difficulty keeping her eyes open.

A knock sounded on the door, and she was almost jumping out of her skin. “Who is that?” Ariel called out in a brave voice, clutching her sliver necklace for protection.

“I brought food.” She heard the familiar voice of the man in charge of her feeding, and her stomach growled in response. She was already standing up to open the door when it clicked in her head that the food could be laced with anything.

“Can you just leave it outside? Thanks.” She laid back on her beds, her thoughts consumed by the delicacy that may be waiting for her outside. “You can fight this, Ariel,” she was reassuring herself despite the little worms that were tearing her stomach.

She laid on her bed for the next few hours, her bottle of water the only comfort she had.

For the rest of the day, Ariel didn’t come outside of her room, not even bothering to stand up from her bed; she remained there, starved and thirsty. She was even going crazy that she could perceive the pasta that was placed outside, but she wasn’t going to be deterred.

Dinner came, and it was the same thing, only that this time she didn’t bother to answer the door. She was trying to conserve her strength to live on until the next day.

Maybe she was doing too much, but she wasn’t going to fatten herself up so they could eat her.

If they were going to eat her, then she was going to make sure they had the leanest meat ever and give them dissatisfaction.

***

“Alpha, your mate has refused the food again.” The man Kane had been in charge of Ariel’s feeding reported, and he released a sigh.

Here, he thought she was taking it well, but it was far from that. Hell, she hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday, when he revealed their secrets, and he was getting worried.

“Alright, thank you. I will take care of it.” Kane stared at the pile of paperwork on his desk and the pending email he had yet to attend to, but he was throwing them away for his mate.

She would always come first in his life, and that was the reason he was standing up from his chair. His body protested as he stood up too fast, his waist spraining as he had been in that position for a long time.

“I need to take a break before I collapse.” Kane grumbled to himself, but even he knew that it was impossible.

There had been a surge of contracts and deals coming up, and he was having a hard time balancing the pack work and his outside work.

Kane walked out of his room, and he was heading to her room. He stopped in front of the door as he saw the tray of food that was getting cold, and he was picking it up.

He squeezed his finger into a fist and was bringing it to the door, hitting it gently. “Ariel?” He heard the sharp intake of her breath as she heard his voice, and for a moment, he regretted telling her the truth.

Kane trained his ears for any footstep, but after some seconds, none was coming forth, and he was trying again.

“Ariel? You know I can hear your heartbeat, right? I know you are awake, and if you don’t want me to break the door, I suggest you open it.”

“Shit.” He heard the low curse under her breath, and he heard her footsteps as she dragged her legs to open the door.

“Ariel?” Kane’s eyes were horned on the dark circles around her eyes and her cracked lips, and he was panicking. “What happened to you?”

Ariel shrugged, not in the mood to entertain him; she was only concerned with conserving her energy till whenever she could get out of the house. “Why are you here?”

“I am concerned about you. I was told that you haven’t been eating.”

“I am not hungry. If you don’t have anything else to say, I will be going back to bed.”

“I can hear your stomach groaning from the lack of food, and you haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday. I don’t know if you are avoiding me, but you have to eat.”

Ariel cringed at his tone, covering her ears, as his voice was too loud. “Just leave me alone.”

“I can’t do it, darling; you are stuck with me.” Kane maneuvered his way inside, balancing the tray on his hand and placing it gently on her bed.

“You have two options, Ariel; you either eat now while I watch you or I will feed you till I am satisfied.”

Ariel rolled her eyes, shaking her head at the unwanted stranger. “Why are you even here? You are not my boss.”

Kane’s chuckle reached her ears, and it was sending tingles down her spine. “Have you forgotten, darling? I own you.”