185- The Keys to the Cage
POV Aldren Valmorin:
“I… was drawn to that place, Aldren. I’m not a spy, I didn’t know your laws. In my entire life, I remember committing three crimes: running away from my pack so I wouldn’t be raped day and night, assaulting a few harassers, and stealing a birthday cake. And guess what? I’m not imprisoned for any of them.” Bitterness was etched into her voice.
I hated that the bitch sounded sincere—and on top of that, she deflected the subject without lying, without denying she was looking for someone. Now I knew she was probably searching for her sister.
“You were raped in Twilight of the East?” I asked, controlling the fury and the growl of my beast.
The idea of any pup or she-wolf being sexually violated filled me with the rawest rage.
“I would have been, if I hadn’t fled… Alessio decreed that I would be the pack’s prostitute after my father’s death.”
How would she feel if she knew the worm was dead?
It would not be me to tell her.
“My people await me for our gathering. Enjoy your stay in the cage, spy.” I diverted the subject.
I turned to leave when she opened her mouth once more.
“Aldren.” I looked over my shoulder and found her gripping the iron bars, with the eyes of a child seeing candy. “You have… gatherings? Like, with all the pack members? Everyone can go?”
“Yes.” I frowned in puzzlement. “Didn’t you attend gatherings in your former pack, spy?”
My question made her release a sad sigh, her brows curving downward. My beast felt compassion—but I did not.
“No…”
For a very brief moment, I imagined she might find great joy at one of my celebrations, but I quickly discarded those thoughts. Elowen was an intruder, a mutt. And I still couldn’t discard the possibility that she was a spy.
I didn’t say goodbye again. I simply abandoned those pleading blue eyes and went on my way. As I passed my guard in the corridor, I looked at him with silent questioning, asking whether everything had occurred as planned.
I received confirmation with a nod.
When the cats rested, the rats threw the party.
(...)
POV Elowen Grimwald:
Connecting the dots, I was able to understand that they were a united people—and that I was the danger threatening them, even without having had any intention of doing so.
I curled up on my mat and was betrayed by my next thoughts, which insisted on drifting toward the beauty and masculinity of that alpha.
No. No. And no.
My task for that night would be to try to think of something to convince him, once and for all, that I was not a spy.
After a sequence of bleak reveries and relentless fever—which only worsened whenever I saw that man—I felt my eyelids grow heavy. Sleep had become my greatest remedy.
Drowsy, I heard footsteps in the corridor but ignored them. They must have been the guards сменing shifts, something I had already grown used to. I closed my eyes, longing to be anesthetized by sleep.
“Elowen?” Kehin’s voice startled me awake. I sprang up from the mat, alarmed.
The moment I stood, his eyes traveled over my entire body, and he moistened his lips before looking at me with a predator’s expression. My heat affected him, and even though he was an alpha, his presence caused no warmth at all between my legs.
It was so, so strange—this selectiveness.
“What are you doing here? Didn’t your alpha forbid you?”
“Aldren is being monopolized by his admirers. Everyone’s at the gathering—here it’s just the two of us,” he said, smiling out of the corner of his mouth as he ran his fingers through the golden strands of his hair.
It was a failed attempt to seduce me, but I hoped he wouldn’t notice.
“But what about the guards?” I asked sweetly, slipping into character. This could be an opportunity.
“They’re all at the gathering, sweetheart. They usually stay until dawn.” He slid one hand into the front pocket of his dark linen pants and pulled out a set of keys. “Guess what I have here?”
He wouldn’t be showing them off so proudly if there weren’t something there that could benefit me.
My stomach went cold at the possibility of getting out of there, but if I seemed too eager, I might raise suspicion.
“Keys?” I dissembled.
“Yes. With a copy that opens this cage.” He grinned broadly, proud.
What if it was a test? What if Aldren was listening to everything?
“What a shame I can’t leave here…”
“No, you can’t leave. But I can come in and stay here with you, if you want.”
Never.
I concealed it, looking around the uncomfortable space, thinking about what answer to give him.
“It would be wonderful to spend more time close to you, Kehin, but this place is uncomfortable. I have claustrophobia, and it’s small enough for me alone, you know?” Fake—just as fake as I was.
He swallowed hard.
“Are you telling the truth, Sel? Would you like to be closer to me?”
“Of course. Don’t you feel our… connection?” I lied, holding the bars sensually.
Immediately, his hands joined mine.
“I feel it. I feel it so much.”
Exasperation filled his face, as if at any moment he might tear open the bars with the force of his passion.
“Maybe we could go out and get some air together…?” I ventured.
“I can’t risk you running away, Elowen.”
“How would I run? You’re big—and look at me…” I bit my lips discreetly and sighed deeply, trying to make him believe I burned for him.
“Let me in. Stay with me and I guarantee your heat will end,” he growled the promise.
“Don’t say that, please. This is so hard for me, Kehin…” I used a needy voice.
“Let me in,” he insisted.
“Here, in this tiny cage, it would be very embarrassing. Isn’t there a more suitable room available in the house?” He looked away, staring at his own feet as if thinking. “We could stay together for an hour, or two… then you bring me back.”
When he looked at me again, he seemed decided.
“You need to promise you’ll come back the moment I decide and that this will stay just between us. Aldren sees me as a brother, Elowen. The only one who would be harmed is you.”
“I promise, Kehin. I would never harm you. I couldn’t—even if I tried.” I made sure to sound in love, just as I meant to appear.
My words were a trigger for him to act. Very quickly, he selected the key and opened the small gate, crouching to help me out. I set my feet outside and he pulled me toward his body.
I hated every second of that embrace and pulled away before he dared to kiss me.
“We don’t have much time, do we? Can we go?” I forged an excited smile.
“Come.” He grabbed one of my hands and dragged me down the corridor.
Adrenaline surged through my bloodstream and my heartbeat leapt. It was my chance to escape, and somehow I sensed that this would be my last night in that cage.