Chapter 4Hours later and I was still reeling from what had happened, even after I was dressed and shown to my room in the far end of the enormous pack house. It had taken me months to adjust to Celeste being in my head, and now I had an Alpha in there too. I could already feel the fibres of my sanity unravelling. “At least he’s hot” Celeste chimed in as I thought myself into a spiral of despair. “Keep it in your pants, he’s obviously a sociopath.” I replied, pacing the length of my room. Alpha Julius had practically dragged me kicking and screaming up the stairs from the pack cells before leaving me with Dean. Not once did he respond to the abuse I hurled at him, although he did shoot me a murderous glare when I attempted to take a swipe at his cheek. Dean was less thrilled to see me than before, and didn’t say a word as he pushed me through the halls and around many twists and turns. In between my pitiful attempts at escaping, all of which were thwarted by an unenthusiastic Dean
Julius POV I watched as Maia sauntered out of my office and down the hall, her wide hips swaying as she turned a corner, disappearing from sight. I focused my attention back on my Beta. “Deano?” I questioned, surprised that he had let her give him a nickname in the first place. “Don’t fucking start.” He groaned, running his hands along his face. The two of us had been friends since we were pups, and his father had been my fathers Beta for well over two decades before I took over the alpha-ship. We had gone through life together, from the highest highs to the lowest lows, Dean had been there through it all. “Why is she here? I thought there was a kill-on-sight order when it came to trespassers.” He huffed as he slumped into the armchair Maia had just been sitting in. “She was unarmed and alone, would hardly have been a respectable kill.”I said, resting my hands behind my head. “But I also want to see if we can use her.” “Oh?” Deans interest was piqued. “She said she’d been livi
Maia’s POV By the time I made it out of the pack house it was mid-morning. The skies were clear, the sun not yet high enough to add much warmth to the day but it was beautiful nonetheless. I took in my surroundings, breathing in the scents of the forest around me, filling my lungs with something other than commercial-grade cleaning products which I swore had given me a permanent headache. Or perhaps that was Alpha Julius, who knows. I commenced my walk into town, which wasn’t difficult to find considering all the main buildings were connected by the same road, taking in the sights as I went. Alpha Julius had mentioned that his pack was one of the largest, but by the size of this quaint community I assumed that he had taken over a number of other packs to add to his numbers. The town was cute, with most of it’s infrastructure imbedded into the forest in a similar way to the pack house, and designed almost like one big round-a-bout, with a large memorial feature in its centre and sho
The shower had done nothing to calm my thoughts. I went to bed a confused mess, overthinking every single detail of the events of the last couple of days. I could hardly make sense of any of it, from fighting Adrian, to getting captured by Julius, and then there was the bizarre attraction I had towards him. What did they call that, Stockholm Syndrome? Sleep did not come easy, and even when it eventually consumed me, it was filled with nightmares I thought I’d left behind long ago. I woke to the sun having barely risen, covered in a thin layer of sweat and sporting a very sore throat. “I think you were screaming again…” Celeste said, her voice filled with concern. Nightmares had plagued me for so many years, every night my brain had decided to put my most painful memories on replay, giving Celeste full access to what my life was like before she joined it. I hadn’t had one in just over a year, but with the insanity that had ensued over the last few days I wasn’t surprised they’d retur
“I’ve heard rumours about a rogue living in the pack, I can’t believe they’re actually true.” Maeve replied as I gave her the run down of my background. “Don’t get me wrong, I know rogues aren’t popular, but it seems like a bigger deal in this pack?” I questioned. Something about Maeve made me feel like she was an open book, and it really did feel like the term ‘rogue’ was more than a dirty word around here. “Ohhhh, you don’t know?” She said dramatically, clearly I was on to something. “Nope.” I replied, popping the ‘p’. “Five years ago we had a really terrible rogue attack. Alpha Julius had just taken over as Alpha, and I guess they thought it was a time the pack might be weakened or something?” She said, looking around as if she didn’t want to be overheard. “Being part of one of the biggest packs means we often get challenged but we were always able to take care of it. Anyway, this time there were hundreds of rogues. Too many for our warriors in town to manage, so a lot of our p
Julius POV I laid in bed listening to Maia thrashing against her sheets from beyond the wall that separated us. She had been having nightmares all week, her screams ringing through the pack house each night, jolting me awake. On the first night I nearly stormed through her door, prepared to face whoever was responsible. But as I approached her room and the screaming stopped, I could hear her breathing steady, slowly replaced by ragged sobs that seemed to go on for hours. Every night since then I wondered what could cause her such distress, such pain that she was plagued to relive it night after night. I had been busy all week dealing with rogue attacks, I hadn’t seen her for days, and yet she continued to consume my thoughts. Her attitude was infuriating, and yet at the same time I found it completely alluring to be challenged by her. There was an air of dominance that she carried, not dissimilar to the energy of an Alpha, which intrigued me. I was unable to help myself when Dean
Maia POV Awareness creeped into my mind slowly, the seconds passing before the events of the night before came back to me. I groaned as memories replayed in my mind until one in particular made me snap open my eyes. My room was flooded with the morning light, illuminating the huge figure sitting across the room watching me. “Good Morning, Maia.” Julius said huskily, his voice sounding as though he hadn’t slept a wink. I felt a blush creep up my cheeks, embarrassed that Julius had seen me in such a vulnerable state. In saying that, I had one of the best sleeps I’d had in a long time while he was watching over me. An interesting development I thought, seeing as I had assumed Julius would be the one giving me nightmares, not saving me from them. “Morning.” I grunted in response, still not nearly awake enough to engage in conversation. “Mind filling me in on why you wake up screaming every night?” He asked bluntly. I was taken aback, not expecting a question like that first thing i
I had no desire to sit in my room for the rest of the day, especially as I knew I’d just end up overthinking everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. Maeve had told me she’d be working on the restorations in her family’s restaurant all weekend, just off the Main Street, so I decided I’d head out and see if they needed a helping hand. I arrived at the newly re-built building just after 12. Maeve had said it used to be an old Mediterranean restaurant that had remained unchanged for decades, but it seemed her family wanted to make a fresh start and had taken a more modern approach this time round. The outside had recently been completed, it’s entire frontage consisting of one big window which gave you a magnificent view of the restaurants interior, which currently consisted of teams of people working in high-vis uniforms. It wasn’t long before I spotted Maeve, dressed in a pair of dark low-rise jeans and a white cut-off t-shirt. She was pouring over a collection of papers wit