Alpha (31 page)

"I'll hate you for it," I warned him.

"If hating me is the only way to keep you alive, I can live with it," he replied. "You can't hate me if you're dead."

Forgetting his earlier warning, I reached to grab a bar and I felt my skin sizzle against it. I screamed as the pain sliced through me and I let go. Cade tensed as he watched me, looking down at the red burn on my hand. He was clearly wrestling with the urge to rush to me and check my hand.

"I'll send Curtis to check on you," he said tightly.

"You told me you love me," I said, trying to figure out how someone that loved me could do this to me.

"I'm doing this because I love you."

He gave me one more piercing look before he turned and left me alone in my prison.

True to Cade's word, Curtis came in a little while later with some ointment to put on the burn on my hand. The guards wore gloves to be able to open the cell door.

I kept silent the entire time.

I'd discovered the little room inside my cell contained a toilet and a small shower. Later when someone brought me food I refused to touch it. I climbed onto the bed and lay with my face to the wall.

I ignored the next meal as well even though my stomach grumbled. My stubbornness made me refuse to give in. Later, I was still lying on the bed when I heard the door open. I didn't turn to see who it was.

"You have to eat," Cade said to me. I refused to acknowledge him.

"If you refuse to eat I'll have to get Curtis to sedate you and put you on a drip," he warned.

Silence hung in the air between us.

"You have till tomorrow morning, otherwise you leave me with no choice."

It was his final warning. I knew him well enough to know he meant what he said.

Once I heard the door close again, I rolled onto my back.

I felt like my life was spinning out of control and there was nothing I could do except hold on tight, hoping I wouldn't be swept away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Scarlett

Later that evening when Gary made an appearance, my blood still boiled with the anger I felt at his betrayal. If he hadn't told Cade about me overhearing his conversation with Blake I would not be locked up.

At the sight of him, I turned over on the bed to ignore him.

"I know you're angry with me," he began and then cleared his throat nervously. "I did it because I love you."

I ignored him as the anger simmered inside of me. Because of him my hands were tied and there was nothing I could do.

"We are all doing this because we love you and we want to keep you safe," he argued further when he didn't get a response from me.

"You need to eat," he instructed. He'd been sent to try and get me to eat. That just made me more determined not to eat.

"If you don't, Cade will get Curtis to sedate you and put you on a drip," he said, repeating Cade's warning.

"Please, Scarlett," I heard him plead.

One moment's silence ticked into another.

"I brought you some clothes and toiletries," he offered but I continued to ignore him. I heard the door to the cell open and after a few moments I heard it close again.

"Cade has sent a couple of werewolves to watch over your house until this thing with Victor is resolved."

My silence hung in the air.

"I'm sorry that you're still angry with me," he said softly. "But one day you will thank me for what I did."

I wasn't sure I would be able to forgive any of them, including Cade. They had no right to do what they'd done. They'd taken away my right to choose.

He waited for a few more moments and then he let out a heavy sigh as I heard him leave. Once I was sure he was gone I turned to see he'd left some folded clothes next to my toiletry bag on the floor by the door of the cell.

That night, before going to bed, I had a shower and changed into new clothes. As I lay on the bed staring up at the dark ceiling I thought about the mess I was in. I couldn't believe how quickly my life had changed in such a short space of time.

Then I thought about Cade. My feelings were mixed. As angry as I was with him I still loved him. I'd told him I would hate him if he kept me locked up but the truth was I didn't. I was angry and upset with him but I didn't hate him.

For most of the night I tried to come up with ways to get us out of the situation that my past had landed us in. Sometime during the night I drifted off to sleep. My sleep was anything but peaceful so the next morning I felt exhausted.

I glanced around the room I was being held in. I'd walked around it trying to find any weakness so I would be able to escape but there was nothing.

My anger was still going strong when Cade walked in. In his hand was a plate of food. I was sitting on the bed with my back leaning against the wall. My stomach rumbled at the sight of the food.

"Here is your breakfast," Cade said as he looked to me for a response.

I kept silent.

"Scar."

It was only one word but it took me back to a time when there wasn't this massive obstacle standing between the two of us, to a time where things had been simpler.

"I'm giving you an hour. If you haven't eaten anything I will follow through on my threat," he stated calmly. There was no emotion in his features. It was like I was looking at a stranger and not the boy that I loved.

I got off the bed and walked over to the bars in front of him.

"Let me out," I instructed in a firm tone. His eyes held mine in a challenge. I wasn't going to beg.

"No."

His answer was plain and simple. He wasn't going to back down and if I wanted to get out I was going to have to do something drastic. Then I bit my lip as I reached for the bar. I knew it was going to hurt but it was the only way I could think of to get Cade to let me out.

"Don't," he said just before I wrapped my hand around the bar. The pain sliced through me and my face contorted in pain as I gasped.

"Let go!" Cade yelled but I put all my strength in holding on. If he saw me in enough pain he would relent and let me out. I just had to hold on long enough. The pain worsened and it vibrated through every cell in my body.

"Stop it!" Cade screamed urgently but he didn't open the door to try to stop me.

Unable to hold on any longer I let go and dropped to the floor. I held the injured hand against my chest.

"Let me out," I requested, breathing hard through my pain.

I looked up to see Cade looking at me. He was livid and his jaw was clenched. Then he turned and threw the plate of food against the wall with such ferocity the plate shattered and fell to the floor.

He gave me an angry and hurt look before he turned and left. In that moment I knew I'd pushed him too far.

Minutes later Curtis along with two guys from our pack entered the room. I was still sitting on the floor hugging my burned hand to my chest.

I knew what he was going to do. I wanted to fight him but with my injured hand I wouldn't be able to. The one guy opened the door and Curtis entered. I saw him holding a bag in his hand.

They were going to sedate me.

I wished I hadn't injured my hand because I'd have a better chance of fighting them if it were healthy. My hand throbbed painfully as I eyed out the three guys in the room.

Curtis watched as the two guys approached me. I stood up and backed up. I struggled but the guys took hold of each of my arms and lifted me off the ground. They set me down onto the bed. They were firm but they made sure not to hurt me.

Once they got me onto the bed and restrained me, I watched as Curtis took a syringe out of his bag and filled it with some liquid. As he reached to inject me I began to wrestle. The two guys held my arm still so Curtis could inject me. There was a prick of pain and then I cried out in frustration when I watched the syringe push the liquid into my vein.

As soon as they were done they released me.

Suddenly the two guys with Curtis stood straight and alert. Curtis looked at them curiously and then both of them dashed out of the room.

Something was happening. I felt panicked but then I felt a calmness seep into me as I tried to sit up but couldn't. Whatever they'd given me was strong because as I lay on the bed unable to move, I felt my eyelids grow heavy.

The last thing I saw before the sedative took effect was Curtis standing beside me.

When I started to come around I felt disorientated and weak. My eyes fluttered open and I tried to focus. My throat was dry and I swallowed. I wasn't in the white room anymore. Had they moved me?

I looked down to my arm expecting there to be a drip but there wasn't one. Instead I saw two small Band-Aids. Had they taken the drip out already? How long had I been out for? My hand was tender and I saw that the red burn mark had healed slightly.

The last memories before I blacked out surfaced again. I remembered the guys running out of the room, leaving me alone in the room with Curtis. What had happened?

My thoughts went straight to Cade. I hoped that everything was okay.

I scanned the room and it looked like I was in another type of cell. This one was dark and cold. I glanced around and saw a door with an inlaid window with bars covering it. I didn't have a good feeling about this at all.

If Cade moved me anywhere I would be in the medical center with a drip in my arm. But I wasn't.

Something isn't right.

Cade

From the time Scarlett came downstairs, she'd been acting strangely. At first I'd put it down to the stress of discovering Kyle was her brother and finding out about Victor, the man who had murdered her parents.

I left the lounge to find out what Jake had to say. Earlier, some rogues had been spotted in our territory and I'd told Jake to track them without being detected. I needed to confirm my suspicions that Victor was behind the rogue attacks.

He'd just told me that the rogues had been tracked to the edge of Victor's territory. He'd even seen the rogues talking to some members of Victor's pack.

"There is something up with Scarlett," said Gary as he joined Jake and me. I turned to face him, giving him my full attention. Anything that had to do with her was always important, more important than anything else.

"What were you and Blake talking about?" asked Gary before I could say anything.

I kept silent. I wasn't sure I could trust him with the information and I didn't want to take the chance that he would share it with Scarlett.

"Fine, don't tell me. But know that she overheard you and she's been acting strange ever since," he revealed with worry.

Fuck!

Why the hell had she been eavesdropping? I ran an agitated hand through my hair as I tried to remember everything that had been said between Blake and me.

I remembered Blake had mentioned that we suspected Victor was behind the rogue attacks. We'd also talked about the fact that Victor was more powerful than we were. If she'd overheard our conversation she'd know that even if we combined our pack with Blake's and Kyle's, we still wouldn't have enough werewolves to defend ourselves if Victor attacked.

I rubbed my forehead. If she'd heard this, she was going to do something stupid, really stupid. Jake and Gary watched me as I wrestled with the few options I had to keep Scar safe. The problem was she wasn't going to be happy with any of the options I was considering.

I let out a sigh and turned to Jake.

"Tell Curtis I need a sedative, strong enough to knock out a female werewolf," I instructed. Gary's eyes widened at my request.

"What are you going to do?" he questioned as Jake left.

"Everything I can."

I kept hoping that she would mention that she'd overheard my conversation with Blake but the longer it went without her admitting it to me, my uneasiness increased. It cemented the fear that she was planning something.

I tried to act as normal as possible but Scarlett picked up that there was something wrong.

While Scarlett was brushing her teeth, Jake knocked on the bedroom door. He handed me the syringe as he gave me a sympathetic look.