The Alpha and his Mate

Annabelle’s PoV

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the smell, the smell of damp and rust. It was the type of stench I that would recognise anywhere and told me exactly where we were. I knew, without even opening my eyes, that we were in the underground cells where I’d had my dreams.

I groaned as my body became more aware of its self and how sore it was. I reached my hand up to touch a particular tender spot on my temple but flinched as I felt burning around my wrist. What the?

I looked down at myself and in the little light that the small window offered saw a pair of silver hand cuffs attached to my wrists and my ankles, keeping me pretty much motionless in my spot on the cold damp floor.

“Are you alright Annabelle?” I heard a whisper not too far from me. I shot up in alarm at the sudden voice in the quiet room but calmed down when I found Xavier lying next to me, bloodied and bruised.

I sighed and took a mental check of my body before nodding and looking over to him. “I’m fine, nothing I haven’t dealt with before” I muttered “do you know where we are?”

Xavier nodded next to me, but he didn’t look happy about it, if anything he looked semi defeated as he lay against the stone all.

“That bad hu?”

He sighed and looked down into his lap with a shrug “I don’t know what to tell you Annabelle, we’re slap bang in the middle of Alpha Parker’s territory in an underground bunker. Even if Jax and the others could find us they’re going to have a hard time getting through the pack to get here” he sighed before groaning as he tried to reposition himself.

I sighed and rested my head back against the cold stone wall that was currently keeping me upright. “Could you mind link the pack maybe? Tell Jax where we are and see if there’s anything he can do?” Why had I not taken those mind linking lessons more seriously?

“I can’t, we’re bound in silver chains. The pain my wolf is going through right now means he is in no fit state to try and reach out to anybody, let alone someone so far away. I’m sorry Annabelle” he sighed with a shrug.

I nodded my head in understanding but quickly stopped as I felt my temple throb with the movement. “It’s alright, it was worth a shot, I mean I asked for this right? Don’t worry I’ll make sure they release you too”.

Before Xavier could answer the door to our cell opened and bright artificial light streamed into the room making both of us wince in pain. My head hurt before but with the added blinding light it was almost making it unbearable.

“Ahh your awake, good. I was wondering if maybe my guy had hit you to hard and killed you or something” a voice laughed. I knew that voice.

As my eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light, I started to make out a lone figure silhouetted in the light of the doorway. It was to bright for me to catch any key features though, just his height and build as he remained a shadow in the light of the hallway.

“Who are you? Where’s Alpha Parker?” Xavier growled as he tried but failed to get in front of me, the restraints around his ankles and wrists prevented his from being anywhere near me.

“Alpha Parker is currently... indisposed at the moment so you lucky bunch get me instead” the guy laughed, us not being in on the joke though didn’t laugh with him.

I frowned at him, there was definitely something familiar about him. “You smell like Alpha Parker” I muttered as I continued to observe him. I hadn’t realised I had said it aloud until I felt two sets of eyes shift my way.

“Why yes I do” the stranger smiled at me, but it was far from comforting. “You see we believe that the Moon Goddess didn’t create mates to make us whole, she did it to make us weak. She saw that we were becoming more powerful than anything, more powerful than even her, and so created the mate bond to tame us and make us vulnerable. Without our natural scent, we are undetectable and so our mates will never recognise us.”

The stranger sounded happy, smug even, as he explained how he found a way to block the mate bond.

I looked at him in shock, “why wouldn’t you want to experience something as amazing as the mate bond? I didn’t even know what it was two weeks ago and now I can’t imagine my life without it”.

“Exactly” the stranger stated and leaned against the door frame, completely at ease with the situation around him. “Because of your mate bond you are now linked to that stupid Alpha of yours for the rest of your life. If you were mateless you would have had no reason to give yourself over to us but because of him your Luna instincts kicked in and you just had to save your pack.”

I scowled at him and leaned towards him, ignoring the bite in my wrists as my skin reacted to the silver shackles. “Let me make one thing very clear” I growled “even if I wasn’t mated to Jax, or mated to anybody in this pack, I would have still made the same choice. I would still choose saving them over myself any day”.

The stranger smirked “seems like someone’s grown a backbone since leaving the Leftens”.

My blood instantly ran cold at the mention of their names and I subconsciously shrunk back in on myself. He knew the Leftens. He knew Damon.

The strangers smirk grew, as if knowing that just the mere mention of their name was enough to have an effect on me.

“They are going to be so happy that we found you, they have been worried sick since you ran away” he laughed. “Don’t worry though, they said they have a massive surprise for you when they finally manage to get you back”.

My heart started to race and my palms started to sweat. I couldn’t go back there, not after knowing what it was like to not wake up every morning in fear.

The stranger took a step closer to me but before I had any time to react Xavier let out an almighty roar and went for the strangers throat, unconcerned with the burning of his skin.

“You stay away from our Luna” he growled as his teeth started to extend from out of his gumline.

The stranger only smirked, unconcerned with the angry Beta that was only a few feet away from him, tied up with just a few links of silver keeping them apart.

The reminder that Xavier was here with me though gave me a little strength. It reminded me that I was now a werewolf and a Luna, and no one could take that away from me.

“Xavier enough” I yelled, replicating how Jax sounds when he yells at someone. I needed to get my people out of here.

Xavier slowly calmed down and the stranger turned away from him and looked at me. “Not bad for an inexperienced Luna, not bad at all” he chuckled.

I ignored what he said and looked at him square in the eye, showing no sign of weakness, I needed to get this done.

“Let him go, let them all go, and then I will do whatever you want”.

The stranger suddenly laughed and I stared at me in amusement. “Okay now you’re showing your inexperienced”.

I carried on staring at him, the confusion written clear as day on my face, but as I looked over to Xavier, I could tell he wasn’t confused at all. He was angry.

“Oh Annabelle, we had no intention of letting any of your captured pack members go” the stranger taunted as he turned his back on us and started to make his way out of our cell “They were just bait to get you here” he shrugged “and now that we have you... well let’s just say we will no longer be needing their services”.