During the car ride into and through the Central territory, I tucked my knees up to my chest, grounding my heels on the seat. Widening my elbows, I tucked my bound hands underneath.

Ignoring both Caleb's curious gaze on my movements and the bursts of hot pain in my wrists whenever they moved, I wiggled and squirmed until my hands sat under my butt. With a low grunt and burns searing my skin, I lifted my arms until my hands were out from under me and sat in my lap.

"Don't..." he whispered, his hands grabbing mine.

After loosening and sliding the restraints further up my forearms, his thumbs rubbed arc-like shapes over my red and raw skin.

"Don't," I whisper-yelled and yanked my hands back. "Don't... touch me."

He leaned back, propping his elbow on the door and cupping his chin in his palm. I slid my eyes closed, focusing on my breaths to shut out the weight of my surroundings and thrumming of my heart. Its pounding sensations intensified the farther we drove into the Central territory and a pulling sensation tugged deeper in my stomach. With each silent minute that passed, minutes turned into hours as Baron and my traitorous mate escorted me like a prisoner who'd already been sentenced.

A horrific realization rose inside me the deeper we drove into my father's territory. It drew my back's imprint in my seat deeper.

He's going to kill me...

'Kill first.'

While Lumi's words instilled a sense of uncertainty and insecurity inside me. My forehead tensed when my blonde eyebrows drew together and my pulse raced faster beats in my veins the closer we got.

I pressed my heels down into the floor, feeling the slight bulge of the Silencer gun on my right thigh. While its location was uncomfortable during the drive, I slipped it on while stopped at a South-East border checkpoint. The uneasy look the guards gave Elena and Rose's sleeping form made me uncomfortable, so I holstered my gun under my baggy sweatpants.

The rolling hills outside my window flattened out to wide, open grassy fields. I kept my eyes glued on nothing at all but everything that wasn't Caleb.

Not him. Not looking at him.

Not even the reflection of him in my tinted window. Nope.

Darn it.

He sat in a slumped position, shoulders rounding and stomach clenched. His own eyes gazed out his own window while his elbow rested on the door's armrest. I pressed my lips together at how his bicep muscle flexed enough that the profile of his contoured muscle was visible over the -

"Still can't stop staring, Sweetheart?" his voice rumbled through the space between us like soft rolls of thunder. The vibrations shot a flush of reactions, straight from my pinching heart down into... lower areas.

No. Not again.

I hate this. I hate him.

From her weakened position under the silver restraints, Lumi offered no help other than a soft, whimpered plea.

'Mate.'

Not any longer.

With one squirm in my seat, my hips shifted in his direction. After a few moments of my eyes shooting mental lasers at the back of his head, his eyes dropped to the corners.

After a tight jaw and hard stare into his not-brown eyes, I started, "Caleb, I rej -"

One of his large hands wrapped over my mouth before I finished. "Doesn't work unless I say it too," he mumbled but his gaze never wavered, shifting between my eyes. His contacts weren't enough to mask the way his eyes rounded with pain.

I leaned back from his touch, cursed at the waves of warmth that his rough palm spread over my face and cheeks. As I moved, his initial slash of pain softened into sadness pooling in his still-not-natural brown eyes.

He moved his hand to the side of his cheek, where he scratched but blocked the side of his face and mouthed something. His twitching lips earned him a raised eyebrow and small scoff.

His eyes rolled but before he clarified his silent words, Baron's gruff voice broke out, "We're here."

I hadn't noticed but we drove up to what I assumed was the Central territory packhouse, or one of them. The level fields led up to a star-shaped, cement walled compound. Two of the star points were edged with woods. A large, gleaming blue lake sat behind the packhouse, flickers of sunlight offering a natural contrast to the opposing structure. Behind the walls, several rectangular buildings, with red brick walls and tiled roofs loomed tall into the sky. Two to three armed security guards patrolled every wall.

Our vehicles drove through the wall's double gates, down a narrowed outside hall-like area with high walls on either side, then stopped at an interior courtyard-like area. The only bodies that moved were black Kevlar-clothed guards, with guns holstered on their legs. I hadn't gotten much look at the brick buildings that towered around us in a semi-circular layout when Baron snarled again.

"Get out."

Within two steps out of the SUV, Baron's gnarled fingers clamped on my shoulders, shoving me forward. The crackling sound of my feet dragged over gravel was the last thing I heard as I stumbled a few steps. A sharp pain struck me in the back of my head. Dizzying my head, the blow brought me down to my knees.

Before I stabilized myself, Baron grunted and delivered a swift kick into my stomach. Gasping from the blunt pain of his hard boot in my pelvis, I pitched over until my right shoulder and hip hit the rough ground.

Sharp pains from his follow-up kicks struck into the side of my left ribs, which I curled inward, rounding my shoulders and tucking my knees up. The burn of my silver restraints kept Lumi held back, her anger burning through me at the sight of Baron's large form over us. At the public display, his crooked mouth curled up slightly. My eyes squeezed closed and my right temple skimmed over the rough gravel under it with each blow and I groaned low, near strangled grunts each time.

A low warning growl rumbled behind us, followed by low-toned grunts and the bone-crack sounds of a shift. Baron's kicks into my stomach stopped, giving me space to draw in a raspy breath. Shuffling gravel sounds hinted that he skittered back.

My vision blurred when I cracked my eyes open. Numbness swelled in my ribs, making my breaths labored and burning hot. I blinked until the faint white clouds in the blue late afternoon sky overhead came into focus.

A shadow passed over me and a large, furry paw stepped over my knees. Another paw stepped over my right shoulder until a tensed body shielded over mine. Hot, sharp breaths expanded and contracted the massive chest cavity near my temple. Waves of familiar warmth flowed from his body, which vibrated with a growl when his head lowered and teeth bared.

If the presence of Caleb's wolf wasn't enough of a shock, then his long, snow-white fur bristling up like spines on his back couldn't have surprised me more. Blinking, I wasn't sure if my fuzzy brain hallucinated the image over me.

His muscles clenched in taut cords, locked tight with restrained protectiveness. A low, rumbling growl at Baron rippled vibrations through him like thunder. His paws were the size of dinner plates with black, razor-sharp claws exposed. My eyes drank in the sight of his long, white underbelly fur, tingles radiating from my palms into the tips of my fingers. They twitched to thread through it.

This... explains a lot.

Within a blink, Baron snarled, shifted into his tawny brown wolf, and left his clothes a shredded pile under him. The banded colors of black, white, gold, and brown in his fur shifted under his shoulder and back muscles as he crouched low.

The muscles in Caleb's wolf clenched with his strong, confident steps forward. My eyes widened at his gigantic form while he paced back and forth in front of Baron's wolf. His eyes were a beautiful color of yellow hazel that shone golden in the sunlight. All his fur was white except triangles of gray inside his ears and peppered spots over his mouth and chin.

My heart stilled in the short moment where they sized up and strategized against the other, teeth exposed and eyes narrowed in challenge. Going off appearances alone, the size and vitality Caleb's wolf had the upper hand. He was younger, bigger, and his muscles bulged even under his snowy white fur. 

But Baron's older, more experienced, maybe craftier.

A clash of snarls rang out as Baron charged into Caleb's shoulder and snapped at his jowls like a steel trap. Claws struck at claws and canines clashed as Caleb fought him off. With one swipe of a white paw, Caleb's front claws ripped open a jagged gash across Baron's chest, dragging two shreds into his flesh. His dark fur matted with narrow crimson streaks but he lunged again, tackled Caleb, and rolled him over with a thud that vibrated the ground under me.

Cupping my ribs, I winced and pushed myself up to sit. The scene feet from me was a merciless battle to the death, freezing my breath in my lungs. My pulse rushed in my ears but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the violence unfolding the longer they engaged.

Saliva flung as their teeth snapped at each other. Claw for claw, strike for strike, both wrestled and struggled for the chokehold. Caleb's wolf pinned Baron's under him but not before one brown paw struck his shoulder. The wound split open, crimson blood flow painted over his white fur. His soft yelp pinched a tightness in my chest.

Lumi paced in my mind, whining at each slammed contact of their bodies. I pulled against my restraints but they held firm, seared into my skin like burning acid. Grounding my feet to stand, I watched, as helpless as Caleb had felt in my case. My mouth hanging open, my tongue coated with sawdust and my throat choked on dry air.

Here however, Caleb's hind legs gained momentum. With one push, he lunged at Baron, and locked his jaws under his throat with one savage bite. A strangled growl left Baron's throat, followed by a bone-wrenching crunch sound and blood bursting over Caleb's mouth. Baron's body flailed, arms and legs kicking the air, under Caleb's locked jaws but the white wolf held his ground.

With one snap sideways that erupted a sickening crunch of broken bones, Baron's wolf stilled. Once the twitches in his paws ceased, Caleb tossed him aside like a ragdoll.

Turning to me, his mouth and neck were stained with red tributaries of blood, matting hs white furt. The strong, determined steps he took back to me showed it was Baron's blood, not his.

He offered a soft whine escaped while his head stooped lower. His golden yellow eyes never left mine. My hands moved on their own and brushed the back of my knuckles over the short, velvety hairs on his snout. Warmth tingled the pads of my fingers, pulling my lips into a smile.

I ignored the iron-tinged smell of Baron's blood twitching my nose and how Caleb's wolf's mouth looked like a crime scene when it opened, fanning hot breaths over my hands. Extending his long, pink tongue, he dragged it over my raw wrists. The warm, wet, sandpaper-like texture left tiny, warm aftershocks on my skin in its absence.

As my dry lips parted, a loud shout across the courtyard commanded our attention. The footfall of multiple boots pounding the ground erupted as Gamma Erik approached with a group of armed security guards on his heels.

I groaned and winced against the pain in my ribs but grounded my feet with shaky knees. While I steadied myself, Caleb's wolf leaned against my right side for support. The corded muscles wrapping around his front legs stiffened as Erik and his men encircled us, drawing their weapons.

Staccato clicks of safeties unlocked cut through the tense silence and eleven barrels pointed at us. Caleb's low growl vibrated warm on my side and he sank down into a crouched position.

Like he doesn't care how we're outnumbered.

Between the beats of my heart in my ears, a loud bang of a door bursting open sounded through the courtyard. My heart froze when my father's tall, thin frame appeared in the doorway of the closest building.

The sunlight caught his brown hair, highlighting it to a gray tone. Shadows etched into his pale skin, crease lines cutting in the corners of his eyes, between his eyebrows, and corners of his mouth.

"Enough!" he roared out, the malice and authority radiating in his voice commanding all attention straight to him. The gun barrels pointed as Caleb and I lowered.

With quick steps of his long legs, he closed the distance between us. Dressed collar to ankle cuffs in brown leather, he looked prepared and expecting a physical skirmish. His boots crunched the gravel-covered earth one stop at a time, crushing them with each step.

A hardness filled his expression, a fiery rage burning in his eyes. His eyes scanned the standoff scene, his posture stiffening and hands clenching as his eyes took in the state of Baron's limp wolf. Waves of anger radiated off him like an invisible aura flexed, coating the courtyard in a thick silence. My lower lip trembled and I fought the urge that I recoiled.

"We had an arrangement, Caleb," my father snarled in a harsh, biting tone. "Or should I call you by your more appropriate name... Subject Four."

My weight sagged into Caleb's wolf. Threading my fingers through the long, white strands, I clung onto them.

Caleb's... can't be.

He's from the Southern territory, Theo's brother... Isn't he?

Under my fingers, Caleb's wolf's muscles rippled and hardened. My father's words sent a chill down my spine. My mind clicked another puzzle piece into place but the entire picture still evaded me.

That's his secret, his connection to Solomon.

We're... That's why we're mates.

Why he couldn't...

A weighted sensation pulled in my stomach and I swallowed hard. Again, my body teetered, sagging into Caleb's wolf as I braced against his shoulder.

He didn't trust us, Lumi.

My father's razor-edged voice cut through my thoughts like a storm wind. "You brought what's mine back to me but killed my Beta, so you've lost your freedom."

I had no clue what my father talked about, or how Caleb could have ever come into any type of agreement with him. That said, I needed no stretch of my imagination to assume it had to do with Caleb not being treated like Solomon and I had.

Like so many mysteries involving my father, I knew what happened that led us here but not the motivations or reasons behind them.

But... why? Why would Caleb sell out his own mate, his -

Caleb's body vibrated with another growl but I laid my elbows over his back, careful to avoid pressing the silver to him. The contact stilled him because even he couldn't have taken down the circle of guns pointed at our heads.

"Take both of them out of my sight." My father sneered at Erik before he turned on his heel. "And dispose of Baron's body."

Hands clamped onto my shoulder and ripped me away from Caleb's wolf. When I tugged his fur, his head turned, eyes softening with his whimper. Lumi's howls faded into background noise as my chin dipped down.

The setting sun painted streaks of pink and yellow hues across the sky. Under heavy, gray clouds that approached, a sense of dread rose inside me. My head and shoulders sagging, I wondered if this was the last time we saw the light of day again.

With rough hands clamped on my shoulders, Erik's men alternated between shoving and dragging movements into the leftmost compound building. Bare, exposed brick walls, chipped and worn, surrounded us in a windowless space. One wall was lined with silver holding cells. Each housed a small bench, nothing else.

Thankfully, once a guard forced me into a cell, he removed my silver restraints. My palms rubbed over my raw wrists when the door clanged shut. The hum of vibrations lingered in my ears as I watched the guards retreating steps.

I stood, still as a statue, when the room's metal door slammed shut and subsequent echo boomed out over the room's hard surfaces. Only when they fade to a soft hum, I turned away. Sharp jabs of pain stabbed like a dull knife into my ribs when I lowered down on the cold, hard metal bench in my cell. I took a slow, painful breath in and exhaled even slower, feeling the weight of my body drawing down. My arms and legs hung heavy and a headache throbbed between my eyes. The hot throbs of pain in my ribs dulled enough that once my eyes slid closed, I let go and succumbed to a sudden sense of exhaustion.

With no clue of how long my heavy-lidded eyes laid closed, the grunted and rustling sounds of a struggle flipped them open. I blinked against the dull, yellow overhead lights until the nondescript room came into view.

"Get in, asshole," a low voice growled out among the evidence of conflict.

After a sickening crack of a punch making skin contact, the sounds of a heavy object dragged came closer. Blinking my eyes, Caleb had shifted back. With a guard's arm shackled around each of his shoulders and legs hanging limp, they dragged him into the cell next to me. My eyes averted when I saw he was nude. With the sound of crumpled fabric, a pair of pants was tossed onto the floor near his feet.

"Wrong choice, mutt." The guards slammed his door shut with another round of hummed vibrations.

The air thickened with silence, more with Caleb here than when I was alone.

A chuckle hit my ears, bringing my attention to Caleb's cell. I pushed a breath out pursed lips. By the time my eyes dragged up from the floor, he was wearing pants. His biceps and triceps on his toned arms and his toned chest and abdominal muscles flexed from how his palms pressed his hips.

Bruises and raised, swollen areas dotted his head, neck, and torso, including a black eye and red-skinned jaw. Blood dripped in tiny crimson rivers from cuts all over him, including one from a crack in his lip and another down his left temple. His chiseled, bare shoulders and torso glistened with perspiration, even under the dull lighting from above and gray coat of dirt stuck to him.

His chin tipped down slightly, casting shadows over his eyes and darkening them from my view.

"Oh my gosh." My hands flew to my mouth and I pushed my feet onto the cement floor.

Before I stood up, he motioned with one hand for me to stay seated. We remained still, in complete and awkward silence.

Gnawing on my lower lip, I felt like a traitor for how sorry I felt for his terrible state. Evidence of my father's payback for Baron's death was shown all over Caleb's body, like a sobering reminder of my father's unrelenting cruelty. Even though I distrusted him and hated his betrayal, no one deserved that treatment.

The mate bond's pull added nothing but conflict, as a sense to help him, soothe him, and soften the worry lines creasing his forehead came over me. My heart tugged, like it descended deeper in my chest.

"Ughhh..." Caleb groaned and sank down on his bench. Rounding his back, he hinged over and ground his elbow on his thighs. "There's a reason Cassius has 'ass' in the middle of it."

"Are you..." I turned my head and paused at his slumped, almost defeated posture. "Alright?"

"You're not worried about me now, are you Sweetheart?" Despite his split lip, he gave me a crooked grin, which faded quicker than it appeared. Chased by a groan, he rubbed his palms over his forehead.

"Not when you say things like that." I palmed my bench, moving to the end and reaching one hand through the silver bars between us. "We need to stop meeting like this, you know."

"Are you all right?" Blinking through his fingers, his eyes took in my palm-up offer. His fingers wrapped around mine and I smiled at the warmth that flowed between our connection. The same warmth flowed out of his concerned gaze on me.

"He's done worse," I whispered, dropping my eyes when his fingers interlocked with mine. My other hand cupped around my stomach. "Few broken ribs but they'll heal."

My heart fluttered faster and I was mesmerized by the intensity he looked at me with, like nothing else mattered to him at that moment. While the silver cages kept Lumi suppressed, with my restraints gone, Lumi's heart bloomed at our slight contact. Warm tingles rose up under my skin and a giddy rush filtered through my thoughts.

"Guess I'll have to kill him too," he muttered with a laugh, then groaned again.

"That's the most romantic thing you've ever said," I clipped and leaned back into the rough textured brick wall behind me. "Or did... Thank you."

"Never said I was romantic," he tossed the same sarcasm back at me but his hand squeezed mine. "But I'd do it again in a blink."

"Why?" I prompted, the dryness creeping up my voice dropping my voice to a whisper.

"He was hurting you." His low, calm reply included a hint of smugness from stating the obvious. Sliding his eyes closed, he pulled his head up and leaned against the wall.

"No." Even though he couldn't see me, my head bumped against the wall behind me as I shook it back and forth. "Why sell me out like a traitor then defend me? All it got you was beaten and thrown in here."

"Sweetheart..." Caleb snorted, then groaned and rubbed his hand over his forehead again. "My wolf defended you. I got beaten and thrown in here because I wouldn't take Baron's place."

My fingers twitched, making my hand clamp on his in a locked grip.

Oh. His wolf... Not him.

Pain crushed my heart at that thought, tightening my chest like it collapsed inward. My fingers went slack, falling limp in between his and creating gaps between our contact points. He responded by squeezing them closed.

"If he hadn't barreled me over, I would've done it too." His head turned and the intensity burning in his eyes, darkening them like shadows behind his contact, hitched my breath. My heart pounded against the constriction holding it hostage. "Because I'd do anything for you to be safe."

He hadn't said the actual, truthful words but he said enough. Drawing a raspy breath, tears blurred his battered but handsome face from my view. My mind filled in what my heart needed.

Even lie... Or push you away.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I whispered. At his silence, I opted for a different angle, "And your wolf? He's amazing... beautiful."

"Now you've stroked his ego, I'll never hear the end of it." He scoffed. "But thanks for not calling him a snowball."

Every muscle in my body tensed at Caleb's choice of words and my fingers choked a grip around his.

"Solomon." An unspoken but unsettled feeling inside me knew, somehow, that he was close. I felt him, in the blood that surged through my veins and ripples of excitement tingling under my skin, raising the hairs on my forearms. "He's coming, isn't he."

He took in a deep, ragged breath, then exhaled with his eyes still closed. "They all are."

My fingers clamped down on him as my pulse raced faster, thrumming in my veins. "And knowing my father, right into a trap. We have to warn them!"

With no change in his body or voice, his chest lifted and heaved with a sigh. "I already did."

"What?" I dropped his hand quickly, which prompted his eyes to open. The tips of his fingers flicked and curled inward. "How?"

"Before I left after you," he admitted quietly.

His eyes shifted to the shut door and his mouth parted like he had more he wanted to share but he remained quiet. Standing up with a groan, he stumbled over to the barrier between us, ignoring it and reaching his hand between the bars.

My heart warmed when he reached out to me, guilt hanging heavy in his eyes. "I don't have a lot of time but you... deserve to know the truth." Offering his palm up, the gesture reminded me of when I saw him in the West.

Before Tobias stabbed a tranquilizer in me.

"I'm like you, Zara," he whispered, his fingers trembling as I brushed mine over them. The warmth that returned soothed the uncertainty throbbing my forehead with a threatened headache. "We don't belong here. And I want to take all of us home. You, Sol, and me. To your -"

I gasped when the door burst open, drawing my hand to my chest. Caleb's fell to his side, where he clenched it. Two guards rushed in and positioned themselves outside our cells. As their backs turned to us, a third set of heavy footsteps followed.

The heavy, stale air in the room filled with a slight chill when the footsteps came closer to my cell. By the heavy thuds of his boots, the sharpness of his exasperated breath, and the weight of his gaze on me I felt without even looking up, I knew who stood there.

After weeks of me evading him, my father had come for me.