Eli was a good brother. I mean that with every ounce of respect in me. He was truly the brother I had always hoped for.
I felt bad for using him in this way, but it was my only option. It was my only idea.
Eli and I had settled on some terms considering getting down to the cells wasn't as easy as saying the sentence itself.
The cells were not only locked but guarded, as well. The key to get past the three doors to actually enter the cells was in Jale's office, hopefully. No one really uses that key besides Jale himself, so Eli said it wouldn't be a surprise of it was on Jale's own personal keychain instead of pack-house security.
Eli said it would be much easier to access the key around six in the evening. Men are let off their posts in the pack house to go and enjoy dinner. Jale also takes that time to go with his mate, Stiletta. There would still be people scouting the area, but not as heavily. Eli thinks he can just slip into Jale's office, grab the keys, and make a clean get away. I have my doubts, but he seems pretty confident in himself.
From there, we would have to find a weak spot amongst the three ways to get into the cells. It only made sense to me to just kill the people in our way, but Eli informed me that this wasn't some moderately popular television show where werewolves can just kill people without consequences. Oh no, there's laws involving werewolf murders. Not only do humans get involved, but a 'werewolf council' does, too. Eli didn't really explain much to me about that, but apparently they keep a pretty close eye on our pack because they are close with my mom somehow.
I sat in my room for a while after that just watching old videos of Alex and Greyson. Some videos included Jale and Eli, but most just had a Riley when he was very little. I learned through the videos that Riley was Greyson's brother. That's why they looked so similar.
About a quarter till six, Eli came up to my room to put our plan in progress. I was nervous, but my wolf was humming loudly knowing she was going to see her mate. I just hoped this worked so she didn't get angry and attack everyone in this pack starting with Eli.
Eli and I walked up to the top level of the pack house where Jale's office was. Every step we took up the stairs made me feel nauseous. I was terrified that I would be caught and as punishment they would do something to Kieran to get back at me. I don't think I would be able to control myself if they did that.
"You okay?" Eli whispered as he looked at my paling face. We were standing around the corner, down the hall from Jale's office waiting for him to come out.
I gulped and nodded my head.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I lied. Eli rolled his eyes and turned back to peeking around the corner. Suddenly, I hear the click of a door knob followed by a lady talking.
"I think we should really go out tonight for dinner, though," the woman said.
"Why would we do that?" I recognized Jale say in response.
"Because your sister just returned. We can celebrate! Plus, I'm really craving some Chinese food," she replied as they walked down the hall and disappeared down the stairs.
"Who was that?" I asked Eli.
"Stiletta," he answered quietly. "Stay here, I'm going to go find that key," he said before taking off down the hall and into the office.
I contemplated going to help him, but I didn't want to do anything I'd regret later, so I just listened to him and stayed put. After a few minutes, he came out and slowly shut the door behind him.
"Got it?" I whisper shouted. He turned his head to look at me with furrowed brows.
"When you whisper like that, it's basically the same as talking," he said aloud. "And, yes. I got the key," he finished holding up the glinting metal with a grin.
We both made our way down to the creepy, dungeon thing. I didn't like think my Kieran was being held in a cellar, but he was along with my two best friends.
We had to wait about five minutes for some guard to stop talking to someone on the phone who we assumed was his mate before we could actually enter the cells. It was pretty much smooth sailing from there, though.
"Okay, I'm assuming you have like ten minutes before anyone comes back, so make it quick. We don't have time to waste," he said twisting the key into the lock and pushing open the door.
"Gotcha."
"I'll stand here and watch if anyone is coming." I nodded and smiled.
"Thank you for doing this," I grinned appreciatively.
"You're wasting time," he groaned.
"Oh, yeah!" I said before jogging down past the cells searching for Kieran.
I stopped when I heard a cough that I knew was Marilyn's. I ran as fast as possible toward the direction of where it came from. Kieran must have heard my footsteps because his eyes met mine almost immediately.
"Arden," he said breathlessly.
"Kieran," I responded almost the same way but my voice cracking slightly. I ran to the front of his cell as he ran forward until his chains stopped him. I grasped the bars on cells resulting in my hands being burned. I pulled them back with a wince.
"They're silver, you idiot," Marilyn mumbled in amusement but she sounded as if she were half dead. I turned to look at her and she had a swollen lip along with a bruised upper arm.
"What'd they do to you?" I asked in horror.
"They questions us again and got a annoyed because I wouldn't spill. I'm not a push over like these two," she scoffed.
"Just another day in paradise."
Bolton was passed out on the floor not moving an inch.
"Oh my god, Bolton?" I shouted in horror. "He's dead!" Marilyn burst out into an extremely forced laugh.
"Knocked out. Not dead," she stated, "they just brought him back about an hour ago. Poor boy, I don't think I'll ever unhear his screaming." I gulped not knowing what to say. I turned back to look at Kieran. He still looked the same from the last time I saw him. His lip was busted and swollen with a crooked make with an new addition: a black eye.
"Why are they doing this to you?" I cried out in horror. This was my family doing this.
"Arden, how did you get down here?" Kieran asked pushing away my question. He seemed more worried about me being down here than happy.
"My brother helped me," I answer making his worried expression morph into confusion. "Oh, you don't know," I said slowly. I took in a deep breath trying to think if telling him them at my own family were the ones beating them to pulp.
"My parents are the Alphas," I blurted out quickly.
"Were!" Eli shouted from down the hall of cells.
"Yeah, they were. Now, my oldest brother is, but my other brother is helping me see you guys," I said with a sad smile. I paused for a moment before finishing, "if I promise that you guys won't attack the pack of anything happens." Instantly, Kieran's face turned to one of anger and he snarled. "Kieran, please! This is the only way I can see you!" I cried.
Kieran's face slowly went back to its normal stoic expression as he looked at me with intensity.
"That's the only way I can see you?" He asked almost as if he didn't believe what I was telling him. I nodded and he scoffed.
"Arden, I will get us out of here, and I swear to God this whole damned pack is lucky that we won't rip them all apart because of this deal you've made," he said angrily making me smile. He respected my wishes unlike anyone had before. He cared for me, and I craved that.
"Arden, let's go!" Eli whispered at me. I knew that meant someone was coming.
"I'll be back. I promise. I'll bring you something to eat, too. All of you. I promise," I said before backing away from Kieran's cell. I turned to walk away thinking about just how much I couldn't stand being apart from this man. I could figure out just how I had the feeling I did from only knowing him from this short period of time. It was probably just the mate bond.
"I-" I said turning back to him to say what I wanted to say so badly. "I-I promise," I concluded not being able to actually say 'I love you' to the only person who has actually showed me love.
With that, I took off in a sprint to Eli so we could exit the cells. We got out just in time before the guards took to their posts. I wanted to smile, but I couldn't find it within me to be happy. Seeing Kieran like that only made me feel worse.
My thoughts were cut short as we were coming up the flight of stairs heading to the ground floor.
"Eli? Grey? What are you doing?" Alex said making my heart stop and then beat up ten times faster.
"Uh-we-" I began to say, but Eli cut me off.
"I found her trying to get into the cells. Thought I should bring her back up with the rest of us," he lied smoothly leaving my mouth gaping.
She narrowed her eyes on me, but I could see the disappointment in her angry, blue eyes.
"Stay away from those cells, Grey," she ordered making me flinch. Her tone could scare anyone. She was terrifying. "Take her to a guest room. Our floor, please," she told Eli. He nodded at her command then we each parted from one another.
"You got me in trouble!" I whisper-shouted again causing him to roll his eyes at me.
"What did you want me to say? She got lost looking for the bathroom?" He snapped at me making me frown and my wolf growl. I felt my eyesight blur a bit. I clenched my teeth pushing her back knowing exactly what she wanted to do. "Listen, it's better that she thinks you are the one trying to get down there rather than the both of us. If she thinks I don't agree with you seeing your shredder friends then she won't question what we are doing," he explained.
"True," I agreed knowing he was right. "Why doesn't she want me down there so badly?" I asked annoyed.
"Because dad said so," he answered making me scoff.
"So, what? She's just Miss Submissive toward him?" I asked angrily.
"No, but when it's dealing with you she is," he replied. I cocked an eyebrow at him.
"What do you mean by that?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Not listening to dad is the reason you were taken. From what I've been told, Dad told her to stay with you when we were under an attack, but Mom had other plans," he said. "Our Uncle Riley lead the attack. Shredders were involved which is one of the reasons Dad and Jale hate them so much. Dad thinks they brainwashed Riley into doing what he did. Mom just wanted to try to speak with him, but instead he had people coming after you," he finished. My mouth gaped and I didn't know what to say. I knew exactly who Riley was. He was that boy in the videos I had seen.
"She blamed herself for having you being taken from her every day for years," he said angrily. "That day she didn't just lose you, she lost Riley, too. That broke her." Eli looked as if he could burst into tears at any given moment. I was genuinely worried. He looked away from me and shook his head.
"Where's Riley now?" I asked making him shrug.
"Hopefully, somewhere far away from here."
_________
I'm such a Douchebag. Oh my god. I didn't mean to not update for this long but honestly these past few months have been so hard for me. I have had so much on my plate and I didn't have the time or the mental stability to write.
Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter because I had a difficult time trying to figure out how to write it and today I just knew exactly what I wanted to do so I hurried up and whipped it out for you guys.
Again, I am so so sorry for it being this late I have just genuinely been in a rut and I'm just getting out of it.
I have my best friend to thank for that because she's absolutely perfect so you can thank her for this update.
Oh and RIP our innocent Riley Hayes.(he's not dead hopefully just not the same Riley we all love)
Stay awesome Gotham. 4/6/16