You'd think that twenty minutes would be considered a long time for a person to get out of a room, but I think in my general predicament, twenty minutes is a relatively quick time. Skipping over the tedious, irrelevant details, let's just say, I got out.

"If I were a six-foot tall man, where would I be," I said out loud, taking my time making my way down an abnormally long hallway.

I admit, I do consider myself slightly insane, but I think it's in the absolute best way possible. There are the psychotic people who can't take care of themselves what-so-ever, and then there's people like myself who survive from being a psychotic mess. I'm a smart kind of psycho. I use it to my advantage.

I made my way to the end of the hall and peer around the corner to be greeted by a stairwell. I pursed my lips nodding at the wooden stair case that looked as if it had just been built that day. They definitely took care of this house.

"Hm, classy," I mumble to myself as I take to the stairs. I was extremely grateful for the fact that the steps didn't squeak under my malnourished frame. I was also extremely grateful that it seemed as if no one were mewling around the pack house—or at least this level of the house. It made it much easier to get around considering I don't exactly know what I would do if I came in contact with anyone. Was Matteo's pack aware that their alpha had his rogue mate that attempted to murder their beta stashed in his bedroom? I'm going to take a wild guess and say no. Although, it would be amazing if they did. It'd make things much easier for me.

For the first time in my life, I'm pretty torn on doing something that's right for me. I could just attack anyone I came in contact with which could be risky knowing that the Caedes pack isn't exactly made up of a bunch of fairies especially those living in the pack house. They will no doubt be on top of their game having duties to the pack and the pack house to deal with every day. I can honestly say, nothing seems more boring to me than a perimeter run.

The other part of me knows just how not smart it would be for me to think that if I came in contact with a Caedes pack member that five others wouldn't follow. Five others that depending on whether or not they knew of my arrival would try to murder me before I had the opportunity to murder anyone else. I'm literally located in the heart of a pack and to think that I wouldn't be murdered on the spot if I tried anything would be 110% crazy.

Then there's also that side of me that's just like 'there's still a chance that you'll only lose like an arm and make it out of here alive, but you'll be alone.' Thus, another reason I don't want to get myself in a predicament where I would have to run. I'd have to leave Matteo.

Normally, I'd be perfectly fine with being alone. I'd been alone for so long that the thought of it had no affect on me, but for some reason the thought of leaving Matteo had my stomach dropping. I completely despised the feeling that I knew was brought on by the mate bond. Something that my parents had told my brother and I about when we were younger countless times. Something I'd always looked forward to until now. I suppose the idea of stability sounded nice in thought, but not anymore. Not now that it's actually happening.

I reached the bottom of the stairway. I smiled to myself not seeing anyone around me before I turned to my right, and my eyes unexpectedly connected with a pair of big brown ones. These big brown eyes belonged to a very tiny human.

My heart stopped in the moment. I gasped stopping dead in my tracks as the little boy in front of me watched me closely.

"A kid?" I asked aloud, "what's a kid doing here?" Obviously, the kid didn't like me much. It was as if the sound of my voice triggered an automatic alarm system inside of it's little blonde head.

This child literally just started screaming.

"Woah!" I shouted as I jumped in surprise. Little-blonde-kid's scream went up like six octaves when I started walking toward him in an attempt to shut him up. "Hey, hey, hey! Be quiet!" I begged in a panic. It was a kid. I didn't know what to do. Flick it?

I got down on my knees to try to get at eye level with the little thing, but this just made him scream louder. My heart rate sped up knowing there was absolutely no way in hell that no one could hear his screaming. I gave the kid props. It was a solid scream, but it was probably going to be the reason I ended up dead, so I wasn't in too big of a hurry to congratulate him on his lungs.

"Kid, come on! I'm nice, see," I said trying to calm him down as I forced a smile that in turn just made him scream even louder and start running away from me. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no," I chanted as I stood up and ran after him. I caught up to the little thing, wrapped my arms around him, and held him tightly against my body. He kicked his legs hitting me right on the hip with the heel of his shoe. I clenched my teeth together at the pain it caused as the kid continued screaming at the top of his lungs.

"That's it!" I shouted before covering the kid's mouth with my hand. "I'm locking you in a closet-" I began to say as a throat cleared from behind me. I froze instantly. The kid took this as his opportunity to bite the palm of my hand. Reacting to the pain from his bite, I jumped and literally dropped him.

He thudded to the ground onto his butt with his back against my legs causing me to lose my balance and fall backward hitting my head against the wall. My teeth clenched together as my hands flew up to my head making sure that my head didn't just cave in. I squeezed my eyes together wincing at the massive headache I had just managed to accumulate. The sound of footsteps nearing me was what broke me from my thoughts of seriously contemplating murdering this kid.

"You should really work on your people skills," a woman's voice rang out. My eyes popped open to see yet another blonde person. This time, the tall blonde was a girl with dark brown eyes that made me feel slightly uncomfortable for some odd reason. She bent down and grabbed the kid holding him to her chest. "You're fine, Jameson. Suck it up," she said to the kid that was almost in tears.

"Hey, come on. He's a kid. Don't talk to him like that," I defended earning a look from her that just screamed 'are you kidding me?'.

"Says the one who was about to lock him in a closet." I growled lowly in annoyance as I pushed myself up from the floor and onto my feet. "Go find Jack," the blonde chick that couldn't be much older than myself told the kid or Jameson as she had called him. Jameson took off down the hall but not before giving me the most nasty scowl that I'd ever seen come from a kid. "So, Kayla?" The blonde chick asked making my face fall.

"Has no one around here ever heard of the name Kaia?" I grumbled under my breath, but I knew she'd heard me.

"Pardon?"

"Kaia," I deadpanned with a very dull expression displayed on my face. "My name is Kaia. You?" She paused for a second looking me over as if making sure the name fit me before speaking.

"Daniella. You aren't supposed to be out here," she stated quickly shifting off of the topic of names and suddenly becoming very serious.

"Says who?" I countered already knowing her response.

"Matteo." I pursed my lips as if I were really thinking over what she said.

"Well you see," I began, "I made the decision a long time ago to not be told what to do by one person for the rest of my life, so Matteo doesn't really much effect me," I stated with a sickly sweet smile drawing out a quiet snarl from Daniella.

"You made the decision to ruin the lives of everyone around you because following simple orders that a five year old could understand was too much of a struggle for you," she snapped back at me causing my nice façade to vanish and a scowl to make an appearance.

"No, I made the decision to live my own life without having someone tell me what I can and can't do regarding my genetic makeup that just so happens to turn me into a massive dog. Sorry if I prefer to be independent. Most big girls do." Daniella obviously did not like what I had to say very much. Her teeth were clenched together, and her hands were balled into fists as if she were holding herself back from ripping my head off. The anger was rolling off of her in waves.

"Matteo had something to clear up in his office. First floor. Last door on your right. I'm sure he'd love to see you." I put the fakest smile on my face possible as I brushed past her. I could feel her hatred for me radiating off of her as I made my way to the steps and to the first floor.

"I'm sure he'd love to see you," I mocked as I made my way down the hall to Matteo's office. I had no clue what I was going to say to him or do. I was too involved in glaring at the people I passed walking down the hall. I thought some guy was going to jump me, but a girl standing next to him pulled him back by his shirt and whispered something in his ear making his eyes widen.

"Last door on the," I mumbled to myself just as I came up to a very large wooden door, "right."

I didn't bother knocking. Instead, I just walked in. Matteo's eyes snapped up to meet mine. He was seated at a desk with a pen in his hand scratching something out very brutally if you ask me. His dark eyebrows drew together in confusion as he stared at me.

"What the hell?" He blurted out dropping his pen and standing up.

"I felt as though it was extremely inhumane of you to lock me in a room by myself. I do get lonely sometimes, Matteo," I stated while Matteo made his way over to me. His tall, muscular body towered over me. It took everything in me not to scan over his broad shoulders and well built arms. I focused my sights solely on his dark blue eyes that seemed to capture my attention every time we were in each other's presence.

"I feel as though it is extremely unsafe for you to be wandering around a pack house where you know no one and no one knows you," he said pulling me further into his office and shutting the door behind us.

"I know."

"Then, why would you come down here?" He questioned with his arms crossed over his well-built chest. I wanted to just zone out and stare at Matteo flex for a solid four days, but knew that probably wasn't the best impression to leave for your mate that you've only shared about ten minutes of time together. Especially when half of that time was spent trying to murder him. I really didn't want him thinking I was always just some sex-crazed psycho.

"Just because I understand something, doesn't mean I have to agree with it," I stated as if it were obvious.

"Why wouldn't you agree with something that makes sense?"

"Because," I said pushing past him and making my way over to his desk. I plopped down on the leather chair and leaned back into it, "sometimes the things that make sense are stupid. That's like saying if something is wrong, why do people still do it?" Matteo watched me in sheer confusion for a moment before picking back up in the conversation.

"No, it's really not."

"Well, that's your opinion," I said shooing away the conversation by picking up some random papers laying on the desk. I began to scan over one of the papers when a phone began ringing. Matteo started making his way over to his desk to pick of the cell phone, but I snatched it before he had the opportunity. He tried grabbing it out of my hand, but I'd already managed to accept the call and hold it up to my ear.

"Kaia!"

"Your psycho girlfriend find you yet?" Daniella's voice asked through the phone. I rolled my eyes at the blonde.

"For a bunch of pack wolves, you guys really suck at being friendly. The least you all could do after holding me hostage here is learn my name," I suggested.

"Kaia!" Matteo shouted at me once again. I held my hand over his phone.

"It's dickhead Dan. She says hi," I advised quietly before returning to the call. "Dan, I assume you were wondering if I had arrived to my destination successfully. In that case, I did, but I'm a bit parched. By chance, could you drop me off some orange juice-"

Matteo ripped the phone out of my hand and put it up to his ear. I huffed in annoyance crossing my arms over my chest. Matteo then used his other hand to push the chair causing me to wheel away and hit the wall.

"Hey!" I hollered scooting myself back to my previous spot.

"You brought her here?" Matteo snapped through the phone. "And you didn't take her back to the room?" He listened for a moment before his eyes grew. He stared at me in shock. "You put a hole through the wall?" He asked me referring to the giant hole I managed to make which I used to get out of the room. I shrugged innocently earning me an eye roll. "I want you and Jack here, now. We're sorting this out." With that, Matteo hung up the phone. His eyes then shot back to mine with an exasperated look. "You busted a hole through my wall?"

"I tried the door, but it wouldn't budge. I'm guessing it was expensive?" Matteo ignored what I said and took a seat in a chair that was placed across the room. "I-" I was stopped by the raise of his hand gesturing for me to shut up.

"I need a two-minute break before you and Jack are both in here at the same time."

His two-minute break only lasted about a minute and twelve seconds before Jack and Daniella arrived.

_______________

IM AWFUL I KNOOOOOOOW.

I'm not even gonna say why I've been gone. It's a long story and basically I just couldn't bring myself to write anything. Sorry :(

Anyway, sorry if you completely forget everything that has occurred in this book lmao just go back and read it over. It'll be much easier rather than me trying to explain.

I didn't really edit this so this is probably going to be one of those chapters that I really edit throughout the week. Oh well

Stay awesome Gotham 2/10/17