Chapter 3
RYAN
I got ready to go back to the pack house the next day. I put on my fresh clothes that Cynthia had laid out for me and made my way out, out of the hospital wing-like building. Cynthia would accompany Catherine later. I was also early and rushed into my office where Tristan and Michael were waiting for me.
Michael smiled at me "It's good to have you back boss" he said and gave me a handshake. I nodded slightly "Yes and we will get right to work. This asshole needs to die" I said directly and sat down at the table. "I want all allies contacted. We have to put an end to this pig, there were still several prisoners there, but I couldn't free them all." I said seriously and grabbed my phone. I would start a revolution against Arnor and then kill him most personally.
'Companion... I want to go to our consort' Onyx muttered in my mind. I rolled my eyes 'Will you shut up? I have a war to organize here and you're thinking about a mate? We don't have a mate' I replied 'Say that again and you're dead boy' Onyx threatened me. 'I wonder if her wolf will like me. God, she was a beauty, I've never seen a red, black wolf before.' Onyx continued to yap all over my ears.
I was being watched by Tristan, who noticed that my mind was not on the matter at all, as I kept arguing with Onyx.
"What's going on with you Ryan?" he asked me. I shook my head "Nothing, Onyx is a little traumatized and crying my ears off" I said trying to focus.
'HEY I'M HERE IN YOUR HEAD!" yelled Onyx.
I rolled my eyes and tried to continue my work,
'Companion ohhh companion' Onyx chanted in my head until finally I couldn't take it anymore.
"Is Catherine here now?", I asked Tristan, raising my eyebrows.
'That's a good girl...' Onyx muttered with a grin.
"Yeah, she came in earlier with Cynthia. She should be in her room," he said, "Should we do the questioning thing?" asked Michael.
I thought about it and shook my head.
"No, according to Cynthia she is very traumatized. I want to handle this myself." said I and stand up.
They both nod and walk out with me as well. While they walk in the other direction, I make my way to Catherine's house.
I knock on the door and finally enter. Sitting at the windowsill, Catherine stares out into the emptiness.
I examine her for a moment. Black hair, white skin, rosy lips, she looked haggard. She must have had that to thank for her stay with Arnor. I got angry and didn't want to know what Arnor had done to her. She was relatively tall, I estimated her at 170 cm, not bad for a woman. Her face was beautiful, the icy blue eyes, her looks reminded me a bit of Irina Shayk. Oh god, her scent. The whole room smelled like her, a smell of roses. 'I told you so! Our companion is great!' Moans Onyx.
She was still lost in her thoughts, when I finally cleared my throat, she jumped up like a little mouse who had seen a cat. I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms. "It's just me, you don't have to be afraid of me," I said, while walking closer to her though. It looks more like when a panther circles and appraises its prey.
"Catherine?", I say, finally leaning against the wall. "That's your name, isn't it?", I ask her again. She glances at me briefly, lowers her gaze, and nods. "Yes."
Her demeanor was so... so shy, I would call it. I didn't know what was behind it, or I probably wouldn't call it shy.
"Where are you from, Catherine? What brought you to Arnor?" I asked her quietly. She held her arm with one hand and I watched her squeeze tighter and tighter, her swallowing hard to miss. "I think you owe me those answers after your release. Don't you think?" I walked closer to her and held her chin up so she had to look me straight in the eye. "Tell me the truth.", I ordered her with my alpha command. She still hesitated and tried to avoid my gaze.
Her lips start to tremble and tears start to rise in her eyes.
'What the hell are you doing to our mate! Sometimes I think you are the dog among us!' Snaps Onyx at me. He doesn't like this way of dealing with her at all. Well, I was not very patient.
Somehow I felt the need to pull her into my arms, but I had to pull myself together. I had to figure out what was going on for the first time.
'Fucking take her in your arms again if you feel the need,' Onyx urged me again.
'I'll muzzle you right now if you keep grumbling like that' I replied, looking Catherine in the eye. Oh god those blue eyes...
"I-it makes me uncomfortable," she finally said.
"We were both locked in a cell, tortured long enough to collapse at the end. I don't think there's anything uncomfortable about that anymore." I said, raising my eyebrows as I continued to hold her chin firmly in my hand.
"I'm from the Crescent pack. I-I was sold to Arnor..." she said softly. That sentence alone was enough to topple my mood. "Who sold you?", I asked, obviously angry. "M-my alpha," she answered me. I let go of her chin and my hands balled into fists.
"Then what happened?", I asked again firmly.
"When I came to the pack, he was friendly at first and all of a sudden he caught sight of his mate.... He was head over heels in love with her and she demoted me to a slave. I was allowed to clean, scrub and serve her there and eventually she got tired of seeing me. She was jealous of me according to the other servants because he explicitly took me from the other pack.... One day there she claimed that I had tried to steal her gold chain. She had planted it in my room and that's when Arnor came in and locked me up and tortured me...until you came..." She crossed her arms, around her body and tried to resist her tears.
I could feel Onyx wanting to get to the front. He wanted Arnor dead. I tried to hold him back. 'Not now Onyx, wrong time' I hissed at him. 'Let me out of here!" grumbled Onyx 'I WANT HIM DEAD' shouted Onyx in my mind. My eyes kept turning to black because Onyx wanted to take me over.
'We will get revenge for this' was a promise to Onyx and Catherine.
She nodded slightly and wiped the tears from her eyes. She finally looked at me again, unsure. Did she sense something? Or did her she-wolf just inform her that I was her mate?
When she met my gaze, she immediately lowered it and looked to the ground.
The desire in me grew greater and greater to enfold her in my arms and preferably to mark her.
'WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" howled Onyx and I stormed out of the room before he could emerge.
'TRISTAN, IN MY OFFICE NOW' I yelled inside his head.
'Ouch! My ears! I'm coming already...'
I stormed into my office. War. I wanted to see blood.
Tristan and Michael came into my office, they were both out of breath.
"How far along are you? I still want to make war tomorrow!" I said angrily, banging on my desk so hard that cracks formed in the wood.
They both looked at me irritated "W-We contacted the leaders, they will be here the day after tomorrow to discuss everything." came out from Tristan. "TODAY!" I yelled at them and they were already storming out of the room.
First the attack on my pack, that he tortured me I had taken rather lightly but my mate? He touched my Catherine?
I saw only red.
'RIGHT SO! Screamed Onyx in my head and howled.
'Shut up you beast' I hissed at him.
'God damn it, what has gotten into me? Now I was already referring to her as my Catharina? Get your mind out of your head Ryan, you're the bad boy who has women in bed for one night and doesn't live a sweet life.
'Oh yes you are, you're becoming the softie. Maaaateeee'
Was there a button to turn Onyx off?
'No, there isn't.' Onyx taunted me word-for-word, grinning like a honey-cake horse.
CATHERINE
I can see the Alpha was struggling with his wolf. After telling him everything, I was really upset. I sat back down on the windowsill and looked out.
Rose was restless the whole time he was there. She was muttering something about companions and running back and forth in my head.
'Rose you are causing me dizzy spells, what's wrong?' I asked her.
She paused 'Can't you feel it? I think he's our mate.... This aura alone, but I can't explain, if he's supposed to be our mate, why he doesn't talk to us about it?' She seemed quite confused.
'Do you think he doesn't want us?' I asked her softly and somehow my heart slipped into my pants. After 27 years, I would have found my mate who wouldn't want me? This is every she-wolf's nightmare.
'I-I don't know...' By not being in her pack, I can't communicate with his wolf, we would have to be turned to be able to talk to each other...' she finally said and I felt she was sad.
I folded my arms around myself and tears came to my eyes. 'Hey don't be sad, possibly he's still messed up because of the captivity, it will work out. I'm sure his wolf would never reject us. After all, that's what the moon goddess decided' Rose tried to encourage me. I just nodded and said nothing more about it.
I didn't want to imagine how bad it would be to be rejected. The last woman to be rejected in the Crescent pack committed suicide.
There was a knock at the door. "Yes?", I said almost too quietly. Cynthia walked in. She approached me with a tray of food and placed it on the table. "I didn't know if you wanted to eat with the other wolves or if you would prefer to eat alone for the first time. I figured since you're not quite fit so far, I'd bring everything up to you for the first time." she smiled gently at me.
"Thank you.", I said softly and looked up at her. She looked simply wonderful, which was more than I could say for myself at the moment.
"What are you so sad about?", Cynthia asked me, sitting down next to me. This was frankly a little uncomfortable for me, having her so close to me. "I-I'm not sad," I denied, looking out the window again. Cynthia looked at me askance. "You can really talk to me Catherine, I won't say anything to a soul," she said again.
Was she somehow slow on the uptake? "I really thank you, but I'm fine...", I said again, but didn't dare look at her. She finally nodded, apparently she had finally understood. "There are bath towels for you in the bathroom, if you want you can take a bath later to relax..." she finally got up and walked out of the room again.
God was I glad she was out of here. I looked over at the dinner tray. I was starving at the thought that the Alpha was probably going to turn me down. I mean, he didn't even mention his name. What was I going to expect? Just because he saved me didn't mean anything.
I accepted Cynthia's offer and made my way to the bathroom. I went to the closet for a moment to pull out some fresh clothes. I grabbed a pair of gray jeans, a cream colored sweater, socks and stopped at the underwear. Oh god, all lacy underwear. I was looking more for something comfortable, but I had no choice but to grab a black thong, which had the matching bra next to it.
I went into the bathroom which was black marble, even the toilets were black. There was a beautiful mirror hanging above the sink with a frame of flowers, which was silvery.
I let the water run into the bathtub, which was in the middle of the room. I had not bathed properly for a long time. Since my imprisonment, I was only allowed to shower for 5 minutes at a time, even in a hellhole for prisoners.
I took off my clothes down to my underwear and looked at myself in the mirror for a moment. I had bags under my eyes and my face was sunken. I had lost over a good 15 kilograms in 3 months. My whole skin was covered with scars from the whips.
I looked at my eyes. So blue, so cold. Cold, was all I had left after this experience. Every spark of joie de vivre had disappeared in me
'Hey girl... Stop thinking about yourself like that. You are the most beautiful and amazing girl in this world...' Rose tried to cheer me up.
Tears rose in my eyes again and I shook my head
"I-I am anything but beautiful Rose..." I sobbed and fell on my knees. I let my tears run free. I was at the end.
I heard a growl coming from my room and didn't dare look at the door. Whoever was standing at the door saw me completely distraught and broken....