Chapter 6

Xander's p.o.v

I stood in her room and a weight rested on my shoulders. This place was not a place suitable for my mate. Looking around, it dawned on me how much she was affected by the pack's behaviour towards her, not only theirs but mine as well. It made me sick to my stomach and it wasn't only the stench of rotting clothes that brought about my nausea.

Underneath it all, this wasn't really her. It was what we had pushed her to be, to accept. All those days I spent in the torture room with her, every lash and whip I manifested on her skin flashed in my mind and my wolf growled at the thought of our mate being in pain.

I just never could help it, neither could my wolf. Even when I had looked at her in the crowd, her eyes going wide, all I wanted to do was scoop her up and beg. Whisk her away and beg till she saw how genuine I was. The moment she turned her back on me and began to run, for the second time in my life, I became panicked. I acted out.

This was a few hours ago. I had a steady reassurance that she wouldn't get passed the borders of the territory, there were always wolves in patrol and every one of them was on the lookout for her the moment I had issued the word.

My head turned to the small window and I looked out of it, the sun was almost setting and still no word. What if she was hurt? What if a rogue were to catch her? What if she didn't survive the night?

I was so pathetic. It was only after finding out the young girl I had been abusing is my mate, that my full sense of humanity was reawakened. I knew better. She wouldn't look at me the same. She would never accept me. That's why she ran. Because she knew the kind of monster I was.

A movement at the corner of my eye distracted me and I turned to see my beta; Cole, walking towards me. Come was my best friend and he happened to be the only one who knew why exactly I never seemed to want to treat Ava the right way.

Ava

The name alone almost brought me to my knees.

"How are you holding up?" He asked. I scowled slightly

"My mate, who I've been waiting for since I turned 15, runs away from me and I happen to find out that it's the girl I've put in the hospital more than twice, almost close to death. All this happens on the day I officially become Alpha. It's almost dark out and still no word about her from anyone and you're asking me how I'm holding up?" I raised my voice towards the end and took in deep breaths, it felt like I was being choked

"I'm losing my mind here Cole." I finally said after recovering

He sighed and came to my side at the window.

"We finally know the reason why you've always felt the way you did towards her." He mumbled "You can't change the past Xander. Ultimately, you can let the past change you."

I nodded and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Any word?" I asked

"They lost track of her."

My wolf howled and I fought an internal battle for a minute plus to keep him in check.

"Lost track of her?" I gritted out

"Her scent just disappeared after a while. No tracks. No scent. No sign of shredded clothes. Nothing. It's like she just vanished into thin air."

I suddenly punched the wall next to me. The force of it breaking the concrete.

She couldn't have just vanished into thin air! They just weren't looking hard enough.

"I want every scout we have searching for her. Send word to our neighbouring packs. Find her. I know she's not dead and she couldn't have just vanished into thin air!"

I started to stalk out of the room but stopped when he began to talk.

"Xander..." he started "...she might reject you. Think of what it could do the pack, what it could do to you. That girl has suffered enough, don't you think it's best just to let her..."

"No!" My wolf had taken control of me for a split second before I forcefully composed myself

Cole didn't look shaken at all. He was too used to me.

"You don't understand." I mumbled "I need her Cole. I've always needed her, you know that. I don't care if I'm a selfish bastard. I don't care if it takes months or years, I'll never stop looking for her. Never."

.......

My eyes opened gradually. The first thing I noticed was that I was warm and the lighting in the room was adjusted. It seemed like it was done in a way my eyes would not hurt when I finally opened them.

Sitting up, I looked around and took in the room and all its comfiness. I was on a bed; tucked under a duvet. There were two couches in the room and pictures hung on the wall. Next to the bed I was in was a nightstand, were a glass of water and sachets of tablets.

This place wasn't familiar at all. In fact, I couldn't sense anything familiar. Taking a sniff of the air, I concluded that this place was not where I was used to or knew.

So where exactly am I?

'You're not slow now I see.' Keira said, almost sounding annoyed

'Keira, where are we?'

'I wish I knew. When you went to sleep, I kind of did the same thing.'

I swang my legs over the edge of the bed and noted that my feet were now adorned with fluffy polka dot brown and pink socks.

'Ewww. Who puts Brown and pink together?'

I laughed out loud a little at Keira's obvious distaste but I found the socks a bit cute. And I was happy that the person who had somehow put the socks on me, wanted to obviously keep me warm.

But who was this person? Xander? I couldn't sense him at all. Was I captured? Looking around, I highly doubted if any captor would keep their prisoner in a warm bed and give them fluffy socks.

Another laugh erupted from me and I suddenly heard rushed footsteps moving in my direction. I looked up at the door and just as I expected, it opened. There stood two people; a man and a woman. What struck me most wasn't the look of relief evident in their eyes, but it was the fact they were human.

"Oh my sweet God, thank you." The woman gushed coming into the room

I watched her warily and wanted so badly to resist the urge to flinch when she stretched her arm towards me, I failed miserably and saw hurt, then understanding flash on her face.

She smiled as the man closed the door behind him and came to stand next to her. I was very very certain that they were married. He even held her hand and gave me a smile that reflected hers.

"I'm sorry dear. My wife just got a little excited. We've been waiting for you to wake up and she couldn't sit when she heard you laugh." He explained

I tilted my head to the side and tried to speak but my throat was dry. I coughed and next thing was handed the water that sat on the nightstand. I took it, careful not to touch her hand and gulped down the liquid greedily.

'You're making these people anxious.' Keira mumbled

'I-I am?'

'Yes. Now can you please say something, their heart rates need to bloody slow down.'

She was right. I could heart how frantic their heartbeats were.

"U-Uh..." I started then rubbed my hands together "...w-where am I?"

They looked at each other and I was surprised when the woman took a seat next to me and the man gingerly sat on the carpeted floor, crossing it expertly.

"Well young lady..." the woman started "...you're in our home."

"We found you passed out on the side of the side, close to our farm. We reckon you did out of exhaustion." the man said

"What's your name dearie?" she asked

'They're good people.' Keira said gingerly

"Ava." I replied

"Ava what?"

I gave the man a confused look. What did he mean by that?

"Um, don't you have a surname or something?"

Oh, not like I didn't have, I just couldn't remember what it was. They must have noticed the look on my face because they suddenly looked very sorry.

"I'm so sorry dear, w-we didn't know, we never could have guessed that..." the woman said

"It's okay. I don't r-remember what it is, I've just been c-called Ava for as long as I can remember." my voice was quiet and I was happy a little they heard me

"That's fine. We understand." she said and I smiled slightly

"My name's Ben and this here is my wife; Maria. It's nice to meet you Ava." the sincerity in his voice gradually broke away a few of my defences

"I-It's nice to meet you too. Thank you f-for everything and for keeping me warm."

Maria giggled cheerfully.

"No problem dearie. It's the least we can do. You looked like you hadn't been anywhere warm or eaten good food in ages." she said and stood up "That reminds me, I wanna go finish up preparing our dinner. I'm going to stuff you till I can't see your pretty cheekbones no more."

My eyes widened at the thought of food. Did they actually want to feed me? No one has ever wanted to feed me before. She left the room but Ben stayed behind. I looked at him, careful to not look him in the eyes.

"Where you from Ava?" he asked

"Uh, Uh, outside t-the country." I said "I'm sorry, b-but where is this place, where am I?" I asked

"You're in Lansing, Iowa."

I didn't know where that was. All I knew was my so-called pack was somewhere in Canada.

"Before we talk about how you got here, Maria is right, we need to fatten you up." he stood up "Don't worry, we won't eat you after we fatten you up."

His small joke made me laugh a bit and he smiled at me before walking towards the door.

"I'm glad we found you little Missy." he said and closed the door behind him, leaving me to my thoughts

'Keira, what happened?'

'I took control of your body after you began to get tired. We've been going for days, but I guess your body couldn't take it anymore and we passed out.'

I remembered that. We had begun running and I had somehow handed control to Keira when I felt myself getting weary. Xander had everyone look out for me but somehow, in a bizarre chance, they weren't able to smell or sense me. That was how I was able to get away.

It finally dawned on me that I had gotten away. I was free. I don't know how far I was but it didn't matter, all that mattered was that I was free and I seemed to be in a territory that was inhabited by humans. Which made me feel even safer.

'YASSSSSSSSSS BISHHH! We're finally free!' Keira exclaimed and I laughed

It was true. We were free and there was no going back. I'll never go back. Never.