Lola (Completed)

31 Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters

Mackenzie

I look at Lola, unable to help the frown that crosses my face.

She is avoiding looking at me as if I'm a ghost. Too bad for Lola that I can sense the unease pouring off of her. She's hiding something from me and it doesn't take a genius to guess what that might be.

Ryker and Bastian have been gone for hours. I didn't go to school today, so I know exactly when Ryker left this morning. Eight o'clock a.m., precisely.

Lola confirmed that Bastian also disappeared from school a little while later. Brett is missing, too. My brothers are in jail. And here is my best friend, pretending that our mates aren't tracking down rogue Harbor wolves to imprison, or worse, kill them all.

"I'm not an idiot," I grouse.

"I know," Lola agrees simply. She still won't look at me.

I know, too, Lola, I say to myself silently. I know a lot more than I really want to right now.

I know that Bastian feels jealous, guilty, and angry about Lola's past, which makes her feel guilty, which makes Bastian feel more guilty and angry. It's a vicious cycle that they are trapped in.

I know that Lola is scared of everyone hating her for suddenly elevating her status to the First Beta female. I know that she hears the rumors that have already been spreading about her supposed pregnancy. I know that her confidence is shaken to her core, because she doesn't really know who she is anymore. I know that she needs the void of Alpha Roland's Orders to be filled, somehow.

I know that she wants to do this because for some reason she feels safe with my oldest brother.

For the record, I completely disagree. As we descend deeper into the prison hallway, I can't help but think that visiting Samuel is the worst idea I've ever heard of. And that includes Bastian's plan of giving his title over to Ryker. It totally teeters on the edge of insanity, but here we are anyway.

I know Samuel loves Lola, but I also see the teeming, violent chaos that is his MateLess wolf. He took so much comfort in Lola. In his head, he built their relationship into something that it's not. A dominant male wolf is dangerous when his prey is snatched away from him. My brother's unstable and that makes this a dumb move on our part.

"He is in the last cell in this row, Luna," the guard nods respectfully at me.

I thank him quietly. Being Ryker's mate means that I get instant respect. I can waltz down here to speak with Samuel without the guards stopping me.

That also means that Ryker never told them that I can't come down here. He probably didn't think I would be this stupid. Well, there goes that theory; apparently I'm an idiot.

"Lola," my brother rasps in a deep voice that only marginally sounds like himself.

"Sam," Lola's tone is sad. Her guilt wells up as Samuel moves closer to the bars. They're not silver, not like some of the cells. Not like the reinforced cell Jacob is being held in. Samuel can touch these bars and he does, wrapping both hands around them and pressing his face lightly to them.

He looks terrible. Expected, I suppose, but I still wince as he steps out of the shadows with a bruised and battered face. Dried blood cakes his fingers, claws peeking out at the ends of his hands. His left eye is blood-red, the vessels blown from the fury of shifting back and forth into his wolf too quickly.

"What are you doing here, Lola?" he asks. It's as if he doesn't even see me.

"I needed to make sure you're OK," she says softly.