AMELIA’S P.O.V

I heard his words but it was almost like they had floated off my hearing. I should have felt it, I should have known. If he was hurt, my wolf would have felt it in some way. She had been more quiet than usual but I hadn’t seen it as any big deal, she didn’t like Blake much and mostly faded into the background when he was present.


“You’re not excited,” Blake noted and I blinked up at him. “You should be happy. The more we keep him away, the easier it will be for us to come out together. You should be excited.”

“I’m just shocked,” I managed out. “I thought I would have at least felt it because of the mark. I still have it.”

His eyes darkened at the mention of the mark. He liked to pretend that it didn’t exist but nothing was going to change the fact that I was Kaden’s mate, at least not while I was alive. Blake didn’t say anything about my observation, he just looked away and that was when it hit me- he knew I wouldn’t feel it- but how?


He wouldn’t meet my eye and I scrambled for any reason, any straw to grasp onto as to why and my eyes fell on the food in front of me and I remembered what he had injected me with and how it had made Tara disappear for a while.

“What did you do?” I asked slowly but he said nothing. “Blake, what the hell did you do to me?”


“I couldn’t risk him finding you,” he said finally. “You are marked. Your wolf might call out to his. I didn’t want to risk that happening. I had to make sure that your wolf was strong enough to stay alive but not strong enough to do anything else.”

I cursed and tried to stand but quickly remembered that I was handcuffed to the tree. I couldn’t even break it if I tried, I had been relying on my wolf’s strength but only now did I realize that I didn’t have it. It was just me and I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so weak and vulnerable.

“Let me go,” I ground out but he shook his head. “I will not do this with you, Blake. I want to go inside now. I am done with this.”

“You should be happy.”

“Happy?” I whirled on him. “You have been drugging me for days now. What should I be happy about? You kept me drugged like an animal. If I wanted to leave don’t you think I would have tried to fight you by now?”

My plan was exiting my head with the speed of light and tears gathered in my eyes. I felt violated and used. He had been slipping it into my food without me even knowing. It made me realize that I wasn’t as in control of the situation as I thought. He could have drugged and raped me and I would never have known.

“Everything I did was to protect you,” he reached out to touch my skin but I shied away from his touch. “I did it for you.”

“If you did it for me then you would have told me,” I spat. “How do I know that you didn’t drug me at other times? How do you want me to trust you when you turn around and do this to me? You betrayed me, Blake.”

He grabbed my face in a bruising grip. “I kept you safe from him. I kept you in a way that he would never be able to find you. I saved you from him and all the bad things he did to you.”

“How different are you from him?” I asked, my voice cracking at the end. “I’m just a prisoner with each of you, aren’t I?”

He kissed me, it was a bruising kiss and I could taste his desperation. I tried to push him off, fighting his affection for the first time since all of this started and I realized just how much he had been holding back with me.

Blake wasn’t the weak boy I had left behind, he was an Alpha and he was a lot stronger than me. He pulled me impossibly closer, leaving no space between us and it didn’t matter how much I tried to push him off, he wouldn’t budge. Tears fell freely down my cheeks as the helplessness of the situation fully dawned on me.

By the time he pulled away, I was full on sobbing and he cursed as he tried to wipe my tears away but more just replaced them. He looked panicked, for the first time in a while, I saw genuine fear on his face as he undid the handcuffs. I could have run, but I knew I wouldn’t get far.

“Amelia, please,” he whispered stroking my hair. “I love you, I want you to know that.”

“If you loved me then you wouldn’t have drugged me,” I spat. “If you loved me then you would have trusted me. I trusted you, I trusted that you would keep me safe and this is what you do to me. Fuck you, Blake.”

He winced at my words and flinched as if he had been hit. I stood to my feet and he watched me with rapt attention. I could tell that he was poised for me to run but instead, I turned on my heels and headed straight for the cabin.

For the first time, I fully took it in and I realized it would be hard to find. It blended in perfectly with the surroundings. Unless you knew where it was, you would most likely get lost.

With a deep breath, I walked in and called out over my shoulder. “I would like to be alone for a while.”

I shut the door behind me and waited a few seconds before glancing out through the window. Blake looked distraught, he ran his hands through his hair and threw what was left of our picnic into the wind. I couldn’t stop the corner of my lips from turning up into a smile.

I knew without a doubt that today would be the last time that he would try to drug me.