Chapter 7
CICELY
The four council alphas have shifted enough times to heal and be right as rain.
Tyson was in the worse shape of all of them having a bleeding throat, face, and shoulder, with flesh hanging in multiple places.
I’m relieved to see after two shifts he looks fine.
Same with Mase, whose leg looked fairly mangled, but looks fine now, too.
“You go on home, Sis, and I’ll come see you in a little bit,” Linc tries.
As if. I tie my shoes and finish buttoning up my shorts before I answer, “Not a fucking chance.”
“Don’t got time to fight with you about this,” Linc says gently. “We don’t know how long till he rouses and babe… it’ll be volatile. He’ll be possessive, whether he wants to or not. You know what happens after the first mating.”
I scoff. “I know what’s supposed to happen after mating. And all this…” I gesture around me – “is not that.”
Whether he wants to or not? Yeah, he doesn’t want to be. Because he’s trying to reject me.
“The last thing he needs is four alphas around his freshly claimed mate, Sis,” Joel weighs in. “We’ll get him locked down and go from there.”
Linc says, “Keep you posted. Promise.”
“You think I’m down with this bullshit from you? Do you even know me?”
My head might very well explode.
I move in and shove him hard with both hands. He doesn’t budge, but his hand flies up.
“Stop, Cicely.”
“She should come,” Tyson says.
“Fuckin’ no!” Linc starts to argue.
“It’s messy either way,” Tyson reasons. “She needs to be near her mate. And he’ll need to know when he wakes where she is, that she’s fine. She should come with us.”
“It’ll make him worse,” Linc warns.
“So be it,” Tyson states.
Linc lets out a frustrated growl.
“He’s right,” Mase chimes in. “It’ll shake out however it’s meant to go. We’ll restrain him and take it one minute at a time. She deserves answers.”
Thankfully, Tyson and Mason understand. And I’m grateful for them both right now, especially considering the amount of damage they took while seeming like they really did try to inflict minimal pain in return.
Linc’s jaw muscles flex and his nostrils flare before he gets a little more adamant. “He isn’t likely to equalize if she’s close. He’ll tell us to send her away in between shifts.”
“Cicely, go sit in the truck,” Tyson gestures to Linc’s Bronco.
I growl and stomp that way before I climb into the passenger seat, hearing Mase say, “We’ll deal at that point.”
Joel follows, reaches in and squeezes my shoulder with affection and concern on his face. “Sorry, Sis. But we–”
“Don’t touch her if you can help it!” Linc cuts him off.
I bristle even further, shooting Linc another dirty look. “Now I’ve got the plague, do I? Though I’ve had it for a while now judging by how you’ve been treating me.”
Linc’s eyes narrow as he says, “He went silverback apeshit when he smelled you on me after… you know… that last time I spent the night.”
I jolt with surprise.
He keeps explaining, “So, I had to restrain him. For days. He was so weak from his wolf struggling in the irons, it nearly killed him. That’s how we figured it all out.” He blows out a long breath, looking like he’s reliving that.
Man, this hurts.
“It’ll be worse now that he’s claimed you,” he adds. “And shifting is painful for him, Sis. Pretty sure it causes emotional and physical pain for him.”
“She gets it. Let’s go,” Joel says, sparing me from more information that hurts.
As much as all this hits hard, I can’t walk away right now and just sit somewhere to wait for an update. I can’t and I won’t.
***
We’re now in a stone building built into a hill that the guys refer to as the bunker.
It’s on a barely noticeable dirt trail that branches off an old logging road near the old water tower road leading to Drowsy Hollow.
The council apparently uses it for weapons, spare clothes, and other pack emergency supplies because it’s near town.
Since it’s rarely used, they installed a restraint system here as well as put up a barred door behind the original.
The sight of it sickens me. It feels like despair in here.
It’s as if I can feel what Jared felt when he was locked in here.
I loathe this sensation. Even more than that, I loathe seeing him unconscious on the dirty floor, a thick iron ring around his neck as well as around his arms, legs, and his waist. They’re chained to the stone walls and floor.
He's been locked up in here repeatedly in his wolf form as well as in human form when he feels like he has no choice but to shift.
I glare at the note on the wall warning the others to call Linc.
I haven’t spoken, but have been listening to them talk, fuming that this has been going on long enough that they’ve had time to put together this setup, using it however many times Jared has needed it while I’ve been oblivious.
And the way Linc talks to these guys, it’s clear nobody else in the council but Linc knew what Jared was hiding about himself.
Linc said he hasn’t seen Jared’s wolf enough times to know how long they have before he wakes, that it has varied, but this doesn’t ease my mind. I’ve been in the dark, going about my business with no clue my fated mate was here in chains.
Jared shifted to human while unconscious just as soon as he was pulled into the river but hasn’t woken yet.
And shifting a few times is probably what he needs most based on how rough his battle wounds are.
Linc poured antiseptic over multiple bites, and I feel a minute amount of relief that they seem like they tried to inflict as little damage on him as possible.
Despite how his wolf fought them, they did the minimum to protect themselves, and regardless of his size and those terrifying teeth, four super alphas could’ve easily killed him.
“I’ll run in to Cicely’s store and get some supplies, yeah?” Joel asks, looking at Linc.
My eyes bounce between them, waiting for them to elaborate.
“Sports drinks, water, first aid shit and some protein bars, maybe?” Linc suggests.
Joel’s eyes move towards me. “Okay?”
“The shop keys are on the hook inside my apartment door. Apartment door is unlocked. Store alarm code 7782.” I turn my gaze to Linc. “What’s your plan?”
Linc blows out a long breath. “Ty and Mase, you two can head home if you want. He’s secure.”
I look at the sky. The sun has only been up for a while, started to come up when Jared jumped in the river. I’m gonna need someone to open the store and run it for me today.
“He might be stronger now,” Tyson says.
Mase leans against the wall, looking set on waiting.
“Stronger?” Linc repeats.
“Mating,” Ty reasons.
Mase nods. “Yup.”
Concern hits Linc’s eyes as I request, “Explain, please.”
Mase elaborates. “You grow from a boy to a man, yeah, but for alphas, the final piece of full maturity comes when you claim your mate.”
“Exactly,” Tyson agrees. “He could be stronger. We won’t know if the irons will hold until we see for ourselves.”
“Good point,” Linc states. “Especially if you’re here.
” He’s talking about me. “Do me a favor and go home until we can at least have a conversation with him and check his overall pulse. We’ll step out, leave the outer door open and watch.
Then if he breaks these irons, this door could hold him and if not, we’ve got weapons to disable him through the bars.
I’ll call and you can come back as soon as–”
“Absolutely fucking not!” I deny. “We’re not leaving him in a fucking cage!”
“Sis…” Linc grumbles, looking at me like he’s had enough of my shit. “Work with us here.”
“Oh, like you worked with me? Fuck, Lincoln. I can’t believe you said nothing and just avoided me like that.”
“Stop, honey,” he demands and tugs my hand, pulling me outside.
“No wonder you haven’t been able to look me in the face,” I add, ready to fight, ready to fight for my life here if he thinks he’s going to force me to go home.
But he stops outside and takes my face in both hands, looking like he’s searching for words.
“Best not touch me. I have the plague, remember?”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “Really fucking sorry. My hands were tied. It cost me sleep. It hasn’t been easy. I know it’s not easy for you but believe me when I tell you I don’t want this for you. You’ve been in my head and in my heart from the minute we figured it out.”
I lose it. Tears pour out of my eyes and I’m making ugly-cry sounds, falling into him. Linc’s arms wrap around me, and I’m relieved he’s not refusing to touch me. He holds me tight in a perfect Linc hug, letting me cry it out like I need to. And fuck do I cry. Maybe even harder than when Mom died.