Chapter 2

Silence.

Moments drag on before I hear the sound of slow steps. It's the Alpha. He's coming my way.

My eyes shoot down. A million and one thoughts race through my mind.

He crouches before me.

Seconds tick by before I feel his fingers underneath my chin. A zap of electricity courses through me.

"Look at me," he commands low.

Left with no other choice, I lift my eyes to his. Time suspends.

I see his pupils dilate, surprise and desire clear in the way his nostrils flare. His fingers momentarily tighten on my chin. "Is this true?"

It takes me a long second to grasp the meaning behind his words. Then I do and the moment is broken. My eyes flit away from his. "Yes," I whisper, the pain still fresh. "I was... I was six. I'd made them their usual morning tea and just as soon as they'd taken it they--" my voice breaks, haunting images I'd fought to suppress lurching forward. "They started to convulse. They shook so-so much. Their mouths foamed and then their eyes... They rolled back--"

"You hypocrite! Don't you dare act their deaths caused you pain!" Dylan thunders. "You--"

"Quiet," the Alpha orders. "Let her finish."

I dry my hands quickly, passing them over my eyes. "I'm done."

"Tell him how traces of wolfsbane were found in their tea, Bella!" Dylan faces the Alpha now. "She'd poisoned our parents with wolfsbane."

"She's your sister?" The Alpha asks.

"Only in name," he spits.

"Yet you do not treat her like one. How could you be so quick to believe she, a child of six, no less, was responsible for their murder?"

"She wasn't a--"

"And if they were your parents, it would mean they had Alpha blood. Wolfsbane wouldn't have killed them that fast."

Dylan's eyes skitter, sweat beading at the top of his lips. "You don't understand, she's a devil. I--"

"Not another word." He rises, drawing his heat away. At once I feel bereft. "I'm afraid I cannot conduct business with you," he says. "Good day, Dylan." Without another word, he turns and strides out of the door.

I feel Dylan's gaze on me. My skin pricks with fear.

"You b*tch!"

I scream when he slaps me again. My breath hitches when he wounds my hair around his fist, dragging me up to my feet. Tears track down my cheeks when we're brought face to face. "You." His frame trembles with fury. "You've just cost us everything!"

"I-I'm sorry. Please please, I'll fix th--"

"How!? How the fck are you going to fix anything!? Look at you," he spits. "What the fck are you going to do!?"

Trembles wrack me. "I'm s-sorry. Pleas--"

With a growl, he marches toward the back of the room, dragging me along by the hair. When we start to descend a set of familiar stairs, I feel the blood leave my face. "No!" I struggle in earnest. "No, please. Please, Dylan! Not the punishment room."

He says nothing, ruthlessly pulling my struggling form behind him. He doesn't stop until we get to the ground floor. The hidden basement. Our footsteps bounce off the cold walls, producing familiar echoes that send chills running down my spine.

We turn into a hallway, heading down to where Dylan usually punishes me. When we're at the entrance, he draws to an abrupt stop. "F*ck," he breathes.

Because my head is down, I can't see what he sees. But when I hear that voice, his voice, I still.

"You bring her here to punish her?"

His voice is stunned, an undercurrent of mounting anger weaving through his words.

Shame causes my stomach to fall. I know what he sees. Splatters of my blood all over the walls, pliers with fingernails still trapped in their vice.

Dylan's voice is small. "How did you...how did you find--"

"What werewolf with his senses won't be able to smell the amount of anguish down here!?" he growls. "I had only to follow the scent of blood."

"She deserves it, I'm telling you!"

Alpha Caesar takes a step forward and I feel the air in the room drop by several degrees. He advances slowly until he's standing before us. I don't look up, eyes still trained on the floor.

His voice is low. "How long has this been going on for?"

Dylan speaks, "It hasn't bee--"

"Not you," he snaps.

My brother falls quiet.

"Bella," Alpha Caeser prompts.

It's hard to speak. Pain lances across my jaw when I part my lips. The Alpha notices this and steps closer to me. What he does next has me stilling.

Softly, he passes a thumb over my jaw.

"Talk," he urges.

"Since I... Since I was old enough. My first punishment had been at eleven."

When his eyes bleed to a furious yellow, I step back on instinct. I see Dylan's face turn ashen.

"Eleven?" The Alpha asks quietly.

Dylan bites out, "Yes, I... She had stolen from one of the pack members. It was only proper we punished her."

There's a deafening pause.

"Dylan. I want to make you a deal."

My brother perks up instantly, greed stark in his beady eyes.

"I will make the alliance with your pack." He turns to face my brother. "Under the condition that she comes with me."

My heart stops.

What?

Dylan looks just as shocked. "Why would you want her?" he asks genuinely.

The Alpha doesn't bother with a reply. "Will she be given to me?"

Dylan looks at me long. "Yes, you can have her. You'll be welcoming destruction to your pack. Don't say we didn't warn you."

But Alpha Caeser doesn't seem to have heard him. His eyes are rapt on my face.

That thumb breezes across my jaw again. "Look at me," he orders softly.

A flare of anxiety shoots through me. Finally, I lift my eyes. A hard jaw meets me, followed by a pair of high cheekbones. His midnight black hair is closely cropped at the sides, with a few locks falling over his forehead. A set of thick brows slash over piercing grey eyes. He watches me watch him, scrutinizing my face just the same. When he speaks, it's a deep rasp, "Tomorrow."

My earlier anxiety returns. Have I just traded a frying pan for fire?

"Tomorrow, I'll come get you."