When Jesse woke up, a sharp pain convulsed through his head, and his ears were ringing loudly. He felt dizzy, confused, and cold. Where was he? Where was Ross? And the hunters.... Where were the hunters?

As panic shot through him, he abruptly sat up and opened his eyes. He wasn't on the deck of the hunters' ship anymore; he was in...a storage room, one much like that which he'd been in when that Vârcolac guard caught him leaving the brig. Only there were no guards, and instead of being slumped at a table, Jesse was sitting on a cot with a generously fluffy blanket and a pillow.

Thunder rumbled outside, and the crash of waves hit the wall behind him. Jesse looked to his left as the room lit up, watching as several forks of lightning cut through the dark, stormy sky. As far as he could tell, there was no sign of the hunter ship, and he was pretty sure that he wasn't on it, either—if he were, surely the hunters would have bound him in silver chains.

He looked around at all the crates and barrels. The stench of wolfsbane and herbs clung to the bitter air, and Jesse's body ached with every light jolt of the ship. His nostrils stung every time he inhaled. His lungs felt sore, his heart was racing in response to his anxiety, and his head throbbed.

"H-hello?" he called unsurely. He wanted to call for Ross, but he didn't want to implicate himself if there were any guards nearby.

He'd already done that, though...hadn't he? The guards saw him with Ross, they saw Ross trying to help him. The Vârcolac weren't stupid; they'd know that the only reason a criminal like Ross would be helping some other wolf walker was because that wolf meant something to him. Jesse was already in deep, deep shit.

The door unlocked loudly.

Jesse flinched in startlement and looked over at it. He watched as it slowly creaked open, and when a Vârcolac guard stepped into the room, he tensed up, and his anxiety consumed him entirely. He had no idea what was about to happen, but considering the events that occurred before he passed out, he was almost certain that he was going to be sentenced for aiding and abetting.

"Ah, you're finally awake," the man said.

For some reason, Jesse feared that he might be the same man who interrogated him before, but he knew that man was dead, and this guard didn't sound anything like him.

He didn't want to think about that. "How...long was I out?" he asked nervously.

Once the guard closed the door, he approached the cot Jesse was sitting on. "Nearly four days now."

Four days?! Jesse's heart thumped so hard and fast that he stifled his breaths—

"Calm down, kid," the guard said, stopping in front of him. "Everything's fine. The hunters were dealt with, and that criminal who was using you...we locked him back up, too."

Ross.

Jesse's panic switched to the fate of his mate, but he couldn't start demanding answers. He didn't want to risk being locked up. The guard's tone and calm approach made him think that the man who'd interrogated him before hadn't managed to inform his comrades of his misadventure, so he needed to keep calm and not reveal the fact that the criminal was his mate...and that he'd been helping him.

He took a deep breath and tried to settle. "W-what do you...mean, using me?"

"It's nothing to feel ashamed of," the guard said. "This criminal has the ability to make people do what he wants. But he's locked up now, and you're safe."

"Locked up where?"

The man chuckled a little and crossed his arms. "In the brig. Look, I've got to ask: did he say anything about how he escaped? Did he happen to mention anything about the hunters who attacked or other members of his pack?"

Jesse felt guilty for the sudden realization that he could probably learn more about Ross from this guard. He knew that his mate wasn't telling him everything; he'd seen the reluctance in his eyes. But was that wrong of him? Was it awful of him to try and learn more about Ross from the people who kept him captive? Or anyone at all, really. Should he wait for Ross to tell him himself?

Would that even happen, though? Ross had been caught, and there was no doubt that the Vârcolac had upped the security around his cell. The idea of never seeing him again hurt Jesse's heart, burdening him with a suffocating dismay. After searching for so long, he'd finally found his mate, and he didn't want to lose him. But what could he do?

"Kid?" the guard asked.

Jesse shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts. "N-no, he didn't...say anything about how he got out."

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"What about the hunters? His pack?"

He shook his head again. "No, only that the hunters were here for him."

The guard nodded slowly and tapped his chin. "Yeah, that makes sense." He pulled a chair closer and sat in front of Jesse. "He's pissed off a lot of hunters, not just us."

Jesse hated that he wanted to hear more.

"I'm sure you've heard that he's murdered hundreds of people."

He nodded stiffly.

"He and his pack slaughtered an entire Solitudinem village for no reason. They hunted down every man, woman, and child...tore them all apart," he said, grimacing. "Some like to try and say that he did these things to protect his right to freedom," he said with a scoff, "but we all know that they did it because they're heartless cowards. Covering up their tracks, killing innocent people. If you ask me, he doesn't deserve to be taken to Ascela to join his ancestors. He deserves to be shot like a dog."

Something clicked inside Jesse. The guard's story...he'd heard it before. There was a werewolf pack that his family were hunting...a pack that killed entire villages, leaving no witnesses behind. A pack that burned settlements to the ground, hunted down refugees like animals, and killed many a wolf walker.

He knew who Ross was now.

"He...he's...a Night Crawler?" he asked, his voice shaky and filled with drowning, painful sorrow.

"Yeah, I would've thought you'd heard of them," the guard said. "Sorry, I had to check your name and papers. Bet you're glad he's locked back up, right? A Redwood."

It felt like a dagger pierced Jesse's heart. His mate...was the Alpha of the most wanted werewolf pack in the world, the same pack that his family had been hunting for years upon years.

What cruel, sick fucking joke was fate playing with him?

"You sure he didn't say anything about his pack?" the guard asked again. "I don't mean to press you, but it's imperative that we find as many of them as we can. I know that your family are pursuing the same wolves, but sometimes, a job takes more than one faction."

Jesse struggled to find his voice. "I-I don't...know. No, he didn't. He just...said something about how they're not close to each other."

The guard frowned in concern. "Are you all right, kid? You're looking a little pale."

Of course he was looking a little pale. He'd just found out that the man he'd let himself trust, the man he'd let touch and fuck him, was a globally wanted mass murderer. A heartless, cold, soulless creature who killed and killed and killed for no good reason.

His mate was a monster, the very definition of a devil. Evil. Selfish. And a liar.

He looked down at his lap, hanging his head in shame and despair. He felt disgusted with himself. He felt betrayed. And he felt...pathetic.

"Do you want me to fetch the doctor?" the guard asked.

Jesse shook his head. "No, I just...feel a little seasick," he lied, trying to hold back his tears. "How...how did you catch him? At first."

"That's a long story," he said as a proud smile stretched across his face. "Short version, we got to one of the assholes in his pack. Threatened his extended family, that kinda thing. Turned the guy into a mole. He told us that the Night Crawlers were boarding a ship out of Ardok City at the beginning of the month, so we waited for them. Of course, their Alpha was a lot for us to handle, so he was the only one we ended up capturing at the time, but he's worth the rest of 'em put together, if you ask me."

He didn't know what to say in response. The despair was eating away at him, tearing into his very soul. The agony of this horrible, mortifying betrayal was worse than what he'd felt when James rejected him.

"As for those hunters, though, they're led by Horace Ackchief, the father of three of the kids the Night Crawlers killed in Whishbie, a small town outside of—"

"Yeah, I know Whishbie," Jesse mumbled. That town was the first settlement Ross' pack completely annihilated.

"Of course," the man said with a slight chuckle. "Anyway, if you remember anything, just give us a shout. I'll let you rest, and—"

"Can I..." he didn't finish his sentence. Why would he want to talk to Ross? That man lied to him. That man was an awful, deplorable creature. He wouldn't have anything else to do with him.

But...that didn't stop his wolf from urging him to finish his question.

"Can you...what?" the man asked.

Jesse tried to ignore his wolf, but the more he attempted to disregard it, the louder it got. He tutted irritably and shrugged. "Can I see him or something? To confront him."

The Vârcolac guard looked a little perplexed. "Why?"

He had to think of a lie. "My family have been hunting him for a long time. I just...want him to understand that it's over. I couldn't really do that while I was under his control, could I?"

"Hmm, yeah, you got a point. Well, I don't know. I mean, it's not exactly protocol. He's also heavily sedated and we don't plan on waking him up. I'm sure you and your family would be welcome at the execution, though."

Jesse didn't want to see Ross die. Despite the heartbreak, he didn't want to witness the death of...his mate. This was all too painful enough already.

The guard stood up. "Get some more rest. Someone will be along to check on you again in a few hours." He then left the room, leaving Jesse to his solitude.

With a despondent, heartbroken huff, Jesse laid back down. He didn't know what to do anymore. Ross was a monster, somebody he couldn't forgive, mate or not. But if he wanted to escape the insistence of his wolf, if he wanted to escape that small part of him that still wanted Ross...then he'd have to reject him. He'd have to sever their connection. However, to do that, he needed to get down into the brig. He needed to confront him and tell him that he could never love someone as heartless as him.

Love.

That was the first time he'd used that word when thinking about Ross. But he didn't love him—how could he? All the things he'd done...and all the things he'd do if Jesse let him escape once they reached DeiganLupus. Sedated or not, he was certain that Ross had a backup plan—that his contact had a backup plan.

Should he tell someone? Should he tell that guard about what Ross said? About the contact he had waiting for him?

His wolf urged him not to. It pleaded that he thought with more than just the pain and anger that came with the heartbreak. But what more was there to feel? Ross manipulated him; he made him fall for him, he made him feel like he'd finally found someone who would accept him, hold him, and protect him...but it was all just a façade. How could someone like Ross ever have a mate? How could he ever love someone? He didn't have a heart.