Chapter 2 – Carla
CARLA
Footsteps on the stairs wake me from a restless sleep. I sit up, trying to work out what time it is, immediately alert, and listening in the darkness. My heart pounds, and I hold my breath, concentrating on the strides crossing the floor above me.
Too heavy for Billy. Too slow for Dave.
Leon.
The door creaks open, and the bear clan leader appears at the bottom of the stairs, massive and intimidating. At fifty-five, he’s still a formidable figure, six-foot-five and with a heavy-set build that makes him seem even bigger.
But it’s his cold, black eyes, like empty pits, that make my blood chill every time I see him. That and the knowledge that he has a plan for me. One I’m well aware I’m not going to like.
“Rise and shine, princess,” he says, his voice deceptively pleasant. “How are we feeling today?”
I say nothing, knowing from experience that engaging only prolongs his visits. He’ll get to the point if I don’t indulge his grandstanding.
“Not talkative? That’s fine.” He moves closer, and I force myself not to shrink back.
Bear’s noses are stronger than wolves, their sense of smell almost unparalleled, but I’m hoping my general stench from lack of hygiene is enough to cover any faint trace of my approaching heat. From the way his nose wrinkles and he stops short, I think I’m in luck.
“I just came to let you know I’ll be away for a few days. Important business at the Alpha Conference.” He rubs his huge, calloused hands together and gives me a smug grin.
The Alpha Conference. Where all the pack and clan leaders gather annually to discuss territories, settle disputes, and forge alliances. Somehow, I doubt Leon made the guest list.
“Don’t worry,” he continues, mistaking my silence for fear.
“I’ve left Billy to look after you. He seems to have taken a special interest in your welfare.
I’m going to enjoy reminding him of his place when I get back.
I’ll make sure he cleans you up for me before I return, just to fuck with his head. ”
My blood runs cold. Does he know? Has he noticed something between us?
“Though I can’t imagine why he’s so taken with you,” Leon adds with a cruel smile, as his lecherous gaze runs over my body. “You’re hardly his type. Bears prefer curves, she-wolf. Something to hold on to during mating.”
Relief mingles with disgust. He doesn’t know, he’s just being vile.
“When I get back,” Leon says, leaning closer, “we’ll have a different conversation about your... usefulness. If this all goes according to plan, you may have outlived your purpose as leverage.”
The threat is clear. Once he returns from the conference, if things go the way he’s hoping, I’m disposable.
“Until then, I’d think about what you might offer me that would convince me to keep you around.” Leon straightens, heading back to the stairs. I have nothing of use to him that would buy me some time.
Except my body. And unfortunately, I have a feeling that if he wants that, he’ll take it whether or not I offer it.
The door slams behind him, leaving me alone with my stomach in knots, my heart pounding and my thoughts racing. Leon is leaving for the Alpha Conference. Most of his men will go with him.
This might be my only chance to escape.
But how? The door is reinforced steel, the small window is too high and narrow to squeeze through. I’ve explored every inch of this prison over the past three weeks, searching for weaknesses but finding none.
My only hope is Billy. The son who disagrees with his father. The bear who brings me proper food and sits on the steps to talk. My mate.
The thought sends a fresh wave of panic through me.
Already, I can feel the early signs of pre-heat, sore, heavy breasts, heightened senses, rising body temperature, and a restlessness under my skin.
I’ve never experienced it before, but every she-wolf knows the signs. Every wolf knows what comes next.
Full heat. When it arrives, I’ll be at my most vulnerable. Desperate. Irrational with need. And it’ll attract the attention of any shifter close enough to scent it.
I pace the small confines of my cell, mind racing. If Billy is my mate, surely he must feel something, some pull toward me. Could it be enough to convince him to let me go?
Maybe not. His father is ruthless, and the consequences for him might be too great if he was to pretend I escaped.
Maybe fate is crueler than I thought, giving me a mate who can’t recognize what we are to each other.
I force myself to eat the second half of the sandwich left from yesterday despite the nausea rolling in my gut, knowing I’ll need my strength.
Hours pass, marked only by the steady drip of water from somewhere in the pipes, and the restless pacing of my wolf. When the door overhead opens again, I’m coiled tight with tension.
Billy descends the stairs, a different tray in his hands. Not food this time. First aid supplies.
“You’re hurt,” he says, nodding toward my arm. “I saw it yesterday, but I couldn’t get back without it looking… odd.”
He means suspicious. He can’t allow his father to think he cares in case he uses it against him. I don’t have the heart to tell him it’s too late for that.
Instead, I glance down, surprised to see a long scratch down my arm that I hadn’t noticed before. Must have happened when Leon was here, when I pressed against the rough wall to keep my distance.
“It’s nothing,” I say, but Billy’s already setting the tray down and opening an antiseptic wipe.
“Let me see.”
Something in his voice, not a command, but not quite a request, makes me extend my arm slowly.
His fingers are surprisingly gentle as he cleans the wound, his touch sending electricity skittering across my skin.
I watch him closely, but he gives me no sign that he’s getting the same shocks, the same tingles coursing through his body.
“My father left this morning,” he says quietly, focused on my arm. “Taking most of the clan with him. He won’t bother you for a few days.”
Billy’s jaw is clenched hard, and the tendons in his muscular neck are standing out.
I keep my breathing steady, though my heart races at his nearness.
I’ve never admired him up close like this before.
His square jaw, hidden under a thick beard, and brown hair I want to tangle my fingers in.
Damn, he smells so good. My insides practically melt as his scent swirls around inside me, making me feel drunk with its potency.
“Good riddance,” is all I can say.
A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “My thoughts exactly.”
Our eyes meet, and for a moment, I feel it again, that deep recognition, that pull. Does he feel it too? There’s something in his gaze, something questioning, curious. I curl my fingers to stop myself from reaching out to touch him, and as I do, I see my filthy skin and shrink back into myself.
How can he bear to touch me?
“You’re different today,” he says, applying a bandage to my arm. “Your scent...”
“Is vile?” I supply, with the embarrassment of how I must reek, making me want to crawl into a hole and hide.
“No,” he says abruptly, before softening his tone. “Something… else. Something… sweeter.”
Panic flares.
He’s noticed the change. Of course he has. He’s a bear, with senses more sensitive than any wolf. And if he has, others will too.
“I need you to do something for me,” I say quickly, desperate to distract him.
His eyebrows rise. “What?”
“Let me go.”
The words hang between us, heavy with consequence. I’m asking him to betray his father, his clan, for a wolf he barely knows. Possibly even risk his life.
“Please,” I add when he says nothing. “Leon said when he returns, I’ll have ‘outlived my usefulness.’ We both know what that means.”
Billy’s expression darkens, and he goes deathly still except for a muscle ticking in his jaw. “He told you that?”
I nod, hope flickering to life. “This might be my only chance. I can’t stay here and wait to see what he’s going to do to me.”
He stands abruptly, pacing the small space like a caged animal. Like I’ve been doing for three weeks.
“It’s not that simple,” he says finally. “The territory is still guarded. Whatever he’s up to… everyone is here. It’s not like you can just disappear...”
I’ll take my chances. Getting caught running is a better way to die than being stuck in this dark hovel.
“They don’t have to know you helped. I can pretend I got out on my own.”
Billy looks at me like I’m stupid. Maybe that is a stupid idea, and nobody will believe I got past him without help, but I’m desperate.
“And if they catch you?” he asks, his handsome face schooled into an expression of genuine concern.
Then I’ll be dead. The words sit unspoken between us.
I stare back at him mutely. He knows it. I know it. It doesn’t need to be said.
Billy runs a hand through his hair, agitation clear in every line of his body. “I need time to think. To plan.”
Not the ‘yes’ I was hoping for, but not a ‘no’ either. Hope flares inside me.
“Please,” I say, unable to keep the desperation from my voice.
He studies me for a long moment, something flickering in his dark eyes. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” he says finally. “We’ll talk about it then.”
With that vague statement, he gathers the first aid supplies and leaves; the door closing firmly behind him without a backward glance.
I sink on the cot, trembling with equal parts hope and fear.
Will he help me? Can I trust him?
The mate bond urges me to believe in him, but experience has taught me not to trust anyone. Especially not a bear. Especially not Leon Lennox’s son.
But as night falls, and the basement grows colder, I find myself unable to stop thinking of Billy’s gentle hands. His quiet voice. The way he looked at me, as if seeing something no one else does. Past the dirty clothes and the tangled hair.
My mate. The man I may have to leave behind to save my life.