Page 35 of Caging Fire
“Bye, Killian. See you later,” she said as she hugged him.
They embraced for a long moment, until she looked up at him, smiling. Her willingly hugging my brother certainly shocked me. Maybe Killian had made some headway with Rowan during their time spent alone today, or maybe after seeing his injuries she felt sympathy for him. Whatever the reason, I took it as a positive sign she might actually try to find her place in our unit.
Chapter 20: Rowan
Iwas trying to escape. DUH.
I needed to know what was beyond the door. Killian was so freaking large that I could barely see around him while hugging him, but I ended up getting a pretty good view of the hallway. There weren’t any jail bars or guards, just a long line of doors with apartment numbers on both sides. And then, like an answered prayer, I saw a red neon exit sign above what looked like a door to a stairwell. There had been no soldiers in the hallway, so I made a note of the time, 8:17 pm.
My blood was boiling. Control freak Cade was under my skin. How dare he try to hold Alex over my head? He stole everything from me! I had a life until he ripped it apart. The very least he could do was to let me see my only friend.
It was bad enough that he wanted to mold me into his perfect “good girl” and dictate every facet of my life. I would rather sleep in a pigpen, then in Cade’s bed. I wanted to scream and rage at him, but I needed to play nice. Not too nice, of course; that would draw suspicion. I had probably overdone it when I hugged Killian, but it was a calculated risk. Seeing the hallway was important.
I went back and sat at the table but opted for my own seat instead of Cade’s lap.
“Wasn’t there something important you wanted to talk to me about?” I questioned, hoping the quick redirection would distract him from pulling me onto his lap again.
“Yes, thank you for reminding me. Tomorrow morning, we will go to the Science Department. Since you will be sleeping in my room, I will make sure you are awake and ready on time. We have an 0800 appointment with Dr. Zolkos. He’s the Chief Science Officer on base.”
“Okay…are you planning to elaborate? I have the who, what, when, where, but you didn’t provide the why.”
Ryker liked my snide comment and chuckled. Maybe he was onto something with poking and prodding Cade. It was kind of fun after all.
Cade shot me a warning look before explaining, “They’ve isolated our unit packmate Talon in the science laboratory. He is a shifter. Scientists are running a few tests on him and believe he’s ready to rejoin our unit, but we need to go there and help them finish the final tests before his discharge. Dr. Zolkos also wants to draw some additional blood from you. The science staff took your samples previously upon your admission to Medical. They found irregularities when testing the samples, and theywant to do more research. It could be nothing, or it could result from the long-term use of suppressants. I have no more answers, which is why we are meeting with Dr. Zolkos at 0800 sharp.”
“Did I just hear that correctly? You have a shifter in your pack?!”
His words shocked me. I couldn’t focus on anything else. Everyone had heard of shifters, but no one I knew had ever actually met one. They were unbelievably rare, even rarer than omegas.
Monsters, some said.
Creatures that could shift into massive, wolf-like beasts thatwere vicious, primal, and deadly.
A flash of memory, or maybe just a nightmare, flickered in my mind of a shadowed figure with glowing yellow eyes. The image sent a chill through me.
And now they expected that I would eventually mate with one?
Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure Killian was the most terrifying predator in the unit.
“Yes,wehave a shifter in our pack. He’s not some wild beast though, like I’m sure you’ve heard tales of. He’s a man. With more control than Killian and Ryker combined, I might add.”
“Yeah, he has a lot of control when he’s fucking tearing up little nurses,” Ryker snorted.
My face morphed from shock to horror. What the hell did Ryker mean by “tearing up nurses?” He had officially freaked me out.
“ENOUGH!” Cade barked at Ryker, seeing the fear written in my features.
I wanted to push him and ask more about Talon and the nurses, but I could tell I wouldn’t get anywhere. Cade was an immovable object when he resolved to be. I would ask Ryker, who was more forth-coming, next time we were alone.
“Rowan, go relax in your room for a while. I put a few books in the nightstand drawer and paper on a clipboard with some pencils. Alex told me how much you enjoy reading and drawing. I’ll come get you when I am ready for bed.”
Great, so now I was being banished to my room like a child. He was so bossy! I wanted to argue as usual, but I was actually relieved at the thought of spending some time alone for once. I hurried, shutting the door firmly behind me, afraid he might change his mind.
Enjoying the quiet freedom of being alone, I busied myself. It had been strange to have spent so much time with other people over the past few days. For most of my life, I was used to being alone. Even when my dad was alive, we lived together in a quiet, easy harmony that didn’t require small talk or forced interactions.
I sketched for a while, and when that grew boring, I started reading one of the books Cade had provided. I preferred fantasy or romance, but one book he had provided was old, practically ancient, and definitely from the world before. It caught my eye among the rest because it was leather-bound with gold filigree and embossed letters. The cover read, “Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.”
It wasn’t my usual reading genre; however; the plot sucked me in fairly quickly, and I was engaged from the start. The storywas about a young boy who finds a treasure map leading to a famous pirate’s buried gold. It was old-fashioned, but filled with adventure. It reminded me of the books from the old world that my dad used to read to me before bed.
