Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

K ira

I am kept in the dungeons for several days. Each and every one of the days adds to the silent, seething anger I am holding inside myself. I am not being treated like a mate. I am being treated like a criminal. The difference between this place and the county jail in St. Infernus is the fact that nobody brings me takeaway here. Rude.

Cain comes to visit me every day and to assure me that things are proceeding. Investigations are underway. The pack is being consulted. On and on the excuses roll. Every day I find it harder to keep sweet and pretend that I am not on the verge of taking my animal form and hurling myself at his handsome throat.

He has just arrived on this particular day when all hell breaks out.

"You can't do this!"

I could have said that myself, but it's not my complaint. It's a familiar voice coming from another cell. It's loud, a shout of outrage, and it makes me freeze in place.

"Is that Colton? Why is he here?"

"I am hosting your family. Bardo located them, and I decided now would be a good time to see if they have any information about the White Wolf."

It doesn't sound like a hosting situation. It sounds like Colton is angry and afraid. It sounds like an interrogation. I never thought I'd feel sorry for my cousin, but right now, we are sharing a predicament, and I feel kinship in that.

A second later, I hear the unmistakable sound of wolves fighting. There is snarling and yelping. Cain leaves the room in a flash, the door locking behind him. I know that because when I rush forward to open it, the handle won't work. I try it every time, but there's no way out. These dungeons are made of actual dungeon. Big underground rocky walls and heavy metal doors. They've been modernized slightly with electricity and cameras, but at their core, they are terrifying subterranean cells, and they make me yearn for fresh air and freedom.

There is a brief increase in intensity in the yowling and thumping, as if the fight has worsened. Then it all suddenly stops. I hear footsteps out in the hall, and the door to my cell opens again.

"Sorry about that," Cain says, ever so casually.

His hair is messed up, his shirt is on slightly askew, and there are flecks of something that might be blood on his sleeve.

I stare at him, afraid. Not because he hit or hurt Colton, but because with every day that passes, it feels as though I actually know him less. He's my mate, he keeps saying, and maybe he is, but I don't really know what he is capable of. I thought he was a man with a hard exterior and a soft interior. But now I'm starting to think that soft interior is a thin covering for something absolutely ruthless.

"You can't keep me here forever," I say. "And you can't blame Colton for this. He's my cousin. He has nothing to do with Russians or spies. He just wants to sell meth in peace."

"I'm sure he does," Cain chuckles. "But he might know something he's not aware he knows."

"Do you have my aunt here too? What about my uncle? Are you interrogating a sick old man?"

"Don't worry about what I am doing," Cain growls. "Worry about yourself."

"Why?"

I've never been defiant before in my life, but this treatment is really starting to bring it out of me.

"Because you and I need to keep getting to know one another. I know you as a sweet little sugar addict, but that's not all you are, is it? You have greater, darker potential than that, don't you?"

Crossing my arms over my chest, I scowl at him. "I don't know. Maybe if I ever get out of this fucking cell, we'll find out."

"That's enough attitude out of you," Cain snaps. "I expect you to speak with respect, even if you don't like your circumstances."

What's the difference between him and my aunt then? They both expect me to suck it up and put up with losing my freedom. They both think they own me and have the right to the use of my body, one way or another.

"When we met, things moved fast. We followed our instincts," he says.

"Yes," I say softly.

"I was arrogant. I believed that I could not be undermined by anybody. I thought because I am alpha of my pack, and because I am CEO of my company, I was smarter than a new hire fresh out of college who was supposed to bring me coffee."

"But… you are?"

"Am I, Kira?" Again he gives me that head-tilt, and again those calculating eyes seem to look through me, taking the measure of some element I am unaware of.

I can tell he wants to be rational, logical, maybe even cold. But the chemistry between us continues to spark regardless of our more cerebral concerns. My mind is starting to feel fuzzy and warm with desire, even though I know I should be keeping cool.

"Don't," he rumbles.

"Don't what?" I try to appear innocent. Hell, I am innocent. I am not doing anything but existing in his space. The chemistry between us is as potent as it has ever been. I'm beginning to lose my fear as I get caught up in it. I know I've crossed him, but the connection between us hasn't been severed. I don't know if it can be.

"Don't look at me like that. Don't smell like that."

I drop my eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to do anything."

I am really not trying to do anything. The last thing I want to do right now is fuck Cain—at least, that's the last thing my temper wants. My body is telling a different story. I react to his presence in ways I cannot help. The mate bond is a powerful thing, and I don't think either one of us is able to resist it.

Cain

I have spent days with the growing fear that this young woman executed a masterful plan to not only infiltrate my pack, but occupy all the internal bonding sites I have for a mate. I have berated myself for being a fool. My brother, Isabella, and other pack members have tried to convince me that we have been compromised.

But seeing her here and now, observing her… she would have to be the best actress in the world to pull off this display of ignorance and tempers. Underneath her irritation, I can quite literally smell her fear. That does not happen when someone is pretending.

I am supposed to be looking after her. When I recovered her from St. Infernus, I promised myself that she'd never suffer that way again. But here she is, incarcerated again, being treated like a criminal and an outcast. I know she deserves better. When I look into her eyes, I do not see someone who successfully pulled off a spy plot and returned to the bosom of her family. She looks like she has been neglected and brutalized by everyone in her life, and everyone is starting to include me.

The fearful theories which cast her as some kind of super spy evaporate in the face of her reality. Every time I am in her presence, I know that she is exactly who I always thought she was. She is innocent and she is vulnerable, and she has been used by those who have an agenda.

My protective instincts make me want to wrap her up in my arms and kiss her and tell her everything is going to be okay. But my mind tells me there is still a mystery to be solved, and that if I give into my instincts now, before I have any answers at all, I will be right back where I started, too mate-smitten to think objectively.

"I want to go over the events of the past few weeks. You said your aunt called and wanted you to come home?"

Kira sighs, because she has been asked this question many times before, and answers it every time.

"Colton is always getting arrested, because he's the one who earns money for the family. He goes out, does crimes, and gets caught from time to time."

"I assume that is what happened to you?"

Kira nods, her expression a clear mask of shame. "My aunt worked out that I knew who I was, mostly because I told her. And once she knew I could take a wolf form, she told me I had to work like Colton did. So I did."

This aunt has much to answer for. Kira's introduction to her wolf self was difficult as it was, complicated by interactions with my pack and the limited time I had to help her fully understand that side of herself. Now, instead of learning from me, she has been influenced and corrupted by a woman who clearly only cares for herself and the many ways she might manipulate the situation.

"That aunt… she's a piece of work. Evil."

"I thought it was my father who was supposed to be the evil Russian?"

She's being sassy, but it is possible both sides of her lineage are foreign in origin. However, that seems unlikely given Colton's wolf form. He's a standard American shifter. He's a filthy, scrappy mess, but he doesn't have any dilute in him. I don't think her immediate family are the source of the Russian bloodline. I think her mother had an unfortunate meeting with someone who should never have been in this country, and I think she probably paid for it with her life.

"I just want to be free," Kira says. "I never meant to cause you all this trouble. If you let me go, I promise I'll never bother you again. I know your pack thinks I'm…"

"Quiet."

Kira

He takes a step toward me, his eyes lit with intensity. I feel our connection flare to even more powerful life. There's something very dark inside him right now.

"You're not going anywhere," he says. "Not ever, do you understand?"

"What are we going to do, then? I can't live down here forever."

"You wouldn't be the first mate to be kept in a dungeon and bred," he says. "In my lineage alone, that has happened three separate times. There is a birthing suite down here for that reason, and a nursery."

I stare at him, marveling at how casually he says such insane things.

"Why would anybody ever do that?"

"The mate bond is unbreakable, but sometimes a mate cannot be trusted. In that case, she can be contained and bred as necessary."

Bred as necessary.

And I am supposed to be the secret monster. Cain regards me as his possession. That's hot sometimes, but other times, it's just fucking broken. It doesn't seem to occur to him that I might have a different opinion that is just as valid as his.

"Cain," I say, my voice soft and dangerously calm.

"Yes, my love?"

"If you try to do that to me, I will kill you."

Cain

She is not joking. She is not even threatening. She is stating a plain fact, for my information.

It is enough of a jolt to make me reconsider.

I start to wonder if I am being fucking insane.

I start to wonder if everything about this situation has not been insane from the beginning.

A lot has changed for my mate since we met. There's a strength in her that I did not recognize before. She has suffered greatly, and she has discovered parts of herself that have lain dormant her entire life.

The pack is right to be afraid of her.

I am not keeping her in this dungeon because I feel that they would hurt her. I am keeping her down here because when I look into her pretty eyes, I see the thing that Isabella raged about when Kira bit her. My mate has capacities few other wolves do. Most of this pack submits to me easily. Kira submits when I fuck her, and that is all.

Even when she was freshly turned, she was making her own choices. She escaped to the park to steal candy from strangers. When I brought her here to Denholm, she refused to stay in our room and went on an ill-fated spying mission throughout the house. Then she ran off to heed her aunt's call—but I am not convinced that was merely because the woman called. Kira made her own decision then too. Then she bit Isabella and fought against Abel's sedation.

All of these actions can easily be rationalized away on their own, but together they form a picture of a young she-wolf who, in spite of appearing meek and perhaps even weak, does not have a naturally submissive bone in her body.

"I am serious," she says in the silence which follows her statement.

"I know," I reply.

"What are you going to do with me? How long is it going to take you to realize I've never betrayed you?"

"I know you haven't betrayed me," I reply. "We've talked to your cousin. And your aunt. They don't know a thing about your heritage. And it's not your fault that your father happens to have been one of the most infamous villains in our history."

"So why am I still here?"

"Because I don't know what to do with you. I know the moment I let you out of this dungeon, the madness will ensue again."

"Not because of me," she says.

"Not, not because of you," I reply. "You never intend any harm, but you have been part of several scandals. And I fear for Isabella if you are to see her again."

"Then send her away, and your brother too. I don't intend to forgive him for drugging me. It wasn't necessary. I'm not dangerous."

"You just told me you'd kill me."

She pouts. "Only if you tried to lock me away forever and forever. At that point, it's fair."

"A traditional submissive mate would learn to accept her lot, whether it be in her alpha's dungeon…"

"I'm not traditional then, am I? Let me go, Cain. Let me have a life."

How can I reasonably refuse her?

She has been patient. More patient than I would be, and more understanding too. She's right in that she deserves to live her life. There are only so many precautions we can take. There's only so many suspicions that can be entertained. From the beginning, the pack has been prejudiced against her, and that was not fair then, and it is not fair now.

They can't keep making me choose this way. I can't keep her imprisoned just to make everybody else's life easy. Maybe back in the day, that would have been an alpha's prerogative, but I like to think I am better than that. And if I want to keep thinking that, I need to be better than that.

"Come with me," I say, taking her by the hand. "I am getting you out of here."

Her broad smile is all the reward I need in order to know I have made the right decision.

As we ascend the dungeon stairs, I find my path blocked.

Abel is standing in the passage at the top, preventing us from leaving the area.

"Stand aside, please, brother," I say, keeping my voice calm.

"No. She cannot leave."

"I have decided she can," I say. "Stand aside."

Abel shakes his head. "The pack has spoken, Cain. You know it."

"The pack does not speak on matters of my mate. I do. Get out of my way."

Abel plants himself even more firmly, his jaw set with determination. "I won't, Cain. It's for her good, and for our good. You know that."

"I know no such thing. I know that you have been making trouble for me and my mate since I found her. I know you set up the conclave early. I know…"

"I was excited for the pack to meet her!"

"Nonsense. You wanted to sabotage things because you knew she was a dilute. You wanted to humiliate us. I let it slide. I will not let anything else slide."

"You can't keep her outside these dungeons," Abel says. "She has the blood of evil in her veins. She is a monster, even if you don't see it. The rest of us can. Her presence inside Denholm is like poison flowing in our veins. I'm sorry, brother, but you have to sacrifice her. It's the only way."

"Sacrifice her?"

"The preparations are being made for the next full moon. Her blood will be studied. She will not go to waste. And you will not have to suffer the shame of having a mate of Russian blood."

My fury becomes a cold thing. Abel has more than overstepped. He has begun to act as alpha.

In an instant, I see it all so clearly. He has used my mate as a distraction, and now he intends to destroy me by destroying her. He knows what happens to alphas who lose their mates. They are broken shells of the men they once were. The surest way to bring an alpha down is to attack his mate. That is another one of the many reasons why there is a place in the dungeons for an alpha mate. Abel is not the first to come up with that plan.

I wonder if he was not behind the initial horrid words she overheard to begin with, the first day she discovered what a domestic dilute was. I wonder if he did not use Isabella for his own ends. She was certainly bold to act against an alpha's mate.

"I'm doing this for your own good," he says. "I love you, brother, and I can see this situation more clearly than you can. To earn the favor of the fates, we must offer appropriate sacrifice. She needs to die. Then you'll be free of her, and the pack will be cleansed of her tainted blood."

I realize in this moment that it's never going to be over. They're never going to accept Kira. They've undermined her so thoroughly, she can never be a part of the pack.

"Let me do it," he says. "Let me put her out of her misery."

"Get out of my way. Stand down. Accept your place as beta. You are acting unacceptably, and we both know it."

"I'm the not the one fucking a Russian whore."

Every man has his limit, and every alpha knows his breaking point. As I reach mine, all anger fades from me. I know what must be done. And I know I will do it, because there is no alternative. Free will is an illusion in this moment. This moment feels fated. Inescapable. Love couldn't stop it from coming. Careful decisions could only delay it. My brother has decided to stand against me and the woman I love. He has turned my position into a prison, and my love into a lever with which to yank me this way and that.

It ends now.

I put Kira down very carefully.

I shift.

I attack.