Mated To Her Ruthless Captor

Skylar's Pov

“By the power invested in me by the Moon Goddess!” A deep, commanding voice rang out, echoing through the air like thunder. I knew that voice. I'd know it anywhere.

That was the Alpha.

“Alpha!” I dropped to my knees, sobbing. My eyes were blindfolded but I knew he heard me. “Please, you and mommy and daddy are friends, right? They aren't bad people. Let them go!”

He ignored me. “I, Alpha Maximus of the Moonlight Pack, here by sentence Lilian and Garcia Hammond to death. By beheading.”

The crowd went wild with whistles and applause.

Why were they cheering for him?

Why would they be happy that my parents will die?

“Stop!” I fought and kicked but I was hoisted off my feet by rough hands.

The blindfold slipped from my eyes and I saw it.

Then I saw him. Erick, the pack's executioner. He raised the axe above his head.

“Mom! Dad!” I screamed.

Mother turned to me, smiling through blood and tears. “Stay away from bad people, Skylar.”

Everything went still and the axe came down.

“Skylar!” A voice shouted, yanking me from my nightmare.

The door to my room, if a prison cell serves for a room anyways, was slammed open and Hilda waltzed in.

“Are you daft? I've been calling you for ages.” She hissed.

I rose to my feet. “I heard you.”

“You're late!” She stood at akimbo.

“Oh really? I don't have the clock to tell the time.” I smiled.

“Get up your ass and move.” She pointed outside the door.

“Sure thing, boss.” I picked up my bag and threw it behind me. “Lead the way, ma'am.”

“Those jokes will be the end of you some day.” She hissed behind me.

“Too bad I'm still alive.” I flashed her a grin.

I walked through the hall, staring at the prison doors on either side of me. Women, those my age and younger, slammed their fists against the iron doors, hollering at me.

“Let Skylar go!” One of them yelled.

“Skylar, don't let them win!”

I gave the girls one last salute. I'll miss this place.

I stepped through the double doors and winced when a stray of sunlight hit my eyes.

I hadn't been outside in days.

“Move it!” Hilda shoved me forward.

“Don't push me!” I said through gritted teeth.

“Or what?” She shoved me again.

I clenched my fist and turned to face her. “Try that again.”

“Skylar Hammond!” A loud voice called out and I froze.

That voice.

I turned around and stared into onyx coloured eyes.

It was HIM. The man who killed my parents.

He sat on his throne like the asshole he was, golden goblet in hand, wife on the other. His golden hair was brushed and braided behind him. The same hairdo he and father always wore. His gaze on me wasn't that of pity. It was more of disgust.

“On your knees, child.” Alpha Maximus said

“I'm not your child.”

“On your knees.” Hilda forced me on my knees.

“Do you know why you're here?” He asked me like I didn't know why I was.

My upper lip lifted in a smile. “Because you're an asshole who can't rule his pack?!”

“How dare you speak to the Alpha like that?” Hilda raised her hand to hit me.

“Enough!” Alpha Maximus interrupted. “Let her speak. After all, I'm generous enough to grant the dead the freedom to speak.”

“The same way you granted my parents freedom to speak, you bastard?!” I yelled.

“Enough!” This time it wasn't Maximus. It was Erick.

I froze. He shook his head, eyes pleading. I clenched and unclenched my fists. Despite being the Alpha's puppet, Uncle Erick was the only one who saw me as human and not livestock.

Alpha Maximus continued. “You, Skylar Hammond, are a curse to this land. A dangerous uncontrollable omega wolf who if not put down will lead to the destruction of us all.”

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. “Is that why you kept me in prison for no reason? Because I'm cursed?”

“Yes!” He hurled the goblet across the room and it slammed into the wall.

“Might want to control your temper, Alpha. You don't want to look like the dangerous uncontrollable wolf now, do you?” I smiled.

In a split second, his hand found my jaw and squeezed hard.

He leaned his face closer to mine. “I expect nothing less from the daughter of traitors.”

“My parents weren't traitors! They weren't bad people!” I tried to wriggle free from his grip but his hold on me was strong. If I could shift into my wolf, we would've been in different positions right now.

“Did they tell you how they funded the enemy pack with weapons?” He smiled.

“You're lying. Father would never do that.” My eyes began to fill. He and mother would never.

“What would you know? You were a child when it happened,” he let go of me. “Now, their traitorous blood runs through yours. Don't you see it, Skylar? You're like a cancer. If not removed, it will spread.”

“I’ll show you what cancer is!” I rose to attack but Erick was quick to pin me down.

Alpha Maximus gestured to the court. “Look here, people, at the daughter of the traitors. She goes about spreading lies and falsehood. Telling people I am a bad man.”

The court erupted in laughter.

“That's because you are!” I yelled.

“Oh really? If I was as bad as you say, wouldn't I be in your position?” He smirked.

Bastard!

“What do you say, my people?” He gestured to the people again.

Their responses came in angry yells :

“Banish her!”

“Throw her to the enemy pack!”

“Kill her!”

“You hear that, Skylar?” Alpha Maximus smiled. “No one wants you. Not even your so-called followers. Oh, that's right. They aren't here, are they?”

“That's because you put all of them in prison!” I barked.

“Hmm. Did I? They threatened my leadership and anyone who goes against me, goes against the law. Isn't that right, folks?” he smiled.

“Yes!” The people chorused.

“It is settled then,” Alpha Maximus smiled. “By the power invested in me by the Moon Goddess, I…”

“You won't hurt me!”

“... Alpha Maximus of the Moonlight Pack…”

“Go to hell!”

“Banish you, Skylar Hammond, from this land. You are to roam the lands as a vagabond and no pack will ever receive you.”

“It is done.” Uncle Erick said in a solemn voice.

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.

How could they do this?

I scoffed. Why am I surprised? They were the same people that condemned my parents to death. I'm no different.

“Get her out of here.” Alpha Maximus gave the order.

The guards made a move but Erick beat them to it.

“I'll escort her out.” He said.

“Good.” Alpha Maximus smiled.

“Let's go!” Uncle Erick hoisted me to my feet and pushed me outside.

While we walked the streets, he tightened his grip around my arm preventing me from running. I looked up at him.

No scowl. No ugly grimace. His face held the same bland emotion it did 8 years ago.

“There's the cursed girl!”

Thwack!

A tomato was hurled at my face. Then another and another.

“Ignore them.” Erick whispered to me.

As soon as we arrived at the pack gates, he looked at his grip from my arm.

“Here,” He took out a black pouch from his jacket and put it in my hand. “It'll be enough to take you across the river to a faraway pack.”

I stared down at the pouch and for the first time since I got arrested 2 weeks ago, I sobbed.

“Why?” My hands trembled.

Erick knelt before me, his gaze to the ground. “Please, forgive us, Skylar. Forgive… me.”

Angry tears left my eyes as soon as I wiped them away and I wanted them to stop but they didn't.

He moved closer and put his arms around me. “Everything will be okay. Just head to the northern pack and ask for Xaden. Tell him Erick sent you. He'll help.”

“Thank you.”

“Now go.”

I hid the pouch in my purse and turned on my heels.

“Get away from here!” He called out through tears.

I tightened my bag strap and ran.

The forest was endless.

I ran through it blindly, branches slicing across my arms, thorns snagging my dress, until my feet bled and my lungs screamed. But I kept going.

Because the voice in my head told me to find a boat and find Xaden.

Hunger gnawed at my insides, hollowing me out, and grief anchored me to the ground, yet I refused to fall.

I clawed through the wilderness like a wounded animal, too afraid to stop, too hurt to scream.

And just when I found a clear path, they found me.

Hunters.