CAGED

Chapter 1

For a blissful handful of seconds, I was ignorant and pure like freshly fallen snow. Unfortunately, as soon as recollection of my situation began creeping in like the devil's whisper, my train of thought was immediately derailed by the pain flooding my senses, like all-consuming hellfire eating me from the inside-out. Rounding off the experience was a hackle-raising saccharine-sweet feminine voice.

"You can't dump me for some omega faggot. I won't allow it." As vile as her words were, the pain interrupted my eavesdropping and my train of thought took the opportunity to set off again - I had found my mate. My eyes snapping open at the thought, the voice continued, "You're not gay, we both know it - I know you're just trying to get rid of me like your last fifty girlfriends. Don't insult me by pretending you're dumping me for some sort of lower lifeform."

My eyes focused to a playground for the rich complete with two fitstagram influencer-esqe model lookalikes. I almost forgot my pain and circumstances trying to take it all in - the modern steel and glass of the penthouse left the eye to linger on the expensively minimalist furnishings. I almost didn't pay the room, nor the victoria's secret angel shouting more like a victoria's secret vixen any attention; rather, all my brainpower was captured by the man.

I couldn't describe his looks with any word other than 'apex predator'. Everything about him, from the tip of his dark quiff to the thin athletic sneakers molded to his feet screamed masculinity and power. His athletic hoodie obscured his build, but the way he filled out the baggy mesh told a story that was validated by the veins running up his thick neck, sticking out like vines on a wall of stone.

He was one of the tallest alphas I'd ever seen in person, and something about his eyes screamed dominance in a way that sent shivers down my spine in a way I didn't fully understand. His eyes blazed with anger, alight with the kind of fire that would burn anyone who got too close - the kind of fire I knew all too well.

Unlike my father, however, he clenched his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth so hard I could see the strain in his jaw muscles, and his veins strained against his smooth, tanned skin like they were trying to break free. Unlocking his jaw as manually and deliberately as a key being turned in a lock, he spoke in a measured tone thinly spread on top of thick rage. "Ivey, get the fuck out of my apartment. Right now."

"I don't even care if he actually is your mate, you can't dump someone like me for someone like him!" Ivey screamed and turned to me, "You don't belong with Jace, faggot. Go home and let us work our relationship issues out - how much is he paying you to cover his ass? You know you don't belong here." Her face reminded me of the spit frothing in her mouth, like vipers hissing.

She'd barely managed to finish her sentence before she was cut off by a guttural growl reverberating through the room that made the tiny hairs populating my petite arms stand at attention. I felt flat on my back, waves of authority and dominance overpowering me like a tsunami. Even with all of the dramatics in the room, and in spite of all the vitriol she'd recently spewed to my face, my mind, between the overwhelming spikes of pain and the submission being forced out of me, was still stuck on her very first sentence.

Fifty girlfriends? I was already struggling with this one, but fifty was out of the question. I had never even dreamed of cheating on my future mate, the one the goddess had fated to me, not even once. Fifty relationships? My wolf howled in agony at the thought and suddenly the drama of the room and the damage to my body barely seemed to matter at all.

Since the death of my mother, I'd waited faithfully, living day after day to meet the one the goddess had meant to complete me. I couldn't understand what I was doing here at all. This Ivey woman was disgusting enough to deserve someone who would cheat on their future like that - they were perfect for each other. I wanted a decent alpha with a decent heart who would protect me from my father and treasure me and love me the way no one had since my mother's passing. I couldn't take an alpha with clear anger issues who had cared so little about his mate, the one who would complete him as his soul mate.

Slowly, I gathered myself and tried to stand - even with my wolf lending me all of his strength, on the verge of a shift that felt more like a reversion, it felt like the weight of the world was squarely on my shoulders, even if it was just the weight of my last few hopes for my world. Despite managing to make it as far as the elevator, my mate still wouldn't let me leave in peace. "Don't listen to her," his deep voice cut through tension so thick it was like an axe splitting logs. "She's a bitch and not worth your time, let alone precious mental energy."

Cracking my lips to a hoarse, broken voice, I croaked out, "Fifty. If she's not worth the mental energy, how much should I pay to the other forty-nine?" My voice broke trying to form the word forty-nine, but the elevator still hadn't decided to be my knight in shining armor, so I gathered my emotions and tried to continue. "I'm sorry you didn't want me. Have fun with the next fifty."

Finally, the elevator decided to free me from the proximity of my so-called 'mate', but he shocked me by following me into the tiny metal box that felt like a prison cell, forcing me too close for comfort. "Please, just let me go," I begged, but he barely even seemed to register my dissent.

"I won't let you go home alone, it's too dangerous out there. You're hurt... and not all of it is from the asshole I accidentally threw into you." The nonchalance with which my mate stated what he would and wouldn't allow enraged my already addled mind, despite the good intentions. Maybe I wouldn't allow my mate to cheat on me, how did he plan to rectify that? He had no right to be setting rules for me. Unassailed, he continued, "I don't know why you were already banged up but I am going to make sure that it doesn't happen anymore."

Ignoring him, I hobbled out of the elevator, paying no mind to the hulking beast of an alpha walking beside me as I struggled home. "Look, I- I'm sorry I-," he began before I cut him off with a hiss I'd never knew I could manage.

"Save it."

His head drooped, causing a unique pang in my chest, but I refused to give up. Hobbling up the steps, I didn't even give him so much as a backward glance before stepping inside. But immediately after I shut the door behind me, quickly, so my mate couldn't decide to join me inside, a slurred, hysterical voice froze me in place, rooting me with fear. "Well, well. Look which ungrateful bastard finally came home," my dad bellowed as he lumbered down the hardwood floor of the hallway. I made my peace, not bothering to run, I was injured and had lost the reason I had to continue living, anyway; maybe my dad would do me a favor and put me out of my misery.

I closed my eyes before he rounded the corner, not wanting to see the face of the only family I had left contorted with hatred. Bright pain exploded through my chest, and against my wishes, my eyes flew open at the impact to see the wooden baseball bat that had just wreaked havoc on my ribcage. Before I could even begin to crumple, the bat came back for my head, and I almost missed the sound of the door being flattened. I made my peace with the world and silently thanked my dad for finally having the balls to end it for good, and then the swing connected and I felt my skull explode into unimaginable pain before everything went black again.