Graham’s POV
Four days, I have been down here in this hell hole, for four days. I am being treated like an animal here, and yes, I get it. I am an animal, but I rarely phase anymore, I stay in my human form 90% of the time. I have gotten used to the finer things in life. Like a nice home, a nice vehicle, a beautiful mate. The cell is totally unacceptable to me because the living conditions here are horrible. I need to speak to Blake about this. I will not stay here in this filthy cell. I need a new mattress and a pillow. I need the cell cleaned up, as there is blood on the floor, and it smells disgusting in here. If I have to stay here, at least make it livable. That asshole is obviously trying to torment me.
I look back out and see my beautiful mate smiling back at me. My eyes are automatically drawn over to my favorite picture of us together. It was at her Luna ceremony and she was stunning. She was so very beautiful. You can barely see the little swell of her pregnant stomach in her satin dress. We both smiled into the camera, and that was probably the happiest day of my life. It was her favorite picture too. I look over that the smaller version of it, sitting on that damn table, just out of reach. I close my eyes, but I still see her lovely face smiling back at me. Blake surprises me with how well he knows how to torment people. He was a reactive man, quick, and decisive. He makes decisions quickly and had them carried out. It was one of the things that I liked most about him. He didn’t carry it out, or draw it out for long, he made a decision and took care of the problem. That was why I knew that he would end me quickly. I knew if he ever found out what I was doing behind his back, he would be pissed. I also knew that he would just kill me quickly. In fact, I was counting on it. Blake is nothing if not predictable. I am OK with it, I didn’t want to suffer anyway. I tried something and failed. Losing Cassandra, killed a part of me, and I really didn’t have anything to live for anymore, except Reagan, and her children.
Seeing the grand pups though, brought back what Blake did to her. That is the whole reason that I am here in the cell. He could have just banished her and sent her away to the human world. That would have actually been better for her in the long run. But he wanted to make a point about crossing him. He is an Alpha, I could understand his anger, but I paid him a lot of money to let her live. She might be happy now, but she wasn’t when she got there. The worst part was that she is now permanently scarred, because of Blake and Aaron. She should have been safe there, and she wasn’t. I heard voices coming down the hallway towards me, and I am going to tell the guard that I refuse to eat the crap he has been bringing me. I deserve food from the dining room, at least that was semi-edible. Not like the crap from down here. It was unpalatable. I may be locked up, but they still need to feed me something I can actually eat.
I am stunned to see Aaron and Blake. It is almost dinner time. Why is Aaron here? He always comes first thing in the morning, not at the end of the day. I watch as Blake puts a pillow down on the desk. I catch Cassandra’s scent immediately. I want that pillow, he needs to give it to me. “Why are you here so late? It is almost dinner time, you usually come in the morning” I asked them.
“Oh, don’t worry, we won’t be staying for long. Aaron here has been having an issue with vampires at Blood Tracker lately, so he will have to leave soon. He doesn't want to be out after dark, it really isn't safe there” Blake tells me. My blood chills, that is not good. Vampires are disgusting killers, and I am horrified that they are there. Their whole pack is in danger, and I am worried for her, and her family's safety.
“Is Reagan OK?” I asked before I can stop myself. But they would already know that I would need to know the answer to that.
“Yes, both she, Clive, and all of your grand pups are all OK, for right now,” Aaron said. The right now part of that answer was the troubling part of that sentence, and it is hanging in the air.
“What are you saying? What is going on there?” I asked them.
“One of the vampires has announced that Reagan is allegedly his mate. Apparently, being mates with a vampire is very different than how we operate. He made us a deal. They would stop coming and killing our people if Reagan considers going with him willingly” Aaron said to me. I cannot read his expression. Is he serious? There is no way that she would consider doing that. Please do not tell me that she is even considering it. But I already know that she would, she would if it meant her pups were safe. No, I refuse to let her do this. She cannot do it. I won’t let her, but I bet Aaron is totally OK with it. As he needs them gone, and the sooner the better.
“No, no, she cannot do that. You need to talk some sense into her. There hasn't been a problem with vampires for almost 30 years. Where did they even come from?” I said to them.
“I told her the same thing. We all know that they cannot be trusted. There is no guarantee that if she did go with them, any of us will be safe. I will be having to leave here soon, as even though he told Reagan that he would give her a few days to decide, that doesn’t mean that they won’t come back to kill a few more of us. We can’t take the chance or be unprepared. But, I have to tell you, Graham, Reagan was considering it, as an option” Aaron told me, and I almost collapsed in fear.
“She isn't prepared to deal with vampires. They lie, and she cannot trust them. You cannot trust them. They will hold her to her part of the bargain, but they will not keep up their end of it. Please, if you listen to nothing else I say, do not trust them. Protect my Reagan, and don’t let them hurt her. She is all I have left” I was almost begging him.
“I just wanted you to know that we are having an issue with them. I came here to see if Blake would allow Reagan to come and speak to you tomorrow. Just in case” Aaron spoke again, and I could tell that he was worrying. He didn’t want Reagan to get hurt either. I am sure that this vampire problem was causing problems for the whole pack.
“I will say that she really stepped up to help out. She and Trevor, well the four oldest children, all excelled with research on vampires. They went out and got several things for the pack to try to hold them off. We went out again today to stock up, and we will go out again tomorrow to get the last of it completed. I didn’t trust them when he gave her the ultimatum. I told her the same thing this morning when we spoke, but you know how she is, she is willing to do almost anything to protect our children. She really became a much better mother, than any of us ever thought she would. She gave me strong and intelligent pups. I really could not be more proud of them. Trevor will make an excellent Alpha” Aaron said to us, and I was proud of Trevor too. He is very smart, and he has Cassandra’s kindness. He is a good teenager, and he will indeed be a great Alpha.
I was proud of him as well. I am glad that Aaron could see his value. I was worried after his mate had children for him. I could see that she wanted he son to be named as the rightful heir. Her son is a brat, and he has no redeeming qualities at all that I have seen. I was glad that Reagan took her children away from Aaron's evil mate, a little over 5 years ago. If she had tried again, I would have had her dealt with while she was out on one of her little shopping trips. She made a lot of them, and she was begging for me to take care of her, so things can be easier on Reagan, and her children with Aaron. She was vicious, and Reagan was just leaving her alone. She should have fought her for Luna, there was no way that Reagan could not have beaten Eloise. I know why she didn’t, Reagan wanted to stay with Clive. She still liked Aaron just fine, but she loved Clive. She wanted to stay with him, and their children. Cassandra and I supported her because it made her happy. He takes care of her, and he killed Michael. Clive is a good man, and I am very glad that Reagan has him.
“We have another issue, Graham. One I need to discuss with you” Blake said.
The hallway is suddenly filled with angry female voices, and I am getting a bad feeling about this. They get put in the cells next to me, and I know without seeing them, exactly who it is. They are all yelling about having been put in the cells, and I stepped back away from the bars. I am going to stay silent. They have no idea that I am here just yet, but I know that Blake has an agenda and I just need to wait to see what he is going to do.
“Quiet,” Blake said in a slightly raised voice, and the women all stop talking.
“Thank you, ladies. Today I went to Black Adder, to speak to your Luna Cheryl,” Blake starts to say and the blood drains from my face. I know that this is going to be a much bigger problem than I thought it was going to be. “Yes, Graham, funny enough, your name actually come up while I was there. Your daughter, sorry, excuse me, Cassandra’s daughter, Raven mentioned something to me, that had not occurred to me. It seems that they have welcomed my mate Cheryl, and our son Kevin, with open arms at Black Adder. Raven was making a point today, and the fact came up that I had resisted you, and you wanting me to take up with other she-wolves, for over 2 years. Raven was kind enough to remind me of who you are, and who Reagan was, and that got me thinking. So I had your home searched, and Kara’s room searched, and once I had these ladies locked up, I had their rooms searched. You see, I couldn’t let them know that was going to happen. I couldn’t give them a heads-up that a search was coming. I needed to catch them by surprise, and I did” Blake said to me. The hallway is silent as we all wait for him to speak, and he didn't. He just took turns looking at each of us and letting the suspense build.
“Do any of you care to make a guess on what the searches found?” Blake asked a few minutes later with a smirk.
The hallway was completely silent as we were all well aware of what he had found. He might not have found all of it though. I did hide the second half of it well. I just had the ecstasy out, as I had just started putting it in Cassandra’s drinks. She had stopped sleeping with me a long time ago. Back when I had my girlfriends, it didn’t bother me, but here, it was just me and her. She had finally forgiven me for all the pain I had caused her, she just needed a little nudge to get her over the last residual effects of anger that she was still carrying against me. She was still angry at me for doing that, but she stopped sleeping with me the minute my foot slipped. I was not aware that a chosen mate could feel it when you cheated on them. She never said a word to me about it when it was happening to her all the time. She just stopped sleeping with me and never told me why. She just finally blew up one day and caught me by surprise when she went off on me.
I almost suspected that she knew. She even mentioned to me that it was odd that she would just fully forgive me, and be willing to sleep with me again. I don’t know how she could have though, it would have been impossible for her to figure out. I was the only one who knew about it. She might have suspected it, but I know that there was no way for her to be able to really know that I pushed her into sleeping with me again. I just needed to start having sex with her again. I missed her so much. I missed being with her, and she was glad to be back in my arms again. My heart clenched as I realized that I would never be able to hold her again. To bury my face in her hair and just breathe her scent in. I can feel myself relaxing right now, just thinking about it.
“I have given her permission to visit here in the morning, see you, and take Cassandra back to Blood Tracker with her to bury on her property. Aaron approved Cassandra being buried there, so those hurdles are both taken care of” Blake tells me. He has a straight face. He has not mentioned what he found yet, as he already knows what I have done. There is no reason to tell him. I will never admit to it, but at least I know that my end will be even quicker now.
Blake pulls out a chair and gets comfortable, another chair was brought for Aaron to sit down. Blake leaned forward and slid the pillow through the bars to give it to me. Maybe he didn’t find anything after all. Why would he be kind to me if he had?
“Well Graham, I will start with the bad news. Raven, Brandon, and Cole all know that you are here in my cells. I am sure that the council is aware of you being here. They seem very content to leave you here, with me. I just wanted to make you aware of a few things. I don’t need to interrogate any of you, because I already know the answers” Blake tells us and I am suddenly much more nervous than I was before. That really isn’t good for me. There is no opportunity to lie if you are not asked a question.
“First off, Graham, you helped me out a lot when you first got here. I appreciated the help, and I did what I promised to you. But then you focused on me, and my mate. You focused on my child Graham, who is 14 years old, and you have been targeting him since he was 10, what in the hell is wrong with you? I am here to tell you this, I will not be killing you. I may take fingers, toes, or remove a limb, but I won’t allow you to be killed. You are going to suffer a great deal at my hands. In fact, I guarantee that once these ladies find out what their punishment is going to be for colluding with you to ruin my family, you will wish you were dead. I think that you got used to the calm Alpha Blake, you know, the one whose mate kept him happy, and kind. I think you really thought that was me from then on, didn't you there Graham? You would be wrong Graham. Now that Cheryl is gone, all I have to look forward to now is punishing you if things go bad. I will have two of my ranked wolves with me down here for each visit, just to keep me from killing you. My only happiness from now on will be from paying you back for the next 7 years. Your mate was taken away, do you know whose fault that is, Graham? It’s yours. You drove Cheryl to do it. Just like you felt driven to get vengeance for Reagan. You need to know that. Reagan is going to know that before she comes to visit you. I will make sure that she knows that Cheryl may have pulled the trigger, but the suffering that you gave her for the last 7 years, drove her to it” Blake told me and I refuse to accept it.
“Your mate killed mine, don’t twist it around to suit your agenda, Blake. Cheryl made you make Reagan a breeder. She was happy about it, she should have spared her. Reagan never deserved what happened to her” Graham yelled out in frustration.
“Need I remind you what happened the first day you arrived? Sierra was going to kill your precious Reagan. She didn’t like her flirting with me. Cheryl saved Reagan from Sierra. Sierra was a fighter, and believe me when I say that she was a good one. Your precious Reagan would have been killed, if not for Cheryl. You should never have done what you did to her. What did you think was going to happen when I found out what you had done? I bet I know the answer to that too. You just assumed that I would just be killing you quickly. I am so sorry to inform you that you will not be getting put out of your misery. You are going to wish for death, but you will be surprised to know what you can live through by the time I get done with you” Blake tells me and I shudder. How did he know what I had planned? The worst-case scenario was him killing me. I see that I failed in my planning because I didn't see this other option that he just laid out for me coming. I have to say that I would rather he just end me know, but I know he won't do it. He is going to make me suffer, and I already know that it is going to be bad.
“So, every day, until my mate and son come back to me. I will make sure you know exactly why you are in the cells. I will also let you know what real pain actually is Graham. Your love of coming up with well-thought-out punishments for those who have wronged you. Well, I have recently learned that we both have that in common with each other. I also went over the bylaws for our pack. It seems that there are some very strict penalties for hurting the Alpha couple, especially when it is intentional. You have hurt my Luna, you hurt me, and our son. You were going to murder Kevin, using his own brother to do it. Thinking that I will just forgive him because he is the heir to the pack. Trying to keep your own self out of the line of vision, so you wouldn’t get in trouble, and no one would suspect you. Because you may have led him to it, but you wouldn’t have been the one to actually kill him. It was quite brilliant actually, and it seems like my mate just did the same kind of thing to you. She let you push her so far, that she snapped. She wanted us both to know that we had succeeded in breaking her. You were the one pushing her break, so where does the blame lie? It hurt Cheryl to do it, but she wanted you to live with the same pain that you had forced her to live with. So I can guarantee you, as long as you stay here, however long it is, each day will be just as bad, or worse than her days here were. Don’t forget the main part of the issue was her major anxiety of whether or not today would be the day her precious son gets killed” Blake tells me, and he doesn’t try to hide the threat. He fully intends to make me suffer, each and every day. He is right he is about to make my life a living hell, and there is nothing that I can do about it.
Graham gets Blamed