7

Warning: This story will have violence and abusive themes. This chapter will be heavy with abuse, torture and mention situations involving rape. Read with caution and at your own discretion.

"Unlike in the place we were held before, the bars in our cells were not silver. They were steel and in at least my cell they showed the wear of keeping wolves trapped inside. They were dented or bent slightly and almost of them had chips and scratches in them. Even at eight years old I knew that place was bad. It even smelled bad. Like old piss, fermented shit, rancid body odor from hundreds of bodies, but most importantly it smelled like death."

"It was not just young kids like me kept there. Older kids and even some who were in their very late teens. Somewhere far off we could even heard the sounds of babies crying. None of us were allowed to talk to each other. If we were caught one of the rogues guarding us would come into our cells and beat us. If you kept talking, you would be dragged out of your cell and beaten in front of everyone. Once, this older boy refused to be quiet. Even after repeated beatings he would keep yelling or talking. They dragged him out and we never saw him again."

"We were well fed and supplied with clean water. Injuries were taken care of, which was really confusing for us. They were cruel and didn't care about us, but they would keep us healthy. Of course it was so that when we fought we could be as ruthless as possible at full strength."

"I'm not sure how long it was exactly that I was in there, being moved around from my cell to this open cavern where we would be forcibly trained by the older rogues. We were always told that we were meant to fight and kill. They tried to drill it into our heads that we were never meant to live like humans and being wild and ruthless is how a wolf was supposed to be. Some of the younger kids began to believe it. I knew they were just lying."

"I held onto the memories of my family and my pack. My family was gone, but my pack was still there. I held tightly to the memories of the love and acceptance I had when I was in my pack. It helped to get me through all of the hard times I had to live through."

"It was in that place that I was forced to kill another wolf for the first time. He was younger than me and although we both wanted to leave, I could see that he was giving up. He wanted it to end. I think he might have been from Africa, but I'm not sure. There were kids from all over the world in that place."

"His name was Jevin and he put up a really good fight. He managed to hurt me pretty bad with a broken leg and dislocated arm before I ended up breaking his neck. The adult rogues celebrated my victory. I cried for him for weeks."

"After that, I want forced to kill anyone else. They changed my training from just kill to defensive and how to take down someone without killing them. Fighting happened often in rogue groups, but killing those you worked with was sometimes looked down on. I never understood it because they never seemed to value life. I guess it was their way of trying to keep some order in the chaos of a world they all lived in. I tried many times to question them on the way this all worked, but bi one would tell me anything g more than to not ask questions and just shut up and learn."

"I could only tell the passing of seasons by the clothing our captors wore. So I was able to tell that I was there for around two years. In that time I learned how to be a ruthless fighter and how to live a life as a rogue. We had to learn survival skills, all while enduring beatings that were used to get us used to pain and learn how to block it out or over come it."

"Not everyone got through it all with their minds intact. Some would become feral and were used to torment those who did not stay in line."

"When I was finally brought out of the place, I was a rogue soldier. I kept my head down and did what I was told because I knew if I didn't my torment would be endless. Being ten, I was not far from being sexually mature and closer to the age of shifting. This meant I was ready to join my first rogue group."

"I was sent south to the middle east, where I spent two years learning to survive on the scorching heat and learning to read and write in five languages. This group prided themselves in training wolves to be able to infiltrate and blend in perfectly with human society, where they would then take humans for various reasons. I went on many such missions, though I never asked it found out what happened to the humans after I brought them to camp."

"After two more years there in the heat and sand, I was sent west to France to a group that specialized in Infiltrating packs. I was taught how to muddy my scent and make it smell enough like the rest of a pack to go unnoticed. It was also in this group that I was raped for the first time." At her words Vincent's eyes went wide and he visably tensed. He had crossed his arms and was leaning against the counter clacross from her bed lazily as he listened. Now he looked as though he might leap out of his skin.

"Some rogue groups do not allow rapes and instead have a designated group bitch or stud to be used. Most do not. When new faces came around, they were fair game. It was in France when my reputation for death began, though I didn't get the name of Valkyrie until much later."

"After I was raped the first time, I made it a point to make myself as unpleasant to be around as possible. When that didn't work, I carried a knife and with me. I was too young to shift, so I had to find some other way to have claws. My human teeth had no trouble ripping out a throat or two, so that never was an issue."

"I was sold to another group in Florida in America after two years in France. I had become too wild for the group and they were losing Male members quickly because they only saw my defiance as a challenge."

"In Florida, it was no different. I even managed to escape from the group for a few weeks before they found me again. The members old enough to shift made sure I k ew what the teeth of a wolf felt like and tries to use it to keep me in line. It only fueled me more. Florida was open and there were plenty of places to wonder off to, though I made sure never to go too far after. I wanted to live. No matter how bad it got I never considered death. Something in me wanted to stay alive more than I hated the hand in life I had been dealt."

"I was traded to a group out in the midwest after three years and I was ok it there when I shifted for the first time. The wide open spaces reminded me of home and running there almost felt like I was running with my pack again. I didn't mind that group really. They were more like a collection of line wolves, just living together for mutual benefit. I would have liked to stay with them."

"Unfortunatly, Kyle and his group were in the area at the time and I was forcibly traded with one of his men. Things got worse when I joined his group. The first night him and the men in his group jumped me. It took all of them to pin me down to take their turns with me. When I resisted I was beaten, but I still resisted. I wasn't about to let them think that they could subdue or subjugate me."

Vincent's normally amber eyes were black with rage his hands were clutching his arm so hard Ada knew he was going to bruise himself. Ada slipped off the bed and placed her hands over his. She let her eyes lock with his and after a moment she watched the darkness fade from them and the beautiful amber color returned. His body visibly relaxed and she stepped back.

He followed her back across the space to the bed and grabbed her arms, keeping her from sitting down. There was an intense look on his face that was almost impossible for her to ignore. The heat in her chest traveled up to her face and she had to force herself to look away.

"I killed most of the men in the group, but I was never able to get to Kyle. He always had someone around him. The more I tried the harder it got. He never fully trusted that I would follow him, but he kept me around anyway."

"Then he found out you were going to visit another pack and wanted to kill you. I saved your life because you were my mate. You know the rest." She said to him, forcefully pulling herself out of his arms as she sat back down on the bed.

For a long moment he didn't move or say anything. He just stared at her. Ada was sure that he was going to storm out again. She had been through a lot, too much. She was damaged. He knew it all now, or at least a general summary of it all, and he didn't react at all.

He stepped right up to the bed, hesitating there for a moment before he climbed on it with her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, shifting to the other side of the bed as Vincent climbed on with her.

"I dont plan on leaving you in here alone." She said to him, Ada narrowing her eyes as she stared at him.

"I dont need you in here pretending that you are protecting me." Her tone came out more harsh than she intended. He glared back at her but was still sitting on the bed with her.

"You have been through enough as it is. I'm not going to give anyone in the pack an opportunity to hurt you just because you are a rogue." He countered, to which she rolled her dark eyes at him.

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself from attack." She reminded him, to which he nodded his head slowly.

"Yes. But I'm not going to let anyone in my pack think they have the right to attack you. All my life I've been told stories about rogues about how they are monsters and do nothing but kill. No one every really thinks why or how a wolf became a rogue. They just hate them." Vincent explained, Ada just stared. She knew what he was trying to do, but it wasn't working.

"You still hate rogues." She pointed out to him. He went to protest and she lifted a hand, placing her pointer finger to his lips to stop his words before they were even formed.

"You do still hate rogues. The only reason you dont hate me is because we are supposed to be mates. If that bond was not there, you would not have come looking for me. You would not have saved me, and you certainly wouldn't be in here trying to defend me right now." She explained, huffing out an exasperated sigh.

"Not all rogues are monsters, but we are all killers. Forced or not we have killed pack wolves and raided pack territories. We are every bit the monsters they you think we are." She told him, her finger still on his soft lips.

After a long silence in which they simply stared at one another, Vincent gently moved her hand from his mouth by taking her hand in his.

"I don't care what you have been forced to do. You are still my mate and I dont want to lose you." He held her hand until she pulled it from his gentle grip.

"You have to face the idea that you might. If I'm going to be punished for all rogue crimes, or even all of my own..." She trailed off when she saw the pain in his eyes. She wanted to take his face in her hands and kiss the pain away, but she remained rooted in place.

She had to keep her distance. She knew what was going to happen tomorrow even if she had not been told. She was going before the Alpha, Luna and the Beta. They were going to judge her and then lay down a sentence for whatever crimes they feel she had committed against them.

Ada was not mad at them. She couldn't blame them. They were scared. Scared of rogues, scared of her, and scared of what her being the mate to the next Alpha meant. This was unknown territory. No rogue had ever become someone's mate before. At least never that she'd heard of. It was a scary thing to think of.

Vincent shifted on the bed beside her and his hand came up toward her face. She pulled back but her moved closer. Panic rose in her chest and her eyes widened, causing Vincent to freeze. He instead reached down and took her hand in his and brought it to his face. He inhaled her scent deeply and close his eyes as he leaned his face into her hand.