A Howl In The Night by Lorelei Sutton (life books to read .txt) 📕

Council can’t separate our bond. All I need to do is somehow convince Mona that she needs me, and perhaps she can somehow convince the Council to let me stay with her.

That plan may be harder than I thought to achieve, considering that I am stuck down in the dungeon. It isn’t that bad of a place, our cell having four beds and a decent bathroom. The floor and walls seems to be made of solid rock and the room is decorated sparsely. It reminds me of the hotel we stayed at, except the doors have bars.

“Ray, what have you been doing?” Jake asks Ray while he surveys a small hole in the wall. “Have you been trying to drill through the walls?”

“You have any better suggestions?” He asks in response, and then shows all of us a thin, sharp nail. “I found this stuck in the wall yesterday.”

“Like that will do any good,” I mutter, falling onto my hard bed and staring at the ceiling. I miss her. I miss her more than I would ever be willing to admit.

“Hey, I did manage to make a few holes in the wall,” Ray protests, showing us the dot-sized pinpricks scattered in one brick. “I was hoping to loosen this brick and then work my way back. Surely we could get to the wall from here and then fight our way out.”

I narrow my eyes at the holes. “That doesn’t even look like it goes through the entire brick. You may have made it halfway.”

“I’m working on it!” he huffs, and I laugh.

“How long are you planning on doing that? A year?” Wes jokingly asks. Ray blushes, although it is hard to tell because he is shifting at the same time. Obviously he is done talking to us.

Ray, now a gigantic wolf, continues to hold the nail in his teeth and push it into the rock. I turn my head away from him in hopelessness. We are doomed.

Once I think about it, technically this is all Ray’s fault. If he hadn’t Awakened her, we never would have gotten in this mess. Too delirious and angry to second guess myself, I launch into a series of thoughts and accusations against Ray in my mind. I have nothing better to do.

Just when I wonder how exactly I am going to murder Ray when we get out of here, a pair of footsteps interrupts my gleeful thinking. Intrigued, I turn to the man coming towards the bars. It doesn’t take long for me to turn back away in disgust.

Griffin doesn’t smile as he steps up to the bars, inches from my face. As I try to stay calm, I notice that today he looks like a pheonix—bright with the emotion of either fury or excitement—with his red hair and animated expression.

“What are you doing here?” Jake asks resignedly after I refuse to address Griffin. “Come here to gloat?”

“Well, I was supposed to come down here to inform you all that you will be either exiled or exterminated this Saturday, but I’m sure that is a little bit depressing for all of you at the moment… so I will try to start out with some good news.”

We all look at him dryly as he makes a big show out of trying to think of something.

“Yeah, yeah we get it,” I huff, “nothing good for us delinquents. I mean, we only found the human destined to save our entire werewolf race and basically delivered her into your greedy hands.”

“Now, now, not so fast.” He laughs, “You seem to forget that you actually were trying to keep her away from us when we caught you.”

“Only because we were afraid of something like this happening to us.”

“Look, don’t get angry at me. I’m only the messenger,” he cautions, taking a step back from the bars as my face grows red. “It’s Mona. It’s all because of her. You can blame her for all the problems you get into from now on.”

“You know I can’t do that,” I shake my head, looking at the floor. Somewhat subduing myself, I look up at him. “What do you stand to gain from all this?”

“Well, the Council says they will give me back my birthright if Mona agrees to stay at headquarters. As if she has a choice.” He pauses, looking right into my eyes. “But I don’t care about that. That is not what’s important to me.”

“What is important to you, Griffin?” All four of us nail him with an iron gaze. He seems to be growing a bit uncomfortable, squirming slightly.

“Her,” he nearly chokes, before straightening and trying to eye us coldly. “Everything about her… I want to myself. I do have selfish motives, but are they truly different from yours? All I want is to protect her and love her as a mate should.”

He is right. I am really no different than him. Why am I acting all high and mighty?

He steps closer to the bars, closer to my face. “Xavier, I don’t hate you. I’m actually grateful to you for the love and kindness you gave her, because even though she doesn’t admit it, she has certainly been affected for the better. You also saved her life several times, from what I have heard, and that makes me respect you more than anyone else at Headquarters. I know you’re a good guy. Maybe a little resentful… but I would be too in your position. Please believe me… try to understand.”

“Then surely, if you really felt that way, you would get us out of here,” I say, basically flabbergasted by his confession. It certainly seemed like he hated me.

The strangest thing of all is that I do understand. Though I don’t want to.

“Well, that is an interesting point. Why don’t I get you out of here?” He laughs. “If only it were that simple.”

“Sometimes, it is.”

“First off, I don’t have the power to let you go. Secondly, even if I did let you go, I would be worried that you would go off and do something stupid. Just out of curiosity, what would you do if I got you out?”

“Save Mona,” I say fiercely. I don’t like playing games.

“Yeah… right. See, that qualifies as something stupid. It isn’t in my best interest for you to do that, and once you think about it, it isn’t in yours either. What are you going to do when you save Mona?”

“Don’t tell me what’s in my best interest or not,” I growl, and he takes another step back.

“Answer the question, Xavier. Don’t be difficult.”

“I suppose, run from you. And the rest of the Council.” I don’t really know what I would do. That’s a thought provoking question, which brings me back to the central question I asked myself a few minutes before. I start to drown in my doubt, struggling to stay above the water.

“You know you can’t run for long. And inwardly, you know Mona is safer here than she ever was with you.”

I feel as if I have been kicked in the gut. I want to shout at Griffin for saying such lies, but then I remember that I basically admitted the same things to myself earlier. I’m not stupid, no matter how obstinate I want to remain at this point.

“You know, we haven’t even addressed Mona’s feelings here,” he says slowly, carefully. “I never planned to get into this big discussion with you, but while we are here, might as well cover the most important issue here as well.”

“I love her. And I know she feels at least a little love towards me in return.”

“I know you do. But the problem here is not what you think.” He nods his head slightly, “she holds too much affection for you. You may have been better off if she hated your guts.”

My hands grip the bars, holding them so tightly that my knuckles turn stark white. “What do you mean by that?”

“The Council is not going to let you live, you know. They absolutely cannot allow you to be with Mona. And this only makes things harder for her.”

“How come?!”

“They need someone they can control, Xavier, and you are a very strong werewolf who has bended the rules time and time again without reaping the consequences. They are afraid of an uprising. If you were allowed to be with Mona, members of our community would start to look up to you, not the Council. That was the first thing they realized while discussing this issue, for their minds are all focused on power. They wish to keep their power at any cost.”

I am nearly frozen with shock. I never thought myself to be a threat to the Council. In fact, I never meant to break any of the rules in the first place. How could they possibly think I was trying to… hoard Mona for some kind of rebellion?

“I’m easier to control,” Griffin says softly, looking at his feet. “I’m a shameful crossbreed who happens to be born in a position of power. They can rip away my status and give it back to me on a silver platter. I can’t be much more of a puppet than I am now. Even my father thinks of me only as a tool to be used.”

Yes. You do have a nice sob story. I get it. You are so unfortunate to be stuck with Mona. It is really quite a shame.

“But what about Mona, Griffin?” I ask in frustration. “Why is it harder for her?”

“Well, think about it. The Council is faced with quite the dilemma here. They can’t just pry you two apart, because they know Mona will be seriously messed up as a result. They can’t keep you two together, because of the reasons I mentioned earlier. It helps matters a little bit because I am also her mate, but doesn’t eliminate the issue by far. She obviously likes you very much and makes this problem impossible to ignore. If only they had a way to make Mona forget all about you, to forget this whole escapade with your pack so she and I can be together…”

“No.” Jake instantly says, snapping up from his seat. “They won’t.”

“They can’t.” Wes protests almost in unison. Everyone turns to me to see my own reaction.

“Sharuken?” I ask, my whole body trembling. They wouldn’t dare.

“They will… with or without Mona’s permission. They are making it seem like she has a choice, but she really doesn’t.”

I am about to explode with anger. They seriously are not going to do this to me. To us.

“But anyway, we are getting off topic. What I wanted to tell you was that you need to accept it and move on. It will make everything better for the two of you. Just try to forget about each other.”

“That’s impossible! You know I-“

“I know. I probably understand you more than anyone.” Griffin looks straight at me, stepping so close that I can feel each strained breath. “I hate this. I hate having to say this to you.”

Silence echoes through the hall as I stare at him in disbelief.

“Maybe, if you wish, the Council could perform the ritual upon you as well-“

“No. No. I couldn’t,” I fiercely turn away, “I… never want to forget her.”

“That’s what I thought,” Griffin smiles slightly, almost wistfully, in satisfaction. “I like you, Xavier. You are the sort of wolf I aspire to be like.”

“I don’t like you.” I snap, though inwardly wondering at the lack of arrogance on his face. He won. He gets her for the rest of eternity. How come he is acting so nice to me?

“Try to think of it this way. The Council consists of arrogant, greedy werewolves, but they do have some basis in morality. Mona isn’t going to live a life of servitude. She will have all the riches she could ever desire, as well as extraordinary honors and privileges. In addition, she will be trained in her Spier abilities to fulfill the prophecy and our race’s destiny. What more could