Chapter 5 #4
He straightened from the sink. “If you’re unhappy with the mate bond, you need to talk to your wolf about it. But you can’t run around unsupervised. I’ll teach you how to shift, and I’ll keep you safe. We can figure out the rest later.”
The panic I’d felt earlier made a swift return, snuffing out my weird urge to crouch at his feet.
He sounded very much like he had no intention of letting me go.
And he was fully capable of holding me prisoner.
In a flash, I saw my future unravel, all my careful, quiet planning falling apart.
I’d spent the last four years plotting my escape from my parents.
Now, Jesse showed up talking about werewolves and mate bonds.
Part of me wanted to inform him he’d clearly lost his mind. A bigger part of me wanted to jump off the barstool and sprint to the nearest door.
But a third part of me—the part that had spent multiple summers at “retreats” that were splashy facades for gay conversion camps—knew I couldn’t do either of those things.
Those retreats had accomplished two things: draining my parents’ retirement savings and teaching me how to fake compliance better than an Oscar winner.
The trick was to avoid overdoing it. Quick capitulation would spark suspicion.
“I’m not your mate,” I said. God, it sounded so stupid I would have laughed if the situation hadn’t been so serious. “I barely know you.”
He slow-walked his dark gaze down my bare chest, the look on his face a tantalizing mix of heat and confidence. “I’d say you know me better than you did twenty minutes ago.”
Damn. Despite my mind-blowing orgasm, my dick tightened.
Apparently, it didn’t give a solitary shit about Jesse keeping me against my will.
He claimed he hadn’t drugged me, but what else explained my reaction to him?
He admitted he’d been watching me. Maybe he’d waited in the forest, hoping to knock me out and drag me back to his place.
I gulped as a new thought formed in my mind.
“Did you do this to me?” I blurted. “Turn me into a—” I gripped the edge of the counter, my brain refusing to deliver werewolf to my tongue.
But Jesse understood. “No,” he said, his face abruptly serious. “You have heightened senses now. Use them. I give you my word that I didn’t turn you. We never change people without their consent.”
“So who did?”
“I don’t know.” A dark emotion flitted through his eyes—there and gone so quickly I couldn’t decipher it. “I’ll explore the forest tomorrow. See if I can find a scent.” He raked his gaze over me, but it wasn’t sexual this time. “You’re exhausted. You need sleep.”
Instantly, my brain supplied me with images of our bodies tangled together. I curled my hands into fists on top of the marble. “And how will that work? You gonna handcuff me to your bed again?” I clenched my jaw at how stupidly husky my voice sounded.
Jesse tilted his head, that heated confidence gleaming more brightly. “If you want me to.”
My throat became the Sahara. “I don’t.”
Something amused and indulgent replaced the confidence. “You’ll have to let me know if you change your mind. For now, I’ll get you something to sleep in.” He gave me a pointed look as he rounded the island and left the kitchen. “Alone, if you’re wondering.”
For a second, I stayed put. Did he expect me to just follow him like a dog?
“Caleb.”
I turned on the stool and found him watching me from the living room. His posture was relaxed, and his frat boy features were as composed as ever. But I wasn’t fooled anymore.
“If I don’t come home tonight,” I said, “my parents will call the cops.”
“You’re twenty-three years old, and Hale Valley is one of the safest communities in New York. The police aren’t going to look very hard. Not tonight. And tomorrow morning, you’re going to call your folks and let them know you’re moving out.”
Alarm bells clanged in my head. “I’m not—”
“You can’t go home, Caleb. It’s too dangerous.” His eyes lightened, and his voice dipped low. “Come upstairs now, please.”
Pressure formed a thick band around my chest. As before, looking directly at Jesse was like trying to stare at the sun. Pain stabbed at my retinas, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from whimpering. Sitting was no longer an option. Move. I had to move because Jesse wanted it.
And because it would feel so good to go.
I went, the pressure easing enough for me to breathe without effort. But the weight in my chest didn’t dissolve. It tugged like an invisible hook embedded between my ribs, propelling me in his wake as he crossed the living room and climbed the stairs.
Shit, shit, shit. Everything about this was stupid. But I couldn’t turn back. My thoughts tumbled like clothes in a dryer, every spin of the drum yanking me between resistance and compliance. The hallway passed in a blur, until all I saw were Jesse’s broad shoulders and thick, dark hair.
Suddenly, the pressure lifted, and I realized we’d reached the bedroom. I leaned against the door frame as he went to the dresser and began rummaging in the drawers.
The handcuffs on top of the smooth, polished wood had me pushing away from the jamb like it was coated in poison.
“Please don’t put those on me again,” I blurted, the memory of the tingling, restless numbness flooding my mind. The whole time the metal had circled my wrists, my hands had felt like blood rushing back into my fingers after I’d fallen asleep in a weird position.
Jesse straightened, his gaze traveling from me to the cuffs. “I’d never leave you exposed to silver for long. I hesitated to restrain you at all, but I had to know what I was dealing with. If you’d been too far gone, I—” He stopped.
“What?” I asked. “Too far gone how?”
“To help,” he said. “Wolves who lose control before their first shift don’t always come back from it.” He shut the drawer, his manner suddenly brisk. “I don’t have any sweats in here. Give me a second, and I’ll grab some from my room.”
“Is there a bathroom I could use?” I asked, drawing on every second of those summer retreats.
Because my gaze had just snagged on something I’d missed before.
On the far side of the room, the moon shone through a window.
And outside, the roof sloped to a section as flat as the one at my parents’ house.
The bedroom was oriented the same as my room at home, which meant there was probably a bathroom directly—
“Behind you,” Jesse said, nodding to a door I’d mistaken for a closet. “I’ll be right back.”
“All right.” I turned and went through the motions, opening the door and flipping on the light.
I stopped in the center of the bathroom and took three slow, deep breaths.
Then I sprang into action, whirling and rushing through the door.
I had seconds, but that was okay. I knew this room.
I’d done this a hundred times. My heart pounded as I went to the window, shoved it open, and popped out the screen.
Then I was through the opening and onto the roof.
My breath puffed in the cold as I went to the edge and dropped to the frost-covered grass below.
I hit the ground hard, my teeth knocking together, but I didn’t stop.
And I didn’t look back as I sprinted into the night.