Page 30 of Wolf Forsaken

I put my hand on his outstretched leg and squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm sure she did. Just look. She's probably worried sick about us. I'm sure Cole would like to know if Manny is okay too."

"You're probably right. You should go check on Xander."

I nodded and stood, looking at Cole sleeping peacefully on the bed next to Eli, I still couldn't believe I had four mates.

After shutting the door gently, I went down the stairs and headed for the area with the beanbags. No one else was in the room, so it was quiet enough to get some rest. It felt weird being in such a large room with nothing going on.

Xander was in the middle of a big blue beanbag, staring at the ceiling. There was enough room for a few people, so I wiggled my way next to him, and he wrapped an arm around me.

"Are you all right?" I laid my head on his chest and snuggled up against him.

We hadn't really had time to get to know each other, and I was curious what his life was like before he was taken. Would he even want to share that with me, or would it be too painful?

"I can't be in a room that has no other exits. This room is fine, except people keep passing through every time I try to shut my eyes and go to sleep." He began twirling the hair in my ponytail. "Sometimes I wonder if this is all a dream and if I'm going to wake up and still be locked in the same cage."

Tears welled behind my eyes. "A cage like in Cole's basement?"

"No. One that's meant for dogs." His fingers brushed along my hair over and over again, lightly touching my back and sending a shiver down my spine to pool in my belly. "Their goal was to mistreat us enough that we'd shift to our human form so they could torture us and get information from us."

"Who's they?"

He was quiet, and I began wondering if he'd fallen asleep. I turned my head and rested my chin on his chest, staring up at him. He looked back at me with glassy eyes before blinking several times. "I don't know who they were."

His face held a boyish charm to it, with eyes that pierced my soul. There was so much pain and torment in them. I just wanted to hold on to him forever and never let him go. Who would do such a thing to somebody? Even to a wolf?

Was it the government? A rival pack? Some rogue group of humans that wanted to use wolves for their own bidding?

The uncertainty of it all made me nervous. Once we figured out the Dante situation, we needed to figure out what had happened to Xander and his pack. Surely with a pack as large as ours, we'd be able to handle a group of sadistic torturers.

"Do you two need a room?" Silas had come from nowhere and stood over us. "I mean, I'm down to watch, but I really don't want the rest of my pack seeing."

I rolled my eyes and lifted my head to narrow my eyes at Silas. "Must you be so crass?"

"It was just a joke, bunny." He ran his hand over his beard, straightening the blonde strands that had gotten out of place.

"Do you have any rooms with a window or another door to the outside? I know you have that storage room with all the boxes, but that's not really a good place to sleep." He tensed a bit, and I sat up, cocking my head to the side. "What's in the boxes, Silas?"

"Supplies." He cleared his throat and looked across the room to a dimly lit hallway. "We have a bunk room with four beds, and it has a window." Silas looked back at me and then grinned. "That's the only room left, and I'm in desperate need of a nap. Looks like we'll be roomies since you commandeered my room."

I pushed myself off the beanbag and stood in front of him. "You're not sleeping in the room with us. You can sleep out here."

"So it's going to be like that, huh?" He cocked a brow. "How long was it until they all got to sleep in your bed?"

I scoffed. "That's none of your damn business. Did you forget that you and Cole are enemies? Or that your two betas practically killed us? Were you even aware that crash caused me to shift for the first time?"

He backed up a step and looked me up and down in disbelief. "But… How old are you?"

"I just turned twenty-six that night. Thanks for ruining my birthday, by the way. I'll let you make it up to me by getting me a chocolate cake." I put my hand out to help Xander up. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we need a nap."

Silas showed us to the room and a dormitory set of bathrooms. He left us standing in the hall, and my shoulders relaxed.

"Are you going to be okay if I take a shower?" Xander examined the room and then came back out again. "I'll be quick."

"I can handle myself." I kissed his cheek and gave him a smile. "Go shower and then we can take a nap."

We parted ways, and I went into the room and sat on the bottom of one of the bunk beds. The beds were all twin-sized, but that just meant me and Xander could cuddle up next to each other.

It reminded me a lot of the dorms in college where you shared a room but shared the bathroom with the entire floor. It wasn't exactly homey. Even Silas's room was cold and unwelcoming with the lack of windows and gray walls.

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