Alpha (30 page)

"Are you okay?" Cade asked with concern as he noticed me in the doorway. I hesitated for a moment before I smiled at him. I needed to put my acting skills to the test.

"I'm fine," I assured him calmly. I felt bad for deceiving him.

I walked to him and he scanned my features as if he didn't quite believe me while I sat down in the empty seat beside him. I tried to look relaxed.

Gary watched me closely, but I refused to meet his eyes. He obviously knew there was something very wrong, but I couldn't tell him anything. He would try to stop me.

Jake appeared in the doorway. He looked nervously at Cade.

"I'll be back in a moment," Cade murmured as he left the room to see what Jake wanted.

"I need to go and do some stuff," Gary announced moments later as he stood up.

He bent down to give me a brief kiss on the cheek before he left me alone with Blake.

"Today must have been a shocker for you," Blake said. It was still sometimes hard to believe that Blake was an alpha like Cade. Where Cade was a force to be reckoned with, Blake seemed like a warm teddy bear. But I had no doubt that if he needed to be he could be as ruthless as Cade was.

"Yeah, it was," I replied. It was hard to believe that I'd shifted for the first time today. I'd discovered I wasn't alone in the world and I had two family members. I found out the truth about what happened to my parents. To say it had been a hectic day would be an understatement.

I'd never had the opportunity to talk to Blake alone, so I took full advantage of it.

"I know this is none of my business," I began. I don't know what possessed me to broach the subject with him but I just couldn't stop myself. Maybe it was curiosity. Perhaps it was the fact that I knew a long life wasn't guaranteed for any of us that made me want to ask him about this specific subject.

"Like that would stop you," he shot back with a grin. He knew me well and I couldn't help but smile back at him.

"True," I confirmed with a slight nod.

"What do you want to ask me?" he asked, looking a little curious.

"What's up with you and Keri?" I asked, watching his features. Initially he looked surprised—he must not have been expecting me to ask him about her—and then he masked his features. I knew my friend had a thing for him.

He watched me silently for a few moments as he contemplated my question.

"It can't be anything," was the only response I got. I felt a weird burning feeling in my chest, I felt hurt. It was weird.

"I know that," I replied, remembering what Cade had told me. The weird feeling in my chest eased. "It's just I've seen the way the two of you look at each other. You'd have to be blind not to be able to see there is something between the two of you."

He sighed.

"If I get involved with her and then I find my mate, all I'll end up doing is hurting her. I can't do that."

I felt sad for him but I understood. I wouldn't be able to fight how I felt about Cade and when Blake found his mate he wouldn't be able to either. Keri would get hurt.

"It is what it is."

Another silence settled over us as I began to think about getting away. I made sure I kept my thoughts blocked off from Cade.

"You look like you've got a lot on your mind," commented Blake.

"I'm okay. It was just a lot to take in today," I lied.

Cade would go crazy when he discovered I was gone and I didn't want him doing something stupid. Blake would need to make sure he didn't do anything to put himself at risk.

"Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll keep your friend safe," I said to Blake. "Cade won't allow me to fight with him so I need to know that when I'm not there you will keep him safe for me."

I added the last part so he wouldn't suspect what I was up to. Blake frowned at me for a moment.

"Of course I will. I'd do the same for you."

His words made my eyes sting with tears. I smiled to try and cover up the emotion I was feeling.

"Thanks," I replied, unsure of what to say to something like that.

At that moment Cade returned. He strode into the lounge to the seat beside me, and he shared a brief look with Blake before he looked to me. He smiled at me but the smile never reached his eyes. There was definitely something going on.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. I knew there was something going on and that he was trying to hide it from me.

Was he keeping it from me so that I wouldn't worry?

"Everything is fine," he assured me.

"I’d better get back," Blake said as he stood up.

I stood up and walked with Cade to see him out.

After we said goodbye to Blake, Cade and I walked silently to our room.

"Is everything okay?" I tried asking.

"Everything is fine, Scar," he said as he gave me a brief kiss to the mouth.

I didn't believe a word he said. I knew he was lying to me. There was something going on and he wasn't going to tell me.

There was an unexpected knock at our bedroom door while I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth. I couldn't hear anything because Cade was probably using the mind-link to communicate with whoever it was that had knocked.

By the time I finished, Cade was lying in the bed, his chest naked while he wore a pair of sweats. Even with everything going on around us I couldn't stop my hormones from kicking in at the half-naked sight of him.

"Who was that?" I asked as I climbed into the bed. He pulled me into his arms as he covered me with the blanket.

"It was Jake. I needed him to do some stuff for me and he was just reporting back," he replied as I settled into his arms. I closed my eyes for a moment and enjoyed the feel of his arms around me. I couldn't think about everything I was going to lose; I had to enjoy every second of what I still had until I could put my plan into action.

"I love you," Cade whispered as he pressed a kiss against my forehead. Shock filled me as I looked up to Cade. He'd never said those three little words to me before.

"I love you too." I did, there was no disputing it. I was going to sacrifice my life to keep him safe.

"You are everything I ever wanted," he murmured as he hugged me to his chest. I closed my eyes and reveled in the moment. Even if it was all I had, it was worth it.

I felt a painful prick in my back. My eyes flew open at the sudden pain.

"I'm sorry," was all he whispered. I tried to move but my limbs felt so heavy and my eyelids began to flutter closed.

I was still confused and shocked as I drifted into the darkness.

When I woke up I still felt drowsy. Panic set in when I realized I wasn't in Cade's room. It was hard to focus my eyes so I closed them for a moment before trying to open them again. This time they focused.

I gasped.

I was lying on a small bed in a room with white walls. I didn't recognize it. I turned over in the bed and looked around the room.

I rubbed my eyes again, hoping I was seeing things, because it didn't make any sense. But nothing changed when I opened my eyes again. I sat up and I felt a wave of dizziness hit me.

The room looked like an ordinary room except for bars that ran the length of the room a meter from the door.

What the hell?

To the one side of my prison was a door. I assumed it was some sort of bathroom or something.

Taking a few deep breaths I waited for the dizziness to pass before I tried to stand up. I heard the door open and I looked up to see Cade in the doorway.

He stepped into the room, facing me through the bars. My limbs still felt so heavy. I struggled to get them to obey my commands.

"Take it easy, the effects will take a few minutes to wear off," Cade said.

His features were tight and unreadable as he stood with his feet apart and his arms crossed over his chest, watching me.

Suddenly, I remembered that feeling. Horror filled me when pieces of what happened before I had blacked out began to surface in my mind again. I remembered the prick and then the pain.

My eyes flew to Cade as I realized he'd injected me with something. Why would he do that? I rubbed my forehead for a moment trying to figure out what I'd missed.

"I don't understand..." I began to say as I managed to walk to the bars that confined me. I was about to reach out to hold one.

"Don't touch the bars," Cade warned me, just in time for me to be able to pull my hand away from the object. My forehead creased at the warning.

"What's going on?" I asked. What was happening didn't fit with the fact that he was my mate and he loved me. If he cared about me, why on Earth was I caged up like an animal?

"The bars are covered in wolfsbane," he revealed. I had no idea what wolfsbane was.

"It will burn your skin if you touch it," he continued. "It's a security precaution we take to keep werewolves from escaping."

"I don't understand," I said. I felt the effects of whatever he'd injected me with begin to wear off. I couldn't help the feeling of betrayal at his actions and I still didn't fully understand why.

"After you came downstairs last night I knew there was something up, I just had no idea what. I went to talk to Jake and Gary came to me. He told me that you'd overheard what Blake and I had been talking about. I had this dreadful feeling that you were going do something stupid."

I remembered feeling that strange feeling in my chest when I'd been talking to Blake. Had I felt his emotions? He looked at me like he expected me to deny it but I didn't. I was angry that Gary had told Cade that I'd overhead his conversation with Blake.

"I began to understand why you were acting so strangely. I decided it was in your best interest to keep you confined so you wouldn't try and do something stupid. I knew you wouldn't be able to sit back and do nothing."

He paused for a moment and I saw his jaw tighten. Even though his voice and his features looked calm, I knew he was angry.

"It was only after I injected you with the sedative and I heard your jumbled thoughts that I realized how far you were prepared to go," his said, and his voice broke on the last word.

I couldn't deny it because it was the truth. He expected me to feel guilty for being prepared to go to extreme lengths to keep the people I loved safe, but I didn't feel that way.

"Do you have any idea what he might do to you?" he exploded when he didn't get a reaction out of me. "Do you have any idea what that would have done to me...your brother...or Gary?"

That made my heart crack.

"And you really thought that I'd just stand back and do nothing while you gave yourself over to a fucking lunatic!" he shouted. I tried my hardest not to flinch under his verbal attack.

"I would have started a war to get you back," he told me. Anger still visibly coursed through him as he ran a hand through his hair. He dropped his gaze to the floor—it was as if he couldn't stand the sight of me anymore. He struggled to contain his temper.

I'd remained quiet while he'd had his say, but it was my time to talk.

"Blake made a comment about the rogues not being a coincidence," I stated, watching his reaction. His features were veiled, and he remained quiet.

"How long was it going to take for you to tell me that you'd figured out that Victor was behind the rogue attacks?" I asked, feeling my anger rise at the fact that he'd kept that from me.

"It was only when Kyle told you about your parents and Victor that things started to make more sense. Jake confirmed it last night. A couple of the rogues were in our territory and Jake tracked them to the border of Victor's territory. He saw them talking to some of the pack members from Victor's pack. It explains how he was able to get the rogues to work together. He is an alpha," he said, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

"So when were you going to tell me?" I asked in a calm voice, knowing the answer already. His silence answered my question.

"You weren't going to tell me, were you?" I asked with my hands on my hips. He'd planned on keeping that information from me.

"I didn't want to worry you," he replied.

"How could you keep that from me? I had a right to know," I shouted, losing my temper.

"And when you found out? What did you decide to do?" he threw back at me with just as much anger.

"Do you really expect me to stand back and do nothing while the people I love are slaughtered trying to protect me?" I said, raising my voice even more. "I heard what you and Blake said. You'd be going into a fight that you would lose."

His gaze lifted to mine.

"You didn't even give me a chance to come up with a solution," he replied, sounding hurt. "Instead you decided you were going to go and hand yourself over to a monster."

I kept silent.

"You can't keep me locked up," I said.

His eyes met mine with a challenge.

"Yes, I can," he stated.

Damn it!

He was right, he could keep me locked up in this room for as long as he wanted to and there was nothing I could do about it.