“Don’t think I won’t kill you for this.”
Fear filled Luke’s eyes. “You can’t kill me over some damned piece of ass!”
Bastien punched him in the mouth, feeling a weak satisfaction at the sight of his cousin’s blood. “You don’t know what it’s like to have a mate,” he said, looking down at Luke on the floor. “If the woman you claimed was your mate truly belonged with you, you would never trade her life for anything.”
He looked around the hidden room, really noticing the opulent furniture for the first time. Realizing the entire house cost more money than anything his cousin should have been able to afford. “And you did it for money, didn’t you? You’re nothing more than a pile of dung beneath my feet.”
“And you’re a stuck-up piece of shit who always claims his intent to share what he has, yet never does.”
Bastien glared at Luke. “I have shared everything with my people. I have shared my home in the form of a safe house, which you have betrayed. I have shared jobs with the unmated males so they may earn their way while waiting for their mate, and I have shared my money freely when a male finds a mate.”
Dimitri stepped up, his stance menacing. “He has done all of those things. Why do you think all of the weres banded together to help him?” He pointed to the entrance to the room. “Why do you think they all stand ready to carry out your sentence once it is given? You are a betrayer of our people. You know the punishment for that.”
Luke’s eyes grew wide at the implication. He started to stand, tripped over a computer cord and fell back to the floor. “You can’t!” He began to crab-walk away from them toward the bed. “You can’t kill me.”
Dimitri’s smile was cold and merciless. “I can and will, with great pleasure.” He advanced on Luke whose pulse jumped in his neck so hard Bastien could see it, even though he stood several feet away.
“Wait, Dimitri,” Bastien said, “he may be of some use to us, yet.”
Luke grinned, obviously sensing that he wasn’t going to be punished because of his connection to Bastien.
Bastien turned to a few of the men. “Guard him. He doesn’t leave this place.” He turned to Dimitri. “With the absence of the alpha, I have to call a meeting of the council elders so we can figure out whether they still want the usual sentence of death carried out.” He flicked a cold gaze over his cousin. “No matter what the council says, we can kill him later if he refuses to cooperate.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Carly awoke in a cold, sterile room. It wasn’t anything like the first place they’d kept her captive. This was a cell in every sense of the word. Standing, she circled the small room.
Thick concrete walls were painted a no-nonsense gray, the heavy steel bed was bolted to the floor. No hiding behind this one. Frowning, she gave the bed a frustrated kick. The illusion of a serviceable bedroom was gone. There were no books, magazines, puzzles or TV to keep her occupied.
“I’ll go crazy here in no time,” she muttered to herself.
“You certainly could. How long do you think it would take to go mad with nothing to pass the time?”
Carly closed her eyes and fought the urge to spin around. Doing so mainly to hide the contempt she knew shimmered in the depths of her gaze. She knew that voice. It was something she had hoped never to hear again.
“It could be so much easier for you, you know, if you choose to cooperate.”
She opened her eyes and looked at the plain gray wall in front of her, wondering how it would look finger painted with whatever they brought her for dinner. She still refused to turn around and look at the man. Crossing her arms over her breasts, she deliberately provoked him. “What happens if I don’t cooperate? You’ll lock me in a little room with no window or form of entertainment?” She looked around, thinned her lips and threw her arms wide. “Oh, sorry to disappoint you, I’m already there.”
Richard grinned. “Things could get a lot worse.” He reached to his left and pushed a button on the desk in front of him. A panel in the wall slid open, revealing another room through a thick pane of glass.
Carly’s eyes widened and her heart pounded in alarm. “Robert.”
Richard chuckled. “He said you wouldn’t be particularly fond of seeing him.”
Carly sat, staring through the glass, her eyes wide, sweat beading on her upper lip as she thought of all the things he would do to her for leaving him. Her mouth opened and closed several times. Nothing came out as fear clogged her throat.
“Will you cooperate, or would you rather have a reunion with your ex-husband?”
“What—” Carly swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat. She hadn’t wanted to show him fear, though she had failed miserably at the sight of her ex-husband. “What is it you want from me?”
“For starters, I’d like to know if the serum worked. We know it caused you tremendous physical pain, yet we’re still unsure if you actually changed.”
“And if I don’t tell you?”
He shrugged. “I have no doubt we will find out sooner or later. The bottom line is, how comfortable and how...safe do you want to be? Because,” he winked at her. “Robert is not a happy camper.”
Carly chewed her lip. Cooperate or get beaten, or worse, by Robert. It wasn’t much of a choice.
“WHERE DID THEY TAKE her?” Bastien asked Luke. Hanging on to his control by a thread, he fought the urge to slam his cousin up against the wall at his back.
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Luke snarled. “And why should I tell you? You’re just going to kill me anyway.”
Dimitri threw him an evil grin. “Yes, but how painfully will you die? It is your choice.”
Luke turned to Bastien. “You wouldn’t torture your own cousin? What do you think my mother would say?”
“Your mother would say you’d gotten everything you deserve for betraying your people, for money of all things.”
Luke stiffened. “Mother, I didn’t do it, I swear!”
Several of the weres escorting her snarled at him.
“Shut up, you piece of shit,” Merrick said. “She knows what went on here. You bought a nice security system. I can tell you that. It taped everything, including your conversation last night.”
Luke paled. “Mother, I—”
“Don’t you dare talk to my mate again,” his father interrupted as he stepped from the back of the group. “What the hell were you thinking, boy?”
Luke’s face twisted with rage. “How can you stand against me, your own son?” He pointed at Bastien, his face filled with rage. “How can you take his side, knowing what a liar he is? Knowing he never keeps his promises to share.” He looked to his mother and father, his eyes beseeching. “What has he ever done for you?”
His father stepped up and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him in his seat. “His father, before him, gave me a job when I was little more than a cub. He fed me and clothed me when I was hit by a car while in my other form. Then, when I met your mother, he gave me the house you once called home and he and the alpha’s father gave us a million dollars. Five-hundred-thousand each.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Why did you never mention it?”
His father ran his hand through his hair. “I never thought I needed to. How was I to know that you would sell-out your own people?”
Luke looked down at the floor, finally shamed. “When will I be punished? Are you here to say your goodbyes?”
His father nodded. “Yes. You know as well as anyone the punishment for betraying our people. Do you think you should be spared because you’re Jake’s cousin?”
Luke shook his head. “No.” He sighed. “I should receive the punishment meted out by the council. How long do I have?”
“At least five years, Cousin,” Bastien said, stepping from behind him. “We deliberated while we held you here. The council of elders determined that our race is too near extinction to end your existence at this time. You have five years to rehabilitate and earn their trust. At
the end of which, if you have not proven yourself trustworthy, the sentence of death will be carried out.”
Luke’s shoulders slumped. “Five years of doing what?”
“Five years of sitting down here in your little studio apartment while the rest of your home is being utilized by your guards.” Bastien walked behind Luke’s parents, then around the group of weres standing at the entrance of the room. “Your guards have taken an oath to end their own lives if you escape.”
Luke snorted. “As if I’d give a shit if any one of them killed themselves.”
Bastien shrugged. “It’s your conscience, Luke.”
“No. It would be their own stupidity for making such a pact.”
Bastien turned to Luke’s parents. “Aunt Elena, Uncle Lucas, you know the council will hold you to your word?”
They looked at each other, then nodded. “We know that. If he escapes we will accept his sentence.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that. You can’t allow them to be my jailers!”
Bastien turned back to Luke. He knew the smile he wore didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course we can. If you escape without killing them, the council will kill them for you, when they turn themselves in.”
Elena stepped forward. “It was the only way to get them to spare your life.” She knelt in front of him and took his hands in hers. “We knew—” She stopped herself, lowering her eyes. “We hoped you would care enough for us to serve your sentence and rehabilitate.” She reached up and cupped his cheek. “You are our only child, Luke. We couldn’t stand by and let them kill you for a horrible error in judgment.”
“And if I don’t want to rehabilitate, Mother?”
“Then you will die in five years. Or, if you escape, you’ll sentence your father and me to death for your crimes against our people. Plus, they will hunt you for the rest of your life until you are found and executed.”
Luke raised his head and looked around the room. “I can’t live down here for five years. I’ll go crazy.” He looked from his parents to Bastien. “You leave me no choice.” Luke stood, laughing when the men hurried to block the entrance. He walked into the kitchen, pulled a knife from a drawer and drove it through his stomach.
“Luke!” His parents cried in unison.
Bastien rushed to his cousin’s side and caught him up in his arms. “You’re not taking the easy way out, you coward.”
Luke laughed weakly as the knife slipped through his fingers. “You don’t have much to say in the matter, Cuz.”
“The hell I don’t. Carlisle, get your ass over here.”
A blond man separated himself from the group of weres blocking the door. He hurried to Bastien’s side. “It won’t be easy to save him if he doesn’t want to live.”
“You’ll save him, Ardin, and he’ll like it.” Bastien lifted his cousin in his arms and carried him to the kitchen table. “Someone turn on the damn lights. We can’t see a damned thing in here.”
Ardin Carlisle flicked his blue eyes over his patient. “You know, they never covered suicide in my animal husbandry classes.”
“Just shut up and save his life,” Elena said as she looked on anxiously.
The doctor gestured behind his back, snapped his fingers and looked at Bastien. “How did you know he was going to do something like this?”
Bastien shrugged. “I know him. He can’t stand to stay in one place very long. I knew death would be preferable to imprisonment. Keeping him locked up here is the worst form of punishment we could have chosen for him. If this doesn’t settle him down, nothing will. If that happens, I will gladly vote with the council to end his life at the end of his five years.”
Ardin nodded. “It makes sense.” His fingers probed the wound and even unconscious, Luke flinched. “This isn’t too bad.” He shook his head. “Of all the places to stab himself, the idiot couldn’t have picked a more painful or slower way to commit suicide.”
He reached in his bag, pulled out a bottle filled with clear liquid and a syringe. Filling the syringe, he inserted the needle into a vein in Luke’s arm and slowly depressed the plunger. When Luke was fully unconscious and oblivious to the pain, the doctor made his first incision.
CARLY PUSHED THE COMMUNICATION button on the wall. “I’d like to speak with Doctor...” What the hell was the man’s last name? He had never told her, and she had never cared to ask. She cleared her throat. “I’d like to speak with Richard.” She waited a few minutes more than she wanted to before she saw his familiar face and balding head moving her way. It was about damned time. What if she had been dying in here? Or changing? She had to admit the dying part probably wouldn’t have concerned him much. He would care if she changed without him seeing it. She was sure of that.
She watched as he approached the glass that separated her from the rest of the facility. “What if I decide to cooperate?” She didn’t have much choice. She knew Bastien would find her eventually and she needed to stay alive. Food would go a long way to achieving that goal.
“What is it that you want?”
Lifting her head, she pasted a no-nonsense expression on her face before she began ticking off a list on her fingers. “Food and water, to start with.” She made a face. “Well, preferably cherry cola.” She moved to the next finger. “Number two on my list is that you leave—”
“Bastien Sinclair alone.” The doctor interrupted.
Carly hid her surprise and moved on to the next item on her mental list. “I want books—lots of them. I’m a voracious reader when I have nothing but time on my hands. If you’re going to keep me locked in this...” She looked around the room and grimaced with distaste. “Cell, for God only knows how long, I want something more to do than stare at the walls,” and look at your god-awful ugly mug, she finished mentally. She rubbed her stomach. This can’t happen now. If I change, I won’t have anything left to bargain with. She swallowed thickly, keeping the image of her humanity uppermost in her mind.
Richard cupped his chin, then ran a finger over his bottom lip. “I can do that. Do you have anything else in mind?”
“You agree to do all of that, so far?”
He nodded. “Yes, I agree.”
“Good. Next, I want a TV in here, something to break the maddening silence when you psychos aren’t talking to me. Oh, and a DVD player and any movie I want to see.” Carly kept ticking the items off. She had to make him think she was superficial enough to want all of those things. She fought the urge to grin. She would cooperate, all right, though they were not going to like it. With any luck, maybe they would get sick of her crap and let her go. Or kill her. Either way she would be out of this damned place.
“That can all be arranged, Ms. McGowen.”
She nodded. “I also want your word that Robert will never get within ten feet of me.”
“Agreed.”
“Good. When can I expect to get the items I’ve requested?”
Richard shook his head and laughed. “My, my, you’re a persistent little bitch, aren’t you?”
“Well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s—well, you know what I mean.”
“I’ll get you some dinner and reading material first. Those are the easiest things on your list to procure.”
“I like romance novels, any kind.”
His eyes shifted to another monitor. “Considering the life you led with your ex-husband, I can understand why.”
Pain shot through her system and Carly knew she wouldn’t be able to hold off the change much longer. “Borrow a TV from somewhere and get it in here, now. In a few minutes I won’t be able to read a book.”
“Ah, that’s what the television was for. I wondered.” He looked at her and grinned. It was as though he couldn’t contain his excitement. “Are you going to hide?”
“Not if you make good on your promise and bring a TV in here.”
“I’ll do you one better.” He stood and crossed the room to her door and opened it. “Follow me.”
Richard led her back the
way he had arrived, to the other side of the large room. Carly glanced around, trying to see if there were others imprisoned here. She saw no one. No one occupied rooms here except for Robert and herself.
Opening a door on the opposite side of the area where they’d originally kept her, he ushered her into a very nicely furnished room. She glanced around, taking in the recliner in front of a big screen TV, the king-sized bed, small table and private bathroom.
She sniffed suspiciously. “This room stinks. It smells like Robert in here.” Her eyes grew wide. “You can’t mean to—”
Richard made a tsking sound. “We have a deal, Charlene. I’m not one to go back on my word.” He grinned. “Well, unless it gives me what I want. You are giving me what I want. I have no intention of leaving you in here with your husband unless you go back on your word.”
“Ex-husband,” she said absently as she circled the room.
Richard bowed his head in a short nod. “I stand corrected.”
Carly couldn’t help noticing that there was no electronic lock on the door, and it didn’t seem to be made of the same material as the doors to the cells. Maybe she could use that to her advantage. “Where is he going to stay now?” She hoped it was far from her.
Richard shrugged casually. “I’ll have him put in your old room.”
Carly fought the urge to smile. It’s about damn time Robert got himself into a situation he won’t find to his liking. Then she frowned, thinking. Still, she didn’t want him turned into a were either. What might that lunatic do with that kind of power? “Do you plan to—are you going to—” She licked her lips, unable to give voice to the question.
The doctor leaned closer, his breath fanning her face.
Carly fought the urge to lean away. She wished she had the strength to overcome this man and the two burly guards that escorted him everywhere.
“Do you really care what happens to him, Ms. McGowen?”
Carly swallowed, nodding. “He’s an animal already, Doctor. Making him a were-being will only drive his madness to the extreme.”
Embracing Carly Page 18