Chapter 11

Briar May

She told her father and Kieran everything. Her dad, the pack’s former alpha, had guided their wolves through five decades. It was clear that Kieran and everyone else in the pack still valued Silas’s input and wisdom. There was no question that Kieran was their new leader, though. Silas would never subvert his decisions nor question his new authority, but he did support his son, and Kieran needed that and wanted it. He needed all his family and all his pack. He’d die for them, and he’d do his best to live for them. That was what would make him such a great alpha.

Her father had escorted her back to the heart of the pack surrounded by the pack guards, while most of the wolves stayed behind with Kieran to deal with the prisoners. She’d been taken straight to her cabin, and after throwing on a set of clothes, she couldn’t stop crying even though she’d watched Castor and those two wolves chasing them get tranquilized.

They’d arrived shortly after, unconscious, bound, and taken straight to the brig.

No one in Nightfall Pack feared the place because it was hardly ever used. Members of her pack generally obeyed pack law or faced banishment. There was no need to keep them locked away.

The pack had a system to punish and deter, or teach, and it didn’t often involve the small wooden, windowless building. The place was basically one huge cage, with floor-to-ceiling bars in place. It was only ever used for short interrogations or to keep enemies locked up for brief periods of time. There was never anyone who rotted away in there. No shifter could survive in a cage, it was a cruel punishment and that her father hadn’t believed in and her brother even less so.

Knowing that Castor had been taken there and thrown in with the two wolves who meant him harm scared her senseless. She had no way of knowing what her brother would do to them, so even though she couldn’t stop crying, she’d forced herself not to get hysterical. She’d gone straight to the big cabin, which was the home of the alpha and the central of all the cabins that lined the three main streets in the heart of their lands.

Her entire family had gathered around her, trying to fuss over her and hug her. Her sisters were a mess. Her mother looked like she’d just lived the worst days of her life. Even her younger brothers were discomfited and in a rage. Her father and older brother arrived and tried to keep everyone calm. They were relieved she was back unharmed. They’d all wanted to know how she’d escaped and what happened, who those wolves were and why they’d taken her. They wanted to make sure she was indeed unharmed and that nothing happened to her before her escape.

Kieran wasn’t the kind of man who wouldn’t listen to reason, so she’d told them everything. The only thing she’d glossed over was the fact that she’d given herself to Castor in the hotel room. Aside from the fact that she didn’t want to discuss intimate details with her family listening, she knew that Kieran wouldn’t listen to reason, and he’d think that Castor had forced her. She’d made sure that it was made clear that Castor hadn’t hurt her and that he’d protected her and brought her back, that he’d realized he shouldn’t have taken her. She’d explained that he was in danger from the wolves in the brig with him, and maybe from his entire pack. She’d told them tearfully about his twin brother being one of the Rangers who were killed by Rome, and that Castor’s pack had tasked him with taking revenge on those who had killed his brother. They’d taken her because she was meant to pay that price, though she still wasn’t entirely sure what that would have been.

When she’d finally got everything out, she’d run out of tears. They just stopped coming all at once, like she’d cried all she could cry and hoped all she could hope. She had to leave Castor’s fate in the hands of her pack. She couldn’t name him as her mate, and even if she could, her alpha would have to agree to the mating. Kieran had once been denied his own love because she was only a half wolf. He’d fought hard for Zora to be at his side and now he had a family. As a result, her brother had vowed to change how things were done once he became alpha, and in the few short months he had taken up that mantle, things were slowly changing.

But taking a mate from another pack or accepting half wolves as pack members was one thing—allowing a lone wolf from the other side of the country who had kidnapped his sister to become her mate—that’s even if Castor wanted to be her mate—was another.

And as it was likely to be a step too far, Briar May had been afraid to broach the subject with her brother.

However, thanks to her pleading, Castor was removed from the brig, though he was secured with chains and ropes and placed into one of the smaller, empty cabins. The windows were immediately boarded up, the door was bolted and barred from the outside, and guards were set in place.

She knew that under regular circumstances, it wouldn’t be enough to contain a warrior like him, but she also knew he wouldn’t fight her pack for her sake. At any time he could have left her alone. Instead, he’d put his life in her hands.

She’d pleaded his case to the best of her ability, painting a very grim reality of what would happen if he was returned to his pack. She’d made her feelings for him clear, even if they weren’t even close to clear in her head. She’d promised to fight for him, and she wouldn’t give up.

Not when she was escorted back to her own cabin by her mom and sisters, who thought she needed them now more than ever after such a traumatizing ordeal. She couldn’t make them see that the only thing driving her mad was not knowing what would happen to Castor. Not being able to see him. Not being allowed to touch him and soothe him.

He’d face anything that happened to him with courage, but she knew he had to feel real emotion underneath that grim, cold fa?ade. No man could be so tender with her, protect her the way he had, offer up his life for her safety, if he felt nothing and had no goodness in him. He might think himself as a heartless killer, but she’d seen a glimpse of what lay buried deep within.

She refused to give up even when days had passed. She wasn’t a prisoner in her own home, but she wasn’t allowed near the brig or the cabin where Castor was being held.

Days turned into a week.

She knew her brother was in contact with Castor’s alpha. She knew he wanted to return him and the other two wolves as a gesture of peace that would prevent the war that may have broken out.

A week turned into two as they awaited the response of an alpha who could change all their fates. She was sick at the thought of those wolves caged up, not seeing the light of day, enduring that captivity when no wolf should be behind bars. She wept. She was listless. She barely felt like she was alive. Her whole life had changed in the few days she had been away, and she didn’t know how to rejoin her own pack. Her own family. No one knew what truly happened, other than Castor. She’d been one person when she was taken, and she’d returned a different woman. A woman missing the vital heart of herself.

Missing Castor.

On the sixteenth day, her brother came to her in the gray hours of the morning, when the mist rose up thick like clouds of fog from the ground in the woods before the day broke open.

She let him in, and he stood in her small living room, his face set like stone, his expression unreadable. He looked half like he never wanted to feel again, some like he hadn’t slept in a lifetime, and the rest like he was trying to keep his emotion back so she wouldn’t fall apart. After days of pouring her heart out to her sisters and Zora, her sister-in-law, it looked like Kieran had finally realized how deep her feelings ran for the warrior wolf who’d taken her.

“We’ve reached a settlement, but you won’t like it. The other two wolves are to be returned, but Castor must join them. He’s been promised an exchange. They’re coming at dawn. I’ve been given word that he won’t be harmed, but his pack demanded him as payment for their murdered wolf. I had no choice but to agree, unless we wanted to find ourselves at war. I had the pack to protect. Always. You know that I can’t make personal decisions. I can’t be your brother in this.”

“No!” She tried to get past him and get to the door, her heart breaking apart, her world caving in sickeningly with every step.

He was faster, larger, and stronger. He caught her and held her without an ounce of cruelty or force. Her strength gave out and she collapsed. He buffeted her fall, so that she didn’t go down to the floor. It was a miracle she was even alive when her heart had already dropped out of her chest and smashed into a thousand little fragments.

“You’ve condemned him to death,” she sobbed, beating at her brother’s back. “Surely you have, Kieran.”

“I made them promise they wouldn’t harm him. I explained everything right from the start. I made it clear that we had no prior knowledge of him, nor anyone from his pack before they stole you. There was no betrayal on his part. He returned you in a bid to prevent war between our packs, even though he was being hunted by both. His actions were never anything less than bold, brave, and honorable.”

She only sobbed harder. She was nothing now. She’d be nothing. Not a living, breathing thing. Only a shell. A dead, hollowed-out husk.

She didn’t think her brother could possibly understand, but then he smoothed a hand over her hair. “I’m sorry, sister mine. Truly, I am.” He sounded so tired that she knew he was wrong.

He did understand.

It couldn’t and wouldn’t change anything.