6

Warning: This story will contain violence and abusive themes. Read with caution and at your own discretion.

It had been a week since Vincent had visited, but he had not come back. Ada was nearly fully healed by then and all stitches and staples were removed. She had full use of her arm and the bruising on her side was gone.

"Okay, good. Go ahead and shift back." Emily said as she stepped back. Ada shifted out of her wolf form with a disappointed sigh. She then picked up her clothing and began to get dressed. She knew what it meant for her, and she was not looking forward to what was to come.

Emily noted everything down in the cart and closed it slowly. A forced smile came to her face as she looked at Ada.

"That's it for today! I will go get your food before going to inform the Alpha of your progress." She said to the younger wolf. Ada pulled her shirt over her head and turned to Emily, bringing her dark eyes to the light orbs the woman sported.

"You mean tell him that I'm fully healed? Or lie and say that I still need more time?" Ada asked. Emily's smile faltered, but she kept her eyes on Ada. Ada could see that she wanted to say something but cut her off before she could.

"You can only tell them for so long that I'm healing slow. A human would have survived those injuries. If they are not suspitious already, they will be soon." She said, the smile slowly fading from Emily's face.

"I can try." She suggested, but Ada shook her head.

"I wont let you get in trouble for me. I'm not a pack member and you should not be showing me this much care. I'm grateful for everything, Emily. But you have to let me face whatever judgement they have for me." She said to the older woman, who became quickly distressed.

"They want to punish you for the crimes of all of the rogues you were with! You didn't kill anyone from our pack! You should not have to take the punishment for their crimes!" She snapped, her eyes dialating with anger. Ada stared at Enily until the woman began to calm down and Ada stepped over to Emily. She lifted her arms and wrapped them around the dark haired woman and hugged her firmly.

All of the anger flew from Emily and she hugged Ada back, in the first real affection that Ada had received since she was eight. This caused Ada to hold onto Emily more firmly. Being aware of Ada's past, Emily hugged her back just as firmly.

When Ada felt like the hug was going on too long, she pulled back.

"I will take whatever they throw at me. I'm not one to back down from anything. Consequences included." Ada said at length. Emily was clearly unhappy with the answer, but she could see the resolve in the eyes of the younger woman. She would make a strong Luna if ever they could get over her past. It was not a life she chose, she should not be punished for surviving.

She left soon after, leaving Ada alone in the room. She sat on the bed and looked down at her bare feet. Fear was a heavy rock in her chest and she was doing all she could to keep putting on a brave face. She was so distracted by what she knew was coming, she didn't notice the door to her room open, and for Vincent to walk in.

She smelled him before before he got close, but before she could say anything he was in front of her and his hands were on her arms. Ada lifted her eyes to meet his, the pull toward him making her breathless for a moment as she saw the hard look on her face. This was it. He had come to finally do it.

To her surprise, he pulled her up onto her feet and firmly against his chest. The smell of deep earth and pine filled her scenes. He was warm and she could feel his heart racing in his chest as he held her against him, her arms trapped at her sides. The embrace was what she thought it would feel like to be held by her mother or father again. She wanted the feeling to last forever, but she remembered that while she and he were supposed to be mates, she was going to be punished for her crimes.

"Vincent." She said to him, his grip on her tightening.

"Vincent please let go of me." Her voice was firm. Slowly his arms unwrapped from around her and she stepped back.

"They are moving you tomorrow." He said to her and she had to shift her eyes to look at anything but him.

"I told Emily that she could not keep me here forever." She said to him and he shifted uncomfortably. Something was bothering him but he would not say what it was. They stood in silence, with him staring at her and her staring at the floor to avoid his eyes.

"Tell me everything you've done." He said to her, finally breaking the long silence between them.

"You said Emily told you everything. That means you know it all." She replied to him, a frustrated look coming to his face.

"I want to hear it from you." He said as he moved in closer to her. She leaned back a bit from him. Being that close made her body shudder.

"Alright. If you want to know all if it where do you want me to start?" She asked, crossing her arms. It was a way to help her control herself. Everytime he leaned in close to her like that she wanted to touch him.

"I want you to start from the beginning." He replied, folding his arms as well as he seemingly looked down his nose at her. Ada felt a little insulted and her eyes narrowed in irritation.

"The beginning? Are you sure you want me to?" She countered, the irritation clear in her tone. The look on his face cracked.

"Yes. I want you to start where it all started for you. When you became a rogue and how and everything up until you attacked me on the path." His tone was less demanding this time around, and his face had softened a bit.

Ada blew a breath out between her lips and unfolded her arms, sliding them down her thighs slowly. His eyes watched her hands for a moment before he looked at her face again. She got up onto the bed and leaned against the pillows.

"This is going to take a while so you should take a seat." She said to him, but when he had not moved she figured he would discover from himself.

"Okay. Well I guess I have to go back fifteen years." She said to him, Vincent's eyebrows lowering and knitting together.

"Why are you going back that far? You were just a kid." He said to her and she looked at him.

"Do you want me to tell you or not?" She questioned and he nodded.

"Good. Then shut up." She replied. He growled at her but she ignored it.

"Fifteen years ago I was outside of our tent with my mom, dad and my older brother. My father was the Beta in our pack, getting my brother ready to take over for him. My mother and I were foraging wild foods not far away, but it was far enough away." She began, closing her eyes as she folded her legs over each other.

"My mother was up wind of the rogues so she didn't smell them in time. I had no idea what was happening, so I was in her arms and she was running and yelling for my father before I understood what was going on. There were more of them, and they had shown up in wolf form, so they easily overtook her." She paused here a moment and swallowed hard.

"The call went out across outer small pack and other wolves came to help. But my mother was a lost cause. She was taken down and her throat ripped open before anyone could get to us. I remember looking into her face. I could see that she was dying, feeling the frozen ground under me growing hot and and wet with her blood."

"I remember hearing footsteps behind me and feeling arms around me. At first I thought it was my father, but as I was lifted out of my mom's arms, I could see my dad and the rest of the pack fighting more wolves behind her now dead body. I screamed for them, fighting against the arms of the person who was holding me, but I was just a little girl and I couldn't break free." She paused here again and took in a deep breath.

"I could do nothing but scream and fight. I screamed until I lost my voice. I fought until I passed out from exhaustion. I woke up later in a cell with silver bars. It was cold and I could hear other kids crying in other cells. It was dark and the rooms we were kept in were small, just big enough for us to sit in."

Vincent had been silent this entire time, but he was visably upset so far with her tale. She wondered how he was going to fair with the rest of it. It might be best if didn't go into full detail about everything.

"There were not just wolf children I. that place. There were human kids too. We were told that we had to fight, one on one, if we ever wanted to leave that place. Almost all of us were scared or angry for being there, and we wanted to get out as soon as possible. We had no choice to fight, of course. But we were promised freedom if we won."

"What we didn't know, is that victory for one, meant the death of the loser. At the hands of victor." She paused here and sucked in a shakey breath.

"It was in that place that most of us had our first kill. Mine was a girl name Rayna. She was my age, a human girl. We were both so scared and neither of is wanted to die, or fight. I think about her often and wonder who she might be if she had never been taken to that place. I always hope that she would have found love and started her own family, far from that aweful place." She opened her eyes to stare down at the bed.

"I can remember holding her in my arms as the lift left her body. The light was gone from her eyes and her blood covered the floor. We had promised one another we would make it quick of we won, so I did. I had secretly been hoping that she would win. She had a family to go back to, but I had been in my mom's arms when she died. I had seen my brother on the ground surrounded by blood, and had seen my dad facing off against three wolves with the Aplha too far off to get to him in time. I no longer had a family. But she did. I wanted her to go home."

"I never found out what they did with the bodies, and it was after I wo. that I learned we were not actually being released. We were bound in the ring and led away to some new place for training. We got to leave that prison alive. That was our reward for winning." She stopped talking, taking the time to get herself something to drink. Vincent was clearly unnerved by what she said.

"All of this happened?" He asked, as if wanting her to reassure him that she was not lying. She lifted her eyes and looked into his face.

"Yes." Was her only reply. He was more unnerved by her curt answer. He gave a hesitant nod of his head and Ada drank her water.

"What happened after that? Where did they take you?" He asked, Ada taking a few more moments to finish her water before placing the cup down.

"They took me and a few of the other kids to a cave system south of where my pack lived." She replied to his second question first, then snapped a haunted glare o to his face that seemed to freeze him place.

"As for what happened?" She asked, her tone growing harsh.

"That is when our training began."