Chapter Fourteen

Lillian

At some point, I fall asleep, but when I wake up, I find that I’m stiff and uncomfortable. Thankfully, my hands have not moved from my lap and there are no more burns.

Vague memories of my dreams come to the forefront of my mind. I feel every touch and caress, as if the man of my dreams was trying to soothe all the pain away. He had been so delicate as he had kissed me. The one thing I remember clearly is him holding my wrists and telling me that soon it would be over.

I crack my neck to the side, hoping it will ease some of the pain, but then I hear screams, which causes me to look at the stairs.

What is going on?

The door at the top of the stairs swings open and hits the wall. Someone comes down the staircase face and whirls at the bottom.

Corbin stands there for a second, panting for breath. “Did you do this?”

"What are you talking about? I've been down here the whole night. See these cuffs? I can’t escape them. They’re silver.”

“So, it was your grandmother who did this?” Alana comes further down the steps and into view with tears in her eyes.

“Did what? Can someone please explain what is going on? I’ve been trapped down here and have no idea what happened.”

Corbin reaches up and rubs the back of his neck with the palm of his hand. “Someone or something nearly ripped my father’s intestines out last night. He has a horrible wound on his stomach that is deep.”

“Corbin, are you serious?” I ask with a scoff. “Grandmother wouldn’t do that, nor could she. She can shift, but that’s maybe once a month at most. Considering she did it the other day, she can't do it this soon. She’s too weak.”

He strides toward me and squats down in front of me. His eyes are glowing fiercely. “If I find out you are lying, you don’t want to know what I will do to you.”

Corbin reaches out, trailing his fingertips across my cheek. “I’ll make you pay in more ways than you can imagine.”

Finally, he stops tracing my face and reaches down to undo my cuffs. Not once does he squirm or scream from touching silver. It doesn’t make sense and now that I think about it, his father didn’t balk when he touched it either.

“Why are you not screaming out in pain from touching silver?”

His eyes widen, but only for a moment as he takes a step back. “That is not your concern.”

He allows enough room for me to stand, but I struggle to rise and end up falling forward onto my hands. The feeling of sickness swarms my stomach.

Corbin shows no sympathy as he nudges me with his boot. “Get up.”

“I can’t.” Darkness begins to engulf my vision. “I’m passing out.”

The last thing I see before everything goes dark is Corbin’s boot moving closer.

As I awaken sometime later, it is already dark out. My hand instinctively grabs at the soft covers beneath me as I try to figure out where I am. It’s a bed. A very nice soft bed.

But this isn’t my bed nor is it the one at my grandmother’s.

I sit up but pause immediately, inhaling deeply and getting a good nose full of Corbin’s scent. Scanning the room, I realize that I’m in his room.

“Why did he bring me here?”

I attempt to rub my eyes, wishing that I could just disappear and wake up in my own bed, but that isn’t happening. A hiss escapes my mouth as I realize my wrists are burning once more.

I look and see a bandage wrapped around each one. “Who did this? Why would Corbin help me?”

The bedroom door abruptly swings open, only to reveal Corbin coming inside. He is holding a full tray of food.

“I figured you’d be hungry,” he says as he glances down at the tray.

"Why did you take care of me?"

He comes into the room and lays the tray on the foot of the bed before turning around to leave. Corbin hesitates and stops briefly in the doorway before leaving. "You can thank my mother. I know nothing about healing remedies, but she does.”

When he disappears, my stomach chooses that moment to growl. I glance over at the tray and grab a few of the crackers, which I nibble on immediately. The salt tastes good at the moment.

Alana’s voice fills the room suddenly, causing me to jerk. "I see you are enjoying the food."

"Yes, very much so. I didn't eat yesterday or today. Thank you for taking care of me.”

She walks over and sits on the edge of the bed, but I can’t help the thoughts that swirl in my mind. Why did she do this?

I continue to stare at her as I finish swallowing the crackers. There’s nothing else I can do.

Sadly, I start to shake as I feel overwhelmed. There must be a motive if she helped me.

With a quick movement, her eyes dart around the room, scanning the area for any signs of trouble, before they eventually settle on the door. She sighs as she shifts her gaze toward me. Once again, her lips are pressed together tightly, and it's killing me to wait in silence to see what she does. I don't move a muscle out of fear that this is some cruel joke. Surely, she wouldn't be this nice to me, not after all the years of neglect.

"The smell of fear is rolling off you in waves, dear girl,” she says in a low voice as she eyes me again. "There is no need to fear. I know what you did for me. For a second, I thought someone else was in the room with how frightened you are, but then I realized it was me who was causing you such fear.”

“You know what I did?”

Surely, Nigel would never admit that.

“Oh, I do. At first, I truly thought it was my dear mate, but I soon realized that I felt his first and then there was something else. My wolf answered yours. She reaches out to touch my hand, but that only causes me to flinch. Smiling faintly, she slowly changes course and strokes my hair once she’s close enough. "I heard you are to be my daughter-in-law."

“You’ve heard that too?” I look down at my blanket covered lap, unsure of how to respond. “Corbin announced it openly before even telling me.”

She just rolls her eyes and laughs. “Oh, that boy of mine. He’s always doing something before telling anyone his plans. I’m sure he didn’t mean harm, but I know he has loved you for a long time.”

As she laughs softly, I join her, but deep down, there is a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’d rather cry.

She must really think he’s just some sweet boy who’s innocent, but in reality, he’s a monster, just like his father. And his plans are not what I envisioned for myself.

"I can see that curious look in your eye. You will be such a wonderful, strong mate for my son. Now, I will let you eat and get some rest. The room is yours until you feel better. Corbin will behave himself and not try to mate with you until the full moon.”

Once again, Alana grins and rises from the bed. Just as she reaches the doorway, she turns around quickly, gives a sly wink, and disappears from sight. I inhale deeply, hold it for a moment, and then release a sigh.

"She's crazy," I whisper. “They’re all crazy.”

My mouth waters as I turn my attention toward the food. Part of me wonders if it's poisoned, but that other part of me doesn’t care. “If it is, then I’ll die and not have to deal with Corbin. Sadly, that means leaving grandmother.”

I pick up a piece of meat and bring it close to my nose, but I don't detect any strange odors or signs of poison.

Without warning, Corbin's voice echoes through the room and he suddenly appears standing in the doorway. He’s dressed in a loose pair of gray sweatpants with bare feet and a plain black t-shirt. If he was anyone else, I might have drooled.

"It's not poisoned, if that's what you're worried about."

"Do you blame me?" I ask as I shove it in my mouth.

"Well," he pauses for a moment and scratches the stubble lining his jaw. "You're the future luna, so not anymore. It may have crossed my mind before that decision, though."

"Corbin, why are you doing this? What is your reasoning for making me your mate? You've hated me all these years and I feel the same way toward you.”

He rolls his eyes as he stalks toward the bed. I watch as he crashes on the other side of me.

Instead of moving, I just lean down and get the tray from the foot of the bed and put it in my lap.

"Eat. I don't hate you, but I was never fond of you."

I slowly bite into the meat and moan by accident.

He quirks a brow and says, "Go on."

As Corbin edges closer to me on the bed, a wave of panic hits me like a brick. My anxiety is relieved when he abruptly pulls away at the very last moment.

“I better go. You’ve been out for two days, so I want you to rest.”

As soon as he gets up from the bed and starts heading towards the door, I feel a wave of relief wash over me. Suddenly, he pauses in his tracks and rotates his body to face me, with a mischievous smirk on his face. "One day, I'm not leaving the bedroom while you're in it. You know that, right?"

He growls low in his throat as his eyes shift into his wolf’s eyes. But then he abruptly leaves, causing a shiver to run down my spine.

“No. Never. I can’t do this. I know there is some destiny out there for me, yet I don’t know what it is. Do I really have to do this?”

Honestly, if he hadn’t abused me all these years, I’d say that Corbin isn’t a bad looking man. He’s tall, strong, with an even stronger jawline, and has a typical male shifter body. He’s pure muscle, though he might be a tad slimmer than some. Most women would die to even touch him, let alone stand by his side as his mate.

He is an alpha heir. Cream of the crop.

But not me. Never me.

But his blonde hair looks good against his clothes and he is kind of pretty to look at.

Are you seriously thinking about Corbin like that?

I dismiss my thoughts instantly and focus on the food in front of me. My wolf is right, though she never said the words. I shouldn’t think of him like that.

After I finish everything on the silver tray, I move it to the foot of the bed and quickly stand up. My energy levels are low, but I know that I need to get out of here and I don’t have much time to do it.

With quiet movements, I approach the window and then gently ease it open without making a single sound. It takes me a few seconds, but I eventually stick my leg through the opening and duck. Once I bring my other leg through, I look down at the ground off the side of the roof. Luckily, this window is over the porch’s roof, which will make this easier than when I jumped out from his other window.

I jump down to the ground and take off toward my house. Once I’m safely inside, I slam the door. “I can’t believe the nerve of that family. First, they treat me like trash all these years and now, it’s like it never happened. Are they crazy?”

As I lean my head against the shut door, the most delicious smell wafts its way toward my nose. I inhale, then pause. Something isn’t right, but I don’t know what it is. Nothing has changed in my house since I have been gone, but this smell wasn’t here before now.

I follow the scent all the way toward my bedroom. The new moon is starting to rise, casting a soft glow on my bed, which is an utter wreck. The sheets are everywhere, almost as if something rolled in my bed recently.

I collapse into them, breathing them in. I almost lose myself to the scent as I inhale again.

All mine. My wolf quickly surfaces, and nearly purrs as I breathe in another breath.

“Wait, mine?” I rise from the bed, slowly looking around my room, but she isn’t talking. “What do you mean by that? Who is mine?”

He's all mine.

I stand from the bed and hobble my way toward the door frame. My heart is hammering in my chest. “What is going on? Why do I feel weird?”

I clutch my head as pain overtakes all of my senses. My teeth lengthen as my shift begins. "What's happening?"

Nothing I do works to stop the shift I feel just beneath my skin. I have never once felt like this, so that has to be it right? I lay there helplessly as my bones break and rearrange themselves.

We must go to our mate.

“What?” I ask as my jaw begins to shift. “No, I don’t know who that is. I won’t be with Corbin. No.”

My wolf laughs as she takes over and shoves me back. Everything fades to dark and I lose consciousness.

When I open my eyes, I jump. My hand lands on my bare skin above my heart as it pounds. I look around, breathing in a sigh of relief. “Oh, it was only a dream. I’m perfectly fine. Nothing happened and I’m safe, but when did I get naked? I don’t remember undressing and crawling into bed.”

I smile to myself as I ease out of the bed, but then I see dirt on my hands and under my fingernails. As I hold them up, I find specks of blood under my nails as well. “What have I done?”