Crystal's POV
Rumours had been going around the pack about Jake's mystery mate and how she was a natural beauty. She couldn't have been that pretty. I tried a few times to get into Jake's room, but that stuck-up bitch Alice and some guy called Nick stopped me each time. Though I'm sure, I'd seen Nick in the garage. If it was his daughter everyone was talking about, then there was no way she was a beauty; anyway, why was she hiding out in the bedroom, and why was Jake not with her? Jake had spent most of his time in his office or the dungeon.
'Lilly, who do you think they have down there?' Maybe my wolf had an idea.
'I have no idea, but I'm guessing it's the same person they were visiting that night Alpha bought his mate back. Remember that hot older guy? I think it has something to do with him. His aura was hella powerful, and I hadn't felt anything like it before. That guy Nick said Alpha's mate was a Princess, maybe that man is her father, and someone hurt her. It would explain her not being introduced to the pack."
'Uh, I'm sure she's not a princess! He just said that to get me to leave; I know it. If someone has hurt her, good! Bitch deserves everything she gets for trying to take my man.' This conversation was starting to make me angry.
I needed to know who was in the dungeon and if they could help me get rid of this Angel character for good. If they could, I'd help them get out. I had waited for beta Benson to leave the dungeon and head to Jake's office; I knew no one would go back down there for a while. I'd been watching the last couple of days and noted how they came and went every two hours.
As I headed down the tunnel to the dungeon, I pinched my nose because the smell down there was disgusting and having a heightened sense of smell didn't help. At the end of the tunnel, all the cells were empty except for one. A badly beaten man sat in the cell, chained to a chair. He had short brown hair with strands of silver. He was older than me; he looked a similar age to the older man I bumped into. Suddenly, I felt my wolf take over just as the unknown man's eyes shot open.
'Mate!' my wolf purred.
"Who are you?" The man asked, his voice dry and coarse.
"Crystal, who are you?" I was completely shocked. I thought he would at least be young when I eventually found my mate.
"I'm Jason, Alpha King to the Royal Pack." He tried to smirk but ended up wincing instead.
For the first time in my life, I was speechless. If he was the alpha king, why was he here, and why had Jake and beta Benson done this? If anyone found out, they would be charged with treason of the highest form.
"Can you help me get out of these?" He asked, trying to wiggle his hands, gesturing at the silver chains around them.
'Be careful, Crystal, he is our mate, but he isn't the Alpha King. I sense beta aura, nothing more.' My wolf wanted to trust him, but his lie made her suspicious.
"Why did you lie? If I'm to help free you, I want the truth; who are you?" A horrible pain in my heart appeared because I didn't trust my mate.
"I haven't lied, young lady. I am the alpha king; I just don't possess his power. I promise to tell you the full story, but first, I need you to put gloves on and brake my chains."
I could feel the bond strengthening the longer I was in Jason's presence. Doing as he asked, I put on the gloves from beside the door and tapped into my wolf's strength to break his chains. As I helped him to stand, Jason took the chain from around his neck and unscrewed the top of the cross. There must have been some potion inside it; his wounds healed as soon as he drank it. His body now healed; Jason stepped towards the cell bars and bent them apart like it was nothing. He looked back at me and took my hand, making sparks dance on my skin.
"Are you coming love?" His voice is no longer dry but deep and sexy.
Jason's POV
After being locked up and beaten, I swore to the goddess I would make sure I got Williams alpha power, and then I would destroy Jake and his whole fucking pack for what they had done to me. The one thing that caught me by surprise was meeting my mate. I'm forty-two, so I had given up on the hopes of getting one. I had always been a fan of blondes and had been in love with Vanessa even though I couldn't act on it. So, imagine my surprise to find out my mate was not only a brunette but that she was only twenty-one. If we had been elsewhere, I would have fucked and marked her there and then.
Crystal had asked me where we were going as we fled the pack house before anyone knew of my escape. The problem was that I didn't know this pack's territory, so I told her we needed somewhere to hide. She told me an old tunnel under her home led far out past the territory.
"Will there be anyone there?" I asked her as we made our way through the outskirts of the forest.
"My dad should be on patrol tonight, so the cottage should be empty." She whispered.
Fuck, her voice turned me on. As we got to her cottage, she unlocked the door, and we went inside. A low growl came from the corner of the room, startling both of us.
"Dad, what are you doing home, aren't you meant to be on patrol tonight?" Crystal casually asked him.
"My shift changed; now, who is this man?"
"He's my mate; Dad don't start."
"Don't start, DON'T FUCKING START! This is my house, and you think I will stand by and allow you to bring some strange man in here? It's not a fucking hotel Crystal. I hear the guys at work mention your name and think, no, that's not right. Not my daughter. Yet here you are with ANOTHER MAN!"
The way he spoke to Crystal made my blood boil. I could feel Blake trying to break through. Before I knew it, my hand was covered in bright red blood, and my hand was her father's throat. I could only hear Crystal scream as she watched her father's lifeless body fall back into his armchair. Finding the tunnel door under the kitchen rug, I picked up Crystal and ran.