Chapter 8 - Kiara

Well, that was a spectacular failure.

I tried to make a run for it, and I just couldn”t follow through. What was wrong with me? Maybe getting knocked out and dragged into a basement took a toll on my energy, or maybe this pack had some kind of magical circle surrounding their territory that disoriented people.

Or maybe I was just a failure.

It really could have been anything, and two days later, I was kicking myself in Harvey’s cabin, exhausted from lack of sleep. That crummy cot in the basement cage wasn”t letting me get any rest. I was wearing borrowed clothes: a pair of baggy jogging pants and an oversized T-shirt that belonged to Harvey.

I knew he had worn it recently because it smelled like him. Bergamot. It was such a distinct scent, so musky and earthy. The way it drifted into my nose and reminded me that he was nearby made me feel like I wasn’t in control of any of my faculties. Though the clothes were relatively comfortable, I could tell that they were old. The fabric was thin and worn in many places, and there were places where the fabric broke open, torn from being overused and stretched to its limit.

Rapid footsteps echoed above my head. Harvey usually slept during the day. I could tell by the way the cabin sounded whenever he walked across the floor to go to his bedroom. This afternoon, though, he”d barely gotten a wink. Even if he had gotten some sleep, I wouldn”t have noticed much since I had been nodding off all day. I was trying to keep myself awake to keep an eye on things and figure out how in the world I was going to attempt another escape. But I wasn”t sure I wanted to experience that failure again. Harvey hadn”t said much when we went back to the cabin. No mention of running, no mention of kissing, and no mention of his hard boner pressed to my inner thigh.

I shuddered. Stop torturing yourself.

Among the many reasons I couldn’t rest was because my mind kept creating new scenarios where Harvey and I ended up naked. Too many fantasies were luring me into the same trap he was trying to set. Maybe it was his demon doing that.

Or maybe it was just my cock-desperate body.

After trying to run, I just felt terrible. Like I wouldn”t be able to get anything done. He didn”t jab or tease me. He didn”t taunt me when we got back. I thought maybe he would try to put me in my place or grab me again with the same feverish longing as when he kissed me but… He simply locked me in the cage and left me down here.

I sighed. I’m never getting out of here.

***

After a day of sulking to myself, he came to collect me. I was sitting in his living room with my knees pulled up to my chest and my feet wrapped in big fuzzy black socks with white lint all over them. My nails were chipped, my skin looked kind of pasty, and I still suspected that perhaps one—or all—of the demons were working through the rest of the pack to make them seem like nice people.

Maybe that wasn’t true, or this was all an illusion. I had no idea.

What I did know was that every time I glanced at Harvey, he seemed lost in thought. He was squinting at the fireplace, hunched over a notebook with a pen, scribbling little symbols and things that I didn”t recognize. They looked arcane, maybe even magical, but I didn’t recognize them. Neither of us had spoken since he brought me up here this morning. He sat me on the couch across from his desk, took a seat behind it, and then simply scribbled. I could see some of it from here because of the short distance between us, as the cabin wasn”t very big. But I couldn”t understand why he was doing it.

There had to be a way for me to get out of this place. Maybe I could make a deal with them, or maybe I could strike up a conversation with one of the demons and convince them that I was on their side. All of a sudden, Harvey looked at me, his eyes so bright that they almost looked like liquid gold. They shimmered for a second as the firelight danced inside them. Even during the day, the cabin seemed to have a certain darkness. The curtains were drawn over the windows, and it seemed like the air was stale, putrid with disdain and isolation—as if nobody had left and nobody had come in.

Yet, while I was locked away in the basement, I had seen and heard plenty of his pack wander through this cabin: his friend Clancy, his other friend, Kirk, and the other two, whom I jokingly called Tweedledee and Tweedledum for the way that they bickered. None of them had come by.

It’s still early. I frowned while squeezing my knees. But goddess, I could use a damn break from all the stomping and man-smell.

Harvey just kept looking at me, and then he cocked his head curiously, dropped his pen on the notebook in front of him, and folded his hands together. “You”re thinking of something.”

That accusatory tone made me angry, and at the same time, I was flabbergasted by the fact that he had read me so easily. Nobody could do things like that, nobody who wasn”t related to me by blood. Or at least nobody who wasn”t Regina.

I traced my knee with the tip of my finger. “Why don”t we make a deal?”

His snort sounded like he was amused by my attempt. He opened his palms to show them to me and then folded his hands back together. “Dare I ask what kind of deal you would want to make with someone like me?”

I shrugged. “What if you merged your dwindling numbers with my pack? Then I could go home, and you could get what you want, right?”

“I already told you what I need.”

I didn”t like the way his voice edged with agitation. I was just trying to help him. He didn”t have to get annoyed with me. I locked my fingers around the front of my shins and hugged myself even harder. “I”m just saying there is strength in numbers.”

“It”s impossible. I can”t merge my pack with yours.”

“And why can”t you do that? We could protect you.”

He looked away for a second to focus on the fire, enhancing the flames that danced in his eyes, turning his irises into such a dashing shade of marigold that it looked like an entire mountain stream lived inside of his eyes.

“The way the ritual is done is to make sure that I can save my pack from damnation.”

I gestured vaguely to his cabin. “I mean, we could have the ritual at my pack ranch. There”s no reason why we can’t, right?”

He gave me a funny look, knitting his eyebrows together. “Why do you think I would want to deal with another alpha trying to boss me around?”

“There”s not just one alpha. There”s two alphas.”

He snorted again. “You”ve got to be kidding me. What kind of pack has two alphas?”

“My pack. We merged with another pack. They live in the land adjacent to ours, the Bravecrests.”

He seemed to perk up at the sound of that name. “Bravecrests? I thought they got wiped out.”

“No, a lot of them survived. Or at least a good portion of them. Then, they joined our pack, and now our numbers have doubled.”

He adjusted his position in his seat. “Well, I can”t imagine your alphas would want anything to do with demon wolves.”

“If the ritual works, then you won”t be demon wolves anymore. Will you?”

Concern invaded his expression, turning his eyes dark, driving away the honey color and taking the light right out of them. Doubt had crept in. I could see it in the way his head bowed forward a bit, the way he tried to tuck his chin toward his chest like a dog who was tired of eating scraps off the ground.

“My pack could do more, you know,” I tried to offer, but he didn”t seem to want to listen. “I just need to give them a call.”

He looked directly into my eyes without lifting his head. “I don”t believe other shifters want to help. What makes you think I would believe that yours would?”

I stood up from the couch and crossed the room. When I got to his desk, I grabbed his hands, holding his calloused palms and feeling the rugged texture of his skin. “My alphas are different. I promise they”re different. If you just let me talk to them—”

But he didn”t let me finish my sentence as he gripped my hands in his and pulled me toward him, sliding his right hand over the back of my neck. He squeezed just lightly enough to assure me that he had the strength to overpower me. At that moment, something happened to me that had never happened before—a certain excited arousal that thrilled me right down to my knees. I started to wobble and bent toward him to seek steadiness by resting my forehead against his.

What was it about this man that made me want to tear down all of my barriers? To let go of my resolve was reckless.

It’s my fault.

No, it couldn”t have been entirely my fault because the way he engaged with me—the way his fingers dug into my skin, the way his thumb drifted over the side of my neck and teased my main artery—lit me aflame. That was a spot that was so sacred to shifters that a mere touch was almost like a promise. That he even dared to do such a thing made my heart leap from my chest. My body felt like it wanted so much to join with his, my heart seeming to act like a bird caught in a cage, desperate to get out.

It felt like he was teasing me, or maybe he was mocking me. I sat there for a second, feeling so much coming from him all at once. It was overwhelming. At the same time, there was something about the way he held me, the hardness of it, that told me exactly how desperate he was. He had run out of options. I had overheard some of their conversations, and had heard terrible voices in the night. I”d seen through his cabin windows how his pack members acted with each other; the fights that they got into, the sickness that took them over right in the middle of their dirt roads. The cabins were in disrepair from neglect even though they were recently built. Most of the vehicles were for show, and what few cars did work chugged along like they were about to die.

I closed my eyes as I focused on Harvey”s. His skin was surprisingly warm for somebody who was possessed. Although I didn”t have much knowledge about what possessed people should feel like. However, I did expect something of a coldness from the tone he took with me sometimes. But right now, there was no coldness. I raised my hands to cup his face, to feel the rough stubble on his cheeks, and noticed the way that his flesh shifted under my touch as his hand relaxed at the back of my neck. As my thumbs trailed under his earlobes, his hand relaxed even more. And then, when my fingers drifted to his shoulders, I found the knots that made him hunch over his desk.

These knots came from sitting in that position so rigidly for so long. His thoughts were so loud, and I just wanted to put him at ease. I didn”t want him to suffer anymore. It was strange to feel that way about somebody I hardly knew. At the same time, my heart rattled in my chest when his breathing hitched and shifted to a different rhythm. He released me and sat back, leaving me standing there, bent over his desk with my hands in the air like I was getting ready to throttle him. I stood upright and lowered my arms to my sides, trying to find a place to look that wasn”t his beautiful eyes.

He hummed. “Tell me more about how this two-alpha system works for you.”

He avoided my gaze, but he seemed curious enough. I didn”t mind sharing as long as we could keep talking. If I told him about my pack, maybe he would let me call them. I knew that they were worried. A few reassuring words from me could ease that worry.

I tapped the desk idly. “They seem to have their own language. Sometimes, I see them make eye contact, and they”re just quiet for a second, and then they turn and talk about a decision that they made together. It”s really, really weird.”

He turned his attention to me with his brows furrowed. “Do they ever fight?”

I shrugged. “Sometimes they get into arguments, but I’ve never seen them physically fight. They have a way of calming everybody down. I mean, Blake is a hard-headed, stubborn, bad-guy-turned-good. Troy is always calm, and he can help other people calm down just by looking at them. He has a very soothing voice.”

Harvey snickered. “You sound like you have a crush on them.”

I grimaced. “Oh my god. No, I would never have a crush on somebody else”s mate. That would make me a terrible person.”

“Don”t you find anybody attractive, though?”

Heat flooded my cheeks. I tried to cover them, disguising the motion as if I was checking my face for dirt. “Sure, I find plenty of guys attractive, but I”m not going to pine after them just because they”re good-looking.”

The desk chair creaked under his weight. He pulled his shoulders back to expose more of his chest, lounging like he was just having a casual conversation, which, in a lot of ways, he was. “Do you find me attractive?”

My face felt hotter than a cauldron hanging over an open fire. I suddenly felt like the fireplace was suffocating me and that smoke was filling the room. I turned away just as my entire body flushed with a cold heat that made me want to jump across the desk.

I pushed my hair out of my face and tried to brush it with my fingers. “Sure. You”re handsome enough. I mean, you’re good-looking. I don”t see why you haven”t had a mate.”

“Being isolated for about ten years kind of does a number on you. You know, my social skills aren”t exactly the best.”

I whirled around. “Yeah, no fucking kidding. You kidnapped me.”

Even though it was true, and the truth felt a bit too harsh right now, he tilted his head back and laughed. It took me a minute, but I ended up laughing with him. He had a strange way of showing affection, an interesting way of showing comfort and protection, and at the same time, he wasn”t exactly sure how to engage with people.

“I just get nervous around new people.”

“It sounds like you need to go for a swim,” I suggested. “Maybe something to cool you down.”

He hummed with interest. “Do you like swimming? Would you like to go with me?”

I brightened up. “It”s not a bad idea. I haven”t bathed in a few days, and you haven’t exactly let me go outside very much.”

He nodded. “Well, yeah. I didn”t want you to run off again.”

“You don”t have to sugarcoat it for me. I know you”re just using me for this ritual.”

“Who says I’m just using you?”

I wished so much that Regina was with me to give me an idea of whether this guy was being sincere or not. It could be his demon, or it could be him. I had no clue. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, wishing the pressure of his hand was still there. “You know, my best friend, Regina, she always helps me out with people, and she once turned this guy into a toad because he was bothering me.”

Harvey arched his right brow. “Do you want me to turn into a toad?”

“I mean, you are a shifter, right? Are you able to turn into other animals with your demon?”

More light drained from his eyes, and I realized I had made a mistake asking about such a sensitive subject. While we were going to be mates—according to him, anyway—it seemed too soon to touch on that.

There wasn’t much I could do except apologize. “Listen—”

The backdoor popped open, and in walked Clancy, wearing thick boots and holding the hunch in his shoulder. “Hey, are you alright?” I asked.

Clancy looked mournful, his face drooping and shadows seeming to fill the crevices where body fat didn”t bother to. “Kirk is sick.”

Harvey stood up. “Is he having convulsions again?”

Clancy shook his head. “No, it”s something else. It”s something stronger. I can”t identify it, but I think I know how to help him.”

I darted to Harvey’s side and grabbed his hand. “Tell me what I can do to help, and I’ll do it.”

And with that, Clancy motioned for us to follow him. Finally, I was getting out of the cabin.