Chapter 137 - They have him locked up

EMMA

My fingers tremble when they run over the soft bandages over my supposed wound. I know that when I remove it, there will only be smooth, healed skin. I won’t lie myself into believing that it healed with the mark intact.

A blur of pink comes through the doorway of the infirmary, but she misses her usual bounce. Her blonde hair is tied in a messy bun and several strands stick out in a way that lacks the usual effortlessness. Kelsey exhales when she sees me. There are many mixed emotions on her face. She tries to smile, but for once it is forced.

She’s carrying a leather bag and holds it up. “I’ve brought you clothes.” She places the bag on the bed and I spot my jeans and sweater.

I grab hold of them as if they are a lifeline. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry, Emma.” She whispers. There’s a tremble on her bottom lip. Dark bags under her eyes cast shadows over her brightness. Her usual high spirit is gone and is replaced by this timid girl. It reminds me of the girl on the square last night who had fear in her eyes.

“For what?”

Kelsey twists her fingers in a nervous motion. She refuses to look at me and keeps her gaze cast to the ground. “I knew about the traps.”

Her confession is a punch in my chest. It removes the air from my lungs. Was I the only one that was kept in the dark. “You knew,” I whisper in an exhale.

Kelsey nods and I recognize now the guilt pulling at her features. “I helped install them two nights ago.”

My fingers tremble and dig hard into the fabric of my jeans. Her confession hurts me to my core. They were my friends. The betrayal burns a way through me and everything I know. First Alex, now Kelsey. They both took part in trapping Hadrian.

Kelsey sits down on the bed beside me. “I didn’t know that this would happen. It was for the protection of the town.” Her voice trembles and her distress is clear in the lines on her face.

I take a deep breath and swallow the hurt down. It won’t get me anywhere. It won’t get me Hadrian. “Do you know where he is?”

Kelsey shakes her head. “They have him locked up somewhere.”

“Do you know where?” I ask.

Kelsey shakes her head again. “I know you must hate us right now, but you should see things from our side,” Kelsey whispers and her voice becomes even more timid even if her words speak the hard truth. “A werewolf showed up in town. You know Dex would do anything to protect Aldea.”

I know Dex would. He would kill any werewolf that even thinks about coming into the town. I knew that the moment he killed those two soldiers.

I cover her hand with mine. “I don’t blame you.” I say and I know it’s true. I cannot expect them to see the world how I see it. I cannot expect them to be welcoming of a werewolf that had the intention of killing Dex. I know that Hadrian wanted to, I could see it in his murderous black eyes the moment he shifted into Nero.

“I can understand your hatred,” I say even if the words pain me.

“I don’t hate them.” She says and I’m confused. “I mean, I never had the same hatred as Alex or Dex. I don’t have the same scars.” She elaborates.

Kelsey is beautiful. She’s kind-hearted and lovable. I understand why my brother is drawn to her. She exudes a kind of positivity that not many have. It makes you want to get closer and absorb some of it.

“You never told me how you got here.” I urge her to continue. I’ve been curious about her story, but I know better than to ask. These things can be sensitive.

Kelsey tries to smile but fails miserably. “My mother had an affair before she became pregnant with me. My mother, father and sisters had blue eyes. I was the only one with brown eyes.”

Her features turn grave and I can see that the memory is painful. “I was proof of her affair and it broke our family. I’ve never seen them die because one of my sisters locked me in the basement that day.”

Her eyes glaze over when she’s transported to the past. “I was eleven and everyone was dead. I was an orphan after that day. I lived in the same town as Dex and he heard me screaming. He saved my life and continued to do so every day since.”

“I can’t say that I felt grief over the loss of my family. But the things I did were out of loyalty to Dex.” Kelsey did things that in another life she would never do.

“I can see that Hadrian is different from the ones that killed my family. I can see that you and Lucas are more human than anything.” The tremble in her body continues.

“Are you okay?”

She shakes her head again. “Lucas didn’t come home last night.”

————————

Things aren’t adding up. Every minute that passes adds more anxiety to the already overdose in my blood. There’s an unrest in me that doesn’t feel natural. It repeats the same urgent thought in my head over and over.

*Hadrian, Hadrian, Hadrian.*

I have more things to worry about, but my worry for him is engraved in my blood. I need to find him and I know I cannot do it alone.

There’s a roar of engines blasting through the air and I can hear it all the way in my room. I’ve only just gotten back from the infirmary. I stop pacing and move to see what is going on outside.

Headlights shine in my eyes as two army green jeeps pull up in front of the house. The massive rubber tires roll over the cobblestones. The windows in the back are tinted black. The size, the sharp edges, everything makes the vehicle menacing.

Alex is driving the one in front and it stops at the house. She's scowling when she steps out of the jeep. Her focus and determination are unwavering. She matches the color of the car in her sleeveless top and is wearing figure-hugging jeans. She pulls a stack of empty crates from the back of the car.

The morning is cold and a shiver runs over my skin when I step outside without a jacket. “Alex, I’m so glad you’re here.”

Alex walks past me towards the doorway and only turns her scowl to me for a brief second. “Why?”

That is a good question. Images of her securing the silver wire nets come to mind. But now is not a good time for holding grudges. I follow Alex into the house. “I need your help.”

Alex doesn’t acknowledge my cry for help and starts to collect things from the basement.

“I think Hadrian is locked up somewhere,” I say as I try to get her attention when she comes out of the basement. “We need to get him out.”

The basement is filled with a large stock of food, camping equipment and many of my herbal ointments. She fills a crate with each one. She doesn’t seem shocked like I was. “Dex does have him locked up, but I’m not going to help you.”

Her words knock the breath out of my lungs. That would be the second time today. “What?”

She straightens and faces me for the first time since she arrived. “Dex told me about his new plan and we need him for the mission.”

“You know where he is.” Fury fuels my veins and it threatens to explode in my chest. My nails dig in my palm. “Tell me.”

Alex crosses her arms. “No, I won’t risk you running off together.”

I was never planning to run away, but maybe that is the only way. Is there not a place in this world where we could live in peace without hatred of others? But would we be at peace if so many are suffering? “I thought you didn’t hate him anymore.”

“I never said that. I said that I see his value.” She spits out.

There must be flames coming from me right now because the fire is disintegrating me from the inside out. Behind the bright flames is also the darkness that is fueled by the need to protect my mate.

“So you’re going to just use him as a piece in your game.” The fury is reaching my voice. “This is about his life.” I clamor.

“And what about my life?” She shouts back. She towers over me as she leans forward and points a finger to her chest. “What about all our lives?

She makes me feel small under her height. She imposes the pain and grief on me and forces me to see it in her eyes. The depth of her dark green irises is scarred by the torture she endured.

Alex rarely shows her pain and hardly lets herself be stumped down by the grievance of her past. But when she does, it’s hard to watch as a bystander.

The same crushing weight of her everlasting pain trembles in her voice. “Why does he get to have a happy one when the rest of us have to live with the nightmares?”

“Hadrian didn’t have an easy life either,” I whisper. My voice is small because I don’t want to undermine what she’s gone through. But things are not black or white.

There’s no one divinely good or pure evil. We all fall somewhere in the spectrum of gray. Kelsey made me realize this. Good people sometimes do things that are bad and bad people sometimes do things that are good.

“That’s just how this world works,” Alex says and her face pulls in a grimace. “We all have to go through things that we don’t want.”

“But we have to do whatever it takes.” She says as she picks up one of the crates and I follow her to the car. “Now if you have to excuse me, I have to prepare for the departure tonight.”

Alex places the crate in the car and slams the door shut. She doesn’t pay me further attention as she drives off. I stand there until the sound of the tires fade in the distance.