Running From My Alpha and Mate

Logan's leverage

Logan's POV

“Where, where is my daughter?” Philip Ortega, Melissa’s father stammered.

He was chained to the wall of his cell, looking pale and skinny. His beard and hair were tattered, and his shirt was partly torn, revealing the lines from the floggings.

And yet, he insisted I give him Melissa in exchange for the cargo. Instead, I kept Melissa's location hidden, pretending she was under my custody. This charade was necessary; I needed to leverage her for the cargo. Not to return it to Diego, but to claim it for myself. After all, whatever was worth stealing was worth keeping.

“You moved the cargo, other than as planned with my father, why?” I smirked at him while stepping forward.

“If anything happens to my daughter…..”

“Answer my question!!!” I shouted.

My father had sent Philip Ortega on an important errand, to intercept a ship sailing from the south into the East and claim the Cargo in his name. Philip did what was asked of him but upon learning of my father's death, he betrayed his best friend and sailed the ship to an unknown location.

“I heard you imprisoned my little girl for my friend's death, I thought I could leverage the cargo for her freedom.” His eyes narrowed.

“Tell me, Philip,” I leaned in, my voice barely above a whisper “Were you aware that your daughter wanted me dead?”

His eyes widened in disbelief as his jaw dropped.

“We both know she is innocent!!”

“Is she?”

Everyone vouched for Melissa's innocence; her father, my brother and even my wolf form. My wolf form yearned for me to bring her back home but I resisted. Not until I got that Cargo.

“She loved you, I bet she still does.”

His words echoed in my mind, I felt my wolf tingling. He was unnecessarily happy. My wolf and I had always agreed on everything except when it came to Melissa. He suddenly fancied her after our mating and it annoyed me; because I was in love with someone else.

I only mistreated Melissa because I saw her as an obstacle to being with the woman I love. Throughout my childhood, I admired Cecilia, her best friend but I couldn't be with her, I had to obey my father, the Alpha. Everything I did to Melissa was for her to hate me and say no to the arranged mating but I had never met a woman as enduring and stubborn as her.

Well she wasn't all enduring, she wanted me dead and ended up killing the one person who forced me to mate with her. My father took up the wine she served me and drank it without knowing it was poisoned.

Two weeks had passed since Alpha Diego threatened to harm Melissa if I didn't return the cargo to him. Diego is a very dangerous man, at twenty-nine, he was already known to be more dangerous than his late father, I doubt if Melissa would survive him after my reply to him.

I began pacing, walking around the room in thoughts of how to break Philip. I had tortured him physically enough to break him but his resilience was provoking, he remained adamant.

“Logan,” He called.

“I am Alpha now!!” I snapped at him.

He nodded, “Ok, Alpha Logan, All you have to do is return my daughter to me, and I will return the Cargo to you. I don't want what's in it and you don't have to mate with her anymore. We would leave Karis Pack, never to return.”

It was a tempting offer, of course. I needed to break the matebond with Melissa to be able to be with someone else but to break the matebond, we all had to willingly let go. Not just my wolf form and I, her and hers as well.

“What if she doesn't let go,” I asked, calmly.

“I will talk to her, I will convince her.”

I still couldn't tell him where Melissa was, I was scared that he would want to give back the Cargo to Diego for Melissa's return. My heart raced, I balled my fist in thoughts and exhaled.

“I'm not going to agree to break the mate bond.” I heard my wolf speaking, nevertheless I ignored him.

“I haven't told the woman I love that I love her,” I paused and smiled. “I don't even know if she will accept me, Melissa must have told her ugly things about me.” My eyebrows furrowed as my eyes narrowed.

“Whom do you speak of?”

“None of your business.”

I turned my back to him and moved towards the door, my hands shivered as I unlocked the door.

“Sleep well and make your decision. Your daughter will die if you don't give me the location of the cargo. You know I want to kill her.”

I banged the door at him, the metallic clang echoed through the cold corridor. I clenched my fist and began walking out of zone two, cell rooms preserved for nobility.

My boots scraped against the marble floor as I walked into zone three, the only route out of the dungeons, I heard the murmurs of other inmates growing louder, the creaking of their rusty chains ringed to my ear, they were moving closer to their locked door.

I glanced at their angry faces, they were rogues imprisoned by my father. Werewolves who were banished from their different packs came together to form their own pack, their only mistake was residing in Karis Pack.

“You're Alpha now, so the rumors are true. A seventeen-year-old girl killed your father.” One of them smirked with his cheeks widening.

“You have to let us go now, we don't want trouble.” Another said, calmly.

“Or risk the wrath of our leader.” He added.

I ignored their words and stepped out, moving towards my bungalow. There, I saw a glimpse of Cecilia, she was in the arms of another man.

My heart skipped a bit, It felt like it was shattering, piece by piece. They were laughing and smiling, his hands brushing against hers as her eyes sparkled. My eyes locked onto the scene, unable to look away.

I tried to process what I was seeing. Who was this man? I stared for a while, trying to get a glimpse of him, to identify him but all I got was his backside.

I sighed and continued moving to my bungalow with my pace faster and my fist clenched. To my surprise, my brother was standing before my door.

“If this is about Melissa I don't want to hear it,”

I pushed open my door, walking in but he followed me, dragging his feet.

“It was I who moved her to the Crescent Pack.”

I became dumbfounded, my eyes widened in shock, and I wasn't sure how to react. Raphael made me believe Diego's mercenaries sneaked in and kidn*pped Melissa from her bedroom.

“I don't understand.”

“I made a mistake, I wanted to keep her safe, I knew Diego had so much respect for our father and her father. I thought I was protecting her from you.”