The Gift chronicles novel Chapter 1

Book 1 Chapter 12

The next week went by in agonizing slowness. I woke up every morning alone in bed, despite always falling asleep with the Blood Alpha next to me. Alpha Cain left early every morning to go do whatever Alpha duties he had for the day, and would be back around the time the pack came over for dinner.

Alpha Cain agreed that it would be best to wait to introduce me to pack until I was Marked, so I stayed upstairs while the Pack was eating, and Alpha Cain would bring me up a plate of food. Once he Marked me, I would be able to communicate with them. He didn't know that I had no intention of ever meeting them, much less being Marked by him.

The first day the Alpha was gone, I spent the day exploring the Pack House. Once I found the library, I spent the rest of my days reading random books. The Blood Moon pack is significantly older than Red Crescent, so they had a much larger collection of old books, most of which containing old pack traditions.

Since of course the Alpha didn't trust me enough to be alone all day, he had Delta Carter and three other warriors guarding me in the Pack House all day. The three warriors guarded the perimeter of the house, and Delta Carter followed me wherever I went in the house, with the exception of the bathroom. One time, I made the mistake of taking too long of a shower, and Carter frantically banged on the door until I knocked back on the wall to let him know I hadn't escaped. I suspected the Alpha had threatened him and maybe even beat him after I had escaped on his watch the last time. If the Alpha had beaten him, Carter certainly didn't hold any grudge against me— he was chattier than ever.

Carter talked nonstop any moment we didn't spend in the library, and although I was annoyed by it, I quickly grew used to it. In accordance with my plan, I was polite to him and sometimes even texted responses to his questions on my newly acquired cell phone.

He talked a lot about his mate, Rose. She was 3 months pregnant, and Carter was constantly mindlinking her throughout the day to check up on her. He asked if she could come over and meet me, but I refused. I would feel too guilty pretending to be nice to a pregnant lady who thought I was to be her Luna. Instead of telling him the truth, I told him that I wanted to wait until my hands were healed, because I was embarrassed by them.

It was true that my hands were a disaster, though. Alpha Cain redressed the wounds every night before we went to bed, and to my dismay, they still weren't healed yet. I don't think the fire he was able to conjure was normal fire. Being a werewolf expedites healing, and I should have been healing at an even more accelerated rate because I have Gamma blood. However, my hands were healing painfully slowly, as if I were a human. I tried summoning weapons every morning when I awoke, but the burns were too severe.

On the 7th night of my imprisonment, I waited patiently in the Alpha's bedroom for him to get back. Not because I missed him or anything, but because I wanted him to bring me my food already.

Finally, he walked in through his door with two plates piled high with steaming food. I lit up, and he laughed. "I'm going to assume that happy look is for the food, not because of me."

"Both," I mouthed at him, with a faux smile, laying it on thick. Gaining his trust was essential in order to execute my plan. My heart clenched in guilt when his face lit up in return of my kind words. He flashed a brilliantly white smile at me before planting a quick kiss on my forehead. I stiffened under the sudden contact, but I don't think he noticed. He handed me my plate, and we both ate silently on top of his bed.

"What did you do today, little mate?" He asks once we've both finished our food and set our plates outside of the door for the maid. Inwardly, I twitch in annoyance. He obviously knows everything I did today, since he has Carter watching me 24/7 and no doubt reporting everything I'm doing to him. I hide my annoyance, and just shrug. "Nothing," I mouth, looking disinterested in talking about it.

"Carter told me that you've been working out," He says, with an edge in his voice that I don't understand. I shrugged again, and pulled out my phone to text him.