21. Chapter 21
twenty-one
The next few hours, Cyrus found himself slipping in and out of consciousness.
He was hungry, exhausted, aching. The adrenaline he felt with his sudden anger hadn’t lasted nearly as long as he would have hoped.
Now and again, Jasmine would leave a fancy new cut along his shoulders.
He blinked awake for a few minutes. She would only hurt him when she was sure he was going to feel it.
Cyrus had known she wanted power, but he hadn’t known she had this in her.
Cyrus had done many things in his life. Some could be deemed evil, though they were for what he thought was good.
Most of what he had done was to protect someone else.
What Jasmine was doing…seemed wholly self-serving.
The look he caught in her eyes now and again startled even him.
“You could be a good boy, you know,” Jasmine said as she was crouched down to look at him. “Pledge your allegiance to me, fight on my side. Get to live.” He watched through heavy lids as she frowned. “I don’t like hurting you.”
Cyrus snorted, leaning forward slightly. His curls were hanging downward. “Oh really?” he asked, voice hoarse. “Y-You seem to be enjoying yourself plenty.”
Jasmine glared at him. “I want what’s best for us,” she insisted, her face tense. “Liam wanted what was best for us.”
Cyrus eyed her, though he found it difficult to keep his eyes open.
“Liam…” he mumbled, focusing heavily on staying awake, he licked at his lips, but it offered him nothing. “Why?” He struggled to get the whole question out.
“Why was he working with me?” she asked.
Cyrus sighed, doing his best to hold his head up.
“He knew you wouldn’t let our packs combine if it were something that…wasn’t thrust upon you,” she explained and then touched his chin with the knife, right under the healing cut. “He was most certainly right, wasn’t he?”
Jasmine chuckled, “But I didn’t want to co-run with him,” she admitted. “He wasn’t going to last long once what was done was done.”
Cyrus’s jaw tightened but only for a moment. He didn’t have it in him to tense up much.
He couldn’t hold his eyes open any longer. He let his head drop and listened to the sound of Jasmine’s footsteps as she moved several feet away and a chair creak as she sat down in it. He could hear the stairs creak as well, but he couldn’t manage to lift his head.
He took a slow breath through his nose and was grateful for the next time his mind decided to go dark.
***
Cyrus was rudely awakened by the sound of the stairs creaking loudly and voices. A familiar one. He opened his eyes enough to see Gabe standing there, black hair unruly and his eyes filled with fear. As their gazes met, he watched the look on Gabe’s face morph into horror.
“Cyrus!” he gasped. Gabe tugged away from the hand that was on his arm. “Don’t touch me!”
He growled. “Why do you have him?” Gabe asked. “We didn’t do anything. You said we had until the full moon.”
Jasmine stood there with her arms folded.
“You did,” she said. “This one here decided to come here and try to challenge me in your stead.” She waved her knife at Cyrus. He flinched.
“What?” Gabe asked.
“You didn’t even notice he was gone?” Jasmine asked and frowned. “Poor thing. See, he doesn’t care about you.”
Cyrus swallowed hard and moved his eyes to the floor. He struggled against the chains for a moment as much as he could to no avail.
“I-I…” Gabe said slowly. “I didn’t think he’d be stupid enough to come here!” Cyrus felt his head tugged up by a small hand. Jasmine yanked at his hair to hold his head up for him.
“See that, you’re stupid,” Jasmine chuckled. “Going against your Alpha like that…”
Cyrus huffed, trying to tug his head away from Jasmine with no luck.
“You didn’t even…think?” Cyrus mumbled, his heart aching. He saw the pain in Gabe’s eyes and wanted to look away, but he couldn’t.
“You told me…how much it hurt when you lost Kasper and then run off here to get yourself killed?!” Gabe asked him, anger on his face, hands in fists.
“You were going to!” Cyrus growled, voice louder than he’d been able to manage it for days.
He felt his eyes burn, but there wasn’t enough to drip down his face.
Gabe raked his fingers through his hair. “And you!” He motioned to Jasmine. “You could’ve just called me to get him, let me handle it until our agreed time.” He stepped closer to her. “Instead you—you torture him?!” he asked. “What the fuck kind of Alpha are you?”
Jasmine let go of Cyrus’s hair in a rather aggressive fashion, and his head fell downward. He hissed in pain.
“What kind of Alpha are you?” Jasmine asked.
“Not even knowing where your second in command is.” She furrowed her brow but then smiled a little.
“I could’ve agreed to his challenge, killed him, but…
” She sighed. “That wouldn’t be fair to you.
You’re Alpha. I kept him here so we could have a fair fight. ”
“Liar,” Cyrus hissed and struggled against his chains again.
He felt dizzy with anger and pain.
His heart was aching. He barely managed to tilt his head up to look at Gabe. Heart squeezing.
“I just…didn’t want you to die,” he whispered as Gabe met his eyes. He needed him to hear it. See the pain in his gaze, listen to it in his voice.
Gabe looked back at him in equal measure.
Cyrus loved him. More than he had realized. It hurt to think about losing someone else he loved, but…perhaps the choice to offer himself had been born more of selfish than protection.
Gabe turned to look at Jasmine once more.
“Fine, you want a fair fight. That is what I am here to offer you,” Gabe told her. “I challenge you. Whoever comes out alive gets both packs. No argument from pack members. Anyone who wants to leave will be able to within the first month.”
Jasmine chuckled. “Took you long enough,” she said with a sigh. “I simply want to do things fairly. The challenge happens at sunset.”
Gabe’s jaw set. “Agreed,” he said. “If you remove the chains from Cyrus.”
Jasmine looked over at Cyrus and clicked her tongue. “Now, that isn’t part of the deal. Cyrus came here and threatened me. He’s yours if you win,” she told him.
Gabe growled under his breath. “At least give him some fucking food.”
Jasmine looked over at Oliver and motioned him upstairs. Oliver nodded and left, though not without shooting a glare at Gabe and Cyrus.
“Food will be brought,” Jasmine said. “You’re free to stay down here until sunset.” She gave Cyrus a pained look.
“Did you bring any others?” Jasmine asked. “Be honest now.”
Gabe shook his head. “No, this is my challenge. I would have brought many if this challenge had been set and planned, but you give me no choice,” he replied. “You get all your support, and I have Cyrus.”
“Is he not enough?” Jasmine asked.
“No, he is,” Gabe replied. “All the motivation I need and more.”
Jasmine said nothing else and started up the stairs.
Cyrus felt like he was going to black out again.
Once they were the only two in the room, Cyrus felt Gabe’s presence closer to him, in front of him. Gabe grabbed his chin and gently tilted it upward. Even so, Cyrus still hissed softly.
“I’m sorry,” Gabe whispered. “Are you okay?” He sighed. “Stupid question.”
Cyrus felt Gabe tilt his head from side to side to look at it.
“I’m alive,” Cyrus mumbled, eyes closing.
“Good,” Gabe replied quietly. “How could you fucking do this?”
Cyrus opened his eyes, a frustrated shiver running through him.
“How could you?” Cyrus hissed at him.
“It’s my responsibility!” Gabe told him. “And you didn’t even talk about this with me, you…” Gabe shook his head, blinking, and then eyed Cyrus.
“God, look at you,” he said, voice cracking and rubbing his thumbs gently along Cyrus’s cheeks. “I will win, for you. I will win for what they’ve done to you.”
The stairs creaked once more, and there was Oliver. Looking about as pleased as someone on bed rest about getting Cyrus food.
“Here,” Oliver mumbled and held a bowl out to Gabe. It was steaming with warmth. Just looking at it made Cyrus’s stomach growl painfully, and he groaned.
Four days without food. Could be worse. He’d gone several days without food, but he’d at least had water then.
Gabe took the bowl with one hand, so it wasn’t so hot that he couldn’t touch it. The basement was freezing after all. A plastic fork stuck out of the top of it.
When Cyrus’s head was let go, it nearly fell back into its hanging position, but he managed.
He looked at the food in the bowl Gabe had in front of him.
Canned ravioli. His mouth watered.
“Here,” Gabe said quietly as Oliver made his way back up the stairs.
Cyrus let Gabe feed him; he had no other choice. It hurt his pride a bit, but he was starving. Once the first mouthful or two were in his mouth, he didn’t care who was feeding him.
It was the best canned ravioli he’d had and likely would ever have in his entire life.
The next moment Cyrus knew, he was waking up. His head was aching, but at least he wasn’t starving anymore. The ground beneath him wasn’t cold and hard anymore. Instead, it was cold and soft. Grass tickled at the sides of his legs and his hands that curled.
The moon was bright in his eyes, though not full. He groaned and shifted. Feeling something resist his movements. His back scraped against the bark. Cyrus looked behind and around him as his vision cleared.
Outside.
He was outside but still chained.
Cyrus grunted.
“I’m sorry, it was…the best I could get them to do.” Gabe’s voice came from the side of him.
Cyrus looked over and let his head lean back against the tree. He saw Gabe standing there, and then he squatted down.
“I wanted you to be here,” Gabe said, his voice wrinkled with concern.
Cyrus huffed as he looked out over and saw Jasmine standing several yards away.
“I’m chained here to watch you die, great,” Cyrus mumbled. “Thanks so much.” His face fell from a mock look of appreciation to a glare.
Gabe sighed. “No hope in me?” he asked.