“Bad move mutt.” I growled at the rogue who’d been running his hand slowly over my body after I’d fallen asleep on the concrete floor. The moment his hand had touched my ankle I had been aware of everything, though he didn’t know that. He’d thought that I was asleep and that he could take advantage of me. I sat up and grabbed his hand, snapping it in half and pushing him to the floor. He howled in pain and struggled against me like a wild animal but I got him in an unbreakable head lock and forced him to his knees.

I knew that I was being watched and I was surprised that they hadn’t stopped me. My guess was that they needed him if he was still alive and locked up.

I growled at the rogue that was underneath me, fighting with everything he had. He scratched my arms, growling and snarling as I held him down.

He drew blood but the scratches healed immediately as I picked him up by his neck and thrust him against the metal bars. He screamed as he met the silver and his body convulsed as electricity passed through his body. I tightened my fists as the painful zapping passed through him to me before letting him drop to the ground. His chest rose and fell as he gasped for breath as he glared at me. “You’re an evil bitch.” He hissed.

I laughed cruelly as I viciously tore his head from his body. The thump of his head hitting the floor was extremely satisfying. I kicked his body and then went to sit on the bed.

As footsteps echoed from the corridor I kept my eyes on the floor. They deactivated the electricity and slid open the door.

They dragged the body out and I let them go. I could’ve escaped, but there was no point. They would never stop hunting me. Funny how the hunter had now become the hunted. No matter where I ran they would find me sooner or later.

“Did you really have to kill him?”

I looked up and met the eyes of Yiannis who chucked me a towel.

I nodded and wiped the blood off my face and neck. He had deserved it, if I hadn’t killed him then he would’ve kept going and I wouldn’t just lay there as he took what he wanted. I despised men who forced themselves on others and as far as I was concerned the world was better without him.

“Your trial is in three days.” He said before leaving as the bars slid back into place.

In three days I would die. I couldn’t bring myself to care though.

-

Three days. Three days have passed. I’ve been in this little cell for three days straight with one meal a day; soup, bread and a bottle of water. I could tell that they were being generous though, as I was mates to their alphas.

“Get up, the council is waiting.” They pulled me up from the ground and pushed me out of the cell.

As I followed the guards, it was hard not to notice that crowds of warriors had gathered, many trailing behind. The large doors ahead opened, revealing a room as large as a football field with viewing platforms winding around the room in a spiral.

In the middle of the room, on a raised platform sat the fourteen alpha council members and Nightingale. There were twenty- four packs across the world, each ranging from only a few dozen wolves to over hundreds. There was only an estimated four thousand wolves left across the entire wold because hunters had exterminated hundreds of thousands. And I’d probably killed more than any other.

As we reached the centre of the room, the doors banged shut and the sound of a bolt drawing could be heard. I was taken up the steps of the raised stone platform in front of the stone table the alphas were seated at. The table was as tall as my waist and made of solid stone, cold and intimidating.

The guards holding my arms attempted to make me submit, bow before the alphas by knocking my knees out from underneath me and moving my arms in a way that would make my shoulders dislocate if I remained standing. Growling I managed to break both their arms and stand alone as they released me, snarling like rabid dogs  as they reset their bones before they healed at the wrong angle. “I will kneel once you earn my respect.” I said calmly, watching the alphas and aware of every single wolf surrounding me. I believed that respect was earnt, not given; the same thing applied with trust. I was chained to the spot by silver manacles on my wrists, pulling my arms taught, the silver irritated the skin it was touching.

“Rory Tannin, you have been summoned to answer for your crimes.” King Nightingale stood and opened a scroll of parchment, yes parchment. “You have committed treason against the packs and crown by conspiring with hunters.  The penalty for this is immediate death.” I heard the twin alphas growling but I ignored them. I knew that this was coming and I refused to show any fear or weakness as Nightingale approached.

I held my head high, shoulders high, hands by my sides with a stone cold expression. Inside I was fuming, death did not faze me, death did not strike fear into my heart, the prospect of Rieker living maddened me with a burning hatred do profound that cannot be described. It’s possible to feel so much hate that you stop feeling it at all and I had reached that point. “Then kill me and watch as your people die.”

He raised his eyebrow as a guard handed him a gun. “And why do you say that hunter? There will be no more hunters left to oppose me, us.”

I chuckled and shook my head as he cocked the gun and pointed it at my head. He stared at me in confusion. I guess that not many sane people laughed when they were staring down the barrel of the gun that was about to end them.

He growled and shot me in the shoulder as my laughter wore off and I just stared at him.

“What do you mean?”

I held my tongue, giving him a malicious smirk. I felt blood oozing from the bullet in my shoulder.

“Answer me!” He growled and clenched his fist before punching me straight in the face. I felt the crack of my nose as blood ran down both my face and throat. I snarled and spat at him. “Go to hell.”

The room was totally silent, no one moved, no one breathed, no one dared speak. There was a loud bang as he put a bullet in my other shoulder. “I can go all day bitch.”

I rolled my eyes as pain coursed through my body; I’d had worse though, much worse. “I guess that’s too bad, I’ve got places to go, people I need to see. You understand, being king and all. How about we schedule this for another day?”

I heard a few snickers before he popped another cap into my ass, well, leg. “Who would be left to kill my people?”

I could hear the increased growling of the Knight brothers and I knew that they were being held back. I turned to look at them as they stared at me with feral eyes.

“Rieker, my old boss. He’ll come for you.”

His eyes narrowed and he lower the gun slightly. “I think that you underestimate his devotion to you, from what I’ve heard you have no allies.”

I couldn’t have stopped the snort even if I’d tried. “Oh you’re funny Nightingale, his devotion to me? His only devotion is to see me dead. You really need to work on your intel if that’s all you’ve got.”

I was starting to feel a little dizzy from the blood loss as the pain began to fade into a numb feeling.

I blinked rapidly as I watched a grin spread across Nightingale’s face. “Well you see when you destroyed that compound, you didn’t do a very good job and we found out a few things. Like for instance, that you had a little sister. How is Lauren by the way? Still dead?”

“As a doornail.” I answered coldly.

“You’re cruel Tannin, you’re cold. Do you feel nothing, knowing that you’ve killed so many; your own family, so many innocent wolves?” He asked confused.

“No, I don’t.” I feel nothing but hatred.

I took a deep breath as my leg buckled and I barely managed to catch myself before I fell. I held onto the chains as the pain returned and I heard a few chuckles. I growled as I felt the bullet wound in my leg beginning to heal over and I knew that I had to get the slug out. I shot Nightingale a quick glance before I snapped the chain holding my right hand. They thought that weak little chains would hold me? That the silver would wound me? No, I’m stronger than that.

I hissed and stuck my fingers in my leg as the wolves around me began yelling. I pulled the slug out as my leg began healing and dropped it to the ground before doing the same to my opposite shoulder. My left hand was still constrained so I focused on my left shoulder and began pushing the bullet out slowly.

My free arm was seized and I saw the Knight alphas begin to approach the stairs. They landed punches, kicks and slaps on my body until the guards were pulled off me. “Enough!” Nightingale said, cocking the gun again.

I spat blood at him and he backhanded me with the butt of the gun. I growled and pushed off the ground, standing as the Knight brothers approached Nightingale.

Though no one else would be able to, I could clearly hear them and the conversation didn’t surprise me.

“If you kill our mate you will lose us as allies, and rest assured, we will wage war.”

I snorted and shook my head as Nightingale paled. Well what did he think would happen? He’d taken it this far and I was surprised that the brothers hadn’t killed someone, yet. I turned around to see Matthias and Yiannis holding me with blank faces.

“Well do you have an alternative then?” Nightingale hissed. “I can’t just let her go because she’s our mate, are you forgetting how many people she’s killed, how dangerous she is?”

“Oh we know; she tried to kill my beta.” The elder Knight brother, Alexandros, said.

“Then why the hell do you want her to live?” He hissed, sending a glare my way.

“Because she’s our mate.” If they weren’t negotiating my life I would’ve rejected them in that moment but that would have been incredible stupid.

 “That bitch deserves to die, can you not see that?” At their growls he held his hands up. “Ok, ok, perhaps you have a solution to our problem that satisfies us both?” Nightingale offered, knowing that

“Actually we do.”

“Oh this will be good.” He muttered. “Do tell.”

“Rory is by far the strongest and smartest hunter we’ve encountered, we can recruit her to train our armies and equip us with the hunter’s secrets and battle strategies; she’d be a useful ally.” Alex said, looking directly at me.

My fists tightened as I listened to their plans for me. They would use me and then abuse me, the past would repeat itself, but I wouldn’t let it happen. I snarled, catching their attention and shook my head. “No.”

They all turned to me as Alexandros stepped forward and growled. “Why?” He sneered. “Are you so loyal to the hunters that you would die for them? Do you think you’re pathetic human friends will come save you? Do you think you’re better than us?” He growled, becoming angrier with each passing second until his wolf had completely taken over.

I shook my head again and simply repeated that one word. “No.”

“Then what is it!?!” He practically screamed. “Why do you reject our help? Do you want to die?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” I said, nodding to Nightingale who stood with his arms crossed over his chest. They all knew that it was treason to threaten the king but they didn’t care, they could take on the royals if they wanted.

He growled and glanced at his brother who was standing silently. “Do you hear what she’s saying?”

I growled as he approached, circling me like a predator. Matthias and Yiannis took a step back so I was left standing on my own.

“She’s been hurt and used.” I ignored him, staring at the wall behind his head, trying to block out his voice as he moved closer with each sentence. “I bet they hurt you so much that you’ll do anything they want, anything, including killing thousands of weres.” I clenched my fists, feeling the skin under my nails break. Blood dripping through my fingers as I stood there, ignoring him as he tried to dissect my life. “How did they hurt you mate? How did they break your spirit?” He whispered in my ear.

I kept my mouth shut, ignoring him and the rest of the weres in the room, focusing on the thin cracks creeping across the stone wall and thinking of a way out of here. I ignored his as he trailed his finger up my arm, dancing across the faint, almost invisible scar on my bicep. I shivered as he reached my sleeve and traced across the back, heat rolling through my body in pleasurable waves.

“Who do you love? How were they hurt?” He paused and drew closer to my ear. “Where are your family?”

I stiffened, swallowing the lump in my throat, refusing to shed a single tear in front of these men. “You will cooperate mate; otherwise neither I nor Alex will be able to stop them from enforcing the death sentence.”

What is the use of being dead when I can cooperate with them while tracking down Rieker? Here I had resources to find him at the tips of my fingers and once I found him I could do what I’ve been planning to do for centuries. I would kill him.

“I am not loyal to neither you or the hunters. I will help, but these men all want me dead, none will listen to me. You’re stupid to think they will follow what a hunter tells them to do, let alone a female.” I was not conceited towards the fact that weres are sexist, especially since there is only a handful of female weres who can shift, the ones who have the shifting gene are under lock and key 24 hours a day. Were males thought that they were superior to females but the truth was, without us, they wouldn’t survive.

“They will listen; they respect us, therefore you as our luna.” Alex said. I shook my head but held my tongue; it would just keep the trial going. They wouldn’t listen to me; they view me as something that needs to be eradicated.  Alex and Nick would lose respect from their pack and ultimately, they would all die for their incompetence.