The sound of birds chirping awoke Aella. She kept her eyes shut, smiling as she listened to the sounds of the birds. The sunlight that slanted over her eyelids made her think of the sunshine in the forest. She imagined she was on the forest bed, far away from Logan and his pack. I'm finally free from him, she thought.

But when she turned over on the bed, what greeted her wasn't the rough hard ground of the woods but a strange softness. She opened her eyes abruptly and winced at the glare of the sunlight. Looking around, she realized that she wasn't in the forest but on a bed. All her imaginations about being in the woods were fake. Suddenly all the events that had happened to her came rushing back. She remembered how the alpha had caught up with her and tried to take her back, how she had deceived the alpha and tried to escape and how he had grabbed her hands. She remembered their fist fight too. Her hands still ached from the fight.

Aella whimpered with tears as she realized that she was back at the pack house, far away from the border. She was nowhere near being free from him.

"No, no, no!" She yelled and flung the duvet aside, standing from the bed and pacing the room. A quick look around told her that this wasn't her room. She could see a few personal effects on the vanity mirror: body lotion, hair cream, and aftershave, which told her that she was in a male's room. The bed on which she had been asleep was covered with a deep blue satin bedcover and a royal blue duvet that she had flung aside.

The curtains in the room were a royal blue colour, trimmed with light blue lace at the edges. The carpet in which she sank her feet was also a similar colour of blue. This person seems to love the colour blue, she thought to herself.

She walked towards the window and peered outside. The snow that had been falling for a week had completely melted and a bright sun was shining outside, making the surrounding area of the pack house look more picturesque. She could see a couple of young wolves outside on the training ground, lifting weights and taking laps.

She groaned with anger and moved towards the door on the opposite side of the room. Fiddling with the doorknob, she realised that she was locked inside.

"Hey!" She yelled and banged on the door. "Get me out of here!" She kept banging on the door till her hand felt sore but nobody answered her.

"Alpha...Logan, open this door or I swear, I will tear your room apart. I mean it!" She yelled again and waited for a reply, but there was no response from the other side of the door.

"Aaargh!" She screamed and walked away from the door, almost pulling out her hair in anger. The doorknob began to jiggle and she looked back in surprise. She ran back to the door as it opened and tried to walk outside but was stopped by a hefty bodyguard.

"Hey, miss." The bodyguard growled. "Get back inside."

"Try to make me." She threatened, looking daringly into the guard's eyes. The threat was almost comical as the guard was more than twice her height and weight. The guard gritted his teeth and tried to close the door in her face but she held it back with her arm and ran outside.

For a moment, she thought she would be able to make it but the guard caught up with her and grabbed her easily with one hand, carrying her back inside.

"Leave me alone!" She shrieked and struggled against his grip but it was iron-strong. The guard dropped her on the bed and left the room, locking it securely behind him.

"Fuck off!" She cursed, picked up the alpha's slipper on the floor, and threw it against the door. She snuggled back into the bed and folded her arms around her legs, thinking about how messed up her life was.

The Goddess seemed hell-bent on keeping her as close to Logan as possible. She couldn't see why he could not let her be free. She wasn't particularly connected to the rogue attacks, was she? There was nothing that tied her to him except the fact that she was his mate. Mates get rejected by their partners, don't they? She could reject him and be on her way, finally get all this over with and move on with her life.

She had never been this frustrated and angry in her life. To hell with mating, she thought. Even if she wished to have a mate, why did the goddess pair her with someone that filled her with so much rage? It sounded like torture to her.

She thought about her parents, how they had seemed so compatible, how she had felt the love that radiated from them whenever they were around each other. She had wanted that for herself, not be with someone that made it his mission to drive her crazy with anger and lust at the same time.

She sat in this fetal position for several hours, thinking about all the events in her life. It was high afternoon by the time the door opened again. She raised her head as the person walked in and it turned out to be the alpha himself. His familiar cedarwood scent filled the room as he stepped in and wafted into her nose.

Ignoring the effect his scent had on her, Aella hissed with rage as her eyes fell on him. She rose up from the bed and walked towards him to start a fight but he walked past her to his closet, completely ignoring her.

She was momentarily shocked, then quickly regained her composure. She followed him to the door of the closet, where she tapped on his shoulder, demanding audience.

"Your bodyguards kept me locked up here for hours." She started "I'm sure they were acting on your instructions. Why?"

He ignores her question as he walked into the closet and shut the door in her face. She gasped at the impact and stepped backwards, gritting her teeth in rage. She walked back to the bed and sat down, waiting for him to finish.

He seemed to take an absurdly long time to change clothes. By the time he came back out, he had changed from his dress shirt and trousers into comfy grey sweatpants and a white round-neck top that hugged his body and brought out all the ridges of his chest. She found herself gasping involuntarily as her eyes roamed his body.

She saw that he seemed to be having the same reaction toward her as she was having. Her sharpened wolf ears could pick up his increased heartbeat and her eyes did not miss the way his own eyes traveled all over her body. She saw his eyes rest on her chest and knew that he could see through her thin dress.

Then just as quickly as it had started, their momentary connection ended. He looked away and closed his eyes. She could see his throat working as he tried to summon the courage and for the first time ever, she realized that this man was really attracted to her.