Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
bloom
At least ten minutes went by before the Alpha and Beta came back. Maybe twenty. The other guy wasn’t with them.
My fangs had finally retracted, and both of my neck wounds had already stopped bleeding, so Rhone’s blood had been effective.
I wasn’t actively dying anymore.
That was nice.
Why had Maverick bitten me, though? There was obviously more to it than just teeth in skin. The other guys hadn’t tried to bite me at all, so it couldn’t just be a general werewolf thing. And Maverick had done it twice.
I’d like to know, but finding the reason wasn’t anywhere near the top of my priority list. Mostly because the wolves could still be planning to kill me.
My hands were crusted with my blood, and my arms were folded over my growling stomach. I was in desperate need of a shower, but that was even lower on the priority list than the bite thing.
Survival was at the top.
Followed by food, now that I’d had enough blood to get by.
One sip of milk with sugar and a little coffee in it wasn’t enough of a breakfast before a person nearly bled out in a werewolf’s cage. Vampires needed food the way humans did, on top of the blood we couldn’t survive without.
Rhone had his arm over Maverick’s shoulders when they walked back in, but nothing about the contact was romantic or casual. It almost looked like the Beta was holding the Alpha down.
Maverick wasn’t fighting to get free, despite the obvious tension in his entire body.
Neither of them were bleeding anymore. Werewolves must’ve healed pretty quickly.
“Have you decided whether you’re going to kill me?” I asked, putting my palms on the tile and leaning back as if I was relaxed.
I wasn’t.
Obviously.
The dried blood all over me wasn’t helping, either. I shouldn’t have cared, but I was a little self-conscious about it anyway. I’d been trained to hide what I was for my whole life.
Maverick barely stifled a growl. “No one is killing anyone right now.”
Right now seemed like the most important part of that statement.
Rhone said, “Our focus is figuring out who drained Steven.”
“Okay,” I said. “If you know I wasn’t involved and aren’t going to kill me, I don’t see why you can’t just let me go.”
I couldn’t go back to my old life or job, but I could try to start fresh, couldn’t I? If I dyed my hair or moved to a different part of the city, I might be able to hide my identity again. It would be hell to start over, and I’d miss my life fiercely, but I’d figure it out.
“It’s not that simple,” Maverick said. “The videos of me carrying you down the street have already exploded on the internet. Right now, all of the humans think you’re the murderer.”
“Until you tell them otherwise.”
“The first few days after a crime are the most important. While the murderer thinks they’ve gotten away with it, they might slip up. We can’t clear your name or let you go until we’ve attempted to find whoever is really responsible,” Rhone stated.
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“Both.” Rhone released Maverick and walked toward to the cage. The way he looked over his shoulder made me think he was testing Maverick for some reason.
The Alpha’s jaw was clenched so tightly, he almost looked like he was in pain.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.
“What do you think?” Rhone asked.
I scowled. “Don’t mock me.”
“It’s a sincere question. What do you think is wrong with him?” Rhone gestured toward Maverick, who looked like he was fighting like hell not to attack his Beta again.
“I have no idea. I’m not a werewolf, remember?”
“Humor me,” Rhone said.
Did he seriously wanted me to guess?
Whatever.
“Rabies?”
“Basically.”
Maverick grunted.
“Really?” I asked.
“No.” Rhone stepped back, grabbing Maverick’s arm again. “We’re stocking an apartment and locking you inside. That should buy us enough time to find the murderer before we let you go. When are you going to need to feed again?”
“Three or four days would be best. A week at most.”
“We can be done by then. I’m sure you have an arrangement with someone to drink from.”
“I do.”
Maverick growled, but the Beta holding him back didn’t flinch.
“Male or female?” the Alpha gritted out.
I eyed him.
That was a very weird question.
Maybe he was just being thorough?
Rhone grunted. “You don’t need to answer that. Someone will be here to walk you to a room in the next hour. The bites on your neck should be healed by the time we let you go.”
“Okay…” I trailed off.
How would he know how fast they were going to heal?
For the first time in my life, I wished my many, many hours of vampire education had included at least a few basic details about werewolves other than that they turned into animals and hated us deeply.
Rhone basically dragged Maverick out of the room, and I was alone again.
I stared at the ceiling for a little longer before a woman came into the room. She didn’t bother with a greeting, and I didn’t dare risk pissing her off.
If the Alpha wasn’t going to kill me, I wasn’t about to get myself murdered by some random werewolf chick.
She didn’t ask any questions, or speak to me directly.
So, we were basically as close to best friends as a vampire and werewolf could be. Harper would be pissed that she’d been replaced by a silent werewolf.
I followed her silently out of the cage and back down the hallway Maverick had carried me through.
In the lobby, she hit a button to call the elevator.
More silence followed.
We rode the elevator to the fifth floor out of thirty-three. The Alpha Pack’s tower seemed to be the about same size as the Darkwood Investment office building.
My new best friend and I walked through the fifth floor. When we stopped in front of a door labeled 551, at the very end of what must’ve been the very last hallway, she finally spoke.
“Someone will come get you when the Alpha is ready for you to leave.”
Besties, for sure.
She shooed me toward the door.
I sniffed the air discreetly as I opened it. Just in case my new BFF wanted me dead, which seemed likely.
The scents told me that multiple werewolves had been inside recently, but it didn’t smell like any of them were still in there.
When I stepped inside, the door shut behind me quickly. I heard the lock click, and tested it.
Definitely locked from the outside.
Letting out a soft breath, I turned to look at my new cage. Err, apartment.
The large, arched windows and delicate stonework was as stunning as it was in the building I worked from. Decoration-wise, everything had been done in the werewolves’ preferred way, all cozy and oversized, with too many plants (both real and fake) around the apartment.
It made for a mismatch in styles, but I kind of liked it. And ultimately, it was still pretty damn comfortable for a prison cell.
For the moment, all I could do was try to pass the time and cross my fingers that the Alpha would actually let me leave at some point.
After poking around the rest of the apartment to make sure nothing was going to jump out and bite me, I took a shower and threw my colored contacts in the trash. I felt a lot better, and a lot more exhausted, after that.
I stared at my bright red eyes in the mirror for a good two minutes before I accepted that they somehow made me both creepier and sexier at the same time.
Then, I dried my wounds carefully before putting on a pair of cotton shorts and an oversized t-shirt I found in the closet. My bloody clothes needed to be burned. They still smelled like Maverick. I was pretty sure his scent was one with the fabric now.
My damp hair went up into a messy bun on top of my head to keep it off my neck. Whoever had stocked the apartment included a brush and a few hair ties, which was nice.
The bites Maverick had left on my neck were gnarly. Especially the newest one. Either way, they should heal in a few days without leaving a scar.
I hoped.
I had never been injured like that before, so I wasn’t sure. If I had, I definitely would’ve tried harder to feed every week, because it really fucking hurt.
There were premade meals and a plethora of snack foods in the kitchen, so I nuked some Hot Pockets for dinner. After a beat of hesitation, I grabbed a bag of gummy wolves too, before plopping down on the couch with every blanket I’d found on the bed.
Sugar would help with the pain in my neck. And the stress of knowing that the life I’d worked my ass off to build was over.
I turned on the first episode of my favorite TV show, and promptly allowed myself to become a potato.
For days.
I was snoring on the couch under a mountain of blankets, with an impressive hill of candy and snack wrappers on the ottoman, when the door to my cushy prison finally unlocked.
I jerked upright, my heavy eyelids flying open as my brain struggled to escape the hold of sleep. Starvation made me more sluggish than usual. My stomach was a cavernous pit of hunger.
A solid few seconds passed before I could connect the man in the doorway to the feral werewolf who had bitten me twice.
My neck still hadn’t finished healing, and ached constantly, so Rhone hadn’t known what he was talking about as far as healing time went.
Maverick’s scent drifted over to me, and I could’ve groaned.
Vanilla.
Cinnamon.
Perfection.
My fangs descended rapidly, throbbing so hard it hurt.
The Alpha was wearing a pair of jeans and another stupidly well-fitted t-shirt. There was a large, leather messenger bag hanging off his shoulder, which seemed out of place.
If he was going to free me, I wasn’t going to comment on his questionable choice in accessories.
Even if he wasn’t, I wasn’t going to risk my life to bring it up.
Maverick’s gaze skimmed my blanket setup and wrapper mountain.
I wasn’t going to apologize for the mess.
He’d been holding me prisoner even after he knew I was innocent. Yes, the cell was fairly comfortable, but they hadn’t let me have my phone. My friends and family had undoubtedly been freaking out the whole six days I was gone.
“Did you figure out who killed him?” I asked.
Maverick’s forehead creased.
Had he already forgotten? What the fuck?
“Steven,” I clarified.
His expression cleared. “No.”