The journey from the depths of hell to a semblance of heaven had taken roughly four hours, and an entire night passed while I was unconscious. Even though eight years had elapsed since my escape, the haunting memories clung to me as if they were etched into my very soul. The echoes of screams and tears, the sight of blood and the grip of fear, they all continued to race through my heart, leaving my mouth dry.

My mother's words echoed in my mind, a reminder that life's ups and downs are temporary, akin to a rollercoaster ride. In my youth, unfamiliar with rollercoasters, I hadn't fully grasped her wisdom. But today, I understood the essence: life is thrilling, provided you face it without fear.

"Mirrie!" A distant shout interrupted my thoughts. I stood at the same spot where I had begun my new life, gazing into the eyes of the man who had helped me build it.

Back then, he was a tall, lanky boy, with enchanting eyes and a charmingly crooked smile. His hair used to be unruly and long, slicked back with sweat, but now it was neatly cropped, and his body had grown in both height and muscles.

"Hey, stranger," I greeted, a smile spreading across my face as I approached my best friend. He enveloped me in a comforting hug, a gesture that conveyed more than words ever could.

"How long have you been standing here?" he inquired, playfully pinching my sides while refusing to release his hold.

"Not long," I shrugged, but he sensed my deception and held me at arm's length, peering into my eyes.

"Who are you lying to?" he asked, prompting me to bite my lip and look at him sheepishly.

"Two hours."

"Mirrie."

"Sorry, this place just makes me nostalgic," I said, avoiding his gaze as I started walking toward the pack house.

"You have nothing to apologize for," he assured, catching up to me and slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"I know," I smirked, beginning to feel more like my usual self now that we were moving away from the border. "You, on the other hand, do!"

"Why, may I ask?" he playfully entertained.

"Well, you mister, haven't written to me in a long time," I retorted.

"Write to you where? You don't even have a permanent address. I've asked you to come stay with us a million times, but no-"

"Oh, shut up, you know I love living the rogue life," I nudged him. "And besides, your pack is not worthy of a person as great as me!"

"My pack is the best pack in the whole wide world," he countered, frowning.

"How old are you again, Mr. Alpha?" I teased. We had reached the pack house, and I saw the members giving me welcoming smiles. I knew that most of them secretly hoped that I was Cayden's mate. There had been a couple of instances where people had mentioned the same to me, but their hopes were shattered when they realized that it was not the case.

"Five, plus twenty," he grinned.

I playfully made a kissy face at him, garnering a chuckle from Cayden.

"By the way, nice clothes," he commented, eyeing my fluorescent pink outfit, a result of his mischievous cousins Felicity and Janine Donavan.

"Need to murder those brats," I muttered to myself.

"Speak of the devil," Cayden said, nodding toward the door as his two sisters, Felicity and Janine, entered the room with bright smiles.

"Miracle!" they exclaimed, practically tackling me and attempting to squeeze the life out of me.

"Girls, off!"

"We missed you!" they chorused. I could easily push them off, but I relished the love they were showering on me through their rowdy hug.

"Alpha Cayden, want to help me out here?" I asked him sweetly. He leaned against the counter, raising his glass of water in acknowledgment.

"Nope," he replied with a playful pop of the 'p.'

"Okay then." I pushed them off me but enveloped them in my own kind of hug once they were upright. They looked at me with expectant smiles.

"Are the two of you mates yet?" Felicity asked me eagerly.

"I told you last time, if he was my mate, I would know by now," I explained to the eager teenagers. Their faces fell momentarily, but hope soon returned.

"Are you here to stay, though?" Janine questioned this time.

"For a month," I nodded. I had injured myself a while back and didn't rest long enough for it to heal as I had a fight with another rogue who had been chasing me relentlessly. It had all started with something as simple as me telling him to "get a life" due to his weird insistence on wanting to be with me. Apparently, his pride took that as an insult, and as a result, I was stuck with him chasing after me for a long time. But Cayden didn't need to know that.

His protectiveness over his so-called 'wild friend,' that is me, was overbearing when it came to men. God forbid if someone from his pack tried to woo me; I would have their head handed to me on a silver platter. It was easy to see why his pack had assumed that I would end up being his mate.

"A month! That's quite long. What happened?" Cayden asked with raised eyebrows.

"I missed you, Cadie!" I mumbled in a baby voice, pretending to be upset. "You didn't miss me too?"

"When you're an Alpha, you don't have time to miss insignificant people," he scoffed haughtily.

"Get yourself a man who calls you insignificant, girls," I teased, slow clapping and giving a pointed look to Felicity and Janine, who were quietly giggling away. "For now, I need sleep. Lots and lots of it, on a warm bed with soft sheets, and maybe a box or two of good chocolate."

"I think you're looking for a hotel, Miracle," Cayden said, his eyes twinkling.

"Nah, I'm looking for a personal slave. Oh wait, look! I found one— you," I said, playfully. "And thus, the Alpha is made into a slave."

"No."

"My decision is final."

"Nah-uh."

"The three of you are going, and now that's an order." Felicity and Janine looked down, overpowered by their alpha's command, but I only smirked.

"Still not a part of your pack, Cadie," I sang.

"That's not fair! If we have to go, you do too." Janine frowned, while Cayden nodded with a serious expression.

Currently, I, along with the girls, were being shooed out of the pack due to the arrival of some big-shot alpha who Cayden didn't trust. It would have been cute, but him sending us off would just mean that he didn't trust us to take care of ourselves (or hold our tongue), which was insulting. Even if it was true that I had a tendency to blurt out random things.

I had also overheard him talking to his Beta about how he was worried that one of us could be mates to the so-called ruthless alpha, and that set a momentary fear in my heart too. I wasn't planning to stay here for the visit since Alphas aren't my favorite people to be around, nor was I keen on meeting my mate, but messing around with Cayden and seeing him frustrated was fun.

"I'll let you drive my Ferrari." He negotiated, and I raised my eyebrows. He was incredibly attached to 'Lydia,' his blood-red beauty with a heart of steel, and his willingness to part with it was a surprise. "I would take that offer up if I knew how to drive a car," I shrugged.

"I'll drive it!" Felicity eagerly piped up.

"Too young," Cayden shot his sister a disapproving look. She stuck her tongue out and frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Okay, that's enough. You've got two options: either you go out of the pack or you stay in the dungeons with a guard. Take your pick." He started to walk away from my gaping self. I pursed my smile and tried desperately to hide my amusement, but Cayden's sulky face on his tall, broad frame was hilarious.

"I'm going, I'm going!" I called out to him, but he didn't stop. "Just so you know, I didn't plan on meeting this Alpha anyways."

"I know," he informed me. Of course, he did.

Felicity and Janine looked at me quizzically, as if they had just seen a terribly tough math sum that needed to be solved. I assumed that they both mind-linked each other because the range of expressions on their faces was comically identical. Sad, annoyed, angry, and then excited.

"We are going shopping!" Felicity did a little shimmy, and I groaned.

"Just take my life already," I moaned, letting my face drop into my open palms. Janine was trying to peel my hands off my face when Cayden re-entered the scene with a panicked look on his face.

"You three," he pointed at us. "Dungeon, now."

"Not happening. We agreed out of the pack." I argued. Pat and Jules protested at his command.

"The Alpha is already here; the dungeons will keep you safe."

"What is he going to do to us in your territory?" I rolled my eyes at his paranoia.

"He has a reputation. Should any problem arise, I want you all out of harm's way so that I can fight instead of spending time worrying about your well-being."

"Maybe you shouldn't have invited someone you didn't trust into the pack land!" As soon as I said it, I knew I had gone too far. Challenging an Alpha's decision or motives could be instant death in some packs. The only reason I wasn't dead already was that Cayden thought of me as family. His eyes flashed a dangerous black color, and I bowed my head in submission, baring my neck only slightly to show that I had backed down this time.

After a second or two, he seemed to have regained control over his wolf and gave a reassuring smile. The dungeon was a cold and uncomfortable place that I had never visited before. Silver Eclipse Pack generally had a happy aura, but this place sent chills down my spine.

Cayden knew that I hated dungeons. They were an unwelcome trigger to memories that I wished to lock in a place so far away that they didn't have a chance of surfacing. But he still left me here. My chest started to tighten uncontrollably, and I felt the sweat beginning to form, dripping down my face.

"I can't sit here," I told the girls who were looking at me concerned.

"You can't leave, Miracle," Jules informed me.

"Yes, I can! I'm not a prisoner. I'm not in this pack. I'm a guest, and a guest should be-"

"Travis, open this," I told the guard.

"I can't do that, Miracle. Alpha's orders," he said with an apologetic smile but moved away from the door to give me more breathing space.

"Tell him I need to be let out. Dungeons. Can't-"

"He's blocked off. But I could go find him if you want?" Travis asked me, concerned. I couldn't breathe. I just couldn't. Felicity was rubbing my back in a steady rhythm.

"Just open the door, Travis. I'm sure Cayden will understand," Felicity urged him.

"This counts as a life or death situation, right?"

"You have eyes, right?" Janine asked him sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at her and made his way toward the door with the right key in hand. The moment the door unlocked, I pushed it open and fell to the floor.

The day, coupled with the location, was bound to create problems. I ran until I reached the pack house and stealthily sneaked toward Cayden's office. There were surprisingly no guards outside, but I could smell about twenty to thirty male werewolves standing inside the room in close proximity.

Snooping could get me into trouble, but I was curious about which Alpha had riled up Cayden so much. I inched towards the door and placed my palms on it. In a matter of seconds, I felt the door move inwards and found myself stumbling into the room and onto the floor.

Cayden shook his head at my horizontal body.

Oops!

"Hi, Cadie!" I smiled sweetly at my friend, who looked ready to murder me. "Isn't it a fine night?"

A low, but powerful growl echoed off the walls of the huge office, but I didn't turn, not even to see where the delicious aroma of cake was coming from. Cayden helped me up, or rather forced me up when he saw that I wasn't making a move to stand up. He tried to shield me from the person from where the growl emitted, but in vain.

I felt a powerful, tantalizing aura making its way across the room and towards me. All my senses were on high alert, and the fine hair on my arms and unshaven legs had started to rise up due to the electric feel.

He was my mate; he had to be. I had heard stories about the maddening power of the mate bond, and there was no explanation for the way I was feeling. From my peripheral vision, I saw Cayden come to stand in front of me, and along with him, other Silver Eclipse pack members surged forward, causing the male werewolf to growl again.

He certainly had a way with words.

"Let him come," I told Cayden, putting a hand on his shoulder to assure him of my confidence. He reluctantly moved away but didn't go far. My possible mate didn't seem to like my buddy-behavior with Cayden and finally uttered a single word.

"Move!" Cayden's eyes flashed black for the second time in a night. The anonymous male's voice was so smooth. There was no other way to describe it. I think Cayden finally caught on to what was happening before him; a mate bond was a dangerous thing to mess with, so he took a careful step aside, still close enough in case he needed to protect me.

The man who finally came within my line of sight with no obstruction was absolutely, heartbreakingly gorgeous. He had dark hair that was similar to my own, perfect lips, and a straight nose that no other male could match (though I think that's the bond's doing). His silvery grey eyes confirmed what I had already guessed; he was my mate, and he was beautiful.

"You're beautiful," he put his hand forward, presumably to tenderly stroke my cheek, or choke me to death for disturbing his meeting, but I put a hand up.

"Don't touch me," I backed away. "Not till I allow it."

"I can't touch what's mine?" He asked me, confused.

"Yours?" It was my turn to be confused.

"You deny the mate bond?" I wasn't great at reading emotions, but I could see that he was angry and a little disappointed at my resistance. If he was looking for an obedient little mate, he was in for a rude awakening.

"I don't. But I'm not an inanimate object," I explained.

"That wasn't my implication," he tilted his head at me curiously, searching for something. But what? "You're a rogue?"

"I am."

"But yet you are living here?" He could probably smell the pack land on me; a strong alpha could usually pick up pack scents well.

"Perhaps we can talk about this in private?" I felt uncomfortable discussing our mate bond in front of the Silver Eclipse pack members and his guards. He gave a look towards a tall man who nodded and walked away with the rest of his people following.

"Cayden?" I asked my friend for a silent favor, and though he still looked worried for me, he knew that mates rarely could harm their significant others.

"I'll be right outside. Harm her, and be rest assured there will be blood spilt," Cayden warned the man in front of me, who gave him a menacing glare. I could see that he was barely controlling his anger towards my best friend, so I nodded quickly and closed the door.

"Don't mind him, he's just protective." The man nodded, his full concentration focused on me.

Once the room was empty, I felt the nervous energy inside me explode. My still nameless mate looked like he was in deep thought, and the awkwardness was starting to rise.

"So what's your name?" I was tired of thinking of my mate as the nameless handsome alpha, so I finally decided to ask him.

"Arden Jackson, Alpha of the Sangre Leikos pack." Oh, no. I felt my eyes widen at the name. Cayden' jittery behavior in the morning and extra careful behavior around his impending arrival now made complete sense, as he was one of the strongest Alphas with a reputation that wasn't the kindest.

I always made sure to steer clear of his pack's boundary lines when out in the wild, as the tales of his ruthlessness and unforgiving behavior were known even by the newest of rogues. He hated us. Absolutely loathed us.

"You hate rogues." I noticed the way his fists clenched together tightly, and then unclenched almost as quickly.

"What's your name?" He asked me instead of replying to my question.

"Miraclemarie."

"That's a pretty name."

"Thanks, I know." I did a playful hair flip before I realized who I was with. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. A mate tends to show off her best qualities and assets in her mate's presence." I almost laughed at the seriousness with which he said that.

"I'm not trying to impress you." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"It's unconsciously done." He said, and for the first time, I saw him smile. It was barely there, but it was worth catching.

"I'm amazing, I ooze awesomeness, I don't need to explain myself to you." I narrowed my eyes at my mate. I thought mates were supposed to be loving and hopelessly in love!

"Well, you are going to be stuck with me for a long time; I think it's time you start."