A/N: Playlist

* Familiar Taste of Poison, by Halestorm.

* I Found, by Amber Run.

* Drive, by Oh Wonder.

* You're Somebody Else, by Flora Cash.

*  Skinny Love, Birdy.

*  Do I Wanna Know?, by Arctic Monkeys.

* Follow Your Fire, by Kodaline.

* I'll Be Good, by Jaymes Young.

* Too Little Too Late, by JoJo.

Rainey

The storm had finally settled down, at least outside the building. In my heart and in my mind chaos still reigned as I caressed Alexander's cheek and brushed his hair. I had almost forgotten the feeling that being with him brought. I had forgotten what being in love felt like.

My wolf was fully awake and begging me to claim him as my mate. His subtle scent of Spearmint was addictive as ever. I wished things were that easy for us.

Time should've had stopped, so I could've forever tasted this moment. There, with his eyes closed and that silly grin on his face, he was the same awkward boy I had grown up and fallen in love with. I took a long deep breath. 

Right now, he was only guilty of the sins that he had committed against me, but soon I would find out the reason he was here in the first place. I would have to forget about him, then. Would I be able to do it again?

The door to the dungeons creaked open and a tall handsome man walked in, followed by the same four retarded soldiers from before. The man, whom I assumed was the Alpha, looked down at Alexander and raised an eyebrow before turning to me smirking. Realization flashed across his face as if he had discovered the solution for world hunger.

"Oh, what do we have here? Hello, I'm Alpha Tobias Maddox. I apologize for the small inconvenience."

Small inconvenience? An inconvenience was mixing up reservations in a restaurant. An inconvenience was signaling the wrong line to board a plane. An inconvenience was delivering a medium Hawaiian pizza instead of a large Meat Lovers.

Kidnapping someone and throwing her into a creepy-ass dungeon with the man that had ruined her life was much more than a small inconvenience. I could have lashed out at how stupid everyone was, but I wanted to live.

I slowly stood up showing my open hands. "Let me out. I'm no rogue. I'm not even a werewolf anymore."

"You smell like a rogue."

I gnawed on my lower lip. Naturally, I smelled like a rogue.

Go stay in the safehouse. Everything will be alright, Salvador had said.

Freaking Salvador, always getting me into trouble. It was him who had suggested I interviewed that man. I sighed. He had set me up again, hadn't he?

What was going on inside of that head of his would forever remain a mystery. After all these years, I kept falling straight into his traps. He'd probably save me and laugh it off saying it was a joke.

Alexander's eyes flew open and he tried to stand up, but his whole body was shaking. The dirty water splashed my dirtier jeans as he tried to stand up only to fall down again. In another situation, I would find how pitiful he looked amusing.

Who was I kidding? He was pretty amusing.

"The punishment for rogues trespassing into my territory is death." Alpha Tobias smirked and took another step toward my cell.

Or maybe, I would die. I gulped. Yep, I would die a twenty-nine-year-old virgin. Three more months and I would've died a thirty-year-old virgin. Lucky me. Virgins became angels when they die, no? No...? Okay.

Alexander growled though it didn't sound menacing at all. "Stay away from her."

Alpha Tobias chuckled and looked back at his soldiers. They smiled darkly and two of them approached Alexander. One of them had a needle in his hands.

"Leave Felicity alone!" Alexander tried to stand up but fell to the wet floor again.

The men laughed heartedly. One of them stomped a foot on Alexander's lower back and grabbed him by the hair pulling his head up, while the other one gave him the shot in the neck. Alexander whimpered and growled helplessly.

"I didn't inject you with wolfsbane before so you wouldn't die so easily. But, let's test something out." Alpha Tobias signaled the other two men behind him in my direction.

Oh, Moon Goddess. He knew. He fucking knew. Was this what Alexander had claimed to be trying to protect me from? 

The warrior holding Alexander pulled him up and he and the other soldier held him in place so he would be looking in my direction. He kept growling and squirming, but he was too weak to get out from their grasp.  

Why couldn't Alexander just be a regular fella that didn't make enemies with just about every other person he met? That would have been more effective. Neither of us would be in this situation. 

We could have been happy together. By now, we would've had our own family. If only things had been different...

One man opened my cell's door and walked in, followed by another one. They both were at least a foot taller than me.

I gulped and staggered back. "Don't come closer. I'm human! You have no authority over me. I haven't committed any crime. This is all wrong!"

Alexander screamed many colorful expletives to the men holding him but they just answered by punching him each time. Alpha Tobias stared in amusement. There went my hope, just down the drain with my dreams and will to fight. 

I chuckled and walked back until my back hit the wall. I had lived with rogues for so long without even shifting into my wolf once, but I was gonna die at the hands of the ones that claimed to be civilized. They closed in. 

The tallest one, whom I was starting to hate by now, grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me toward him. The other one snaked an arm around my waist and tilted my chin up before leaning in. I spat on his face. He wiped the spit off his mouth and cheek and dug his fingers into my side.

"I swear I'll kill you all!" Despite being all covered in blood, Alexander kept struggling. Did he really care about me?

Alpha Tobias laughed seemingly overjoyed by the whole situation. "Why is that, Alexander?"

I hissed as the man grip around my waist tightened drawing blood with his nails. Were they for real? My heart got caught up in my throat. I couldn't move or react. Suddenly, dying a virgin sounded better than anything they planned to do to me.  

"Let her go! I'll do and say whatever you want. Just, please, don't hurt Felicity."

Alpha Tobias moved just beside Alexander. "Why not? You like these kinds of things. Let my men put up a show just for you?"

Their touch made me uneasy. Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. I fought for each of my breaths as he squeezed the air out of my lungs.

They were going to hurt me and then kill me. Alexander was right. I was weak.

"Hurt me, but don't touch her!"

The man grabbing my hands pulled my arms up while the other one slipped his hands under my shirt. His cold fingers against my skin were sickening. I squeezed my eyes shut. "Don't. Please."

Alexander growled. "Let her go!" His voice broke. "I beg you, don't hurt my mate."

"It's bad when the person on the receiving end is someone you care about, no Alexander?" Alpha Tobias nodded in my direction and the disgusting men let go of me.

The person on the receiving end? Oh, Goddess. What had he done now?

I stumbled and tried to control my ragged breathing. "Alpha, what did Alexander do?"

Alexander closed his eyes and let his head hang low. Whatever it was, it was bad.

Alpha Tobias glanced at Alexander and then locked eyes with me. "Hmm... He kidnapped two high ranked members of another pack."

Alexander's eyes snapped open and he whipped his head around toward Alpha Tobias. He glared at him. Alpha Tobias smiled wryly and bowed.   

"That bastard!" I glowered at Alexander. He had sworn that he would never follow his father's steps and look at him now.

The men left my cell and locked the door again.

I ran behind them and banged my hands against the bars. "Hey! Let me go. I haven't seen the guy in ten years!"

"I'm sorry for scaring you, but we still aren't sure about your identity." Alpha Tobias signaled the man holding Alexander in the direction of the cell exactly across from mine.

They opened the cell and threw him in there and locked the door. Was he planning to leave me face to face with Alexander? No, please. Even if he was in a separate cell, having to see him after so long was too cruel.

"Hey! What does that mean? Let me go!" I stomped my feet on the ground and hit the bars until my hands were raw.

"You'll see soon." Alpha Tobias nodded and turned around. He walked away with his men suit behind him.

"Oi! Let me out. You son of a bitch!" I gripped the bars and rested my forehead against it.

"Don't do that. That's silver. You'll hurt yourself, Felicity."

Silver barely tickled me anymore, though my aching hands would disagree with me. Apparently, Alexander was used to all of this. He acted as if the shackles around his ankles and wrists didn't hurt at all. 

He sat down on the floor leaning against the wall. His green eyes were fixed on me. I would probably go crazy by the end of the day if this continued like this.

"It's Rainey!" I let go of the bars and began pacing in the small cell.

Wait... I looked around. Fucking hell! There wasn't a toilet in here, just a hole in the floor in the far right corner; no wonder the whole place reeked. 

"So, how have you been? You look even more beautiful than before."

My hair had chunks of mud stuck everywhere and it was mated to my face, I was all dirty, my clothes could be considered rags, and  I stunk. Alexander had a very weird definition of beauty. He had always been special.

"Could you like... not talk to me? Thank you." I sat down and laid down on the ground. I didn't even care anymore. We were the only ones in here besides the cute rats that roamed everywhere as if they owned the place. Hey, maybe they did own the place for all I knew.

Hours passed, but it could have been just a few minutes. The poor illumination in the room never changed. Alexander hadn't torn his eyes away from me the whole time. 

I sat up and looked at him. He was gazing longingly as if he loved me. I scoffed and turned away. Love, he didn't know what that was.

Someone opened the dungeon's door and I sprang to my feet. Maybe, they would let me go. I was half relieved and half pissed off to see a woman carrying a basket. She pointed a pistol at me before opening the door and dropping the basket inside my cell. 

These cells were obviously not designed to feed prisoners. 

"This is for you. Eat it fast before the rats get to it. I'll bring you more food tomorrow."  

"Thank you." I ran to the basket and opened it.   

She nodded and turned around to throw Alexander a pair of pants. Without saying anything else, she left. Maybe, she was a good person?

Although she had said that this food was just for me, inside the basket were six bagels, a liter of milk and four bottles of water. I looked at Alexander, who had already put on the pants.

Alexander sat down and smiled. "Eat up but save some for tomorrow. I wouldn't trust she'll come back."

How could I just eat all this in front of him?  

I grabbed one of the bagels and a bottle of water. "Aren't you hungry?" 

"Eat, Izzy. You need to stay strong for when you leave this place."

"Oh, you shut up, Allie." I threw him the bottle of water, which he caught and then the bagel. "When you're done with the water, throw the bottle back to fill it with milk."

"Hmm..."

"Don't you dare."

"Sorry."

After he ate the bagel and drank the water. I threw him another bagel and filled the bottle with milk and gave it back to him. We ate in silence. As despicable as he was, I couldn't have brought myself to eat while he was starving. He knew that well and opposed no resistance.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. You deserve a much better soulmate."

"Don't you say." I stood up and stretched my legs.

Things would be okay. They would soon realize that I'm not dangerous. I had eaten and had a bottle of water. Freaking Salvador was looking after of little Emmeline. Everything was fine, no reason to freak out.

"Don't waste energy, my Izzy."

"Go fuck yourself, Alexander." I glared at him and he just shrugged.

He gave me a crooked grin. "Aren't you a ray of sunshine?" 

As usual, nothing that I said ever got to him. I could have kicked him in the shin and he would smile back at me. Even when he had been rejecting me, those gentle eyes of his had never changed. That was why I'd had to run where we couldn't find me, and now I was right in front of him again.

I breathed out a sigh and sat down. "Why did you kidnap those people?"

He flinched and looked anywhere but in my direction. "Love, that's--"

"Don't you Love me. Ninety-nine point ninety- nine percent of the times you say "Love," you're either lying or hiding something from me."

He cradled his head in his arms and stayed quiet for many long beats. I rested my head against the wall and hugged my legs. Was he going to go and lie to me again?

"Remember the little girl I saved in New York when we were kids?"

"Mmm... The one your father commanded you to kill but you gave some couple instead?"

"Aha..."

"Well...?"

"She grew up."

I didn't like where this was going. "Are you going to get to the point?"

"She's an Alpha's daughter. I wanted to make my pack stronger for when the rogues attacked."

"Oh..."  

He had tried to mate with her. My wolf was whimpering in my head. Maybe, I should ask for one those wolfsbane injections. 

A single tear streaked down my face. I stood up and walked in the direction opposite to the door. I rested my forehead against the cold cement wall and closed my eyes.

If mates belonged with each other for a reason, why was this man my destined soulmate?

All in all, maybe my fate was to go mad, to become evil like them.

"One werewolf is leading the largest group of rogues in history. He's very powerful and has been attacking packs and stealing their resources and territories for years now. But, recently it got worse."

The rogues had always been organized. But, they were attacking packs? I hadn't heard anything about that. If that was the truth, Salvador would know about it--not that I could ask anyone else anyway.

"Izzy."

"My name is Rainey." I slumped to the ground and forced myself to fall asleep ignoring his annoying voice that kept repeating my name.

A/N: Listen to Follow Your Fire.

Fifteen Years Ago

"Allie!" I barged into Alexander's room, kicked off my shoes and jumped onto his bed. "Honey, I'm home. Hurry up!"

"You know we aren't kids anymore, right? You should knock on the door." He laughed while he searched through his closet.

"If you didn't want me here, you would have locked your door. Besides, there's nothing I hadn't seen before." I whistled lowly. "By the way, with a body like that, you don't need to wear a shirt, but that's just my humble opinion."

"Izzie!" He looked horrified before covering his face with his hands. "I was seven. Things are different now!"

Things were different now, huh? Why was him so easy to tease? I couldn't just let this opportunity pass by.

"Oh, Really?" I smirked and stood up from the bed.

"What are you doing?" He gulped and took a step back.

I slowly made my way to him. "What do you think I'm doing?"

"Izzie!" He put his hands up and blushed. It was too easy to get him all flustered. Alexander had always been so naive.

"Let me see." I played with the button of his jeans and he didn't resist. I looked up to his face.

He gazed with his mouth slightly open. His eyes flickered green, hazel and golden. Was he angry?

"I was just playing, sorry." I put my hands up smiling and tried to take a step back, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him.

He looked into my eyes. My heart hammered in my chest as he leaned in. Was he going to kiss me?

"Alexander..."

"Yes, Felicity?" He leaned even closer.

Our noses collided with each other and I burst into laughter. The lack of experience was so obvious. He was mortified, yet he cupped my cheeks and brought his lips to mine. 

He kissed me slowly and tenderly as if he was afraid that I would break. The whole zoo danced inside my stomach. I had never been this happy. Everything was just right if it was with him.

I smiled and we pulled away to catch some air. His cheeks were all red. I giggled.

"That was my first kiss ever and you wouldn't stop laughing."

I laughed even harder. "You just turned eighteen; your mate is gonna be so angry."

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He gave me a lopsided grin and kissed me again.

Present day

I opened my wet eyes. My back hurt like hell and I was cold. Of all dreams I could have had, why had I dreamed of our first kiss? My first kiss...

"Did you have a happy dream? You were laughing."

I dashed up to my feet. Who was that? It took a moment for the memories of the last few hours to come back. So, that was the reason I was dreaming that.

I groaned. "Why are you talking?"

"Sorry."

I stretched my back and my pained limbs and paced in the room. This was by far the most interesting activity to do in here. Alexander was quiet for once in his life seemingly lost in thought.

Sometime later, the woman from yesterday came back. She left me a new basket with food and took the other one. This time she didn't say a word.

"Think fast!" I threw Alexander a bagel that hit him square in the forehead. It bounced to his hands. I was tempted to do the same with the bottle of water, but I managed to hold myself back.

"I thought that you wouldn't share with me today." He stared at the bagel with wide eyes and then at me.

"Just because you're a monster, it doesn't mean that I have to stoop to your level."

He chuckled. "You know, she said something like that."

I should've thanked him for reminding me how vile he was. "She's a wise woman."

"She reminded me of you so much sometimes."

I gave him a look and rolled my eyes. He just shrugged in response. He was always babbling more than what he should.

"You really know how to get to a girl's heart." I took a big gulp of water.

"I love you."

"Fuck you! How many times do I have to tell you that you have no right to say that?"

"What do you want me to say? After I sent you away, I was obsessed with your every move--"

"Shouldn't have sent me away, then."

"I couldn't do anything but check on you. When you disappeared and my wolf stopped feeling your wolf I thought you had died."

I chuckled. He shouldn't have cared whether I lived or died. "So?"

"So, I went crazy, okay? Nothing could ever fill the spot you had left. I was empty--I still am. I made a mistake followed by many other more. I wish I could go back in time and just keep you by my side to protect you like I should've done since