Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
CALEB
It took four-and-a-half steps to get from one side of my cell to the other. I knew because I’d paced it for the past two days.
At least, that was my best guess. I had no idea how long I’d been locked in the damp, windowless space. Everything was gray: the walls, the floor, the metal bunk bolted to the concrete. The toilet and the thick, solid door. They’d given me a gray blanket but no pillow.
The overhead light provided the only splash of color.
The buzzing, white fluorescent glow never turned off, which made sleep all but impossible.
I’d grabbed naps here and there, alternating between draping the blanket over my eyes or balling it under my head.
But I was definitely running a deficit on REM cycles.
Food delivery offered the only break in the monotony. Every once in a while, one of the werewolves who’d knocked me out at the manor house showed up with a plate. Ripped like a pro wrestler, he’d ignored all my attempts to engage him in conversation.
The food was as bland as my surroundings: cold grilled cheese on thin bread, paper cups of watery soup, and pale tea with grit floating on the surface.
“No sugar?” I’d asked the guard the third time he’d delivered the same meal.
He’d given me a long, hard look before slamming the door.
“Roid rage,” I’d muttered, half-hoping he’d come back just to give me something to do besides worry about Jesse.
He was alive. I knew it in my bones. People said that sometimes, but they didn’t really mean it because they’d never been mated to a werewolf. But I was, and I knew with bone-deep certainty that Jesse was alive. That knowledge was the only thing preventing me from spiraling.
The door’s lock clicked suddenly. I jumped off the bunk, some instinct pulling me to my feet before I’d made the decision to move.
Stefanos Tasakis stepped into the cell.
Every inch of my skin prickled. The second our eyes met, pain stabbed at my skull. I jerked my head down, and the discomfort vanished. But the prickling awareness remained, making me feel like I was eight years old grabbing laundry from my parents’ basement.
“If you walked into a room full of werewolves, you’d sense the hierarchy without anyone telling you.” I hadn’t really understood it when Jesse said it. But I did now.
Stefanos radiated the same kind of Fuck Around and Find Out energy as scorpions and rattlesnakes. I kept my eyes on a patch of concrete at his feet and waited for him to speak.
“Look at me,” he said.
My head jerked up without my permission.
I braced for pain, but it didn’t come. He watched me with an eerie stillness, and the prickling crawled under my skin and shivered over my bones.
He wore his hair on the longer side, the black strands brushing his collar.
An Apple watch circled his wrist. The last jarred me in an odd way.
He probably predated electricity, yet here he was checking his notifications and closing his rings.
“I apologize for the accommodations,” he said in a deep voice. He sounded American, but I got the feeling he wasn’t anything of the sort. “The cells are uncomfortable but necessary,” he added.
I bit my tongue. My mouth had gotten me into plenty of trouble over the years. The consequences had rarely been pretty, but potential death had never been one of them.
So I didn’t ask for a comp or threaten to call the health department.
He regarded me with something that might have been approval.
“Everything I’ve read about you indicates you possess above-average intelligence.
I assume you’ve guessed that I’m a member of the Council of Elders.
But allow me to confirm it. I don’t believe in ambiguity.
So often, clarity is the difference between life and death. ”
He paused like he expected me to fill the silence.
“Okay,” I said.
“I’m one of twelve members of the Council.”
A second okay would probably seem rude. But how else could I respond?
Congratulations?
I bet that looks great on LinkedIn?
Where the fuck is Jesse?
The last hovered on my tongue when he said, “Not everyone is cut out for immortality. Our gifts come with certain instincts and urges. We change only those capable of handling the kind of power we wield.”
Next, he was going to start talking about the Force. Maybe all werewolves had a Star Wars kink.
“You were created by a rogue,” Stefanos said. “Ulfrik was out of control when he turned you, which means you’re cursed to carry the same madness. Our laws call for you to be put to death.”
Ah. There it was.
Fear knotted my gut. Then, weirdly, something like relief flowed through me.
Which was probably a batshit emotion on the heels of hearing him say he wanted to kill me.
But there was twisted comfort in someone finally saying it out loud.
No more guessing. No more lying awake under surgical lights wondering what was coming. This was coming.
I didn’t want to die. But it wasn’t like I had a choice.
Stefanos was obviously capable of carrying out his threat, and there were eleven others just like him.
What hope did I have against that kind of power?
None. Ulfrik had turned me, and that was that.
It didn’t matter that I’d never asked for it. Jesse had done everything he could.
The knots moved into my throat.
I was powerless. But maybe the Council would honor a last request.
“What about Jesse?” I asked. “You can’t hurt him.”
Stefanos’s eyebrows rose. “You’re not going to plead for your own life?”
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “He only ever tried to help me.”
“And helped himself to your bed.”
Anger fired, and I lifted my chin. “Nice to know there are homophobes among werewolves, too.”
He gave me a patient look. “I’m Greek, boy, and a great deal older than I look. You think Americans invented queerness?”
I shut my mouth. Just how old was he?
Stefanos smiled.
My mind immediately supplied me with the answer.
Old. Not feta-and-ferry boats Greek. More like Parthenon Greek. As in, maybe he’d seen it built.
Jesse had said werewolves got more powerful with age. In that case, Stefanos might be the most powerful werewolf alive. Which meant he was also someone who could make sure Jesse walked away from this.
My mind carried me back to apple slices on a cutting board.
To warm water pounding on my shoulders and a pair of chocolate-brown eyes peering up at me through long lashes.
To steak cooked exactly the way I liked it.
To sprints under the night sky. To Jesse kissing the tears from my eyes. To brownies in plastic wrappers.
“Leave Jesse alone,” I said. “Do whatever you want to me, but no one touches him.”
Stefanos’s dark eyes were steady. “You’re in no position to negotiate.”
“I’m not negotiating.”
The pressure came out of nowhere. One second I was standing. The next, my knees slammed into the concrete. Pain blasted me, and I couldn’t smother my cry.
I couldn’t move, either. I knelt, the cold concrete seeping into my throbbing knees, my eyes on Stefanos like I was locked in a tractor beam.
Deep in my mind, my wolf bucked against the restraints and got nowhere. My beast was just as trapped as I was.
Stefanos stared down at me with a mild expression. “You presume to make demands of me.”
It wasn’t a question.
Every instinct screamed at me to lower my head—to avoid the stare of a vastly more powerful wolf. But I couldn’t move.
“Yes,” I croaked.
Stefanos narrowed his eyes, which had lightened to a rich, glowing gold. “You’re not as intelligent as I thought.”
Eyes streaming, I dragged in oxygen. “You’re going to kill me anyway. Just…leave Jesse…alone.”
Stefanos stared. The pressure held. Then it intensified, squeezing me from head to toe.
My skull pounded. My ribs contracted, bone vibrating like it might give way.
Okay, so his gift was boa constrictor, which would have been nice to know ahead of time.
Black spots floated at the edges of my vision.
Just when the cell went blurry, the pressure lifted.
I collapsed forward, catching myself on my palms. My arms shook as I hung my head and sucked in air.
Stefanos turned and left, the cell door clanging shut behind him.
I struggled to my feet and staggered to the cot. What a dick. I slumped against the wall and waited for my head to stop pounding.
The door opened, and Stefanos entered with Jesse on his heels.
I jumped to my feet, my heart slamming against my ribs.
“You have two minutes,” Stefanos said before stepping out and closing the door.
Jesse crossed the cell in two strides and pulled me against him. Emotion lodged in my throat and stuck there.
“Are you okay?” he asked, arms tight around my back. He pulled away and ran anxious eyes over me like he needed to see for himself. “Did they hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, giving him the same treatment. He looked exhausted but unhurt, although he’d obviously been staying in a cell like mine. His clothes were rumpled, and his usual five o’clock shadow was well on its way to becoming a beard.
The anxiety in his eyes didn’t ease. “They’re going to put you on trial.”
“What, like I stole something?”
“No.” He exhaled. “They want to test you. But, baby—” The anxiety deepened. “These tests are designed for you to fail. They want to prove that you lack control.”
“So what do I do?”
“They’ll provoke you.” He tightened his grip on my arms. “They’ll reach into your mind, seize your worst fears, and force you to live them.”
The last grilled cheese I’d eaten tried to climb back up my throat. I swallowed hard and forced a smile. “Worse than being locked in a concrete box with no pillow?”
His eyes went watery. He made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. Then he cupped my face in both hands and just looked at me.
“I love you so damn much,” he said. “I’d tell you to stop being a smartass, but I can’t. I don’t want to change anything about you.”
My insides buzzed like that Operation board game I’d played as a kid, every part of me lit up and humming.
And, suddenly, I was done being okay with dying.
I wanted to live—and I refused to do it without Jesse by my side.
I’d told myself that I loved him but could live without him if I had to.
But that was a lie. Something I’d come up with to feel safer.
There was no version of my life worth living that didn’t have him in it.
I smiled, and it was real this time. “Then I guess I have to prove them wrong.”
“Caleb—”
“I’m not going to fail,” I said. “My worst fear is losing you, and no one can make me believe that’ll ever happen.” I stroked his jaw, letting the soft hair tickle my fingertips. “You wake up before dawn just to listen to me breathe. You’re down bad, Mr. van der Meer. I’m stuck with you.”
He released a shaky laugh. Then he jerked me against him and kissed me. For a second, I thought about how I hadn’t brushed my teeth in two days. Then I decided I didn’t give a single fuck and kissed him back.
We pulled away at the same time, and he rested his forehead against mine. We stayed like that, breathing each other’s air.
“I think this is our love language,” I murmured. “Forehead frotting.”
His shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. “Fuck,” he said, sounding breathless and a little wrecked.
I drew back and smiled. “That too. Definitely that one.”
The door opened. Stefanos entered with the two burly wolves behind him. He looked between me and Jesse with an unreadable expression.
“It’s time,” he said.