by Lola Gabriel
Ellery felt her shoulders slump but Grey quickly reassured her.
“It’s okay,” he said. “My pack will come looking for me when I don’t return. They’ll get us out of here. I swear I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” he said.
Ellery felt warmth spreading through her insides at his words. Did that mean he felt something for her? She hoped it did, but it could just mean that he was a decent person who didn’t want to see anyone get hurt.
“What’s your name?” he asked her.
“Ellery Martin,” she said.
“Ellery,” Grey repeated. “It’s a pretty name. Pretty like you.”
Ellery blushed, looking down at the ground and smiling. She knew she should be thinking about escape, about her predicament, but for a moment there, it felt like she and Grey were the only two people in the world, like they were just two normal people getting to know each other.
“Do you have any idea why you’re here or what Alex is planning on doing with you?” Grey asked.
“It’s kind of a long story,” Ellery smiled.
“It’s not like I have anywhere else to be,” Grey replied, returning her smile.
Ellery nodded and launched into her story. She told Grey about losing her job and moving back in with her parents. She told him about the fire that killed them both and how she suspected arson, but the police ruled it out. She told him about how Miami was meant to be a fresh start for her.
Maybe it is, she thought, but didn’t say. Maybe Grey is my fresh start and I just had to go through this hell first to prove that I’m worthy of him. She dismissed the idea. She couldn’t let herself get too caught up in the idea of her and Grey. As much as she wanted him, it didn’t mean he felt the same way about her, and it certainly didn’t give her any way to get out of this mess. And that had to be her priority right now.
She recounted how she had gone for a coffee with a stranger and he had taken her and brought her here. She told him how the man had said he had killed her parents. She could see Grey getting angry as she told him her story, but she told herself that didn’t mean anything. Any decent person would be angry to learn that she was being treated this way.
“The man who brought you here. Was that Alex?” Grey asked.
“No,” Ellery said. “At least I don’t think so. I haven’t seen Alex, but the man said his name was Kiefer. I know he could have been lying, but Ava and Lisa said the man is something called a Matchmaker. That means…”
“I know what it means,” Grey interrupted her. “And I know Kiefer. He’s scum and this is exactly something he would do. What I can’t work out is why a Matchmaker is suddenly running around the city providing humans to Alex’s pack.”
“Lisa and Ava told me Alex collects women with a certain protein—Silmer? Something like that,” Ellery said.
“Sanmere?” Grey said.
“Yes, Sanmere. That was it,” Ellery confirmed. “He can apparently turn anyone with that protein in them into a shifter. He has already done it to who knows how many women. His plan is to have a whole harem of mates.”
“Son of a bitch,” Grey growled.
“Yeah. That,” Ellery smiled. Her smile faded as she went on. “He’s due to take another mate some time tomorrow, and by all accounts, I’m next. Grey, I don’t want to be Alex’s mate. I don’t want to be a shifter. I just want to go home.”
Ellery felt tears flooding into her eyes as she told Grey she wanted to go home. She tried to blink them back, but they started to flow and she found that she couldn’t stop them. Grey moved closer to her.
“Hey, come on, it’s okay,” he said as he enveloped her in his arms.
Ellery’s body came to life as Grey hugged her. Her skin tingled and her insides knotted themselves up in the most delicious way. It was far from okay, but somehow, wrapped up in Grey’s arms, Ellery felt safer than she had ever felt in her whole life, and somehow, she almost believed that it would be okay. Almost, but not quite.
“How will it be okay, Grey?” she asked quietly, pulling her head back slightly so she could look at him.
“I told you I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, Ellery, and I won’t. I swear it,” he vowed.
He looked her directly in the eye as he said it, and Ellery knew he meant it. She could see the fire in his eyes as he said it. But wanting to keep someone safe and actually being able to when you were a prisoner yourself were two completely different things.
“How can you stop this, though?” she whispered.
Grey leaned forward and kissed her forehead, making her gasp in a breath as his lips touched her skin. He stroked her hair as she rested her head back on his shoulder.
“I will find a way,” he said with conviction. “Ellery, I know you’ve only just met me and this is a big ask, but I need you to trust me. Do you think you can do that?”
“Yes,” Ellery said without hesitation.
Maybe she was making a huge mistake, the biggest mistake she had ever made in her life, but her instincts told her that she could trust Grey. Those same instincts had told her that her parents’ house fire had been no accident, and she had ignored them. They had been right, and this time, she wasn’t going to ignore her instincts. She was going to listen to them, and she was going to put her fate in Grey’s hands, because every instinct in her body told her that’s what she needed to do.
As she let herself relax and trust Grey to keep her safe, a wave of tiredness washed over her. She had planned on staying awake tonight, even after Grey woke up, hopefully getting to talk to the pack he said was coming. But suddenly, that didn’t seem so important. She stayed where she was, wrapped up in Grey’s arms, her head on his shoulder, and when her eyes slipped closed, she didn’t open them again. Instead, she did what she had said she was going to do. She put her trust in Grey completely and let herself get the sleep her body so desperately needed.
7
Grey realized Ellery had fallen asleep in his arms. It felt good sitting here holding her, feeling the warmth of her body against his. He could feel his body responding to the closeness of her, but he didn’t think trying to wake her with a kiss and make love to her was the way to gain her trust. His wolf, though dormant, still stirred within him, reminding him that Ellery was his, telling him to claim her. He ignored his wolf.
As much as he wanted to stay in place, holding Ellery, feeling his arms rise and fall in time with her breathing, he knew he couldn’t. Anything could happen now, and he had promised Ellery he would keep her safe. It wouldn’t do to have Alex and his men burst in here and him be unable to react because Ellery was in his arms. He knew he had to let her go.
He moved her gently, not wanting to wake her. He didn’t know what time it was, but he knew it was late, and Ellery must be tired, especially after the crying fit that had wracked her body and left her shaking in his arms. He managed to lay her down on the floor beside him. He wasn’t ready to remove all contact between them, though, and he put his hand protectively on her upper arm. He wished there was a way to make her more comfortable.
He removed his jacket and his hoodie, leaving himself chilly in a short-sleeved t-shirt. He wasn’t worried about his own comfort, only hers. He spread his hoodie over Ellery and then he rolled his jacket into a ball. He lifted her head with one hand, slipping the jacket beneath her head. She didn’t stir, not even when he lifted her head, and he knew he had been right to let her sleep.
He wished he could lie down beside her, pulling her against him and wrapping his arms around her, but he needed to stay awake. He had to be alert for whatever came next. His hope was that Ariel came through for him. That she executed her plan to come and look for him when he didn’t arrive at her place by four a.m. He knew she would come. She was loyal to a fault and she wouldn’t let him down.
But Ellery’s words played in his mind. Alex was taking his next mate tomorrow, and there was a chance that Ariel wouldn’t be able to locate them quickly enough to stop that from happening. Of course, the best-case scenario w
as that Ariel arrived in time and was able to free them all. But if she didn’t, he had another plan in mind.
He felt like that was the plan he would need to be alert for, and he couldn’t afford to wait until the last moment to bring that plan to the table. He thought it would take a while for him to convince Ellery it was a good plan. And if he couldn’t? Well, then he would have to do it anyway. It would save Ellery from a fate worse than death, but she would hate him for it. The thought of Ellery hating him made him want to curl in on himself and shut the world out. She had said she trusted him, and if he had to carry out his plan against her wishes, it would be a betrayal of that trust. He would be the monster he had always worked so hard to avoid becoming.
But if it was the only way to save Ellery, he would do it. He would just have to push aside his feelings for her, and ignore the way her hating him would break him inside. It was better for Ellery to be free and hate him, than to become a slave in Alex’s harem.
Once his plan was finalized, Grey had little to distract him from the tiredness that was threatening to overtake him. After the fight, he had had to heal himself which had left him feeling exhausted, and the unconsciousness allowed his body to regenerate, but it did nothing to replace that energy he had expended. He kept looking at Ellery, wanting more and more to curl up beside her and let himself sleep, but he forced himself to stay awake, sitting upright, alert and waiting. He would never forgive himself if Ellery was taken while he slept.
The knowledge of that didn’t stop his eyes from closing and his head from nodding forward. He jerked awake, snapping his eyes open and forcing them to stay that way. He started to run through his plan in his head again to distract himself, but that just made him feel bad. He kept seeing the look in Ellery’s eyes when she worked out that he had betrayed her. He shook his head, shaking away the idea of that look. Maybe he had it all wrong. Maybe she would agree to his plan. He hoped so.
He must have dozed off again, because he woke with a start, his head jerking up as he heard the door to the warehouse opening. He was instantly alert, moving forward to position his body between Ellery’s and the person who had come in. It was still dark. He didn’t think this was going to be the start of the mating ceremony between Alex and Ellery, but he wasn’t ready to let his guard down.
“It’s me,” a voice hissed.
Grey felt relief flood through him. It was Ariel’s voice. He sat back on the ground as she ran to his side on feet that made no noise.
“Ariel, thank God you came,” he said.
“I told you I would, didn’t I? And I hate to say I told you so, but I also warned you against this and now you’re what? A prisoner?”
“Enough with the ‘I told you so’ stuff. You were right. I get it. Now get us out of here.”
“Who are these people?” Ariel asked.
Grey gave her a very condensed version of Ellery’s story, enough for her to understand Alex’s plan. He didn’t bother telling her the parts about scheming to make sure the women he took were all alone in the world. Instead, he told her simply that Kiefer May was working directly with Alex now, abducting women with Sanmere in their blood so Alex could have a harem.
“Now, are you going to get us free or what, Ariel? Because as fun as this conversation is, I’d much rather be having it somewhere else. Someplace where I’m not chained to the floor, for example,” he said.
“I can’t get you free right now,” Ariel said, her voice tinged with resignation. “The whole place is crawling with Alex’s men. I only got in because I came around the outside. I followed your scent and located this building from the outside of the fence, and then I followed it until I found a weak part. I managed to make a tiny hole and squeeze through it and get in here. But one loud noise, and half of Alex’s pack will be in here in seconds.”
“Fuck,” Grey said, then again louder. “Fuck.”
“Shh,” Ariel warned him.
“Alex is taking one of these women tomorrow, Ariel. I don’t think shushing me is going to cut it,” he said, although he did drop the volume of his voice. Getting Ariel taken or killed too wasn’t going to help anyone.
“Right. New plan,” Ariel said. “You say Kiefer May is the one bringing Alex a supply of women?”
Grey nodded and Ariel grinned.
“Then I know exactly what we need to do. How do you piss off an addict? Cut off their supply. We’ll go and grab Kiefer and use him as a bargaining chip to demand your release.”
“That’s risky, Ariel. Kiefer is dangerous. He’s been around for a long time and he’s not going to be easy to capture,” Grey pointed out.
“Relax, Grey. I know he’s dangerous. But so am I. I know how to get close enough to him to grab him; don’t you worry about that.”
Grey considered this for a moment. Ariel wasn’t exactly a naïve, wet-behind-the-ears newbie. She had been a wolf for well over a century. She had ended up with Grey’s pack when she had managed to escape from the mate who had bought her from a Matchmaker. It made her the perfect candidate to take Kiefer down. Taking on a Matchmaker wasn’t just the means to an end to Ariel. It was personal. She had been bugging Grey for decades to be allowed to take Kiefer out, but Grey had always talked her down, reminding her that while they knew who Kiefer was and where he hunted, they had an advantage; they could save a fair amount of the women meant for him. Ariel had said it wasn’t enough. No woman should have to suffer the fate she had, but Grey had reminded her that if Kiefer was gone, someone else would take his place. And they wouldn’t know who he was or where he was, and that meant they wouldn’t be able to save any of the women.
Now that Ariel had the green light to go after Kiefer, the hardest part would be convincing her to hand him over to Alex in exchange for Grey in one piece. It was all they had left to try, though, and Grey just had to hope that Ariel liked him more than she hated Kiefer.
“I’ll be as quick as I can,” Ariel said, starting to back away. “Ideally, I want to get back in time to save all of these women, but I can’t guarantee it. You should be okay, though. I mean, presumably Alex has some sort of plan for you, but being his mate certainly won’t be a part of it, and if he’s taking a mate tomorrow—well, today, more accurately now, I guess—then he’s going to be busy all day. It buys you a little more time.”
Grey nodded his head. That was true. But he cared more about Ellery’s fate than his own, and speed was of the essence if he wanted to save her without her hating him.
8
Ellery woke up to the sound of voices whispering. The first thing she registered was the smell of Grey so close to her and she saw that he had covered her with his hoodie. She realized her head was on something soft too. Grey’s jacket.
She listened to the whispering voices. She recognized one instantly as Grey’s voice. The other voice, she didn’t recognize, but her fear melted away when she realized it was a woman’s voice. It wasn’t Clive or Simon or even Alex himself coming to take her away.
She thought it must be one of the women from Alex’s harem and she debated sitting up and joining the conversation, but she decided against it. She remembered Laura’s panic at her suggestion that she help them, and this woman didn’t sound like she was panicking. Maybe hearing the suggestion from another wolf shifter bore more weight than hearing it from a normal prisoner.
After a couple of minutes of listening, Ellery realized the woman wasn’t in fact one of Alex’s unwilling brides. It was clear that she and Grey knew each other. The woman even gave him a bit of a scolding about coming here and getting himself caught. She remembered Grey saying his pack would come to find him if he didn’t return. The woman, whose name she heard was Ariel, must be a part of Grey’s pack.
Ellery stayed still and quiet, keeping her eyes closed. She wasn’t sure why now, except she didn’t want to give away the fact that she had been eavesdropping, and she didn’t want Grey and Ariel to have to waste any of their precious time catching her up on something she had heard anyway. She had said s
he would trust Grey, and now it was time to prove she had meant that. She would trust him to come up with a plan with Ariel without knowing she was listening.
It was actually Ariel that came up with a plan. She wanted to abduct Kiefer, giving him a taste of his own medicine, and use him as a bargaining chip, dangling him in front of Alex like a prize. That could work. Ellery couldn’t see Alex being willing to give up his supplier. She waited for Grey to insist that Ariel use Kiefer to bargain for all of their freedom and not just his, like Ariel was suggesting.
Ariel was telling him she might not be able to get back before Alex took one of the women, but that Grey had a little longer than that because Alex would be busy with the mating ceremony. Ellery felt her heart break. Somehow, when Grey had held her in his arms and told her he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her, she had allowed herself to believe it was possible he felt the crazy connection she felt. She had allowed herself to believe in the fairytale for a short time. But it wasn’t to be.
And why would it be? Grey had known her for what? An hour? Two hours? Certainly not more than three hours. At least not with both of them awake. He was hardly going to risk his own freedom just to save her. She screwed her eyes closed more tightly, refusing to let the threatening tears come free this time. She wasn’t going to waste her time and energy crying over something that had existed only in her mind.
“Ariel, wait,” Grey said.
Ellery heard Ariel turn around and come back to Grey’s side.
“What?” she said.
“This woman here, her name is Ellery. I can’t leave here without her,” he said.
Ellery’s heart soared and although the tears still threatened to spill out, now they were happy tears. She hadn’t imagined the connection between them. Whatever this crazy love at first sight shit was, Grey had felt it too.
“I get it, Grey. I don’t want to see anyone being turned into one of Alex’s mates against their will, and let’s face it, that’s the only way he’ll ever find anyone to be his mate. But I can’t guarantee I can get this done before Alex comes to claim his next mate. It might take some time to locate Kiefer, knock him out, and get him back here.”