Chapter 5

• The following morning I woke up to the best smell in the world. The smell of a huge, big breakfast that had been made for us, and I couldn't wait to get dressed and head downstairs.
• I was about to head towards the kitchen when Miles came into the room and grabbed me around the shoulder. He also got himself a coffee, and we went and sat next to the window as we saw other people start coming into the room.
• "Alright. I did see the Alpha go upstairs to the attic last night. He locked the door behind him so I couldn't follow, but he had something weird in his hand. I couldn't make it out. It almost looked like a silver chain." Miles says, scrunching his eyebrows together.
• "It would have been burning his skin." I say, not believing that it was silver.
• "Not if he was wearing gloves. Which he was. I listened the best that I could. I heard him yelling at someone, but I didn't hear anyone else up there. If there is someone up there that he was beating, they kept quiet through the whole thing." Miles explained.
• "That bastard. He's probably conditioned her too." I say, looking off into the distance.
• "How do you know that it's a girl?" Miles asked.
• "I was speaking to her last night. She was there. I know she was." I say, looking him straight in the eye with a really intense and pissed-off look on my face.
• "Alright. Well, we can't let them know that we know anything. Not yet anyway. We still have training this morning. I think we need to get that done first and then do some investigating this afternoon." Miles suggested.
• "I want you to keep the Alpha busy this afternoon. If someone is being abused here, then she's not staying. And neither are we. We're not helping an Alpha like that." I said.
• "Alright. I can do that." Miles agreed.
• So after everyone had breakfast, we met all of the warriors of the Diamond Pack out on their training field, and after only 10 minutes, I could tell that we were going to be here for a lot longer than planned. None of them were in shape, and none of them knew basic moves. I've never seen a pack of this size have no defenses whatsoever. But Alpha William had really let this pack go to shit. And then he calls me in to fix his mess.
• Halfway through training, I was starting to get a headache from watching the pathetic attempts at fighting and my warriors kicking their asses. So I excused myself and headed up to my bedroom to get something for my headache when I smelled her again. It was the same smell again, stronger than ever. She was here! I looked over at the bathroom, and the door was closed. But I didn’t close it this morning. And I could see the shadows of her feet under the door. I walked over and wriggled the door handle, but it was locked.
• I again tried to talk to her, but I got the same response. This time I was ready to break the door down, but she threatened that I would never see her again if I did that. And I wasn’t going to risk it. I could tell that she was serious. It was the only time her voice didn’t quiver when she spoke.
• Luna then came in and was suspicious about everything here. She wanted to open the door, but I knew that was a bad idea. I knew that she couldn’t find the girl in my bathroom. It was not safe for my girl. And my wolf was starting to scratch at the inside of my head, warning me that there was danger near. So I made up something just to make sure that Luna left with me.
• We kept training after I got back, and the Diamond Pack's warriors were looking exhausted by lunch, so I told them to take a break, and we'll get back to it after lunch. And they were all limping off of the field while I stood there shaking my head.
• We all headed back to the packhouse and into the ballroom, where that smell was unmistakable once again. But there was no food out. I was about to head to the kitchen when Alpha William stepped in my way.
• "Please. Just have a seat. Lunch will be served any minute." He says, pointing over to the chairs. So I turned and went to sit with Miles, and I looked at him with raised eyebrows.
• "Yeah. That was weird." Miles says he watched Alpha William go into the kitchen, and he closed the door behind him. We heard the lock on the door as well.
• He seemed to be in the kitchen for a really long time before he finally came out and ordered the servers to go in there and get the lunch out to the room for everyone to eat.
• I ate as fast as possible, and then Miles went and asked if he could join Alpha Williams and Luna Sophia. They obviously said yes, and I was able to sneak away upstairs.
• I stayed in my room for a while until I could hear people start leaving the packhouse to head back out to training. I went back up to that door, which led to the attic, and I could hear someone was there. The stairs creaked, and the door was opened all of a sudden, so I stood aside quickly, out of view.
• As soon as the door opened, I got a whiff of that aroma. It definitely belonged to that girl. She was the one that I had been searching for since I got here. There was no doubt about that. When she came out of the attic, she closed the door behind her, and I grabbed her arm.
• I immediately felt sparks in my hand that traveled up my arm, and I froze momentarily as I saw this mousy little thing that was so skinny. Her eyes were drawn with a big black eye and swollen lip, wearing a grey dress that was way too big for her, but what caught my attention were some open wounds on her arm that didn't seem to be healing. The silver whip that Miles told me about.
• "So there was someone in the attic." I said to her. But she was frozen in place. She was staring at me, and her eyes were as wide as they could possibly go. I had spun her around so quickly that she almost lost her balance, and I steadied her, but when I put my other hand on her other arm, the same sparks flew up my hand and that arm as well.
• She stood there staring at me with wide eyes, and I had trouble trying to figure out what that meant. Was she pleased to see me? Was she drawn to me, like I was to her? By our scents. Or was she terrified?
• I could tell that there was a lot going on in her mind, and then she suddenly shook it off, and she bowed her head and stared at the ground like a servant. Like that's what she was meant to do.
• "I'm Alpha Connor. Who are you?" I asked gently.
• "I'm no one." She stuttered back to me. And I was taken completely by surprise by that answer. How could someone say that they are nothing?
• "What's going on here?" Alpha William! he demanded as he came down the hallway. And the girl started panicking. I could tell that she was on the verge of a panic attack. Her heart rate spiked, and she was having trouble breathing as soon as she heard his voice.
• "Who is this girl?" I demanded to know.
• "She's no one." He answered.
• "That's what she said. Who is she really? Who is she to you?" I asked, getting angry.
• "A mistake." Alpha William answered with disdain in his voice. And without realizing it, I let out a growl at Alpha William for calling her a mistake.
• I looked at her when he said that, and I could see the hurt and solace on her face as he said it. And immediately I started to feel protective of her. Seeing that look on her face, I wasn’t going to accept that. Maybe she couldn’t stand up to them, but I sure as hell was going to.
• “The only mistake around here is you and that bitch you call a wife.” I growled at them.
• “How dare you speak to me like that!” Alpha William growled at me. And that’s when I saw him take a step forward and I put my arm around the girl’s waist and I slid her behind my body so that he couldn’t touch her without going through me.
• I couldn’t help but wonder why he cared so much. She was just a slave to him. She’s my goddamn mate. I have every reason to be pissed at the way she’s been treated. Everyone stood in silence after I claimed her as my mate. I turned to look at my girl, and she was staring at me in shock with those beautiful blue eyes of hers.
• "I'm an Alpha. So you know that you have to answer my questions, don't you?" I asked the girl.
• "Yes, sir." She says, still looking down at the ground.
• "What's your name?" I asked.
• "Aurora." She answered softly.
• "And who is the Alpha to you?" I asked, looking at William. She was also hesitant, but she knew that she needed to answer my question.
• "He's my father." She answered. And I whipped my head around to look at Alpha William in not only shock but confusion as well.
• "Didn’t your daughter die in childbirth along with your mate?" I asked skeptically.
• "That thing killed my mate in childbirth!" Alpha William growled out.
• "You actually believe that a baby was responsible for that?" I yelled at him. And he jumped when I yelled. It took him a second to regain his composure.
• "She did kill her mother." William demanded.
• "And you've had 15 years to convince yourself and her of that. By torturing her!" I said, grabbing Aurora by the hand, and started going down the stairs with her. William and Sophia were following after us.
• “You can’t just take her!” William demanded. He tried reaching for Aurora, but I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and I snatched her away to the other side of my body with my arm around her protectively.
• "This girl is coming with me. And you are getting reported to the werewolf council. You're not getting away with this." I demanded without even looking back at them.
• I pulled her down the stairs and out to the training field where all of my men were with the Diamond Pack warriors. They all stopped immediately when they saw me with this skinny girl who looked tortured and terrified and wouldn't look at anyone. It actually looked like it hurt her eyes being outside in the sun. She was very pale, which made me think she'd never been outside.
• “What’s going on?” Miles asked, walking over to the both of us.
• “I want you to meet Aurora. The Alpha’s not-so-dead 15-year-old daughter.” I announced loud enough to get the attention of the warriors on the field as well.
• “You’re not leaving with that girl!” William roared behind me, and I turned my head to see that he was in the middle of shifting, with fur sprouting on his arms and his canines extending from his jaw.
• “Miles. Take Aurora!” I demanded to feel my canines starting to protrude from my gums.