Hunted and Tormented

Chapter 8: Job Description

You stabbed an Alpha.” Cam shook his head. “Man, you’ve got some balls doing that.”

I motioned around me. “I might have balls, but I don’t have brains.”

Everything after the attack had been a blur. Wolves had flown into the room, sensing their Alpha’s distress and all I could remember on my part was being shoved back into a cell again. I’d heard no news about Jem and I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

Don’t pretend you don’t regret it a little, my wolf said snidely.

No, I really don’t.

Um, it hurt us too, you know. What he feels, we feel. We’re mated for goodness sake!

That doesn’t mean I regret it.

Since my immediate imprisonment, my wolf had refused to speak to me. She’d hidden in the corner of my mind, pointedly ignoring me as a statement that she didn’t agree with my actions. Of course, she was too loved up with Jem’s wolf to even care that what he’d done hurt me. But every now and then she would let the memory of Jem’s heartbroken expression flash through my mind and I’d start seething and sobbing at the same time. If he hadn't known me better, I’m sure Cam would have thought I was bipolar by the highs and lows I kept having.

“Do you want to know how he is?” Cam asked, leaning against the bars with a smirk.

Yes, my wolf howled.

“No.” God, I was such a big liar.

Cam sighed. “Eve, you are his mate. It’s only natural to want to make sure he is okay. Granted I wouldn’t exactly brand your relationship as natural seeing as you tried to kill him.”

I snorted and crossed my arms. “Yeah, well he started it.”

Clearing his throat, Cam shuffled his feet. His eyes fell to the floor and then looked back up at me expectantly. I threw my hands up in annoyance. “Fine, how is he?”

“You can see for yourself.”

The clanking of the key turning in the lock made me raise my eyebrows. Cam looked beyond smug, enjoying this far too much.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” I asked him flatly.

“Relax. You’re gonna be cuffed and surrounded by a million guards. You won’t even get close to him. Plus, you know, no stake this time.”

He slid the doors open and my gaze went to my lap as I fiddled with my fingers. “I don’t want to see him, Cam.”

His expression softened. “I know. But he wants to see you. And I have an order that if you refuse, I have to drag you.”

I opted to walk. The route to the Alpha’s quarters was in the same basic direction of my old room. I couldn’t help thinking as I looked around, that these could have been my quarters too. I could have sat on the pretentious couches on the lavishly carpeted landing and slid across the floorboards that glided down a separate hallway. I could have showered in a crystal dome in the glistening bathroom and dancing in front of the mirrors in nothing but my underwear. And I could have done all of that . . . if I’d just said yes.

If I hadn't just stabbed my mate.

I could blame my inner animal for taking out my outrage on my mate, but she wasn't talking to me. I could blame Jem for tossing me back into that cell, but I couldn’t because it confused me. One minute he was saying he believed me and wanted to be with me, and the next I was locked back in that cell like a piece of trash Rogue.