Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“When it’s after 2 AM, just go to sleep. Because the decisions you make after 2 AM are the wrong decisions.”

Ted Mosby

After ensuring there was a thick layer of pillows between us (which Alpha Enzo rolled his eyes at, but did not protest), I finally agreed to climb into bed with him, clad in a plain pajama set from some female member of his pack.

He’d insisted I wear one of his shirts to bed, and I’d insisted on putting my old clothes back on, as dirty as they may be. The more layers between us, the better.

He’d eventually caved and gotten the extra PJs for me, which consisted of just red shorts and a t-shirt.

After that compromise, we finally made it to bed.

To his credit, he didn’t disturb my makeshift pillow wall, although I did notice how one of his large tanned hands rested on top of the pillows once he dozed off – almost like his sleeping body was trying to reach for me.

It was almost kind of cute.

Almost.

As much as I didn’t want to, I was also fighting the effects of exhaustion…and his expensive sheets and king-sized bed didn’t do much to keep me awake.

However, there was only one thing more pressing than my desire to sleep: my dry throat.

The last time I remembered drinking water had been in the woods with Scarlett, sometime before we were captured by Alpha Enzo’s men. I hadn’t had a drop since they’d escorted us to the dungeon or my new “mate” drew a bath for me.

I’d been too busy fighting for my life to think of anything else, but now, the feeling was impossible to ignore. I’d been swallowing my own saliva for at least an hour, but even so, my throat was beginning to feel scratchy and raw.

There was no way I was going to be able to sleep peacefully as long as my mouth felt like the Sahara Desert.

In the darkness, I glanced at the bathroom door in the suite. Surely, it had some sink or faucet with running water…even if it meant I’d have to slurp up warm tap water like a stray cat.

A sudden thought dawned on me.

*Or I could use this as an opportunity to learn the layout of his mansion as well as where Scarlett is sleeping.*

*It’s risky, but if anyone catches me, it’s not like they can fault me for needing a glass of water from the kitchen.*

I glanced back at Alpha Enzo’s sleeping form as the gears turned in my head. I wasn’t stupid enough to try and pull off an escape tonight – especially when I still had no idea where Scarlett was – but it could give me unfiltered access to his home.

If he had overnight guards or patrols, maybe I’d be able to catch sight of them and check for potential blindspots.

With that in mind, I took the quietest deep breath I could through my nose and swung my feet over the edge of the bed in one movement.

My eyes didn’t leave Alpha Enzo’s face the entire time. I paused, waiting for him to suddenly lurch awake and stop me.

But he didn’t.

His eyes remained closed, and his breathing even.

I kept still for another moment, and then I pressed my hands into the mattress and stood up from the bed. I cringed when something in the bed frame creaked.

But still nothing. Alpha Enzo, it appeared, was not a light sleeper.

Still, it took me several minutes to cross the room on my tip-toes, hyper aware of the way my bare feet padded across the hardwood floor.

My heart was nearly beating out of my chest by the time I stood in front of his closed bedroom door.

This was the hard part.

I didn’t dare look away from him as my trembling hands reached for the doorknob and turned it ever so slowly. Although the lock clicked, the door itself didn’t creak or squeak when I pulled it open – and my sleeping mate never even flinched.

*You’d think an all-powerful Alpha would be too paranoid to be such a heavy sleeper, but I guess not.*

*Unless he’s just faking sleep to catch me in the act…in which case, he’s putting on one hell of a performance.*

Even if he was faking, I was willing to take my chances.

With as much stealth as I could muster, I slipped through the open door and let it close quietly behind me. I stayed just outside the bedroom door though, waiting to hear him shuffling in bed or stomping after me.

But when I didn’t, I let out a long, quiet breath and faced the dark hallway.

Whether it was because it was the middle of the night or I was just paranoid about getting caught, the hallway suddenly seemed a lot more ominous than it had when I’d ventured down it with Alpha Enzo.

But, if I squinted, I could see what looked like a dim light coming from around a corner.

And light was where I wanted to be.

I took off down the hallway, trying my best to stay on the balls of my feet and listen for anything that indicated a guard might be approaching.

I still wasn’t even sure Alpha Enzo had guards patrolling this mansion – at least not inside – but I didn’t want to take my chances.

It was hard to see in the dark, but as I made my way down the dark hallway, I made note of every closed door I saw. I couldn’t hear sounds coming from any of them, which meant they either housed something other than people or this place was just ridiculously soundproofed.

Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to cross the rest of the hallway. It led me to the top of the stairwell, which I’d been expecting, and the light filtering through the dark house seemed to be coming from somewhere downstairs.

*Maybe a kitchen?*

I made to take the first step down, but a large hand suddenly clamped down on my bicep like a vicegrip.

It wasn’t Alpha Enzo.

Even before they spun me around, I knew it wasn’t him holding me. Nothing about the clammy, calloused fingers digging into my skin felt like him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The deep, scratchy voice that spoke to me certainly wasn’t him either.

So fast that it made me dizzy, I was spun around, my face only inches from a man I didn’t know.

And something, the same part of me that whispered not to walk down dark alleys or talk to strange men on the street, told me I didn’t want to know him.

He was tall, nearly as tall as Alpha Enzo, with linebacker shoulders that made him look even scarier in the dim light. He didn’t look much older than me, but his hair was thinning, and when he snarled at me, I could see the stained yellow of his teeth.

In other words, definitely not the kind of guy you want cornering you at the top of the stairs.

Even with the considerable height difference, his breath smelled rancid as he stared at me suspiciously.

My stomach rolled, but I jumped on the defense immediately, desperate to get away from this man. “I-I was just going to get some water,” I stammered, and I hated the way my voice shook when I spoke.

“Is that so?” The man said skeptically, and I got another whiff of his awful breath when he spoke. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’m Alpha Enzo’s mate,” the words slipped out my mouth easily. “He’s expecting me back in bed.” I hadn’t meant to tell him that – my whole had been to avoid getting recognized – but my gut told me it was the smartest thing I could say right now.

If this man believed that I was important, he might just leave me alone.

Unfortunately, my words didn’t inspire much fear. Instead, he snorted. “Yeah, right. You smell…” He closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring to double their size before he said, “Human.” His eyes popped back open, a new predatory curiosity in them.

He tightened his grip on my bicep. “You trying to lie to me, human?” He said, and grasp on my arm became so tight that I shut my eyes and groaned in pain. “My Alpha would never be mated to some weak human.”

His words blended into the pain of his iron grip as I tried to wiggle away, to no success.

*Fuck, that hurts. Is he going to break my arm?*

“You know what I think?” He said, “I think I’m going to –”

A loud growl suddenly rocked through the hallway.

“You’re going to what?”

All at once, his grip was gone from my arm, leaving nothing but an aching soreness in its place.

I opened my eyes immediately, and my breath hitched when I caught sight of why the large man was no longer threatening me.

Alpha Enzo, still clad in the t-shirt and pajama bottoms he’d gone to bed in, held the large man against the wall. He had one hand wrapped around his throat so tightly that the man was wheezing and gagging, his face turning red and his eyes popping out.

That same loud growl echoed through the hall again, and this time, I knew who it was coming from. “Well, come on,” Alpha Enzo taunted, his voice so low that it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up on end. “What is it you think you were going to do to my mate?”