"I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news Sire, but we're not sure if Captain Hale will pull a full recovery or not."

  "What do you mean; you're not sure she'll come through Doc?"

  "Her body's almost too weak to keep fighting. She's been pushing herself too hard for along period of time; I'd say about three weeks or so. And on top of that, she didn't get enough sleep or food. And I would go as far to say that she's been under a lot of stress lately too." The voices fade and for a while, only the steady beeping of the monitor filled the air. "Hello Alpha, I was just checking on Tami, I mean the Captain. How is she?"

  "She's not doing too well right now... Rivers, do you know if she was having any problems over the last few weeks?" I heard Rivers gulp and I could tell that he was nervous. "I was aware that she was having some sort of personal problem sir,but she never did tell me what it was. I did notice that while she was pushing the rest of us in training to go just a little beyond what we thought we could take, Tami here was pushing herself five times as hard.

  "She wouldn't eat hardly anything and she had us on that field from 5 to 10 every day. During the pack meetings, she had taken to standing in the back of the room and leaving right after you finished. And she seemed to be avoiding the Gamma too sir." I mentally smile, impressed that he had noticed so much but yet I was a little mad because he told Dean. Silence took over again but it didn't last aslong as before. 

  "Tami, why didn't you come to me? I may have been busy with a few treaties and peace agreements, but I would have made time to listen to you."Dean sighs softly and I could almost see him shaking his head at me. The sound of cloth brushing against metal told me that Dean had left the chair. I fought to open my eyes, and very slowly, they responded. 

  The light was blinding, but I could barely make out Dean staring out of the window. The right side of his face, I could plainly see. Suddenly, a flash of pain crossed his face as his hand rubbed his neck where it connected to his shoulder. Worry filled me as I watched the man I had come to love dearly. The sudden opening of my door had me closing my eyes and listening. Dell's voice filled the small room, and I listened to them talking. 

  "When he stayed back to talk to her in the office, I ease dropped. When he asked her to go back with him and lied about leaving his chosen mate and family for her, it took everything I had to stay in that hallway. And when he asked her again and I couldn't hear anything but the beats of their hearts and I thought she was thinking about it, Roman and I almost died." Dell stopped talking and his rich, deep laugh filled the room. "You should have heard her when she ripped him a new one." I had to fight the laughter that bubbled inside of me from coming out. 

  While they were talking, it dawned on me that Lilly was becoming more and more agitated. I could feel her pacing in my mind, anxious to get out. There was a scent in the air that was calling out to me, but before I could dwell on it any longer, the sound of sirens filled the hospital. Rivers rushed in, breathing hard. "Sire, rogues breached the northern borders. We need to get you to the bunker right now."

  "Place a guard in front of Tami's door." Dean barked out as they were ushered from my room.The door was locked and I heard two of my warriors stop outside of my door. I knew that while I was awake, my body was far too weak to try and fight if I managed to leave my room. I heard the sound of my window breaking and the stench of rotten eggs and death wafted through the room. And that's when it hit me; the breach had been a diversion. 

   The rogues wanted me but I couldn't figure out why. I would never work with them, no matter what lie they would try to sell me. My loyalty lay with my alpha, my king and no one else. I would never betray Dean or my pack. And I would die before I gave them the answers they wanted from me. There were seven rouges inmy room; each seemed to have their own job to do. Three stood guard at the doorwhile one gathered up my things and the last three hurriedly unplugged me fromthe i.v. and heart monitor. 

  I felt myself being picked up and carried out of my room. The sound of the heart monitor flat lining became farther and farther away as the rogues ran harder and faster. I could smell that we were getting closer to the border and I panicked. Sending a link to Dean, I almost smiled when I realized that his walls were down. 

  Dean, if you can hear methe breach to the northern border was a diversion. The rogues broke into my room and kidnapped me. I'm not sure where exactly we are, but we're almost to the border. Protect... 

  I felt something hit my head and the darkness swelled stronger around me. Then I ceased to know anything that was happening to me. I don't know how much time had passed until I opened my eyes to find myself standing in Dean's office. Dean stood over his desk, glaring at a map before him. "Rivers, I want you and the seventy-five warriors to take the western border. And Dell, I want you to take the same number and hit the eastern border. We'll find her." 

  Rivers and Dell quickly nod before hurrying out of his office. I watched as Dean slowly walked to his cabinet and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He moved back to his desk and picked up a picture of the two of us taken a year or so ago at the lake. "Tami," Dean whispered softly, "please don't give up, love. We're looking for you, and we will find you. This pack needs you... I need you." I watched in shock as tears slowly rolled down his cheeks. 

  Suddenly, I was pulled away from the scene as pain explodes throughout my body. My body jerks the same moment my eyes open, and I find myself chained by silver handcuffs to a single bed in a cell. My wrists had red circles where the silver in the cuffs were burning me. A single light bulb was hanging in the middle of the room.

  Standing in front of me were four rogues. Once they saw that I was awake, the slapping stopped. "The boss will be glad that you're finally up little one. You're no use to us asleep."

  He leans closer to me and laughs as he grabs my hair in his hands and jerks my head towards him. "If you're good and listen to us, maybe the boss will let you join our little pack. What do you say about that little one?" Pain was shooting through my scalp from the force of his grip on my hair. Gritting my teeth, I ram my head hard into his. "Listen carefully to my words mutt," I spat at him, my words dripping with malice. "I will never turn my back on the oath I swore to my king. There's nothing you could do that would make me become one of you. I'd rather die first." 

   The rouge slaps me hard as laughter comes from the hallway. Turning my head, I watch as a man steps into my line of sight. "Well little one, we just might have to do that if you don't do as we ask of you." Looking him dead in the eye, I smile. "Well, you best get to it then mutt. Because there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that you could do to me, that would make me betray my pack."

  The rogues in my cell quickly exit as their boss, their alpha, steps in and walks towards me."Well now my dear Tamar. I see that as a challenge, and if there's anything I love in this life, it's a good challenge." He steps closer to me and I feel thebody in my body turn ice cold. "And I should tell you that I love winning thosechallenges any way I can." 

  Suddenly, I grinned at him. "Well, I suggest that you get to trying. But there's something you should know."

  "And what's that little one?"

  "My alpha won't stop looking for me. He'll have every available wolf out looking for me. And when they find me, and I know they will, they'll kill every single one of you mutts. They won't leave a single one of you alive." He started to hit me, each punch landing harder than the previous. I felt it when he broke several of my ribs, but I bit my lips to keep from crying out. I knew that it would only fuel the enjoyment he got from inflicting pain upon me.

  He threw his last punch, throwing more weight into it. I could feel unconsciousness sneaking towards me. As my eyes fluttered closed, I watched as the man walked out of the cell and slowly cleaned his hands of my blood. Pushing the on coming darkness back, I struggle to sit up and look at him. "Don't get to comfortable with this quiet mutt." 

  A small fit of coughing hits me and I double over, covering my mouth with the sleeve of my shirt. As I pulled my head back I saw a small patch of blood. Spitting moreblood on the floor, I look back up at him and grin. "Your time alive is comingto an end very soon. I suggest you make the most of it." Another coughing fithits me and I collapse back onto the bed.

Every inch of me burned and ached with pain, but I kept my lips glued shut. I would not show just how hurt I was to these mutts.Just as unconsciousness slipped over me, my mind went back to my hospital room before I was taken; and to the smell that had been calling out to me. Only Dean and Dell were in the room, so it had to have been coming from one of them. But Dell had his mate, and Dean's was somewhere out there waiting for him. Feeling confused and dazed, I took a deep breath and let the darkness take me.