Chapter 5
Four days later, Koe sat in his office. Body reclined back in his leather office chair, his hiking boots propped up on his desk, he prodded his Beta, “So what did she say?” His eyes were on the large flat screen, watching Jury where she sat on the edge of her cot, head down, rocking back and forth.
Thrall lay on a reading couch in front of a wall lined with shelves of books. He was tossing a baseball up and catching it on repeat. “Same shit as yesterday. I gotta get to my sister. My sister this, my sister that, blah blah blah.”
Koe tore his gaze from the screen to shoot Thrall a menacing look. “I know what she said, Fuck Face!” He tossed a hand toward the large flat screen. “What I want to know is shit I can’t pick up from watching her through the camera feed. What’s her scent? Is she doing okay? How does she look?”
Thrall caught the ball and then grinned at the ceiling.
“She smells fucking great, and she looks,” he paused to inhale audibly.
Before he could finish the thoughts, a book sailed across the room and slapped him hard in the side of the head, causing him to drop his ball before he turned and shot Koe an offended look. “What the fuck?”
Koe pointed at the door. “Get out and send me D.”
Thrall sat up, eyes rounding. “Daemon? You think Daemon can do a better job than me?”
Koe snarled, “I think a fucking rock can do a better job than you.”
Getting to his feet, Thrall shook his head. “It’s not my fault, Koe. Have you seen her?”
Koe’s hard gaze sliced back to the TV. Yeah, he’d seen her.
He’d been watching her every move since he’d put her in that cell.
It was becoming something of an obsession.
It was something that he told himself he was doing for the good of the pack, but damn, he just couldn’t stop checking on her.
The day after she’d arrived, he’d taken her to the private bathroom and shower located in the corridor just outside of her cell and given her freshly cleaned clothes back to her.
She’d showered and changed into her own clothes, and when she’d stepped out of the bathroom with her long, dark hair braided into a damp twist, Koe felt his gut clench.
She was like a sleek black cat with crystalline eyes and fuck if he didn’t want to pet her.
That day, he decided to keep his distance.
Now, pacing away from Thrall to keep himself from punching a hole through him for the comment, he thundered, “Go and get me Daemon!”
Thrall hurried from his office, and alone and waiting for Daemon, Koe wasn’t sure what it was he was expecting his guys to deliver.
Pissed, he turned and looked at Jury on the screen.
He watched her for a minute, feeling sick to his stomach at the sight of her rocking.
She seemed agitated and…scared? Ill? Lonely?
Plowing a hand through his hair, he hissed, “Ffffuck!” Before he could change his mind, he charged down the hall to the stairs, on his way to Jury’s cell.
***
Jury rocked back and forth, attempting to soothe her wolf.
It was torture for a shifter to be locked up, especially in such a small cell.
Part of her almost wished they’d come take her to torture her, so she’d at least get a change of scenery.
A million ideas had gone through her head while she’d waited.
Maybe when they came back, she’d shift and charge for the door.
Maybe she’d pretend to be sick, so when they came to check on her, she could catch them by surprise.
All the ideas were terrible. There wasn’t a shifter here she’d be able to overpower. Still, she had to try…right?
Ears pricking at approaching feet, Jury’s heart started hammering hard. She had to do something. She just had to! Shooting to her feet, she balled her hands into tiny fists, dipped her chin, and waited.
When the door opened, she launched herself at the male standing there, realizing too late that it was Alpha Koe.
She hadn’t seen him in days and hadn’t expected him to make another appearance.
Leave it to her to make an escape attempt the day he chose to come back.
But the bell had already been rung, and all she could do was her best. She fought as hard as she could without unleashing her wolf.
She was worried about using her animal against the Alpha.
She wanted out of the cell, but not in a pine box.
And her using her wolf would be excuse enough for him to use his, and while male wolves were large, Alpha’s were always titans.
Always! Her wolf would stand no chance against his, but her slight human frame might be able to find a small window of escape.
She struggled against Koe, hearing him hiss, “Jesus Christ!”
Then, almost as quickly as it started, it was over. She was on the bed, trapped beneath Koe’s big body, her legs braced on either side of him, his weight settled between her thighs, and her arms pinned beside her head. Chest heaving, she glared up at him as he frowned down at her.
His tone was angry when he snarled, “The fuck, Jury?”
“If your plan is to keep me imprisoned, just kill me now,” she panted, tears flooding her eyes. She didn’t bother trying to mask her emotions.
Above her, Koe stilled at her words. Slowly, he released her wrists and eased back a fraction. “No one’s going to kill you.”
“Then what’s the plan?” she snapped, unable to keep the tremble from her voice. “Keep me locked up? Why? Just kill me or let me go.”
“Jury,” he breathed, brushing hair back from her face.
“No!” she snapped angrily through her tears, unable to stop herself from raging. “You’re wasting my time! I need to get the fuck out of here so I can go back and rescue Narae. You’re wasting my time. Time Narae doesn’t have.”
Confusion clouded his features, “You want to go back?”
“No!” she sobbed. “The absolute last thing I want to do is go back to Bragga. But I can’t stop worrying about Narae.
You’ve had me for days,” she accused angrily.
Quietly, she breathed, “God knows what they’ve done to her if they found out she helped me.
” Then more loudly she argued, “You know I’m not a threat.
Let me go!” It was a demand; it was a plea. It was…
Why is he looking at me like that?
Koe’s expression was soft, almost concerned. Did he believe her? Could she take advantage of this moment of weakness? Should she?
***
Knowing that Jury wanted to charge back to Bragga to fight for her sister made Koe want to keep her even more. Hell, it made him want to go to Biter territory to do the job for her.
Inside his wolf whispered, “And maybe that’s her plan.”
But looking down at her, Koe felt like he was drowning. She couldn’t fake her scent; she couldn’t feign anguish. She was staring at him expectantly, hopefully. Koe’s gaze lowered to Jury’s plush lips, lingering there a moment before sliding back up to lock on her eyes. Fuck, she was beautiful.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Dameon growled from the doorway, startling both Koe and Jury.
In a flash, Koe was up off Jury and pacing away from her.
Daemon stepped into the hall to let him pass. “Thrall said you wanted to see me.”
Fuck! Had he summoned Daemon? He didn’t remember.
Turning to face Daemon, Koe was looking at his Enforcer, but his attention was on Jury.
She pushed up to a sitting position and straightened her clothes before lifting her hands and smoothing down her hair.
He realized how bad things must have looked when Daemon walked in on them.
“She attacked me,” Koe offered to explain the scene Daemon had walked on. When Daemon shot Jury a dark look over his shoulder, Koe hurriedly tacked on, “Easily thwarted.”
Brows shooting up, Daemon drawled, “I should fucking hope so.” Then he demanded, “What do you want?”
And just like that, Koe’s wolf surged to the fore. He tried to give Daemon leeway in the pack because he wasn’t raised like the rest of them, but often, Daemon needed to be reminded of his place in the hierarchy.
“You’ve got a new charge,” Koe bit out, motioning toward Jury. “Get her secured in a guest room. If she escapes or kills anyone, it’s on you.” Turning, he gave Daemon his back and stalked down the corridor.
“What? No!” Daemon bellowed and turned to follow Koe. “Hell no! I ain’t babysitting no woman!”
Koe didn’t break stride. Loosing his Alpha authority with a sharp lash, he growled, “Yes. You are.”
Behind him, Daemon stalled and muttered, “Motherfucker!”
In the stairwell, Koe double-timed it back up to his office. He told himself it was because he wanted to watch Daemon’s misery in real time, but the truth was, he wanted to make sure Daemon was gentle with Jury in her transition from prisoner to “guest”.
Thrall passed him on the stairs, eyeing him suspiciously. “Why are you grinning like a maniac?”
Koe kept climbing the stairs, “Jury’s moving to a guest room. Daemon’s in charge of her, and you're in charge of making sure he doesn’t try to slink off. Enjoy.”
“What?” Thrall bellowed? “Why? What did I do? I wasn’t even there!”
Koe grinned as he reached the top of the stairs and stalked toward his office. Some days it felt really good to be in charge.