Skinned

Valerie

“You want me to what?” Heath’s features soured as he reached behind his back to pull his shirt over his head before carelessly tossing it to his bed.

Upon my request for his time, Heath had insisted me to talk to him back at his home where there were no eyes to witness my intentions. Other than that reason, he wanted to change into a cleaner attire after a rough morning combat spent with his older brother.

Heath’s home was scarily disorganized. His bed was left unmade, littered with several cans of beer that had probably been there for more than a days, as his table held numerous amount of cards and cigarette butts. I nearly gagged at the sight of the sink in his kitchen where there were piled up plates that seemed as if they had been disregarded for a long time.

Turning around to grab the clean black shirt from the chair, Heath gave me a clear view of his back that had a large image of the sun permanently etched on his skin, its beautifully drawn rays moving in sync with the ripple of his muscles, and the illusionary sight alone put me in awe.

Heath looked over his shoulder to catch me staring at his tattoo and smiled, ending his show by swiftly sliding on his shirt and hiding his skin from my eyes.

I had just contributed to his growing ego.

“I want you to help me break Killian out of his cell,” I repeated while he took a seat in front of me. He leaned back on his chair, drawing his legs apart as he pushed his dark golden hair to the back of his head.

“And this is where I question your intuition,” Heath chuckled while shaking his head. “I’m the Beta’s brother, Sweetheart, and doing that would simply be treason.”

“Five nights, Heath, that’s all I ask. It’s enough to give me the chance to be familiar with him.”

“Valerie, you’re planning to set that thing free, not just for a night, but five. You don’t know what he’s capable of, he can slaughter half of the pack in their sleep, including you,”

“I know the risk,” I hissed. “And I’m taking it, for the sake of actually finding out who and what Killian is, and it’s something that our Alpha has failed to do.”

Heath ran his hand over his face and clenched his jaw. “So, you’re risking hundreds of families for your own curiosity? That sounds promising.”

“He’ll be weak when he gets out. I have a drug that matches the dosage with Killian’s body, and it’s enough to keep him... stable. He gets out weak, he comes back weak.”

“This thing that you’re planning, Valerie,” He raked his hand through his hair, a habitual gesture that he had always done whenever he felt frustrated. “It’s taking a risk that can get us killed.”

“I know that, that’s why I’m willing to make any form exchange,” I told him and I nearly cringed at the sudden glint within his eyes after I gave him my offer.

“Ooh,” Heath trailed off, the sound of it rumbling deep within his chest. “Anything? That’s tempting, especially when the offer comes from you.”

Heath’s tongue poked against the inner walls of his cheek as he kept his cerulean eyes zeroed onto my seated figure.

“I heard Maliha’s back,” Heath said, figers tapping on the wooden arm of his chair. “With better supplies, in fact.”

“I don’t associate myself with that healer. So, what are you trying to say, Heath?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I have tried to get through that female too many times, but fail to have her give me those damn flowers.”

“Flowers?” I frowned. “What kind of flowers are you talking about?”

“The ones that gets a werewolf wasted entirely. I’ve been trying to get them from Maliha, but that psycho wouldn’t give it to me.”

Why am I not surprised?

“That’s what you want in exchange?” I asked and huffed.

For a long time, I had tried my best to stay away from Maliha’s home. Her cabin was surrounded by dying trees and eerie silence, and it was like the crows were all too familiar with her property, always watching the wolves passing by with their dark beady eyes as if they held their own judgement.

“As simple as it is, yes,” Heath shrugged.

“It’s not going to be easy, is it?” I sighed, earning a laugh from Heath as he stood up from his chair and walked over to his desk to grab a silver sheath.

“Well, helping your new boy toy out of his cage isn’t easy either, right?” Heath looked at me begrudgingly.

“Listen to me, Valerie. You should know that the consequences would all be yours to bear,” Heath said with a serious look that seemed so foreign on his features. “I can do something against the Alpha, but I can’t hurt my own brother.”

I scoffed, yet I still found it nice that Heath held an overwhelming amount of concern for his older brother.

“Yes. I know.”

“Good. Now, come on. I’ve got a training to handle, the mutts are waiting for me,” he grinned as he toyed with the lethal weapon by spinning it around his fingers with ease.

I pushed myself out of the chair to stand up in my full height. “Heath, I hope you hold your end of the bargain.”

“Of course, Sweetie, I hope you do as well.”

“Stop giving me pet names,” I snarled as Heath opened the door for me and sent me a sneer.

“Your teeth doesn’t show anymore,” he told me as I exited his home. “You need to stop what you’re doing to yourself, Valerie. Your body can only take so much before it completely betrays you.”

I stopped on my tracks and looked at him over my shoulder. Although his words held the ugly truth to my decreasing wellness, I still chose to ignore it.

“I’ll get you what you want as soon as I can, Heath.”

“Alpha Azeil wants you back in the penitentiary section,” Beta Reed told me as he stood at the open door of my office, his lean build nearly taking up the open space.

I gritted my teeth as I looked down at the papers on my desk, my grip on the pen tightened, forcing my written letters to come out bold and pressured.

“When will he stop, Beta Reed?” I bit out and looked up to meet his eyes with a glare, to which he was more than willing to return with a snarl.

“When he thinks he wants to stop, he will.”

The smell of Killian’s blood was sticking sickeningly prominent against the Beta’s skin, and I didn’t have to question him on how far they had gone to inflict more damage.

I couldn’t hide the scornful look on my face as I stood up from my seat and grabbed my bag that was prepared solely for the purpose of tending to Killian’s wounds. Facing Beta Reed, I set my posture straight and regarded him with a calmed look that masked my inner turmoil.

“Let’s go.”

It was a quiet walk to Killian’s cell, and as soon as I arrived at the metal doors, Amell was there to greet me with a knowing smirk.

“Welcome back, Doctor,” Amell greeted with a mocking tone to his voice that had me clenching my jaw in annoyance.

Beta Reed wiped the look off Amell’s face by sending him a dark look, forcing him to silently open the door for our entrance.

There on the end of the room stood the Alpha in a crouching position with his head angled to the side and a smile that displayed his amusement for Killian’s pain.

Alpha Azeil basked in the cheap glory of having the beast beneath him.

“Alpha,” I managed to say, finding it hard to find my voice as I felt like something was lodged deep into my throat and disabled me to speak.

I took in the sight of Killian’s shackles removed, his built physique laying on the concrete floor with the left part of his shoulder missing a large patch of skin as he bore the bloody bite of the Alpha.

“I’m done here,” Alpha Azeil said and stood up to regard me. “Valerie.”

“Alpha Azeil,” I nodded and failed to hide the tremor of my voice at the mention of his name, as my fear for Killian consumed me.

Without any show of concern, the Alpha didn’t stall any further and landed a pat on his Beta’s shoulder, giving him a reminder to not let me stay too long in the area before leaving completely with the doors closing behind him.

“Oh, god,” I winced as I advanced into Killian’s radius, kneeling down to lay my hand on his neck and feel for his pulse.

I pushed my hands underneath Killian’s body to help him sit up, but I had frozen on my movements when his head abruptly came down to rest on my shoulder.

“It’s nice to see you, Valerie,” Killian muttered, too lost in the strong effect of the drug that he failed to regard his gaping wound.

Slowly, he dragged his nose against the skin on crook of my neck, goosebumps following along his gradual touch, as he took in a long whiff of my scent before drawing out a heated breath, and the sensation of his onslaught brought my oddly driven senses to have warmth surging itself throughout the entirety of me.

Beta Reed was quick to show his concern and approach me from behind, and I quickly raised a hand that prompted him to halt on his movements as I held Killian against me.

“Did you know that your smell is fading?” Killian mumbled against my skin, his voice deep and penetrating. Despite the foreign feeling of his scorching touch against my skin, I gathered what was left of my strength and did my best to help him lean against the wall.

As soon as he was properly seated up, I had immediately drawn myself away from Killian, the proximity of him was all too consuming that it was enough for me to feel uneasy.

I swallowed down my impending whimper from his undivided attention, and I didn’t miss how his vivid right blue eye took on a brighter glow upon the sight of me.

“Why did he do this, Killian?” I asked him, receiving only a sigh in response as I reached for my bag and began the first step to cleaning up his wounds.

I didn’t blame Killian for having trouble trying to process his own words. He was heavily drugged, and it affected the speed of his comprehension.

Killian remained silent for a few seconds and furrowed his eyebrows as he tried his best to collect his thoughts, hands opening and closing as he took in shallow breaths. “He wanted to show me a lesson about his stand in the hierarchy.”

Anger had slithered its way onto my face yet again, influencing my lips to set straight into a thin line as I cleaned Killian’s wounds.

After a few minutes of complete silence, patching him up while he watched me do it, I had returned all my belongings back into the bag.

“Thank you, Valerie,” Killian smiled.

I let my lips curve up into a grin, but it was quick to be turned down when Beta Reed had handed me the syringe once again.

“You know what to do,” Reed told me. “Alpha Azeil made it mandatory.”

“But the drug is strong enough to hold him down for three days,” I looked up at the Beta and noticed him avoiding my eyes, choosing to look at Killian with no emotions to slip out of his features.

“I won’t do it,” I bit out. “Too much could kill him, Reed.”

The Beta flashed me his teeth and shot me a dark look, “You do it, or I will. It’s the Alpha’s order and it must be followed.”

I looked at Killian whose eyes were glazed and almost at the brink of closing.

He just didn’t care what happened to him anymore.

With my bottom lip caught between my teeth, I refused to look at Beta Reed and took the syringe from his hand. I stared at the substance leaking out of the needle; the last shot that deemed the end of Killian.

I reached Killian’s arm, his palm opening in response to my hold. He looked down at my arms as if he was stuck in his reverie.

With eyes that held thorough wonder, his let his thumb brush against my wrist for a few seconds before stopping to anticipate for the needle to break through his skin.

My hand refused to move. I just couldn’t do it anymore.

Reaching inside the pocket of my coat, I took out a cotton ball and placed it on the middle joint of Killian’s arm. I stuck the needle through the cotton and let it consume the full contents of the syringe.

I could feel Killian’s eyes staring at my troubled features as I welcomed the first process of sealing my fate with the Alpha.

I made the first step to treachery.

I quickly shoved the soaked cotton back inside my pocket before throwing the empty syringe into my bag.

I stood up as I avoided Killian’s confused eyes. Turning around to regard Beta Reed with a face that bore my scorn for him, I picked up my bag.

“I’m finished,” I told the Beta.

Beta Reed nodded his head to the doors, indicating out leave. As we began our walk out of Killian’s cell, I turned my head over my shoulder to see him in the same place, slumped back and wearing a smile that failed to reach his eyes.

And I knew that was the last straw.

I was prepared to prove that Killian did not hold any intentions that were rooted from chaos. Completely driven to find the underlying truth of him, I knew I had to start with accomplishing my deal with Heath; the first key to the plan...

Maliha.