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I’m feeling pretty good when, the next morning, Christian shows up at the cabin I’m sharing with Elizabeth.
She answers the door, bowing and backing away from the Beta when he announces that the Alpha wants her brought to him.
I feel bad for her. After our heart-to-heart, I know that she’s as trapped here as I am, only I’ve got a countdown while Elizabeth’s captivity is far more open-ended. With Walker’s threat to turn her over to the other Alphas hanging over her head, I get it. She doesn’t know that she’d probably be a lot safer with any other Alpha than she is with the Wicked Wolf, but I haven’t had enough time to convince her of that.
With a sad look thrown my way, she immediately follows behind Christian. Something about this scene tells me that this isn’t the first time that Elizabeth has been dragged in front of Walker like she really is his pet and he’s the master. I only hope she was telling the truth when she swore that she’s convinced him that she wasn’t worth mating. Being his pet is bad enough, but before forced to fuck him because he’s the Alpha and he ordered it?
My jaw goes tight as I watch her go. At the beginning of this mess, my goal was to bring Trish back to Accalia and find some way to get my bio-dad off my back. Now, though? After watching the way he treats her, I want to do something for her.
Once she heads outside, Christian turns to me.
“Ruby—”
“Gemma,” I correct.
I’ll correct them all a million times if I have to. I don’t care. I’ll never willingly answer to that Luna-damned name while I have the choice.
His expression is as granite as it was when he appeared in our doorway. “I understand one of your packmates requested to stay with the Danvers girl. The Alpha wanted me to let you know that, as a favor to you, he’s allowed it.”
My stomach sinks. A favor to me? That doesn’t sound good.
“So Duke gets to stay with Trish?”
“You could say so.” The tiny smirk that suddenly cracks his stone face should’ve been enough of a warning, but I’m still a little taken aback when Christian explains, “The Alpha didn’t put the big wolf in the same cage, but the one next to her.” His dark eyes lighten ever so slightly. “I hope that satisfies you.”
Is it possible that my stomach could drop any lower? ‘Cause, right now, that sucker is halfway to China.
Freaking great. I pulled rank to get Duke to keep Trish company, and what happened next? I just landed my only ally in this place in a cage.
Good going, Gem.
Good freaking going.
* * *
I waitthe rest of the afternoon to see if Elizabeth is going to come back. When hours go by and there’s still no sign of her, I decide it’s about time to go for a walk. The wolves here are so eager to prove that I’m a guest, not a prisoner, and I’m gonna hold them to it. I refuse to hide out in the cabin on my own.
Plus, my stomach has been growling for ages. I need something to eat, and I’m focused on chowing down before Walker decides to host another dinner for me.
As soon as I step outside of the cabin, I’m surprised to discover someone is standing about ten feet away. He’s staring at the door, but as soon as I pulled it open, he freezes as if he never expected me to come outside.
Blue-black hair. Light golden eyes. The cleft in his chin.
And four jagged claw marks that go from temple to jaw.
They’re angry and red and, holy shit, just looking at them makes my cheek twinge in agony.
I’m rushing toward him before I even realize I’ve moved.
“Theo! What the heck happened to you?”
His hand slides up to his face, fingers spread to cover the marks.
As if that’s going to make it any less obvious.
In the Lakeview Pack, I grew up with my Aunt Corrine’s boys: Devin and Max. They were a year older than me, and super protective of their “omega” cousin. They treated me like I was super fragile, as if I was made of spun sugar, while occasionally beating the shit out of each other because, at the end of the day, that’s what shifters do. Add in the fact that they were brothers and it was inevitable.
So, yeah. I’ve seen marks like that. Sometimes Devin got in a lucky hit, sometimes it was Max, but until they healed any injuries from their sibling squabbles, they often had a few fresh scars covering their skin.
