26. Caleb

**Caleb**


It takes all my will not to run after Red, take her to my room and keep her in there until her heat passes. The kitchen still smells like her, and I try to breathe through my mouth. I have been close to Omegas in heat before, but none smelled like Red does—apples, caramel, and chocolate. It's driving me crazy with lust.
**'Our soulmate is running away from us! We need to go after Red!'** Raven says.
*'No! We are going to stay away from Red and Safia!'* I say and try to get to the door.
My body feels like burning, burning, and burning. Pain claimed every part of me. The only way to make the pain go away is to be inside Red. I need to get away from her and her scent.
Sweat starts to roll down my back, and I grit my teeth because each step I take feels like a nightmare.
**'They need us!'** Raven protests.
*'Raven, I said no! Red will take suppressors, and she will be fine!'*
**'And where are we going?'**
I finally make it to the door and open it. *'To the dungeons!'*
Raven howls so loudly it shakes the Pack House.
It doesn't take Conon long to find me. He is about to joke, but when he sees me covered in sweat, he takes a step back.
"Caleb, what the fuck, dude! You are in a rut?"
Red's scent is all over the Pack House, calling me like a beacon, and I lean against the wall. "I am in hell!"
"Then Sweet-Cheeks is in—"
"Don't you fucking dare say that word, Conon! It is taking all my will not to run after her and—" I start moving, wanting to get as soon as possible to the dungeons.
"Are you going after her?" Conon asks, coming after me.
"I am going to an NSYNC concert!" I snap.
I don't ever remember being in such pain because of a rut. It feels like I am walking on burning charcoal. The more I smell Red's scent more pain I feel.
Conon laughs. "What are they singing?"
"Bye bye bye!" I say.
"I think you are going to a Spice Girls concert, and you will listen to '2 become 1'!" Conon says, and I growl so hard he stops in his tracks.
"Take care that one doesn't become two!" I say, not stopping walking even if I feel as if someone is shattering my bones every time I move.
I can't stop waking until I get to the dungeons because if I do, I will go after Red and make her mine in front of every-fucking-one!
Close to the entrance, I choke on her scent; lust clouds my mind, and I find myself going after Red. Fuck! What the fuck is wrong with me? I have never experienced a rut so powerful as this one.
The cold wind that enters through the opened door makes me gain some control when I see Jordan close to the Pack House and staring at the clinic. He is opening and closing his fists.
**'He is also going into a rut!'** Raven growl.
*'The fuck he is!'* I reply.
I don't trust myself to go outside the Pack House, but I can make Jordan come to me.
"You are the ugliest motherfucker I have ever seen!" I say. "No wonder Red hates the sight of you!"
"Damn, you are savage!" Conon laughs.
Jordan growl and comes straight at me, grabs the collar of my shirt, and lifts his fist wanting to hit me, but I grab it with my hand.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Jordan growls.
"You are going into a rut as well! We need to get to the dungeons! Is the only way to keep her safe!" I growl.
Conon whistles, "Fight between two ruthless Alphas! All my money goes on Jordan!"
I growl, "Conon, shut up, or we will root you to the ground! And I will make Jeremy my Beta!"
Jordan looks at Conon and me like we have grown horns. "Let's go!" he says after a few seconds.
Jordan and I rush to the dungeons when I hear Conon yell. "Rut or root?"
"That's your Beta?" Jordan asks as we make it to the dungeons.
"Don't ask!" I growl.
The doors to the cells are open because I don't keep prisoners that threaten my pack members too long here. Whoever is a danger to my pack is taken to the Elders, and if they find that person a threat, she or he is sent to the Paranormal Prison.
Jordan and I enter different cells and close the door behind us. The door lock automatically, and it can be opened with a code and with my thumbprint or that of Conon's.
Once I am sure the door won't open, I collapse to the floor and cover my eyes with my left arm. Everything part of my body hurts.
"How are you feeling?" Jordan asks.
"Even breathing hurts!" I say. For a few moments, no one says anything, and I try not to think about the fire that seems to have taken possession of my body. "What about you?" I ask.
"Now that I don't smell her scent, I am better."
I grunt and try to distract myself from the pain, thinking how perfect Red fits in my arms. Raven whines inside my head, and I try to comfort him.
*'It's going to be fine. It's not the first time we are in a rut,'* I tell him.
**'Keep thinking about Red in our arms, and I will break free from this fucking cell!'** Raven growl. **'Prison break!'**
*'Not until this rut is gone! I don't trust myself being around Red right now!'*
Raven is quiet for a long time. Jordan starts whistling, and I listen to him. The fucker is not bad at all.
My body starts shaking, and I grit my teeth. I have never felt so much pain in my entire life.
**'Caleb,'** Raven says, **'I don't think this rut will pass without the help of Red. It's like that time the Leech Queen forced a rut on us and made us have fuck all the slaves in front of the Court!"**
*'I try not to think about those times! We are going to be fine. A day or two in here, and it will pass.'*
Jordan stops whistling, and for a while, the only sound I hear is the one produced by my shaking body.
"Are you alright?" Jordan ask.
"I'll live!" I say between my teeth. Jordan chuckles. "What's so damn funny?" I snap.
"You are as stubborn as Rain is."
I stop breathing for a few moments.
**'I knew we had something in common with Red!'** Raven says proudly.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you it hurts so badly I feel that my flesh is being separated from my bones? I have been in ruts before. I can't even remember how many times I have been forced to be near Omegas in heat, but I have never wanted to touch them or be with them like I do with Red! I almost lost control, and it never happened to me before!" I growl. "Is that what you want to hear? That all I think about is to get out of this fucking cell and go to my soulmate, but I know she won't welcome my touch because some sick pedophile from your pack abused her, and now she is afraid of being intimate with me?"
Silence falls, and I hear Jordan breathing hard.
I try to move to the bed, but when only the thought of moving makes me howl in pain, I decide to stay where I am.
"I didn't know," Jordan finally says. "I have lived in that pack all my life, and I never suspected what was happening. Rain, she never hinted that something was happening."
"It was your Alpha's job to know! And when you found out, you blamed her! You never gave her a fair trial!"
Jordan inhales sharply. "I will pay for that all my life!"
A new wave of pain hits me, and I clench my teeth so hard it is a miracle I don't break my jaw. I have never been so hard in my life.
"Just go back to your pack and try to be a better Alpha each day!" I tell him.
"You sound like you are being tortured," Jordan says.
I snort, "This is ten times worse than being tortured. At least then, I didn't feel as if I was inside a fucking volcano."
"You have been tortured?"
I snap my mouth shut because I don't want to tell him about my past. We are not friends.
"Why the hell do you care?" I ask.
"I don't care," Jordan replies immediately.
I hear him move inside his cell. I lift my arm from my face and look at the ceiling. The cell spins with me, and I groan.
For a time, no one says anything. It is better this way because I don't feel like listening to Jordan talking.
Minutes later, Conon comes to see me. He stands in front of my cell and looks at me as if I am dying.
"Stop looking at me like that! I am not dying!" I snap.
"But what if you die of blue balls?" Conon whines and Jordan laughs.
"Each day is a struggle not to kick you out of the pack!" I growl.
Conon looks at me as if I have betrayed him. "And where Cookie and I would go?"
"To a kindergarten!" I snap.
Conon laughs. "And if I leave, who will take care of you?" I roll my eyes, and it hurts so damn much I grimace. "What can I do to help?" Conon asks.
"Make sure Red is fine. That's all I care about!" I say. "And Conon, don't tell her where I am. I told her that Reyes has a way to stop the rut."
Conon laughs. "She will have your head when she finds out you lied to her. When she asks about you, what should I tell her?"
"I am sure you can come up with a good excuse," I say.
Conon smirks, and I swear it is the same smile the Grinch has on his face when he thinks about something evil.
"I will tell her you and Jordan have fallen in love and ran away to Haway!" Conon says before leaving. "I will come back later with food!" he says before closing the door to the dungeons.
"Where did you find him?" Jordan asks me.
I remember the day I first met Conon. I growl. "He was in his wolf form, poisoned with silver, tied to a tree, deep in the forest, and left there to die."
Jordan inhales sharply, "Who the hell does that?"
"Many Alphas," I say. "Some forces Omegas to sleep outside the Pack House. Others force Omegas to work hard for the pack, and all they receive is a beating so hard it almost kills them."
Jordan doesn't say anything else, and I welcome the silence.
At some point, it hurts so badly Raven tries to block the pain so I can sleep a little. As soon as I close my eyes, I am back in those dungeons that had been my home for five years. Under my bare feet, I feel the stone floor of the Vampire Palace. When I get close to the end of the hallway, I see Sinn. He is always there, waiting for me. He opens the door to a cell, and I enter. There's no point in fighting him; he is stronger than me.
He gets behind me, and I feel his breath on my neck. *'Ready to be my bitch?'* Sinn says in my ear. I say nothing. *'And once I am done with you, I will make Tristan fuck you!'*