Chapter 8

I woke up feeling nauseous as my head pounded and shut my eyes tighter, rolling over to my side to curling into a ball as I tried to figure out why the hell I felt so sick and how I had ended up in the bed I was in.

"You're awake." I heard a voice I recognised but my head hurt too badly to put a name to it. Where was my mom? She could cure this with a simple spell. Werewolves did not usually get sick or get headaches, but I figured my wolf must have tried to force a shift again because that was the only thing that ever resulted in my head feeling so bad. I heard a chuckle, "Izabella."

I opened my eyes and frowned as they met a body before they traced it all the way up to a face. Tyler. So I was in a bed at the Inferno house.

"My head." I whined. What the hell happened?

"Yeah, apparently the wolf that bit you didn't brush his teeth too often and you got sick." I glared at Tyler because of his stupid answer and he laughed.

“Seriously.” I muttered as I pushed myself up and looked at my arm, it was completely healed and there was no blood on it, like I had never been touched. The only evidence that I had been in a fight was the blood all over my shirt. I sighed as I leaned my head back against the board to run my hands over my face.

"What actually happened was you lost a lot of blood and you passed out, which Joe thinks was a good thing because you were partially shifting and it stopped when you lost consciousness." Tyler said, "Good news is no one saw you and the kids in our pack now think you're awesome for attacking those wolves all by yourself." He added.

I was an Alpha’s daughter, he made me train a lot. I did not usually just sit back when there was trouble close by unless I was commanded to. I looked around the room slowly following the white and blue décor that seemed to have been a theme in creating the room. Whose bedroom was this?

"Shouldn't you be in day care or something?" I asked Tyler when I looked back at him. He frowned at me.

"I'm eighteen." He said.

"I didn't notice." I said to annoy him more.

"So," he smirked, "I heard you're mated to Sean, Luna." He said. I rolled my eyes. I was not a Luna, my mother was. I was not going to be a Luna if it meant having to mate with Sean.

"I'm not mated to anyone." I pushed the covers aside to get out of the bed.

"Problems in your relationship already, Luna?" He asked.

"Stop calling me that. I'm no one's Luna and there is no relationship to have problems in. Are you usually this annoying?" I was bordering on punching him in his smirking face.

"Aw, don't be so mean. I was just kidding." He pouted before he smirked again, “Luna.” I glared at him before I gave up and rolled my eyes.

"How am I related to you?" I mumbled and he chuckled.

"I'm your cousin." He said. I grabbed his left wrist to see a tattoo identical to my own before I held his wrist to him so he could look at his tattoo as well.

"Yeah, no shit." I said using his hand to whack him on his cheek before I turned to find my sneakers as I was currently in my socks.

"You're –” he was saying.

"Finally awake?" We both looked at the door as Joe walked in.

"Finally?" I asked confused.

"She's only been out for an hour, Alpha." Tyler said.

"Yes, that's quite a while." Tyler and I looked at each other, seemingly both confused about how that was a long time.

"Yeah, 'long while'" Tyler mumbled before looking at Joe, "Anything you can tell us about the Titans?" Tyler asked.

"Yes, they attacked us." Joe said. Tyler rolled his eyes.

"Oh? I didn't notice that, Uncle Joe. I though they came here to dance and wish someone a happy birthday but they didn't bring cake. What kind of wolves don't bring cake?!" Tyler complained. Joe chuckled as I smiled at Tyler’s fake utter disappointment.

"We're still looking into it.” Joe replied before he looked at me, “Now for you, Izabella, you could have gotten seriously hurt." He frowned.

"I doubt that, Alpha, she did stab a Titan in the shoulder and kill another. Good job against your first Amarelos." Tyler turned to me and I high-fived the hand he held up as I grinned but that fell immediately when I realised Joe was glaring at us.

"Tyler, be quiet.” Tyler nodded mumbling a ‘yes, sir’ as he looked down, “You are lucky no Titan saw you as they left and the two that did see you are dead. What were you thinking, Izabella?" Joe frowned at me.

"I – They-They broke the door! You would have expected that I just stood there and did nothing?" I asked.

Joe sighed. "How do you know how to fight like that anyway?" He asked.

"I never shift, so my Dad and my brothers thought me how to defend myself without shifting." I shrugged. Joe nodded before he narrowed his eyes at me and suddenly he looked like he was zoning out so I assumed someone was linking to him until he blinked and his eyes re-focused on me.

"My Beta says he found a Titan. I'll be right back." Joe turned and walked out of the room but instead of waiting for him, Tyler and I followed. Joe did not object so we both continued following through the hallway.

We made our way down the stairs – which, unsurprisingly, were made of thick glass but was covered by a dark emerald coloured carpet – and onto the ground floor before I followed Joe and Tyler down another hallway. I stopped as we reached what I assumed was his office, if not his then his Beta's office. I had stopped because if there was any chance of them setting this guy free, he would know I was alive.

Joe looked into the room before looking back at me.

"He's blindfolded, though I would not advise you to come in because it's not a pretty sight and it’s only going to get worse." He said. I furrowed my brows at that.

My father was an Alpha. I knew what wolves did when they felt that their pack was being threatened. I knew what extents wolves would go to get answers from a prisoner. I had seen it before, even though Dad told me to stay away I would usually be spying because Adan had tiny cameras set up in the offices that no one in our pack knew about except my brothers and me. It was pretty brutal usually and sometimes nauseating.

I walked by Joe and into the room. The walls were painted grey and I would bet that their Beta was not a very interesting person by the lack of design or creativity. The room was insanely dull. From the pale grey walls to the brown bookshelf that needed an extra coating of varnish and the dirty-looking grey rug beneath the desk. I frowned. Where did they find a colour that looked so bad? Did the room look that way just to torture people further?

"Who is he?" I looked at the blind-folded man when Tyler spoke.

The man had white hair that looked like his natural hair colour. He didn't look too old, but he was probably older than Joe. My eyes drifted to his arms and I almost grimaced seeing pins stuck into them, blood dripping slowly from cuts that were currently healing. His skin was healing around the pins, it was going to hurt to take those out.

"Some guy, part of Titan. We caught him at the east fence, a slow Amarelo." A boy shrugged, he looked fifteen. From his stance, the authority that surrounded him even though he was young and his confidence, I easily assume he was going to be the next Alpha of Inferno.

"He won't answer many of our questions." I looked at the man who had just spoke. He had dark skin, hazel brown eyes, everyone around him had looked at him to speak after the boy. He was clearly their Beta. He looked Joe's age and his brows were lowered in frustration because of the lack of answers he had gotten.

"Mmm... Let me try." Joe said looking serious. All his funniness and friendliness I had seen since I met him had disappeared in the few seconds we had been in the room. It reminded me of my father and Cole when they went into 'business mode’. They always looked very intimidating when they were working, Joe did too.

I watched as he walked up to the man pulling a knife from the various tools they had on a table nearby and I moved over to Tyler and hopped onto the brown desk he was currently on so I was seated beside him. He looked at me and smirked thinking I was scared. I gave a scoff as I rolled my eyes. I had seen worse. My mom had made Dad gloves and cast a spell on them so platinum wouldn't affect him when he touched it. The torture captured wolves went through when he used those... I could never watch for long.

"I'm going to ask you once, and if I don't get the answers I want; I am going to kill you, but I'll do it very slowly and incredibly painfully within the next few weeks so your mate can feel every moment of it and your children can watch her suffer because of you." Joe said gliding the knife down the man's neck. I saw the man clench his jaw as he let out a shaky breath through his nose. "Who are you?" Joe asked pressing the tip of the knife into the man's neck.

The man opened his mouth but stopped before sniffing the air.

"Dry blood..." He muttered. Everyone looked at me and I looked down at my shirt. Ah, damn... There was dry blood from my arm all over my shirt, "Smells… familiar... Not from you though, Joe..." The man mumbled slowly, his brows lowering from just above the cloth that covered his eyes. I felt my heart pick up even though I thought it was impossible for him to recognise me by the scent of my blood… unless he had smelt it before, "I remember… this sweet… scent.” I felt my mouth gape, “Is it... Richard's daughter –?" before anyone could do anything Tyler had shoved himself off the table and raced across the room in less than a second. His movement was followed by a crack that echoed through the room and when he stepped back the man’s head dropped lifelessly in front of him. Tyler's hand covered in blood as it clenched the man’s heart.

"Shit." Joe hissed.

I looked at him confused as to why Tyler had suddenly killed him, Joe seemed to know why already.

"He was linking to his wife." Tyler muttered.

Linking to his wife... About what? Was he saying goodbye to her? Warning her about the oncoming pain?

"No, Izzy. He was linking to her to tell her that you're still alive which is why there was so many pauses in his sentence, he was stalling. Luckily Tyler realised it before we did but it might already be too late." Joe muttered. I had not said that out loud. He must have been linking to me. I was not used to people linking to me, I never learnt how to block anyone out of my head. I would have to now.

“Richard’s…” The beta looked at me shocked.

Tyler flung the man's heart onto his unmoving lap, sighing the same time the other boy did.

"He knew we were going to kill him eventually and he knew we would kill him if we realised he was linking, so he died happily if it meant protecting his mate from the torture we could have inflicted on him." The boy said before looking at me curiously, "Kaden." He said glancing at Joe, probably wondering why I was allowed in the room when no one had ever seen me before.

"Izabella." I said.

"How... She’s not dead?" The Beta looked at Joe and I followed his gaze to my uncle. He was not kidding when he said everyone thought I was dead, was he? Alphas did not usually keep things from their Betas.

"Yeah, well, see... I was meaning to tell you all eventually, I mean, not even Walter or Gail knew." Joe said, "I decided she would be safer that way." He added.

"Right. I'm Wayne." The Beta said. I nodded telling him it was nice to meet him. I was learning too many names at one time, but he was the Beta so I was sure I would remember his. He looked older than Joe as well, he was my birth father’s Beta too. He must have known him and my mother very well, I could ask him about them.

"We should all get to bed.” Joe’s voice drew me from my thoughts, “Tyler, go wash your hands." I sighed hopping off the table. It was almost five in the morning and I was really tired but also very hungry. Tyler frowned at his hands before he left the room mumbling something about disgusting Titan blood as he walked out. I looked at Joe about to ask where I should go but he spoke as if reading my mind again, "The room you woke up in is yours." He said.

"Oh. That's why you never let us re-do that room." Wayne said to Joe who smiled nodding.

"Uh... Which room would the one I woke up in be?" I asked slowly. I was still very drowsy when we left the room, I had not really paid attention to where I was.

"Seriously, Izabella?" Joe looked at me. I shrugged. I was not good at remembering my way through massive places when I was tried or distracted and I was also currently too tried to smell my way to the room. Kaden chuckled.

"I'll show her. Goodnight Alpha Joe, Beta Wayne." Kaden said smiling at them before he walked out.

"Good night," I mumbled and followed him out.

"We'll work on your wolf tomorrow, Izzy." I heard Joe call. I sighed. Despite trying my best to ignore her, I could clearly still feel my wolf's annoyance with me about leaving even though I found out who our mate was, she was obviously not in the mood to work with me. She was hard to control as it was. I was definitely not looking forward to working on her behavioural issues…