Page 43 of Bullied By the Alpha Wolf

We all laughed, but the idea wasn’t a terrible one, and I had Lupe fetch us a round of beers with Gray’s help. We settled around the table again, and I proceeded to offer the details of the last encounter with Eli’s wolves to the others. The intensity of the conversation didn’t back off much in spite of the news about the antidote, and my skin itched with the need to do more.

Just wait, Kaiden. This can work. This can get Kit back.

My wolf stalked within me, circling the darkness and looking to tear after her. He didn’t like waiting, wasn’t patient on a good day, and I swallowed down more of the beer to ease the growing tension roaring through my muscles.

We had a plan set, though. As soon as the antidote was ready—Willow having given us a timeframe of about eighteen hours—we would launch a renewed attack. We’d get Kit out of there.

Jet sat next to me at the table, and he clapped a hand on my shoulder, drawing me out of my thoughts.

“You all right in there?” His concern was as enjoyable as a rash, but I knew him. Jet was basically my father, and dads had a way of worrying over their pups.

“I’m…I don’t know, honestly.” Shaking my head, I polished off the rest of my second beer. “If something happens…”

“Hey,” Jet lowered his face to mine, “I get it. I mean, come on. Of everyone here, I understand what you’re feeling. Senna is back home alone right now, and I could scream about how much I hate it.”

I laughed. “She’s not alone, Jet. But…yeah. That.”

“Funny thing having a mate, huh?”

Blanching, my stomach did a flip-flop. I knew what I’d said to Kit in the heat of the moment, but I still hadn’t truly let myself consider her as my…mate.

Oh, buddy. Don’t kid yourself.

The voice in my head sounded distinctly like my wolf. When I looked back at Jet again, the others at the table were eyeing me, too, having overheard our conversation. Damn wolf hearing.

Sighing yet again, I resigned myself to the reality facing me—at least for right now.

“I swear to everything on this green earth, Jet. If Eli hurts a hair on her fucking head…I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands.”

Cade laughed. “Here fucking here, Kaiden. Hell, I like this side of you.”

The others joined in with their own laughter, and soon, we were drowning our tension in a few more rounds of beer. Come tomorrow night, we all had a lot of work to do, and being together like this—giving each other shit for everything from mates to broken bones—felt like the calm before the storm.

But that storm was coming, and one way or another, I was getting Kit back.

Chapter 20 - Kit

Whatever Eli had given me had begun to wear off once I woke up, and now that it had been a full day since he’d given it to me, I was finally feeling more like myself. Sleep was still pulling at the edge of my mind at all times, but I’d been up for hours—dealing with Eli’s fucking questions and trying to come up with a way to get out of here.

His little crew of misfit wolves had all been in here demanding more and more information about Kaiden and the others. I didn’t say anything. I was used to Eli’s treatment, and if anything, being with Kaiden, even the one time, showed me what life outside of here could be like.

I wasn’t about to let myself be pumped for information and then discarded when Eli was done with me. I had someone to get back to, and finding my way home to Kaiden was all that mattered.

Clang.

Looking up from dozing, I saw one of the pack members at the cell door with a tray of food. Or what could just pass for food, considering the shitty state of it. The guy, tallish and dirty blonde, snarled at me, sliding the metal tray containing the mashed conglomeration of browns and whites through the open space at the bottom of the main door.

“I’m chained up.” I jiggled my wrists where they hung from the manacles secured to the wall. “What am I supposed to do? Magically float it to me?”

That earned me another snarl, but the guy had been given the order to feed me, so he sighed roughly and unlocked the cell to come in. He held a long pole I’d seen used before to electrocute disobedient wolves. It hurt—bad—so I was sure to keep my distance from him.

Loud steps shook the quiet I was used to as he walked to the chains and used a thick key to unlock one. My arm fell free, and I moaned as the constant pressure in my wrist let up. It hurt worse now that the blood flow was returning to it, but I knew I had to just deal with it. My hand obviously needed the circulation.

I could reach the floor now, and Mr. Food Delivery shoved the tray closer before leaving me to eat alone. I was fucking starving, too. The trouble was, I didn’t know if Eli had drugged this batch of food or not, and I couldn’t risk that.

Leaving the disgusting slop untouched, I picked up the fork I’d been given and instead used the metal utensil to pick at the lock on my other wrist. It was a long shot, but I had to try something.

The tines of the fork bent as I tried to work them into the cuff, and I cursed when they bounced out of the small hole and sheared across my arm.

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