CHAPTER FOUR
Keri
I was agitated at the lack of progress in the last twenty-four hours since I’d last spoken to Cade. I’d expected to be released already but I was still pacing the white cell that I’d been in for the last two days.
The door opened and Cade walked in with someone else. I vaguely recognized the second person as Kyle, Scarlett’s cousin. The similarities left no doubt that they were related. He had midnight black hair that reached to his ears and the same silver-gray eyes that Scarlett had. I’d never met him in person but I had seen photos of him. Victor had ensured I knew our enemies and Kyle had been noted as one of them.
Both of them stood powerfully, with their legs slightly apart as they surveyed me.
“You needed two of you to do this?” I asked sarcastically. One female alpha against two male alphas didn’t seem fair. I was tired and agitated. All I wanted to do was get back to my pack. I wasn’t a very patient person and with all the free time I’d had it was enough to start driving me a little crazy.
Kyle arched an eyebrow at me.
“We’ve decided to send someone to oversee your decisions until we are able to trust that you’ll keep the peace,” Cade said, telling me their terms without wavering.
I hadn’t expected that. He watched me for a reaction but there was none. There was no hidden agenda on my part so I had no reason to fight him on that condition and at this point I’d agree to anything. I just wanted to go home. The alpha blood in my veins refused to allow me to give in too easily, though, so I decided to play them for a little while and put up a bit of an argument.
“Is that really necessary?” I asked while I held Cade’s gaze.
“Your actions spoke volumes,” he argued with a steel gaze. “You’re the one that helped your father try to wipe out our packs and start a war.”
I tried to keep the guilt from showing on my face.
“You helped Curtis kidnap Scarlett and…God only knows what would have happened if she hadn’t managed to kill Victor,” he stated, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice but I heard his voice waver for a moment. He would have been devastated.
He was right; I’d done all of those things. I was guilty as charged and there was no arguing that. In his shoes, I wouldn’t trust me either. He was doing the right thing but there was no way I would tell him that. I had to make it seem as if I was putting up a bit of a fight on the subject before I relented and did as they said.
As an alpha of my own pack, I needed to make it clear from the beginning that, despite the fact that I was a female, I wasn’t a pushover. There would be future run-ins with them—that couldn’t be avoided—but I wouldn’t allow them to think they could dictate to me. Their impression of me as leader counted now. It was all about first impressions.
“What if you never trust me?” I asked with my hands settled on my hips. I had to mentally stop myself and I let my arms drop to my side. Victor had always taught me to never display female reactions. He always told me if I wanted to be respected I had to act like a man.
“Then we have a big problem,” he stated, his hard eyes on me. I didn’t want to know what that entailed. I wasn’t interested in a war so we wouldn’t have that problem. They would send someone to watch over me and he would report nothing unusual, and then they would move on and leave me alone.
We continued to hold each other’s gaze.
“Doesn’t he have a pack to run?” I tried to argue before I flickered a gaze to Kyle who was trying to suppress a smile.
“Yes, he does but he’s sacrificing his time to do this for all of us.”
With just that sentence, the line was drawn; it was them against me. I’d never felt so lonely like I did at that moment. Trust me, I’d had plenty of lonely moments in my life, more than I could count. But the fact that my mate didn’t want me and it felt like everyone was against me… It felt so overwhelming. I didn’t let it show, though. I pulled myself together.
“Fine, let him babysit me,” I shot back and Kyle grinned.
Cade turned to Kyle.
“She’s all yours,” he said, sounding exasperated before he stalked out of the room and leaving me alone with Kyle.
Kyle let out a sigh as I watched him pull a pair of leather gloves from his back pocket.
“I really hope I don’t regret this,” he mumbled before he opened the door to my prison and stepped back to wait for me. I eyed him for a moment before I walked out.
“Come on, Cinderella,” he said as he opened the door and looked at me.
I arched an eyebrow at the nickname he’d just used for me. I’d never been given a nickname before.
“What?” he said with an innocent shrug. “Don’t you get it?”
I narrowed my gaze as I remained silent. No, I didn’t.
“You know…the girl with the evil stepmother and stepsister,” he explained.
“I know the story,” I said in a clipped tone while I held his gaze. How did that have anything to do with me?
“Well, you know, instead of the evil stepmother and stepsisters, but in your case you had the evil father,” he tried to explain. I shook my head at him and passed him as I walked out of the room that had been my prison. Wasn’t Cinderella a good person that got treated badly? I wasn’t good, so that didn’t make me a Cinderella.
This guy was going to annoy the hell out of me and we’d just met. I wondered how I was going to cope with him being around all the time and breathing down my neck. The whole exercise was going to impossible to get through without wringing his neck.
“Hey, don’t forget about me,” the annoying person reminded me from behind me as I stalked forward. I couldn’t wait to get out of here and back to where I belonged.
“You know this might go quicker if you could be friendlier,” he muttered, but I didn’t acknowledge him.
I didn’t do friendly.
As we made our way from the basement into the garage, I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering, looking for glimpses of Blake. Just the thought of him made me relive the pain of my rejection.
Hang in there, I told myself. When I was at home and in private I would be able to mourn the loss of something I’d never had, nor ever would.
It was a good thing I had a good memory because I remembered the way out and when I opened the front door of the house and stepped outside I saw Scarlett standing beside a couple of SUV-type cars. I wanted to roll my eyes at her and tell her to stop but instead I played the indifferent card. If I showed her no reaction she might get the hint quicker.
She stepped forward and I halted.
“I just wanted to see you off,” she explained while she gauged me for a reaction. I remained tight-lipped and her gaze flickered to her cousin.
“You’d better be right,” he muttered to her.
“I am right,” she said before her eyes settled back on me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was wasting her time.
“I’ll speak to you soon,” he said to his cousin as he gave her a brief hug.
“Let’s go, Cinderella,” he said, opening the passenger door of the first SUV for me. I stepped past Scarlett and got into the car. When Kyle got into the driver’s seat I turned to him.
“Where’s my father’s body?” I asked.
“In the back,” he answered.
“Let’s go,” I instructed. I had everything I needed.
I turned to face the front of the car and I felt Kyle’s eyes linger on me for a few more moments before he started the car up.
The drive was quiet and I lost myself in my own thoughts. As hard as I’d tried to keep my secret, there was no way to hide it from Kyle. I felt nervous and fearful of it being used against me. When Kyle found out, he would tell the rest of them and there was no way to stop him.
I let out a resigned sigh and saw Kyle give me a side-glance. I ignored him and kept my eyes on the scenery we passed as he drove us through Cade’s territory. It wouldn’t be long before we entered my territory. Rubbing my forehead, I could feel the start of headache from the stress and nerves I was feeling.
Half an hour later Kyle pulled up to the massive property where my pack lived. I opened the window and looked into the video camera that was mounted on the gate. The outside of the property, with a tall wall, was cold and unwelcoming.
The gates opened and Kyle drove slowly into the property. I could feel that Kyle was a little nervous about being without anyone from his pack in another pack’s territory.
“No one will harm you,” I stated. He looked at me for a moment and gave me a brief nod.
I wasn’t like my father. I didn’t want a war.
My eyes drifted over familiar surroundings. It was different from Cade’s property where his pack lived. He had a massive house with a compound that looked like blocks of apartments at the bottom of his property where everyone lived. Here there was no big house on the property. It was just four rows of apartments that reached two levels. It was nothing fancy, just basic. Even inside the apartments there was very little furniture. Beside the rows of apartments was a single building that housed the cafeteria, gym and small medical center.
Victor believed that members of the packs were just soldiers in his army. He’d owned them, like he’d owned me. It was hard to deal with the freedom we’d been handed with my father’s death. We’d lived under his iron fist for so long that it was going to take time to get used to the freedom I would ensure they would have.
The other SUV pulled up beside ours and I looked to see Curtis get out the driver’s side as I exited the car. I smiled and bit my lip as he rushed to me and pulled me into a hug.
“I was so worried about you,” he whispered as he held me. I hugged him back and avoided the curious eyes of Kyle while he watched our exchange.
“I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me,” I assured him. He released me and scanned my features.
We’d kept in minimal contact with the mind-link. He’d kept me updated of any news that I might have missed out on, and although I’d assured him multiple times that I was fine, he hadn’t believed me. He needed to see the proof that I was fine.
He was older than me but those years did nothing to dampen our friendship. He was one of the few people who had seen how brutal Victor had been to me. Every pack member’s life had been hard under the cruel rule of my father, but mine had been worse.
Curtis was a good guy but like every other pack member he’d been forced to do bad things. Things none of us were proud of. We’d both been forced to infiltrate Cade’s pack as humans to spy on them. Curtis and Kyle eyed each other for a moment. They didn’t like each other. It wasn’t unusual for werewolves from different packs to instantly dislike each other for no apparent reason.
“Can you guys leave the whole male ego stare-down till later?” I asked them as I started to walk away from them.
I had lots of things to do. Pack members began to file out of their rooms to look at me. They’d all heard that my father had been killed and that I had become their alpha. The life that they’d lived had hardened them but I could see the reserved relief in their eyes while I walked past them. They all knew my leadership was going to be very different from my father’s.
“Wait up, Cinderella,” I heard Kyle say from behind me and I was tempted to turn around and tell him to get lost.
I hated the nickname he’d given me. Cinderella was a girl in a fairy tale. I was a girl living real life that didn’t include a happy ending. It annoyed me how much that nickname made me want to pity myself. But there wasn’t room for any of that. I stopped and turned to face Kyle.
“There is something I need to do alone,” I told him. I didn’t want him to know about my secret.
“No can do,” he said with a shrug. “You know the rules. I have to oversee everything you do.”
I glared at him, but he refused to back down.
“You can glare at me all you like, it isn’t going to change anything,” he stated, seeming to be unfazed by anything I did or said.
He was so annoying. I threw my hands up in defeat before I turned and walked away. He followed me.
I walked to the edge of the property where there was a small building. The sight of the building caused a whirlwind of emotion inside of me. It was hard to keep it inside. Two guards stepped aside at the entrance when they saw me.
The sound of footsteps behind me told me Kyle had followed me inside. Taking a breath, I tried to calm my nervously beating heart. I walked down to the end of the hallway, passing a total of ten doors on either side that were guarded by a few pack members. It was a place I knew well.
At the last door I hesitated for a moment when the guard unlocked it.
I could only imagine what Kyle was thinking but I brushed the thought from my mind. I held my breath as I stepped inside the dark room. A damp musky smell hit my nostrils. My eyes fixed on the single metal bed. An unmoving form lay on the bed that was covered in a tattered blanket. I swallowed my tears when I took another step forward. The form moved and turned to face me.
“Baby girl,” croaked a weak voice.
“Mommy,” I said as calmly as I could. My throat thickened while I took in her frail state. I didn’t think it possible to hate my father more than I did, but in that moment I did. I felt the telltale sting of tears but I bit down on my lip to keep from crying. If I got upset it would upset her and I didn’t want that. Slowly I walked over to the bed and bent down on one knee beside her.
“We’re free,” I told her.
She looked at me with big eyes and then her eyes moved past me to Kyle. Nervously she took in the alpha male standing behind me.
“I don’t understand,” she said when her eyes flickered back to me. Her expression was anxious and fearful.
“Victor is dead,” I told her softly. I brushed her dirty hair from her face. “We’re free.”
I had to stop myself from crying when she remained confused at my news. I swallowed hard. Once, she had been strong and vibrant, but that had been many years ago. After years of abuse and beatings, this was all that was left of her.
She was my secret. She was the reason I’d never left the pack and run for my own freedom. My love for her had been used to keep me under the brutal rule of Victor. He’d kept her a prisoner to ensure I would follow his every order without fail.
“It’s okay,” I soothed when she started to become agitated. My arms hugged her cold body to mine as I soothed her with words.
“Everything is going to be fine,” I murmured hoarsely to her.