Was I dead?

It sure felt like it. My whole body ached and when I opened my eyes, all I could see was white.

"Is this heaven?" I pondered out loud.

"Not quite, I'm afraid." A voice came from beside me, causing me to scream in shock.

My head turned to the side and I realised Carla was sat beside me, an anxious expression plastered across her face.

"Carla?" I whispered, still unsure whether I was dreaming or not.

"Yeah it's me," she replied, scooting her chair closer to me as I sat up.

A sharp pain shot through my head and I clutched it as I looked around. This was definitely no heaven, I quickly noticed, recognising that I was back in my room.

"Be careful Eve, you hit your head pretty hard when you fell," Carla advised, helping to prop a pillow behind me.

"When I fell?" I asked, having no recollection of anything that had happened since - oh wait, I started to remember little flashbacks - Alpha Stone in his office, Alpha Stone getting angry, Alpha Stone with his hand around my neck.

"Oh my gosh," I whispered, my hands covering my mouth, "Alpha Stone strangled me."

Carla made a weird face at me. "Not quite Eve. You actually fainted before he could do anything."

My eyes shot wide. "I fainted?"

Carla nodded her head. "Yeah and you hit the floor pretty hard too."

I raised my hand to my head to massage it; I could start to feel it pound. How long had I been unconscious for?

I voice my thoughts to Carla. "A little over an hour. The doctor checked you when you were knocked out and said you were fine and that you would wake up when you were ready."

My throat felt dry, parched like the Sahara desert. I could really do with a glass of water.

"Eve." I looked up at Carla. She looked at me with anxious eyes and then reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I just really wanted to thank you for trying to help me."

I shook my head, ignoring the pain.

"No Carla, I needed to thank you. You gave me a brilliant opportunity and it's my fault I couldn't finish what I started. It's only fair we share the punishment."

"About the punishment," Carla started, oh gosh, "Alpha Stone said he would show mercy. He said he had another plan for us." Wait, we weren't gonna be killed?

"So what is the punishment?" I asked, not completely sure if I wanted to hear what Carla had to say.

★☾★

"This is it!" Carla exclaimed, spreading her hands out in front of her.

I looked around the room, utterly confused. The room in front of us had several exercise machines and weight lifting tools and in general seemed like the pack's indoor training area, and from the smell of stale sweat lingering still it was clear the room has just recently been used.

I glanced at Carla who was already watching me with a forced smile.

"Uh Carla, what exactly are we supposed to be doing here?"

Carla was ready to answer when someone interrupted her. The voice alone made my heart drop and I refused to look in his direction.

"What you are supposed to do, is to clean every single item in this room, including the floors until they are sparkling enough for me to see my reflection in them."

I dared to sneak a look at his direction. Alpha Stone was leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes Sir." Carla perked up eagerly, while I stood by not as ready to please.

I heard his footsteps approach; each step he took towards me made my heart thump louder.

Why was he coming over? Don't come closer - leave me alone.

He stood next to me, his large frame casting a formidable shadow over me. He tilted his head down to catch my downcast eyes.

"What's wrong Eve? Is this not punishment enough for you?" His voice was teasing but his face stoic and unimpressed.

I quickly shook my head, my hair flailing around my face. This man scared me, for reasons unknown. Sure he was an Alpha and held enormous amounts of power but there was something different. I had been in the presence of several Alphas throughout my life. My father being an important one himself had many Alpha allies who would visit often and none of them had made me feel as powerless and weak as Alpha Stone. Just standing next to him made me shake. In fear? Perhaps, but I couldn't be sure.

"No Alpha Stone," I whispered, my eyes trailing up to his face. His terrifyingly beautiful face. Good god what was wrong with me. This man had his hands wrapped around my neck a few hours ago.

Alpha Stone nodded. "Good," he said, "because this is what you will be doing from now on, every week."

Before I could even clock what he had said he began to walk away, only turning around once he got to the door.

"Eve," he called back, making me look at him, "it must be in the family." He smirked.

"What is?" I asked, my eyebrows raised.

"Fainting," he stated simply,  walking away.

★☾★

Three hours.

Three hours it had been since we started. I knew this for certain because there was a clock and I had been counting every bloody second that had passed and yet we weren't even half finished.

I looked over at Carla who was throwing 100kg weights to the side like they were coins. She looked effortless, not even breaking a sweat, whereas I looked like I had just jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed.

Exercise was definitely not for me, I had quickly realised. All my life I had never done anything physically demanding. In fact the most exhausting thing I had probably done during my life in the sterile room was getting on my tiptoes to place a book on the top shelf.

I had done more exercise in the short time that I had spent in this pack than what I had done for the last 22 years of my life and that was a depressing thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Carla asked, interrupting me from my thoughts.

I gave the sit up bench a final wipe and turned to her. "I was just thinking to myself how I'm so lazy."

She giggled in reply, "Believe me Eve, a lazy person would not be sweating from every pore on her body."

We both shared a look and burst out laughing.

I sigh and drop to the floor. "Oh god, I'm so tired."

Carla follows suit and lies down beside me, her arms and legs stretched out starfish style.

"You know Eve, I have something to ask you." Her head rolls to face me.

Seeing how comfortable she looks on the floor I do the same, spreading myself beside her.

"Shoot," I reply.

"Are you-" she pauses, seeming to consider her words, "are you biologically related to your parents?"

I smile at the question.

"No, I'm adopted. I was found in the forest by my mum when she was hunting."

Carla looks at me, her eyes wide in shock. "No way," she says in awe. She looks up at the ceiling, a slight smile on her face.

"You must have had a nice life," she finally says, "as an Alpha's daughter." There's longing in her voice.

"Yeah I did," I say without hesitation. My life was nice. I had two loving parents, the most amazing best friend and for a long time everything I had ever desired was handed to me on a silver, sterile plate.

"But I'm really ill," I admit to Carla and when she looks at me with surprise I explain my life in the sterile room to her and she listens carefully, taking everything in.

"Damn," she finally says, "you were finally free and now your back where you started, a prisoner again."

I regard her words carefully and smile at its truth.

"What about you?" I ask. "You said you were a prisoner too."

Carla nods but she closes her eyes and I wonder if it's too much for her to answer.

"My parents were rogues," she started, her eyes open, her voice unsteady, "they-weren't the kindest people around. They weren't very good parents either."

Carla keeps her eyes locked onto the ceiling. "When they heard about this pack and how it took on rogues they decided to make it our new home. My father was a lazy, drunk bastard-" she spits with hatred, "and he was too cocky for his own good. When we arrived, Alpha Stone welcomed us in and treated us fairly. But then my father got big headed and believed that he could be Alpha. He tried to kill Alpha Stone."

Carla turned to me and rolled her eyes and sighed. "You can imagine how that ended." Yes I could definitely imagine, in fact I didn't even need to, since Carla's father was nowhere to be found and Alpha Stone was still Alpha.

"Alpha Stone was furious at the betrayal. He killed my father and at the death of her mate my mother committed suicide." Oh god. My eyes welled at her words. I couldn't even imagine how it must have felt for her to lose her parents. She must have been so-

"Relieved."

Wait, what?

"I felt relieved when they died." Noticing my shocked expression Carla tilted her lips into a smile.

"My father abused me and my brother all our lives and my mother did nothing to stop him." I gulped as Carla continued to explain, "I just felt this huge relief when I saw him dead. Even if it did cost us our freedom."

"But you did nothing. You were innocent, why should you be punished?" I asked.

"My parents attempted to kill Alpha Stone, Eve. Like actually kill him. I mean you threatened him and look where you are now."

Exactly, look where I am.

"I still think it's wrong," I mention, sitting up.

Carla sits up too. "I don't even care anymore. I used to dream about running away and living somewhere secluded, far away from the pack and werewolves. But Alpha Stone has treated us fairly. I mean he could have easily killed us for being traitors' children but he didn't, in fact he even trained my brother as a warrior, made him part of his guards."

Listening to Carla I form a sense of admiration for Alpha Stone. Not a huge amount but just a little slither of respect. Perhaps he's not that bad.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, each too distracted with our own thoughts.

Carla finally speaks up, jumping to her feet. "We should probably finish the rest," she said, gesturing to the rest of the exercise equipment.

Uh no, I want to scream but instead I reach up and grab onto Carla's extended hands, pulling myself up.

"Yeah, let's finish this before the big bad Alpha comes back." I wink.