Sage sat on the floor of Kade's bedroom with her back against the wall. She stared at her hands like they belonged to someone else.
She could still taste blood in her mouth even though she scrubbed her teeth until her gums bled.
The hunter's blood, the same man she killed by biting his throat as a wolf.
Her wolf was awake now and restless under her skin like something alive trying to claw its way out.
Fifteen years she kept it buried with pills and meditation, now it was free and hungry and she didn't know how to put it back.
The bedroom door was locked from the outside. Kade had not come in since his men brought her back from the warehouse three nights ago.
Food came in from outside the door twice a day but she barely touched it.
She could hear him sometimes in the living room pacing back and forth until late into the night.
The mate bond hurt worse than anything she had ever felt. Like someone was taking a hammer to her ribs from the inside. Headaches that made her vision blur.
She felt drawn to him, and his refusal was slowly destroying her.
She knew he had seen her markings and he recognized them.
The white fur with black lightning strikes that marked her as her father's daughter.
The same markings that had been on the wolf who killed his father when he was eight years old.
She had known this day would come eventually and there was no way to hide what she was forever.
But she had hoped for more time, maybe the mate bond would be strong enough that he would listen when she tried to explain.
Instead he wouldn't even look at her.
The fourth morning the door opened but it was not Kade. Marcus stood there with two guards behind him looking at her like she was something nasty he stepped on.
"Get up," he said.
Sage pushed herself to her feet. Her legs were shaky from not eating. "Where is Kade?"
"The Alpha has decided you are too dangerous to keep in his home." Marcus smiled and it was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. "You're being moved to holding cells until he decides what to do with you."
"I want to talk to him."
"He does not want to talk to you." Marcus nodded to the enforcers. "Take her."
They grabbed her arms before she could react. She tried to fight but they were full wolves and stronger than her.
They dragged her out of the penthouse and into the elevator, down to the parking garage and threw her in the back of a van.
The drive took twenty minutes. They stopped at a building she had never seen before three blocks from the penthouse.
Plain concrete with no windows. They dragged her inside and down the stairs into a basement.
The cells were small concrete rooms with silver bars across the front. The silver burned when it touched her skin. They pushed her into one and locked it.
Marcus stood outside the bars watching her. "Kade's done with you. When he finishes handling the hunter situation he will decide if you live or die."
"You are lying," Sage said. "Kade wouldn't…"
"Kade would do anything to protect this pack. And you are a threat." Marcus leaned closer. "You are the daughter of the rogue who murdered his father. Did you really think he would keep you around after finding out?"
He left before she could answer.
Sage sank to the floor. The cell was freezing. No blankets nor a bed. Just concrete.
She heard voices from the nearby cells. Other wolves imprisoned down here. She crawled to the bars carefully avoiding the silver.
"Hello?" she called.
"Who is that?" A male voice answered from two cells down.
"Sage. Sage Monroe."
"The Alpha's mate?" The voice sounded surprised. "What are you doing down here?"
"Marcus said Kade ordered me to be moved down here, he said I'm too dangerous."
Someone laughed bitterly from another cell. "Marcus has been saying a lot of things lately. Most of them are lies."
"Who are you?" Sage asked.
"I'm Cole, I've been down here for two weeks." He coughed and it sounded wet. "Marcus arrested me for questioning his authority.
Which apparently means disagreeing with him about anything."
"There are others," a female voice said. "Twelve of us in total. All arrested on false charges over the past month."
Sage felt her stomach drop. "Kade does not know about this?"
"Kade has been distracted," Cole said. "Marcus has been using that in arresting anyone loyal to the Alpha while Kade deals with the hunter attacks."
"And now he has you," the female said. "The Alpha's mate. That is a power move."
Sage pressed her forehead against the cold concrete. "He is going to challenge Kade. Isn't he."
"Soon," Cole agreed. "Maybe within days. He had been building support. Turning younger wolves against Kade. Saying the Alpha is weak for choosing a human mate."
"I'm not human."
"They don't know that. And now with your bloodline revealed?" Cole coughed again. "Marcus is telling everyone you are a traitor. That you manipulated Kade from the start."
The female spoke again. "If Marcus challenges Kade while the pack is divided like this, he might actually win."
Sage closed her eyes. She had gotten Kade into this mess by hiding what she was. Now Marcus was using it to destroy him.
She had to get out of here and warn Kade about what Marcus was doing. But the silver bars made it impossible to shift and she was too weak to break free.
"Has anyone tried to escape?" she asked.
"One guy tried last week," Cole said. "Marcus caught him, beat him so bad that he died two days later."
Sage looked at the silver bars, at the concrete walls, the tiny cell that would be her grave if Marcus had his way.
She had survived fifteen years running from her father's legacy. She had built a life helping people. She had found a mate even if he hated her now.
She wasn't going to die in a basement because some power-hungry Beta wanted a crown.
She just had to figure out how to get out.