Caged

Warmth darkened Sean’s eyes. “Perfect.”

  Dad’s grin eclipsed all others in the room.

  • • •

  Getting some time alone hadn’t been easy. I’d had to take my turn holding my new niece and handing her back had been harder than I anticipated. Even once I escaped the excitement next door, I’d stepped in to check on Kyle and Brook, relaxing at Brook’s insistence that they’d both be okay. After I’d found Lauren propped up reading in Mum’s bed, her huge eyes wide as she asked about Jem, and reassured her everything and everyone was fine, I finally reached my personal space.

  Leaning back against the door, I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. The first intake sucked up the remnants of Shelley’s earlier presence, and my gut twisted at the reminder of my screw-up.

  I rubbed at my face, my palms scratching across stubble, before reaching back for the neck of my shirt and sliding it up and over my head. A shower would have been an ideal option if I’d the energy to stay standing, but weariness had long before kicked in and bled deeper and deeper into my bones.

  My legs dragged me across to my dresser. Even the lift of each to exchange jeans and underwear for grey workout shorts seemed an immense feat. With a hoody tugged on to ward off the chill that had little to do with the temperature and a whole lot to do with the emptiness inside my chest, I trudged across to the window, snatching up a couple of pillows on my way.

  Beneath a sky rife with cotton clouds, the forest waved its welcome from beyond the arches. I punched the pillows into place, sat my arse on the broad ledge, and swung my legs up. Opening the window a crack allowed the freshness to sift through, and I gulped it down as I wondered how my life could yoyo so drastically in a matter of days—or hours.

  Even as the historic event of the day settled over the house like an incense of joy, I couldn’t help but ponder my own future and how barren it suddenly seemed.

  The handle squeaked before the door clicked open. I didn’t bother to turn, merely inhaled, relaxing as Mum’s homely scent drifted across.

  Her feet brushed the carpet until she came to a stop at my side. “Hey, you.”

  My lips curved for a second. “Hey.”

  “How you doing?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Liar.”

  I breathed out a quiet laugh before sobering fast. “I’m tired, Mum, that’s all. Just … so bloody tired.”

  Mum’s fingers combed through my hair, and my lids lowered as I swayed beneath the massage.

  “Besides, I don’t want to dampen their moment,” I murmured. “I’m happy for them—I really am. I just … don’t have it in me right now to do any more.”

  “Honey, they know that.” A few beats passed with her fingers doing some amazing shit against my scalp. “When was the last time you slept?”

  I shrugged, draping my arms to hang over my drawn up knees. “I don’t even remember.”

  “You need to sleep.”

  “I can’t, Mum. I bloody had to leave the job half finished …”

  “All taken care of,” she said.

  “Brook hasn’t even been given the chance to contact her pack, or whatever she’s a part of …”

  “She’s refusing to go anywhere until Kyle’s stronger, anyway.”

  “What about Gabe’s friend we found? Where is he? Did the vampire’s turn him? What’s supposed to happen to him?”

  “Being treated under Jack’s care, as he’s from his territory. He hasn’t been turned—it’s apparently more complicated than just being drunk from. As soon as he’s strong enough, he’ll get to go home in exchange for a vow of silence.”

  I guessed it could have been worse. “Talking of home, what about Lauren. When’s she going back?”

  “Tomorrow. When everything has had a chance to calm down.”

  “And I have no idea if Gabe’s okay. How the hell am I supposed to know now?”

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know where I’ve taken them. All they need right now is a little time.”

  “But—”

  “Quit trying to carry the world on your shoulders for five minutes.” She pushed against my back until I shuffled forward and climbed up behind me. “Lay back.”

  “I’ll crush you,” I muttered.

  “Don’t be so ridiculous.” Her husky chuckle vibrated against my shoulder blade as she wrapped an arm around my chest and wrestled me down until I couldn’t help but get hauled along with her attempt to lighten the moment. “Do as you’re told, boy. Didn’t your daddy ever teach you it’s rude to disobey your mama?”

  “Sure he did.” I peered up at her as my crown settled against her lap. “But the mama I had to obey taught me to stand up for myself and never take any crap.”

  “She did that.” She sighed, her fingers tousling the strands along my hairline. “And look what a fine specimen of a male you grew up to be.”

  Shelley didn’t think so, not any longer—if she ever had.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose as my eyes slammed shut against the emotions that threatened to spill before I curled an arm around Mum’s waist and buried my face in her fleecy sweater.

  She didn’t speak, merely stroked a hand across my hair as she cocooned me like she could protect me from the universe. For the first time since my childhood, I fell asleep in the embrace of one of my parents.

  37

  Lauren tapped my arm from the passenger seat. “It’s next left.”

  I slowed Mum’s Lexus and took the corner she pointed to like she thought me too dumb to get it without direction. “How far now?”

  “Not far.” She jigged a little in her seat, tucking her hands beneath her thighs, tugging them out again, under, out. “You see that grassland over there?” She jerked with her chin.

  “Yep.”

  “My house is on the other side.”

  “We’ll need to find somewhere to park up on this side, then.” I slowed to a crawl, glancing at her between checking the road in front. “You recall how we said you’d—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “There’s a massive tree if you keep going to the end. You can hide behind that.”

  I sped up again, kept going right on past the ‘massive tree’ until I found somewhere to spin around and double back.

  On first pass, Lauren turned to her passenger window, fingers pressed to the glass. By the time I made the manoeuvre and parked us up in the shade of an oak, she’d tucked her hands back between her thighs. Shoulders hunched over, she stared down at her lap, hair falling across her face.

  I didn’t bother killing the engine as I twisted to face her and studied her sudden shift in body language.

  Getting her home had been like organising a major event. Mum didn’t want me making the trip because she demanded I get more rest and had offered to make the journey with Lauren. Dad hadn’t wanted me leaving full stop. He’d kept his reasons to himself, but I figured that his ‘knowing how it could affect a werewolf to be parted from his mate’ speech had something to do with it. ‘Shelley isn’t my mate,’ I’d argued, but all I’d received in return was a pity-filled stare. Even Daniel and Josh had suggested they take Lauren instead of me and grab ice cream on the way.

  Lauren had other ideas. She’d point blank refused to get in a vehicle with any of them. Her reasoning? ‘Ethan got me this far. So I can trust him to get me home, too.’

  How the hell could I argue with that? Especially as the doleful expression she’d aimed at me dared me to deny her.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  She gave a small nod.

  “So … which one’s your house?”

  “The one with the white fence and the ugly bubble windows,” she mumbled without looking up.

  I traced the row of properties until I spotted the on
ly one with a picture window, though the bubbles looked more like nipples to me. “You think your folks will be home?”

  “Mum’s car is out front.”

  I turned back. “What you so worried about?”

  She shrugged.

  “You scared about sticking to your story?”

  Her hair flopped with her headshake.

  “What then?”

  She withdrew a hand and scratched at her nose. “What if they’re really mad at me? When I tell them I ran off, they’ll be mad and might not forgive me.”

  “Maybe they’ll be mad at the thought of you running off to begin. But, I doubt it’ll last once the relief at you being home kicks in.”

  She shrugged. Nodded. Tucked her hand back between her legs.

  The car swayed a little beneath a wind blast that spiralled the first fallen leaves across the grassland. In the distance, a knee-high kid in wellies and shorts did a crap job of riding a scooter up and down a garden path, and I watched his chubby legs pushing and tangling, expecting him any second to end up with the wheels wrapped round his neck. A Volvo came toward us along the road. Though it didn’t slow down to round us, I almost considered ducking. The longer I sat beside Lauren on her street, the greater the risk of being spotted with her grew, and that would only lead to questions she’d struggle to deflect.

  I blew out a breath, prepared to suggest we go back until she felt certain she could handle it.

  “Okay, I’m ready.” Though quiet, her voice carried an edge of determination.

  I turned back to her. “Sure?”

  Even as she smiled and nodded, her eyes misted over. “Am I supposed to tell you how awesome you are and pay my debt with my soul before I go?”

  “Nah, no need. I already know of my awesomeness, and I have no use for your soul. Besides, you’d only torture me with texts about snogging and popcorn.”

  She laughed, her smile expanding before the worry and sadness crept back in. “I guess I’ll catcha later, then.” Before I could respond, she swung her door open. As she stepped from the car, she paused, her face reappearing in the opening, and her blown out breath arrived louder than the wind surrounding her. “Thanks, Dude.”

  “No worries.”

  The door slammed closed, and she marched across the grass like she had purpose on her mind, though anyone watching close enough would see the tight clench of her hands around her shirt cuffs. Halfway across, she broke into a run, and only slowed as she met the pavement alongside the property.

  Everything screamed at me to stay, to ensure her parents didn’t hound on her for her absence, to be one hundred percent certain she crossed the threshold into her home.

  I had orders, though. Ones that made sense. Ones that preserved the privacy of too many and deserved following.

  As Lauren took the first step onto her path, I slipped into first gear and rolled away from the kerb.

  • • •

  The park I found to pull into had few visitors thanks to the late morning hour of the weekday. Engine humming, I stared through the screen and sighed at my first serving of true solitude in days.

  Crisped leaves lay in mounded rows either side of the footpath. A gull swooped down, far from its natural habitat, before looping back up again and circling the play area, where a woman sat on a bench with a young child.

  What sun existed offered warmth through the glass as I leaned back in my seat and rubbed at my face. Heaving a deep breath, I closed my eyes and willed myself to relax.

  Beyond the vehicle, footsteps scuffed the ground, a kid squealed, a dog barked, the foraging gull squawked out its signature cry, and before I knew it, I’d straightened and reached for my mobile from the central console.

  On any other day, under any other circumstances, with time to kill, I’d have just called Gabe. We’d have hung out together, or arranged a hunt, or eaten Shelley out of house and home.

  My thumb hovered above the keys.

  Quiet beats passed. People strolled along.

  I located Shelley’s number and hit dial.

  The ring tone trilled through the earpiece. By the fifth sound, I realised how stupid I’d been to believe she might answer. On the seventh, it clicked, and the mechanical voice droned out with the option to leave a message after the tone.

  I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hey …”

  I brushed at my brow with my fingertips whilst I tried to figure out what the hell to say. “I’m …” sorry.

  As my hand fisted, I bounced it against the steering wheel. “I …” hope you’re okay.

  I rubbed over my shoulder, round to the nape of my neck, and swept up and over my hair to my forehead. “Please, um …” don’t stay pissed at me forever because I don’t think I can take it.

  The high-pitched bleep hit my ear, signalling end of message space and cutting me off.

  “Fuck!” I tossed the phone aside like it held blame for my screwed up attempt to let Shelley know how I felt.

  It bounced off the passenger seat and slammed the dashboard before nose diving for the footwell.

  When the vibration kicked in prior to ringing, I jolted and dived across the seat, grappling it from the floor. I rammed it against my ear at the same time as hitting connect. “’Lo.”

  “Son?”

  I repressed my groan.

  “Everything okay? You need me to send Dan and Josh to meet you?”

  Since when had I become so big a concern? “No, Dad.” I didn’t exactly fancy the idea of sitting around, waiting the couple of hours it’d take them to reach me. Unless … Josh and Daniel had probably tailed me the entire journey. Suppressing a growl, I pushed up to sit and rammed the stick into reverse. “I’m just heading back now.”

  After assuring him I was on my way, and scraping at my scalp hard enough to leave trenches, I drove from the park and took my sorry self back home.

  38

  A light breeze wormed its way through the trees, teasing the mulched carpet of leaves as well as the longer hairs of my ears. The dropped temperatures of late had set the ground to concrete-hardness, and each pummel of my paws sent shocks through my legs that jolted every muscle in my body.

  The forest had become my retreat on a daily basis. After work in the week. At night on weekends.

  I knew my excessive exercise fuelled the looks of worry I got from Mum and Dad, but I didn’t care—not when it seemed to be the only place I could stem the swirling thoughts threatening to drive me crazy.

  What had shocked me the most in the days following the cleanup had been the nightmares. I hadn’t had a nightmare since puberty passed. Why I dreamt of the castle, of Catherine, the fucking cage, I didn’t know—especially as I’d had to play no more of a role where the humans had been concerned. Dad had personally dealt with the head honchos of the operation, his fury over their treatment of us reason enough for him to ensure they suffered before he snuffed them; he made sure I knew they’d been treated just as they deserved. Apparently, Jack had shown his support of our family crisis and completed the elimination of every other threat on the list. I just hoped that didn’t make us indebted to him, and that he wouldn’t come calling for repayment at any point.

  That had only left the still secured vampires.

  Jess had been far from happy about setting up a meeting with the local nightlife of Witchurch—even less so when I explained my first encounter with them hadn’t gone so smooth. However, with curiosity a strong enough motivator for the blond vampire to agree, I’d handed over directions to the castle, cage keys, and total responsibility to him. For some reason, my empathy had earned an ounce of respect from him—like I’d cared. Pity he hadn’t a clue over Catherine’s whereabouts.

  As for Brook? I’d no idea what passed between her and Kyle during his recovery, but something definitely had by the
time she eventually called home.

  Her father had shown up to collect her like a shot. Stuck-up Tomcat had snubbed the lot of us, marching Brook off to where he’d parked at the roadside before he showed even an ounce of compassion for his daughter’s ordeal. If given free reign, I’d have taught him exactly what I thought of his attitude, assuming Kyle didn’t beat me to the task.

  Annoyed at myself for letting my thoughts stray again, I shook my head hard enough to affect my entire body and raced off in hunt of rabbit.

  Having gone almost full circle, I zoomed by scattered scents of the pack, where they clung to bushes and trees, or indicated their changing spots. Not much longer passed before the bob of a brown tail entered my periphery, and I pivoted after the rodent that had been too downwind for detection.

  It took only the crush of a twig to alert it, and its bright eyes snapped round to me before it took off like a miniature furry basketball on whizz.

  Driven by the stench of its fear, I surged forward, muzzle outstretched, ears flattened, legs pumping like the most powerful of pistons.

  Within seconds, the gap diminished—only metres separated us.

  Allowing it false hope, I stayed back a little, toying with it, enjoying the bouquet as it whet my desire like a good appetiser.

  Another breeze blew through, stinging my eyes until I closed them. On opening, a trampling mass of brightness flew across my path at bullet speed.

  The rabbit vanished from sight.

  My halt clawed dirt up to cloy the air as well as my vision, and I almost went sprawling from the violence of my sudden stop. A snarl rippled my lips as I swung toward where the trespasser had vanished, my muscles tensed for pursuit until the masculine scent hit me like a mocking slap.

  Gabe?

  I stared along the downtrodden route he’d cut through, the soggy leaves, paw poised to take a step, head angled as my ears twitched to track the huge loop he seemed to be tracing all the way back around—to me.

  I spun as Gabe skidded onto the path at my rear.

  Head ducked, shoulders high, he stared at me from above the dead prey hanging from his jaws. An aggressive posture, though his eyes held only amusement.