Never Yours, Mate

Chapter 21

I was placed back in the same cage as before. Tears were streaming down my eyes. Elias threw me in and I crawled to the corner. I placed my head in my knees and wrapped my arms around me. I could hear footsteps approaching me. Someone wrapped their arms around me. I started to scream. I kicked and closed my eyes as I screamed and cried.

 "Shhhh" I heard. It sounded like Connor but I wasn't about to take my chances. I continued to kick and scream. 

"Althea, it's Connor, open your eyes" He said. I slowly started to open my eyes.  I buried my face into his chest as his arms picked me up and put me in his lap. I don't know why but he felt safe. It was like I could trust him. "Do you want to talk about it?" I could hear him say.  I shook my head no. 

"I just want to forget," I whispered, " I never thought I'd say this but thank god my mate is an Alpha." I could heel Connor shifting into a more comfortable position. 

"So the rumours were right," He began "Somehow you escaped Alpha Zachary." I stayed quiet. I didn't want to talk about it but Connor wasn't going to give me a choice. "You know" he continued, "It would be a lot safer for you to stay with him."  I jerked out of his arms and moved to the corner of the cage. My knees curled up into my chest as my arms wrapped around them as  I pushed my back into the corner. "Althea, Just hear me out," he begged. I stayed silent but he took that as an opportunity to continue. "Look, if you went to him you'd be fed, clothed and you wouldn't have to deal with guys like Elias. You'd be safe Althea. Don't you want to be safe?" He asked.

"I want to be free." I shot back. His logic made sense but I was too stubborn and too scared of losing my freedom to even consider it. 

"After some time he would trust you enough to let you be free." He said.

"Yeaahhhh no. Not after all the stuff I've done." I replied. He rolled his eyes and started to move towards me. He looked at me with a condescending expression. 

"You know mates can forgive almost anything" He said.

"I ran away, removed my mate mark, he currently thinks I'm dead and I've insulted him countless times." I bit back, "Even if he would forgive me after all that stuff, I don't want to go back." 

"Yeah...... You're fucked Althea." He said. I winced. His language was harsh and I remembered the chastising Artemis and Athena would get whenever they said stuff like that. It was usually because I tattled on them though. Tears started to slip down my already red cheeks. I missed them so much. This cage was suffocating and lonely. A man started to walk towards the cage. He was large and imposing. Scars littered his body as he walked towards me and opened the door.

I started to scream and kick. He grabbed my arms pinning them to the wall and pulled them up so I was dangling off the floor. My screams grew louder as my kicking grew more extreme. "Shut up," he yelled, "SHUT UP!". I silenced my screaming and started to whimper. "I'm going to get you out of here. I just need you to stay quiet." His mouth curled into a sinister smile. His mouth was hot on my ear as he whispered, "I'm going to tell your little mate Zachary you're here." 

My screaming and kicking started back up again. "NO NO NO PLEASE NO!" I begged through the tears rolling down my face "Please, I'll do anything".

"Anything?" He asked, I knew I was going to regret this decision but I didn't have a choice. I couldn't go back to Zachary. I nodded in response. "Have a baby with me" He said. My eyes shot open and my mouth gaped. How could he ask such a thing. I shook my head no.

"Are you nuts?!" I screamed in his face before spitting in his eye. His smirk grew. 

"Zachary it is." He said as he dropped me into a heap on the ground. I curled myself into a ball as he left the cage. "You have one hour to change your mind or your little Alpha mate gets a call. I felt as if I could barely breathe. Strangled choking sounds escaped my thought as I gasped for breath through the tears. The lump in my throat was only growing bigger as the panic started to set in. My whole body was shaking on the floor as I screamed. This was worse than my worst nightmare. 

Arms started to surround me again as I tried to fight them off. They closed around my body tighter and I couldn't breathe, my body wouldn't let me. Black started to creep through my vision as the person held me tighter. My eyes were squeezed shut to afraid of who was holding me. My breathing started to slow as my vision went black. 

A/N

I am so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter uploaded. It took me a long time to figure out where I wanted this story to go. Thank you for remaining patient with me. I'm going to try to have an update next week but I just started school and a part time job so I'm quite busy.