Unbound

Chapter 5

Jack again navigated using back roads to get to the address on the other side of the settlement, knowing that I wasn't ready to be paraded through town after our frosty reception. When we pulled up to the front of the small apartment building, which sat more than two blocks away from any other structure, there were no lights on inside. I wondered briefly whether there were other tenants, or if I was the only one.

The front door, which I had to unlock with the larger of the keys, opened directly into a stairwell, and the rough state of the entryway indeed confirmed my suspicion that I was likely the only one living there. Jack led the way up the narrow wooden stairs carrying my suitcases to apartment 2A, one of only four units in the building.

There was no chance the apartments were designed to house wolves, let alone Castle wolves: if all of the apartments had similar layouts to mine, they'd barely fit through the doorframe. The place likely hadn't been used since humans were run out of the area.

The apartment smelled stale and stuffy and was dimly lit by a floor lamp in the corner that Jack found and plugged into the wall as I stood in the doorway. The only overhead lighting was a harsh fluorescent bulb in the kitchen and another in the bathroom. It was furnished, barely, with a futon in the living room, a bare mattress and dresser in the bedroom, and a thin cotton bathmat beside the shower. There were a few plastic hangers in the closet and some mismatched utensils, dishes, and pots stashed haphazardly in the kitchen cupboards, but there was no food. The refrigerator was empty. I just counted myself lucky that someone had thought to turn on the heat and electricity. I hoped they'd turned the water on, too.

"I can't leave you here like this," Jack said after taking everything in.

"You don't have a choice," I said quietly, choking on the lump growing in my throat. I didn't want him to see me cry again but the way his voice wavered tore at my resolve. I launched myself into his arms and buried my face in his warm chest. His whole body shook with the effort of trying not to break down.

Jack broke our embrace to lean down and kiss me. A wet, salty, teary kiss. I pressed my lips against his desperately for several seconds before regaining control. It took everything in me to pull away and step back out of his reach knowing that this could be the last time I'd feel his arms around me. I wanted to be strong for him. I had to be.

"I love you. I'll call you." I promised. Looking up at Jack's tear-soaked face, my resolve nearly faltered. If I begged him to take me away, I knew he would risk everything to do exactly that.

"I love you, too."

And then I was alone. I collapsed onto the floor, ignoring the pain of my knees striking the linoleum. I didn't think I had any tears left in me, but they flooded out hot and fast. Despite being by myself in the building, I held one hand over my mouth to stifle my sobs. I wrapped my other arm around my waist as though I could somehow hold myself together that way. As though I could keep myself from breaking. I was wrong.

I slept that night in fits and starts huddled under my coat on the futon so that I could see the front door. I didn't trust that I was safe here and each time I nodded off, a voice in my head screamed for me to wake up. Just before dawn, I gave up on sleep altogether and went to try the shower.

The water came out rusty at first and the dull orange swirled with the dust in the shower pan while the water heated up. To my surprise, after it ran for awhile, the water was pleasantly hot and the pressure was strong. I forced myself to stay under the stream as long as I could stand, letting the warmth seep into my bones until my skin turned red. When I got out, I dried myself off with a t-shirt and dressed, still damp, in jeans and a sweater. Jack had packed my overcoat and a set of scrubs, but I wasn't sure what the normal dress was at the Castle clinic. I shoved both into my medical bag.