Chapter 5

Chapter 5

One Month Later…

“Whatever you do, don’t start crying again,” someone said as Ashley struggled to open her eyes only to add, “He really seems to hate that.”

“Who?” Ashley tried to get out, but between the grogginess and the soul-crushing pain that was currently tearing her body apart, she barely managed a weak grunt.

“The asshole,” he answered anyway as the bed that she was on was jostled, letting her know that he’d decided to join her, a first for her, but something that she was going to have to ponder later.

Right now, she had other things that she needed to worry about.

“Good job keeping the tears at bay, sweetheart. Appreciate you taking one for the team,” he said dryly as Ashley registered the feel of a large hand giving her head a condescending pat that left her battling the overwhelming urge to slap the owner of that hand.

“So, what are you exactly?” he asked as Ashley felt something placed on her stomach.

Somehow managing a groan, Ashley blinked her eyes open and stared at the blurry object on her stomach until it slowly came into focus and when it did, she couldn’t help but shift a glare at the bastard sitting next to her as he grabbed a handful of M&M’s from the bowl currently resting on her stomach and shoved it in his mouth. When he saw her glare, he shot her a wink and shifted his attention back to the iPad on his lap.

“Well?” he asked as he grabbed another handful of candy.

Deciding that glaring at him wasn’t helping, Ashley shifted her attention back to her body and noted the cast on her left arm, the splint on her right arm, the way that her ribs ached with every breath, and the fact that her legs looked huge beneath the thin blanket covering her and realized that her legs were broken as well.

“Do you remember what happened?” he asked, sounding bored as he swiped a can of Coke off the nightstand and took a sip while Ashley lay there, licking her parched lips as she imagined just how good a Coke would taste right now.

When he caught her staring at the Coke in his hand, he narrowed his eyes and gave her an assessing look. “Even trade. A sip for an answer?”

After a moment, Ashley reluctantly nodded, deciding that she really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Not that she planned on answering all of his questions because she didn’t. What she planned on doing was try to figure out what she was doing here.

With a nod of his own, he shoved another handful of candy in his mouth as he grabbed the bowl and set it aside along with the Coke while Ashley watched him, noting that he was handsome and had one of those easygoing smiles that she’d always really liked. Giving her a reassuring smile, he carefully helped her sit up and made sure to tuck her small body back in before settling back against the headboard.

“So,” he said with that easygoing smile that she liked as he reached back over and grabbed a cup with a straw off the nightstand, “do you remember what happened?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but the only sound that came out was a pained rasp. “A nod or a shake will do,” he drawled as he placed the tip of the straw against her lips.

Throwing him a thankful glance, Ashley took a sip and closed her eyes on a small moan as the cold, sweet, carbonated liquid coated her mouth and sore throat, taking the edge off the headache that was pounding at the back of her skull.

“N-no,” Ashley managed to get out as she kept her eyes closed and slowly exhaled, really wishing that she could take something for the pain. Well, she could, but then she’d just end up in a worse situation than she was in now.

“How old are you, sweetheart?” he asked as she felt the tip of the straw pressed against her lips again.

“Forty-five,” Ashley mumbled around the straw, knowing that it would be a waste of time to lie about her age. Besides, she’d rather make him believe that she was cooperating to buy herself some time.

“Forty-five,” he repeated in a thoughtful tone as Ashley took another sip and nearly moaned when the sweet elixir that she would happily drink twenty-four/seven if she could afford it hit her tongue. Unfortunately for her, and her sugar addiction, she was on a tight budget that consisted of Ramen noodles, generic pasta with margarine when it was on sale, and water fresh from the tap.

“And what are you, sweetheart?” he asked as he took the straw away.

“In a lot of pain,” Ashley managed to get out as she lay there, silently cataloging the pain tearing through her body only to stop when she reached her hip because thinking about it seemed to make it worse.

A lot worse, Ashley thought with a cringe as she tried to shift away from the pain shooting up her legs. “How long have I been here?” she whispered because whispering seemed to be the least painful thing that she could do at the moment.

“We’ve been here for close to a month,” he said, making her groan even as she realized that he’d given her a clue.

He’d said, “We,” which gave her a little hope that she might have an ally in all this. He’d also clued her in to the fact that she wasn’t healing as fast as she should be. Not that she’d ever really healed fast, but after a month, the pain should be dulled by this point.

“Not going to tell me what you are?” he asked as he pressed the straw back against her lips.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Ashley said, only to end up moaning in ecstasy when the sweet liquid coated her tongue and throat again, tasting better and better with every pull on the straw.

How long had it been since she’d been able to enjoy a Coke? Ashley wondered as she continued sipping, not really sure that she’d be able to resist the urge to spill all her secrets for much longer, not if he kept offering her more Coke.

“Nothing, hmm?” he murmured as he took the straw away, and before she could complain, he brought it back and she couldn’t help but sigh with relief even as she noted that the Coke had taken the edge off her hunger.

“Failure to thrive,” Ashley managed to explain as she greedily drank more Coke, repeating the same answer that she gave everyone else when she needed to explain why she’d stopped growing when she’d turned ten, hoping that it would be enough.

“So, you’re human,” he said when Ashley felt him shift on the bed next to her as she went still because this was the first time that anyone had even hinted at the other world that she’d been told to pretend that she didn’t know existed.

“What else would I be?” Ashley asked as she continued to sip that delicious beverage, somehow resisting the urge to risk a peek to see if he believed her.

“That’s a good question,” he murmured. “So, then why did he grab you?”

“Who?” she asked with a frown before asking, “The asshole?”

“Yes, the asshole,” he said, sounding amused.

“And that would be…” Ashley said, letting her words trail off as she returned her attention to the lifesaving elixir even as she started to feel herself drift off.

“Kale Quinn,” he said with a heavy sigh that once again had her frowning because she had absolutely no idea who that was or why he’d grabbed her.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true because she actually had several ideas about why he’d grabbed her, but since mentioning any of those concerns would give too much away, Ashley decided to keep them to herself. Wondering what her cellmate, or whatever he was, had done to land himself here, she asked, “And why did he grab you?” right around the time that she realized that everything hurt, really hurt, more than it had a few minutes ago.

“Oh, shit,” he suddenly said, making her blink her eyes open to find a really angry man glaring at them through silver eyes standing at the foot of the bed and before she could ask a question that she probably didn’t want to know the answer to, agonizing pain tore through her stomach, robbing her of the ability to breathe before it swallowed her whole.

* * *

“What the helldid you do to her?” Kale snarled as he grabbed the little bastard that he’d been forced to hire by the throat and shoved him off the bed so that he could check on the small girl that he was trapped with for eternity as she continued to scream, something that he really should be used to by now.

“Planned a jailbreak,” Jacob said with a pained cough and a groan as he dragged himself back to his feet so that he could grab the large bowl of M&M’s that Kale had been saving for later, off the nightstand. He helped himself to a handful of M&M’s while Kale checked the little girl, and there was no way in hell that he could think of her as a woman, as she released another bloodcurdling scream.

“So, what is she?” Jacob asked around a handful of candy.

“None of your business,” Kale bit out as he checked her pulse, noting that it was racing and that her breaths were shallow. “What did you do to her?”

“Fed her,” Jacob said with a shrug and another handful of M&M’s.

“What?” Kale snarled, barely resisting the urge to tear the annoying bastard’s throat out. It was only the reminder that he needed the shifter’s help that had him grinding his jaw shut and biting out, “What did you feed her?”

“Coke mixed with the blood I found in the fridge,” came the mangled answer around another mouthful of candy as Kale swore roundly. “I was curious,” Jacob added with a shrug.

Cursing, Kale pressed his hand against the little girl’s head to find her burning up. “You should have minded your own fucking business,” he snarled, wishing that he could just walk away and let nature take its course, but thanks to their mating, that wasn’t an option.

For a moment, Kale simply stood there, staring down at the little girl, blocking out her screams and thinking about just how easy it would be to walk out that door and never look back. He couldn’t kill her or harm her in any way or he’d pay the price, but he could walk away and leave her to die. As long as he didn’t do anything to harm her, he would survive her death. No matter how badly he wanted to walk away and god, did he fucking want to walk away, he couldn’t leave her and it had nothing to do with their mating marks. He’d been raised at a time when you didn’t turn your back on your mate and that was the only reason why he carefully picked up the screaming female and carried her past the nosy bastard and into the large bathroom.

“Maybe you should give her more blood,” the little prick called after him as Kale stepped into the large shower stall.

Ignoring him, Kale turned on the shower, set it to hot, and sat down with the unwanted bundle in his arms as he did his best to block out her screams, wondering how much more of this he was going to be able to take before he found a way to put them both out of their misery. If it had been anyone else, he would have already found a way to do it, but their connection wouldn’t allow it. It didn’t matter that she was suffering or that her bones weren’t healing and that she was slowly starving to death, their mating wouldn’t allow him to harm her in any way. So instead, he was forced to watch her die.

“You know,” Jacob drawled as he walked into the bathroom and leaned against the wall, “I couldn’t help but notice that you’re not looking too good.”

That’s because he was dying.

“How much blood did you give her?” Kale asked, changing the subject because he wasn’t about to admit a weakness to anyone, especially not to another shifter.

“A cup or two,” Jacob admitted with a careless shrug as Kale sat there, holding the little girl that he was pretty sure was killing him.

Every time Kale tried to help her, he was punished, letting him know that everything that he was doing to help her was only making her worse. When he gave her saline to hydrate her, he’d been knocked on his ass with a fever so high that it had left him barely able to move for two days. When he’d put a feeding tube down her throat, every bone in his body felt like it was about to snap in two. If he’d just left her alone, he would have been fine, but because he’d done something to make her worse, he’d been punished, which was the only reason why he hadn’t given her blood before because he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to survive the next blow.

“Maybe we should give her some of our blood,” Jacob said, looking thoughtful.

“That was my blood,” Kale bit out.

“Then we should definitely give her more.”

“And why the hell should we do that?” Kale snapped, in no fucking mood to deal with any more bullshit tonight.

“Because she’s growing.”