Free The Scarred Prince (The Wolf's Pet Book One) by Aubrey Rose

interrogation,” I said. “But I know my dad wouldn’t want to abuse a prisoner.”
    “Of course he wouldn’t.”
    “He wouldn’t! You have no idea what my dad is like!”
    “I know he’s capable of killing. He’s an alpha. He would do whatever it took to protect his pack.”
    “Not torture,” I said firmly. Alekk only shrugged. I dabbed again at the cut above his eye. It was cleaned out. I could feel his gaze break against my skin as I worked my way down his cheek. Being so close to him made my body react strangely—it must have been the fear that he would find some way to get out of his ropes.
    “You’re wrong about my dad. He would never—”
    “My arms are deadened,” Alekk said. His voice rose only slightly, but in the small cabin it resounded off of the walls. “The blood has been cut off to my hands for the whole night. They’ve damaged me, maybe permanently given me nerve damage. Nobody except you has treated me like anything other than an animal to be put down.”
    I swallowed. It was true; the ropes still cut into his wrists deeply. Maybe I could get the guards to… but no. It wouldn’t work. They wouldn’t help me at all. Hell, they’d left Alekk to be tortured by Blaise.
    Whatever it took to protect his pack … I thought about what he had said. A plan was beginning to form in my mind. It was half-formed, certainly, but it was better than nothing.
    “Alekk?”
    “Yes, Kinaya?”
    His lips only moved slightly to pronounce my name, but for a moment I couldn’t breathe. There was something about the way he spoke that was hypnotic. It sent my nerves trembling. I sat back and threw the bloody linen into the fireplace.
    “If you answer my questions, I’ll untie your wrists,” I said. I couldn’t stop my voice from trembling.
    “You’d untie a prisoner? Against your father’s wishes?”
    “We can retie your hands in front of you so that your arms aren’t hurting so much,” I said.
    Alekk shook his head.
    “I have no information to give you.”
    “You might. I have an idea, and I need you to tell me if it’ll work. I don’t know anything about your pack, you said it first. But you do. So answer my questions, and I’ll cut the ropes.”
    His eyes searched mine, as though looking for the catch. There wasn’t any. I was desperate for an answer to war, and this was the best way I could think to get it. Besides, despite his size and strength, the prisoner was weak. He hadn’t eaten in days. And his arms were useless. With my knife, I felt certain that I could keep him at bay, even if he tried to escape. And the longhouse was right there; if I cried out, the other members of the pack would be there in seconds.
    “Very well, Princess,” he said, slumping back against the pole. “Tell me what your idea is.”
    I bit my lip, the plan coming together in my mind even as I spoke.
    “I have a proposal.”
     
     

Chapter Thirteen
    “A proposal?”
    “The Scarred Prince wants to take us over, right? That’s why he’s invading?”
    “I’m sure he wants to take back what his father lost,” Alekk said. His voice was measured, cautious. He wasn’t going to give me any information. But as my mind raced ahead, I thought that the plan I had in mind just might work. It was dangerous, and it would require a tremendous sacrifice. But sometimes sacrifice was necessary. I thought of my mom’s face, and how she had cringed to think about war.
    “Would the prince consider a union of the packs?”
    Alekk paused, considering my words.
    “A union? How?”
    “My mother says that you want us for our women. If we married the two packs together, you would be able to court our women.”
    “We don’t court our women,” Alekk said flatly. “We claim them.”
    I bit my lip. His pack sounded so crass. I went on.
    “In our pack, the females decide for themselves if they want to be claimed. In any case, that wouldn’t make a difference for my proposal.”
    “What’s your proposal?” he asked.
    I