Emily

"Wake up, Emily," Reece's edgy voice roused me from the tired-induced sleep I'd drifted off to.

I raised my head to discover I'd fallen asleep on my mate's lap and he too had just been awakened from sleep. The clanking sounds made me turn my head and I saw a tall, olive-skinned prison guard with a horrible scar on his right brow that ran past his eyelid and stopped at his right jawline. With steady hands and a solemn face, he was opening the cell's gate.

"What's happening, Reece?" I rubbed my sleepy eyes to chase away any remnants of lingering sleep.

"I don't know," He stood, gently pulling me up with him. Then he quickly put me behind him. "What's going on?" He questioned the guard.

"Both of you, out!"

"For what reason?" Reece interrogated.

The irate guard suddenly rushed forward and tried to grab me but Reece kicked him in the gut hard, his face twisted by anger. "Are you nuts?" my mate growled.

The incensed guard grabbed hold of Reece, wanting to beat him but Reece was faster than him. Before the guard could land a punch successfully, Reece already gifted him another ruthless kick- this time, where the sun doesn't shine!

"Don't you dare try to lay any of your dirty fingers on my mate and I ever again. You don't have to be a douchebag to get your damn message across. Just tell us calmly and we'd go with you. But trying to manhandle us, you made a mistake there," He told the guard, and opening the cell's gate wider, he went out, pulling me with him.

I agreed with him on this one.

The guard was trying to be a bully, yelling and commanding and rough-handling us. Reece had given him quite the kick on his groin. He glared at Reece who was unperturbed.

My bestie was strong, he was always a powerful werewolf and that had worked well for us in the past.

Back then, whenever I was with him, most of the pack's kids were afraid to trouble me. And for those who dared do so when he wasn't around, he merely waited for the right opportunity and taught them a lesson.

"This way," Though the guard was still glaring at us, resentment written in bold letters on his face, his tone was no longer loud and commanding. He also did not attempt to touch us again. He had learned his lesson the hard way, which was well-deserved.

He led us through hallways, long lonely but wide corridors that beamed with light at every corner until he stopped before a door that was left ajar, he knocked and waited.

"Come in." A gruff voice was heard after a few minutes had passed and it was unmistakably belonged to him, the evil Alpha who was our mate.

The guard then motioned for the both of us to go inside before turning to leave us at the entrance.

I nervously clasped Reece's hand as we walked in side by side, but my steps faltered a bit when the Alpha turned his head to look at us. He was not the only person in the room, there were two other unfamiliar men with him.

"If it isn't my mates," That sneer I detested was back on his face.

What would it take for me to conjure the courage to smack his face? I sighed as soon as I pictured it in my mind. It would happen never, I was certain of it!

"Permit me to say Alpha." One of the men requested. He had short black hair that barely reached his neck. His looks were not bad, but compared to the Alpha or my dear Reece, he could be considered trash.

"What is it, Beta?" I hear the Alpha ask icily.

"Did you just call them your mates?"

So he was the Beta. This guy looked mean and his eyes depicted how sinister of a man he was. I couldn't help shivering slightly.

The Alpha King seemed to be surrounded by men who were as vicious and relentless as he was, judging by their looks.

The saying that birds of the same feathers flock together was actually being practised here. I was not at all comfortable with the way the Beta was staring at me, there was something wantonly about it and it set off the wrong vibes.

I averted my gaze and stationed my eyes elsewhere- at the polished glass table that held a decanter of whiskey and glasses.

"According to the Moon Goddess, yes they are," the Alpha replied wryly.

I realized the Beta was not among the men who had pillaged our pack and taken captive our people. I briefly wondered where the rest of our people were.

What cells had the Alpha kept them?

His gaze roamed over our bodies and the air was overwhelmed with the mate-bond, it thrilled and enchanted me. I felt helpless under its strong pull, and holding Reece's hand was just making it worse. It was too tempting to hold one of your mates when under its spell.

"Leave, you two!" Our mate suddenly commanded.

I jolted, thinking it was me and Reece that the Alpha ordered to get out of his sight, but I soon realized that it was actually the two men.

They looked quite flummoxed by the Alpha's orders. If only they could comprehend how powerful the mate bond was at the moment, how greatly it affected the three of us.

"But Alpha we are not yet done discussing the..." The Beta tried to argue, but he swallowed the rest of his words when he saw the glower plastered on the Alpha's face. That was when he realized his king meant every word he said.

"Let's go," He instructed the other man and together, they left.

Now it was just us three left. Our mate rose from his seat and walked to us. Indeed, I loathed him but I couldn't deny how attractive he was. Reece's hand was caressing mine and I bit back a moan. The Alpha noticed this and pulled us apart.

"Snap out of it, you two!" And just like that, his menacing voice pulled us out of the mate bond's trance.

This man was crazy.

He was a git. Toying with the mate bond and us, just because he knew it affected us the most. I hated it and from Reece's face, he hated it too.

"Why did you bring us out of the cell?" Reece's jaw was set in ire.

"Stop being so fiery all the time," The Alpha's eyes flashed. Reece's anger soon receded and I knew why.

Our mate was an Alpha wolf; Reece's wolf would always come second to his as a Beta. Betas were always the second strongest wolves after the Alpha wolves. This Alpha's wolf had demanded respect and as it was naturally meant to be, Reece's Beta wolf could only surrender.

"Why have you called us?" I asked calmly.

I knew Reece, he was stubborn and might try to challenge the Alpha's wolf again. I wasn't ready for another big bad wolf challenge between the Alpha who wouldn't hesitate to snap our necks and my best friend who was too stubborn to back down.

Emily

"I can see you're the calm one," The Alpha commented, raising his brow at me.

I managed a small smile. I had no idea how to respond to an Alpha like him.

I possessed an Alpha wolf, due to my bloodline. I think my late brother, Julian hated me mostly because of that fact. He might have likely hoped I'd be an Omega since I was usually too quiet and not the aggressive kind of werewolf he was.

He hated that his wolf could not subdue mine because they possessed the same power and authority. His attitude towards me baffled me because I had been trying to be a good, likeable sister.

I had allowed him to treat me as he wanted because I'd thought he'd one day come to love me but that never happened. Rather, he died with hate for me in his heart, my father included. They never accepted me as family.

Sometimes I'd feel guilty, blaming myself for their inability to love and accept me as theirs. But Reece would shake me out of it and say it was not my fault.

Their inability to treat me as family was their problem and though I finally came to believe that, I still couldn't stop musing on how a family could gang up against one person just like that.

How they'd look at their blood relative with naked disgust and irrational anger.

But maybe it was time to look forward and stop thinking about people who weren't worth my time. I'd try to take them off my head...

"What did you bring us out here for?" Reece asked. There was no longer the heated anger in his voice, just a cold steeliness coating his words.

"I thought as my mates, it was unfair to leave you both in the cell. My mates deserve better than that, don't you think?" He directed at Reece and I, but we didn't respond.

I did not think that was a question that needed any answer, it was a rhetorical question. So, silence blanketed us for a while as we stared at each other.

"Anyway, I decided to make you two work for me. That's better now, isn't it? More benevolent considering what fate would have befallen you guys if you were not my mates," He was having the time of his life toying with us.

He had the power; he still had a pack to call home. He had taken everything from us and so he thought that since he had us, he could do whatever he wanted with us.

"Work for you?" Reece chortled but there was nothing humorous about it. It was instead bitter and dry. "Work for you, you say?"

"You have a problem with it?" The Alpha stared pointedly at Reece.

"Yes, I do have a problem with it," My best friend snapped, "I'll never work for you. Not in this lifetime. Not even in the other, hell, I wouldn't even want to see you in the next!"

"You are going to work for me and that's final." The Alpha growled.

Reece growled back. "I won't! You'd have to kill me first!"

"Reece, please calm down," I implored, squeezing tight his hand I'd held.

"Reece..." The Alpha said, nodding his head sagely, "So that's your name, huh?"

My best friend didn't respond to him and our mate didn't seem to mind. Rather, he turned to me, "And what's yours?"

"Emily," I replied after letting out a defeated sigh.

What choice did I have?

"Emily," He repeated, as though he was testing the name on his lips. "Emily, have you ever told your friend here that if he does not control his temper before an Alpha, he might lose his head? Being an Alpha's daughter, I expect you to understand better what I'm saying,"

I stared at him in stupefaction. "How...how did..."

He chuckled. "How did I know you're an Alpha's daughter?" He laughed again as though he found my shock very amusing.

I frowned, not appreciating how mocking his laughter sounded. This Alpha had no conscience and was crazy as well.

"How would I not know my enemy's daughter?"

"Your enemy?" I asked, feeling confused. I never knew father to get into trouble with other packs. At least, not of recent.

He had settled his old scores and after the last war, he'd assured the pack members that there was never going to be any war again.

Not until this fateful morning!

The Alpha's face lost the grin immediately. Instead, his eyes became colder and his face became stonier than I'd ever seen it. The aura he emanated right now, chilled me to my very bones.

"You'll be working for me. No negotiations,"

"I said I won't and she won't as well!" Reece interrupted our mate with a growl.

"Please Reece, for my sake..."

My best friend whirled and faced me with a lifted brow, eyes shooting flames of deep fury, "For your sake? It is because of you that I'm resisting, Emily. You think I want you working as a slave for this bastard? What do you even know about domestic chores? You've never lifted a finger in your life to do menial tasks. You had maids. People attended to your needs, not the other way round,"

"Things have changed, Reece. I will learn how to do hard work," I whispered to him pleadingly, catching the Alpha's impatient eyes on us.

I knew Reece was buying us time and it was only for a very short time before he was losing it. I hoped he would listen to me and just agree to do anything to survive. At this point, we're all for surviving.

"Who made things change? Who ruined our lives? Wasn't it this shameless coward?" Reece pointed accusingly at the Alpha, "You deserve to rot in hell, you..."

I had to pull his hand down. "I beg you, stop purposefully making him furious. He's an Alpha, we can't win him in this fight. Please..."

Reece stared at me with clenched teeth, his body trembling still with anger, "Aren't you an Alpha wolf too? He's alone in here. Let's gang up on him and send him quickly to hell!" he proposed.

"Please, mate. Calm down," I whispered again.

Shortly after, my mate was raking a frustrated hand through his hair. I wished there was something I could do to take away the pain he was passing off as anger. I knew he was in pain and that he hated what we had been reduced to but at the moment we had no choice.

"For how long will we remain in captivity, mate? For how long?" he whispered, trying not to sound broken.

"Please, for my sake," I entreated again, trying not to let any of the impish tears flooding my eyes cascade down either of my cheeks.

"Alright, time's up. Whoever does not agree to work will be imprisoned and tortured every day until they drop dead!" Our irritated Alpha mate said in a deadpan tone.

"We agree. We'll work!" I quickly agreed for both of us, while clasping my hand with Reece's and squeezing comfortingly.

"It'll be alright, Reece," I whispered to my mate, "Okay?"

He nodded, letting out a defeated sigh and I flashed him a weak smile.