"What? No way!" Ryland scoffed.

I laughed. "Yes way. After I tried to run I became the beta female of the Night pack," I told him.

He shook his head, staring at me in amazement. "I'm so proud of you Roxie. Even after being stuck on the bottom for years, you managed to come out on top."

I smiled and let my head rest on his shoulder. My eyes searched the horizon, but I wasn't sure what I was looking for.

"Rox?"

I turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Never mind."

His green eyes were everywhere except my face. When he stayed silent I sat up and turned my whole body towards him. "Ry, what is it?" I asked slowly.

He looked down at the ground. He chewed on the inside of his cheek and cracked his neck. Then he shook his head.

"I've known you for a very long time Ryland, and I can tell when you're hiding something important from me," I growled.

"If Alpha Thayne ever found out . . ." he trailed off. He suddenly closed his eyes and shuddered.

My eyebrows furrowed. "Is it really that bad?"

"His punishments are more brutal than his father's ever were," he muttered.

I stared at him. I didn't remember Ryland ever being afraid of anything, but at that moment he looked absolutely terrified.

"Okay, well he will never find out. I'm better at keeping secrets than you are," I said, placing my hand on his arm.

He stayed quiet for several minutes before finally sighing. "I found my mate."

My eyes widened and I gasped. "Wait seriously?" I shrieked.

He nodded making me grin and squeal. "Oh my goddess that's amazing Ry!" I laughed, hugging him tightly.

He shrugged, his face suddenly somber. "Not really. She's a rogue, so Alpha Thayne would kill her and imprison me if he ever found out," he explained. "He hates rogues as much as his father, maybe even more."

My face fell. I closed my eyes, holding my head in my hands. I shook my head when Ryland's arm pulled me against his side. I didn't want to believe it; how could I end up with such a cruel mate?

"My mate is going to be the best mate ever! He'll love me forever and make me so happy!" I announced.

My mother chuckled, smoothing down the hair on my head. "Absolutely sweetie, and he's going to be handsome, and kind, and he'll always protect you," she told me.

I snuggled deeper under the covers. "And don't forget funny. Liam said my mate will do anything to make me laugh."

"You have the most beautiful laugh Roxanne, so I wouldn't doubt it one bit." She tapped my nose and I let out a giggle.

"And you know what else?" she asked. I looked up at her with big eyes. "I bet your mate will be a big, powerful alpha. One that will do anything and everything for his luna."

"One that will do anything and everything for his luna," I whispered under my breath.

Ryland put his hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks.

"I'm sorry Roxie, I didn't mean to upset you," he said.

I shook my head. "It's not you," I muttered, my voice cracking, "I just remembered something my mom told me."

***

"No."

"Please!"

"Are you kidding me? No!"

"Can you please just check one more time?" I begged the guard.

He sighed heavily then smelled the air. "And once again, you don't smell like Ryland," he said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry, I just don't want Thayne to get mad at him."

He nodded a little. "Yeah that would be bad," he muttered.

I was pulling my hair up into a messy bun when a thought struck me. "Hey Jackson, did Thayne say why I can't leave?" I asked.

His eyebrows knit together. "I don't know. Considering you haven't tried escape, and you can't be away from Alpha Thayne for very long, I would think he'd trust you to leave this room at least," he shrugged.

"Yeah," I murmured, sitting down on the bed.

"Hey your brother is coming down the hall, I'm guessing you still don't want to talk to him?"

"The last thing I want to listen to is his stupid whining about how he gets nightmares too and how he feels bad about all the shit he put me through," I growled.

I saw Liam a few moments later as he tried to come in but Jackson stopped him. "I'm sorry sir, Alpha Thayne said no one sees Luna Meyers," he told him.

Liam looked past Jackson and directly at me. He stared at me with pleading eyes but I just shook my head. He clenched his jaw, glared at me and then at Jackson before storming off.

I let out a small sigh of relief. "Thanks Jack," I muttered.

"Yeah no problem. I'm not exactly happy about having to keep you locked in this room so I'm glad there's a way for me to help you out," he sighed.

"You can close the door now."

He nodded and I heard the click of the lock a moment later.

Did Liam seem a little different to you? I asked my wolf.

He did seem to hold a little more power, Aetrix commented.

And Jackson called him sir, guards rank just under the head warrior. What rank did Liam seem to you?

Beta, Aetrix responded immediately.

"Yeah that's what I thought," I muttered aloud.

"You thought what?"

I yelped in surprise and my hands flew over my pounding heart. "Shit you scared me," I breathed, my chest heaving.

Thayne raised his eyebrow at me. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. "Is Liam your beta?" I asked.

"Yeah, he replaced my last beta who was dumb enough to get captured by Xavier. Did your brother not tell you about his promotion?"

A growl rumbled in my throat at the underlying sneer. "No he didn't Thayne! Cause no one fucking tells me anything!" I snapped.

I gasped when his face was suddenly centimeters from mine. His arms were on either side of me, holding his body almost on top of mine.

"You need to watch that mouth of yours Roxanne, it's starting to get you into trouble," he growled lowly.

I couldn't remember anything I was going to say. I had no clue what happened before he walked in. His mouth—millimeters from mine—was all I could focus on.

My lips parted slightly as I let out a shaky breath. His scent was intoxicating. His icy blue gaze locked with mine.

"Derek," I breathed.

He suddenly smirked at me, then vanished. It was like someone dumped cold water onto my head.

"What the fuck?" I snarled. My heart was still beating furiously and my mark burned.

I heard Thayne chuckle from inside the bathroom. I grabbed a pillow, shoved my face into it, and screamed.

I screamed until I was out of breath. Then until my throat hurt. And finally stopped when Derek yanked the pillow away from me.

The next thing I knew, I was laying on the bed with his arm curled tightly around my waist and my head resting on his chest.

The warmth instantly made my eyes close. It took only a few seconds for me to drift off.

***

"Roxanne!"

What? Who is it?

"Roxanne!"

What do you want?

"ROXANNE!"

I sat up with a start, my eyes snapping open. I looked around wildly but the room was empty.

"Roxanne are you up?" A voice called from outside the door, followed by a sharp rapping.

"Huh? Who is it?"

"Seriously? It's Ryland," he scoffed.

"Oh yeah, come in," I muttered.

He opened the door, raising an eyebrow at me. "Are you okay?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "No. As much as I love seeing you again, I just can't handle Thayne. Every single time I'm near him, my wolf takes over and I can't resist the stupid mate bond."

Ryland nodded a little. He stared at the ground. "Okay."

"And—I think," I started, chewing on my lip.

"Yeah?" He gestured for me to continue. He walked over and sat down on the bed beside me.

I took a deep breath. "I'm going to try to escape."