The Taking

Chapter 17

2 weeks later...

Celeste's POV

For the past couple days, it has come to my attention that limited access to the outside world can pretty much turn a person pathologically hysterical. And mild claustrophobe.

Yesterday, I had hallucinations of Fluffy stalking me around the house and when I angrily called out Greyson's name, he was in fact...not there. You can imaging the faces people gave me when they saw me searching inside kitchen cabinets for an overgrown werewolf. People from Greyson's pack kept a weary distance from me. Either Greyson or Bennett told them to give me space, or I've successfully labeled myself the village idiot and they are repulsed by my strange behavior.

I really need fresh air. I miss being able to look up and peer at the sky, not count the tiles on the ceiling. If I attempted to leave the house, someone would be hot on my tail.

The days have passed by so fast, but to me it seems like forever. Greyson has rarely been home and when I do see him, it's usually late at night when I'm too tired to kick him off the bed. When I wake up the next morning, he's already gone and the space next to me is cold and crumbled with his musky scent left as proof that he was there.

"How are you darling?" Laura asks, like almost every day.

And I always reply with the same word. "Fine."

Her eyes twinkle as if she has some grand magic trick up her sleeve. "Really? I thought you'd be more excited than that?"

"Why would you say that?" It's been so long since I've looked at a calendar, I can't tell if it's Monday, or Friday.

She fiddled her fingers across the soft surface of her cotton dress. "Vincent got released this morning." My brain didn't process the information quick enough. I looked at her thinking so what? And then...

My eyes widened. "It's been two weeks?" Today is the day!

"Bennett will allow him to leave tonight."

He's going to see my sister! I'm going to see Charlotte!

The excitement precedes me and I'm on my feet running up the stairs before Laura could say, "Where are you going?"

After reaching Greyson's room-the room I've inhabited for the past few days-I opened the polo shirt drawer and searched for the object that I hid at the back corner. I knew Greyson would never touch this drawer, so this was the perfect place to hide this. When I found it, I slipped it inside my back pocket for later use.

"Celeste, what are you doing?"

Shit.

I slowly got up and pushed the drawer closed with my hip. Greyson stood, leaning against the door frame watching me suspiciously.
"What are you looking at?" I placed my hands on my hips, looking seemingly innocent.
He looked at me and smirked. "What were you doing?"
"That's none of your business."
"I've made everything, evolving you, my business after that suicide attempt you performed with the window." He strode over to where I stood and peered behind my shoulder to see what I could possibly be hiding from him.
"I wasn't trying to kill myself, drama queen! I was behaving like an ordinary person who is held hostage against her will." I turned at an angle to keep him from viewing the slight bulge in my back pocket.
"Even desperate people won't climb out a second story window. They'd be smart enough to try it in the first floor. You're the only lunatic I know who would try."
Did I just hear a vein snap?
Oh, that does it! "Do you know where the word lunatic derived from? It's Latin from the word lunaticus, which is referred to people who have gone mad during the night of a full moon. That's were folklore conjured up the idea of werewolves! So don't shit with me and call me a lunatic, because you're the only lunatic wolf around here buddy!"
Where's the trophy I deserve? The expression on his face is pure gold. Serves him right for messing with me! Next time he better think twice before calling me any stupid name.
I walks around him, dramatically stomping my feet on the floor and slammed the door on my way out.
"Well look at you miss ice queen. You've got the big bad Alpha frozen on his feet." The voice came from someone I didn't want to see right now. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed like a cocky ass prick. I haven't seen him in weeks and now he suddenly shows up uninvited.
"What do you want Leo?"
He smirked and closed his eyes. It irks me that this guy is supposed to be a police officer.
"I talked to your sister a few weeks ago." I'm pulling on the fabric of my shirt and grinding my teeth. "She looked to be doing fine. I was notified by the hospital that she was released a couple days after her admission and other than the permanent scar on her shoulder, she is spotless."