Page 6 of Beyond the Grasslands

“That is for the best anyway.”

Tessa nodded her head. “It is, and it will happen either way, but Avery wanted to give his brother the chance to do the right thing before he is forced to step down.”

“He has had the chance to do the right thing from the very beginning, Tessa. Doing the right thing now will be a bandaid over a ravaged neck wound. It won’t matter.”

“I suppose it won’t, but I think Avery needs to feel as though he gave his brother the chance at redemption.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “Thank you for all this.” Besides the hygiene items, Tessa brought a paper sack full of food and a bottle of water along with a carton of juice. I worried that some of it might be drugged, considering what Aiden had done to keep me there, but I wouldn’t bother to ask Tessa. I would simply have to examine the water bottle really well. If it was sealed properly and there weren’t any leaks from the bottle that indicated tampering, I might drink it. Everything else was out of the question.

“I put the food together myself, so no one tampered with it.”

I glanced up at her and wondered briefly how she would know that it was a concern of mine, then I remembered Tessa’s story. She had been thrown into a similar situation when she refused to mate with her previous Alpha’s son.

“I hate to see you here.” She shivered. “When Avery told me I needed to bring you supplies, it took a lot to make myself come down those steps.” She visibly shook again. “My biggest fear is that I’ll end up in a place like this again, and my brain screamed that it was a trap. Even though I have a mate now, and I think he’ll take good care of me, it’s his brother who treated you the way my old pack treated me.”

“Avery stood by and allowed all of it.”

She shook her head. “Not this. We didn’t even know you were here until earlier when one of the guards came to inform my mate. That was when he went to give Aiden the time to fix it.”

I laughed that off. “Funny how he keeps giving Aiden time to fix things, but that time is always atmyexpense, not Aiden’s.” I shook my head. “Avery is just as bad. You don’t have to see it that way since you’re his mate and I’m the captive in this situation. I will never forgive either of them for what they have put me through.”

“I understand.” Tessa backed up further toward the hallway that would lead her back upstairs and out of the basement level of what should have been the pack house.

I watched as she finally spun around and left without another word. I didn’t blame her one bit. It had been cruel of the brothers to send her down here in the first place. I hoped like hell they didn’t know her story, and therefore did it in ignorance. Otherwise, it seemed like torture and while there was a time when I wouldn’t think either of them capable, my opinions had changed greatly over the course of the past seven months.

It was hard to believe it had been that long since I came home from school. The heat of summer had descended on us. I’d missed my official graduation from university, not that I planned to attend, but the choice was forever lost to me amidst the dramas that had been forced on me over time.

I made my way to the tiny sink at the side of the cell and made good use of the shampoo. It stung like hell when it made contact with my scalp, but that wasn’t something I had time to worry over. I was damned either way. I could either get an infection from the nasty hair or from the chemicals in the shampoo. Either way, it would suck.

I managedto get cleaned and decided to trust the pre-packaged food in the bag Tessa brought me. Considering what happened to her, I didn’t think she would give me tainted food or drink, but I still avoided the things that were homemade, in case she put her faith in someone else to take care of that. I drank the water from the bottle, instead of the sink, because the sink didn’t feel like the greatest option. I wished I’d taken a closer look atit before I washed my hair, because that was another infection worry.

I blew out a frustrated huff and then worked to stretch my muscles. Tessa clearly hadn’t been given keys to the cell, so she hadn’t been an option to get me out. I didn’t think she would bother to try even if she did have them, since that would mean going against Avery’s wishes. It still blew my mind that he allowed his brother as much rope as he did to hang himself, because it was just enough to force the whole pack to swing with him.

It made no sense. It made even less sense to me that Avery hadn’t bothered to call his parents back to the pack. Something wasn’t adding up there with the family. I still didn’t understand why Alpha Trevor left the pack in his son’s care before he had a mate. Normally, the only time that was done was if the former Alpha died prior to the son finding his mate - as in Thorin’s case.

From what I understood, both of Aiden’s parents were still alive and well. I puzzled over that for a few minutes because there wasn’t anything else to do, and then I gave up on it altogether. All it did was leave me with more questions than answers and none of it was helpful.

Just as I was about to contemplate the wisdom of testing the bars, I heard a shuffled movement from around the corner. There were four more cells around there. I had been placed in one around the corner from the others. It was isolated to itself, and I had to wonder if I had been placed there for my safety or if it was simply because Aiden didn’t want anyone to accidentally come down and stumble upon me in the cells.

The sound came again and I prepared myself, just in case. I crouched low in the corner with the mattress propped in front of me as a shield, since there was no way to know who was friend or enemy anymore. It was a good thing I had taken the extraprecaution because the person who appeared on the other side of the cell was no friend of mine.

“He was supposed to be mine!”

I glanced up at the desperate woman and said nothing. She could have Aiden. I certainly did not want him.

“Now, because of you, my moon-blessed rejected me on top of Aiden rejecting me.”

I laughed without meaning to. If that wasn’t the Karma Kyla had asked for, I didn’t know what was.

“Why are you laughing?” She screamed at me.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I tossed my question back at her in answer.

“You bitch! You ruined everything!”

“How in the hell do you figure this is my fault? Aiden was supposed to be my moon-blessed mate. You’re the one who was a member of his harem - willingly.” I tacked on the last as a reminder that no one had forced her to participate. “You were the one who threw away your reputation to do that. I’m just the person who had the misfortune of being paired with a weak Alpha. You can have him, by the way.” I chuckled again. “Assuming he’ll accept you, especially since your own mate didn’t want you.”

“Your mate didn’t want you either!” She shot back. When I said nothing about that, she laughed. “Not so funny now is it?”

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