Chapter 32 Chapter Thirty Two - Mi casa, Su casa

Chapter 32 Chapter Thirty Two - Mi casa, Su casa
Chapter Twenty-Five: Phase One

“No. For the thousandth time, I cannot let you leave.”

The guard exhaled heavily, probably because he had been having the same argument with Cater for the past three hours. 

At this point, he didn’t even look up from the shooting game he was playing on his phone. “Please step away from the entrance, and get back in your cell.”

“But listen,” Carter pressed, wrapping his hands around the iron bars. “You don’t even have to let me out. I can see you on your phone right now. I don’t have mine, so please just lend me yours so I can call my parents to get me the hell out of here. Five minutes. That’s all.”

The guard finally looked up. 

He was young, much younger than the others who’d dragged Carter down here, with a calm, friendly, unassuming face that reminded Carter of a Golden Retriever. 

He squinted at Carter with a mix of genuine sympathy and confusion.

“With the greatest respect, sir,” he said, his tone full of reverence for the Alpha's mate, “Alpha Dallas would kill me. Then he would banish the rest of my clan from the pack forever for putting his mate in danger. And even then it would probably be considered merciful.” 

He shook his head. “Please stop your complaining. Have some water or find something to entertain yourself until your Alpha returns.”

Carter turned away from the bars and looked around the room for what felt like the hundredth time.

It was, he had to admit, a ridiculous prison. 

The ceiling was high and vaulted, the furniture expensive and tasteful. There was a four-poster bed dressed in dark silk, a mahogany bookshelf packed with leather-bound volumes, and a mini bar stocked with things Carter wasn’t sure he should be drinking if he was actually pregnant.

And in the corner, for some weird reason, there was a brand new PlayStation 5 connected to a flat screen television.

Five-star prison was Dallas’s words.

Carter hated to admit that he was right.

But he also noticed there were no windows in sight. 

There was only a dim, warm lighting that cast the room in a perpetual yellow glow, and the thick iron bars separating him from the guard and whatever lay beyond. 

That guy was blocking the only way out, and Carter knew if he were to get out of here, then something had to be done about him.

The guard and a few other werewolves brought him here by passing through a million confusing underground channels, turning so many corners at such a disorienting pace that Carter had completely lost his sense of direction within the first five minutes.

Then they’d tossed him in, and the much bigger ones yelled at the guard;

“The Alpha needs all pack security out looking for his twin brother. We have to leave, so you stay here and keep an eye on his mate, don’t fuck it up or you’ll wish you were fucking dead by the time we're through with you…”

Carter sank onto the edge of the bed, dropping his head into his hands.

His mind was reeling, the full weight of his situation pushed down heavily on his shoulders.

He was underground, and locked inside a cage with no directions, no phone and no allies and a baby or whatever the fuck growing inside him.

Not to mention there was a psychotic werewolf Alpha twin somewhere out there who’d already tried to kill him once and almost succeeded.

Things were not going well for Carter Whitfield.

After a while, an hour, or maybe two, he lifted his head and studied the guard more carefully through the bars. 

The boy was young, twenty or twenty-two at most. He wasn’t quite as big or buff as the rest of the other guys but he was definitely strong enough to stop Carter if he ever tried to leave. 

But unlike Carter who was sitting in a lush, temperature-controlled room on a silk duvet, this kid was parked on a plain metal chair outside the cell, whittling something out of wood with a small knife. 

After all that time spent waiting for the other guards to return, his phone had died. He was clearly bored out of his mind, checking his watch every few minutes and suppressing yawns.

Carter watched him for a long moment, until suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

Then he stood up and walked slowly over to the bars.

“No,” the guard said immediately, not looking up from his carving. “Whatever it is, no. I’m not letting you out.”

“Actually,” Carter said, keeping his voice pleasant, “I was going to invite you in.”

The guard looked up sharply, studying Carter. “…What?”

In the dim amber light, Carter could see genuine confusion on his face, but underneath it, there was an unmistakable flash of curiosity. So Carter played into it.

“What’s your name?” Carter asked.

The guard’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you need to know that?”

Carter straightened slightly, channelling every ounce of authority he could muster. “I’m the Alpha’s mate. And I demand you tell me your name. So you have to tell me, or— or the Alpha won’t like it.”

The guard held his gaze for a moment, clearly struggling with himself. But eventually his werewolf instinct to obey his Alpha won out, just as Carter had expected it to.

“Eric,” he said, slightly reluctantly. “My name is Eric.”

“Eric.” Carter nodded, grinning inwardly. Good, he thought, now that I’ve gotten one thing out of you, it’ll be so much easier to get more. 

“Okay, Eric. Here’s the thing. I’ve been sitting in here for hours now, completely alone, and if I don’t interact with something soon I think I’m going to lose my mind.”

Eric stared at him blankly, scratching his head with confusion. “Do you want me to get you a pet or something? We have a few dogs on the property for you to play with if—"

Carter blinked. “What are you talking about? No.” He pointed toward the corner of the room. “Look, there’s a PS5 in here. Do you like games?”

Eric’s eyes tracked to the console, and Carter watched the boy’s composure waver.

“Come in and play a game with me,” Carter said casually. “Call of… Danger. Or whatever.”

“Call of Duty,” Eric said automatically.

Carter waved his hand. “Yeah, whatever. The point is, you’re sitting out there bored and I’m sitting in here bored, so maybe we could just—”

“I can’t disobey the Alpha,” Eric said, though his resolve was already weakening around the edges, Carter could hear it.

“You’re a big strong werewolf, right?” Carter said reasonably. “And I’m just a regular guy with a broken ankle that just healed and a stomach full of stitches.”

Eric nodded slowly, “Well, that’s true, but…”

“And besides, all Dallas said was to keep an eye on me, right?” He paused for a second, then tilted his head. “He didn’t say you had to do it from outside the room.”

Eric’s mouth opened, then closed again.

“Right?” Carter prompted.

“…Right,” Eric said slowly. “But—”

Think, think Carter, what else do wolves like? Oh, got it.

“There’s a steak in the fridge too, if you want it," Carter added.

Eric was on his feet before Carter even finished the sentence. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

He unlocked the gate and stepped inside, watching Carter warily.  Then he swung the gate shut behind him, the lock clicking automatically, and patted his pocket out of habit, checking that the keys were still there. 

“Hey, welcome. Help yourself.” Carter muttered, watching his prison warden look around the room in awe.

Immediately after, Eric crossed over to the mini fridge, already scanning the fridge for the steak. “Thanks a lot, Mr. Carter, sir.”

“Of course, Eric. Mi casa, su casa.”

Carter watched him closely from his position by the bed, making sure to keep his expression perfectly neutral.

Phase one, he thought, complete.