Luna Grace [COMPLETED]

43.

Gracie

I woke up back in the dungeons. I was in a room though, not a cell like the last time. Another thing that was different was the man sitting on the chair in front of me.

It took a few blinks for the blurriness to ease out of my eyes and for them to focus. It was Eric.

He looked tired. His hair was rough, his eyes bloodshot with bags under them. His suit jacket was on the back of the chair he was seated on.

His eyes were on me as I sat up gently, trying not to aggravate the ache that was building up in my head.

"You tried to run" his voice was raspy. I wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement so I just stared at him.

"Why?" I was surprised. He seemed to be genuinely asking. Genuinely asking why I would want to run away from the place I'd been held captive for the past month. Was he kidding??

"Eric, you kidnapped me. As in forcefully took me. Why would I stay?"

He nodded slowly then almost as if a flip had been switched, his face went back to being impassive and hard. He stood up and grabbed his jacket.

"Somebody will come and get you in the evening to get ready for the ceremony," he informed me as he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

It was morning and my escape plan had failed. Before the end of the day, I'd be mated to a mad man.

Happy freaking 18th to me.

The tears were spilling out of my eyes before I could stop them, the reality of the situation hitting me. This really was it. This was the end. Grey had failed to rescue me and I had failed to rescue myself.

I hoped. I really hoped that old lady had somehow been able to call Grey. That comforted me a bit.

The damning thing they call Hope started rearing it's deceitful head inside me. It wasn't over. There was still hope. The woman would call Grey.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Grey.

"Personal effects?" The woman in front of me asked and I pulled out my wallet and keys. My phone was somewhere at home. I hadn't seen that thing in weeks.

I was led into a room and told someone would be joining me shortly. It was a standard questioning room... Two chairs, one table.

I sighed as I sank down onto one of the hard metal chairs. My life was just getting more insane by the day.

Now, I was being accused of kidnapping Gracie. That raised a lot of questions for me, mainly:

Who called the police?

The door to the room opened and a man walked in. He unbuttoned his off-the-rack suit jacket, hung it on the back of his chair, and rolled up his sleeves before sitting down.

He smiled. It was an 'I never skipped a night of wearing my retainer' smile. Even, and white.

"Mr. Brewer. Grey. Greyson. Can I call you Greyson?"

"Just Grey"

His smile didn't dim even a little, "Awww I'll call you Greyson. I'm Detective Owens. Okay-"

He opened the file he'd brought with him and made a show of reading through it even though I could bet he had every line memorised before he even walked into the room.

"You're in a bit of a sticky situation Greyson. Kidnapping isn't a small crime." His eyes ran over some more lines, "and eye-witness statements from the parents too! Urghhgh"

Knowing I was being closely watched, I kept my face impassive as I digested this new piece of information.

Gracie's parents had called the cops and accused me of kidnapping their daughter.

"Tell you the truth, things don't look too good for you right now. But-" he raised a finger still smiling, "things could get better. You could confess to everything, plead guilty and get a much shorter sentence."

I might be a werewolf and might not know much about the legal system of the human world but I sure as hell knew one thing.

"I want my lawyer"

He sighed, "I'm told your friend has contacted your lawyer. But remember Greyson, you're 18 now. You're a big boy...that means you'll get a big boy sentence"

He continued talking but I tuned him out, staring at the space above his head.

My wolf was restless. It had taken everything in me to stop him from taking over when I was being handcuffed. I was of Alpha blood. We didn't get restricted...we did the restricting.

I was even more restless being so far away from home. I had to keep reminding myself that if there was news about Gracie, I could be mind-linked.

That was the one thing that was keeping me sane.

The door of the room opening snapped me out of my reverie.

My lawyer walked in, her heels clicking on the cement floor.

"I don't know who you are or what the hell you think you're doing but I want you to get out of my client's face. I'd like to speak with him!"

I smiled for the first time that day. That was exactly why Natalie was the pack lawyer. She was badass.

"No hissy pitching needed, sweets," he flashed another smile at her and stood up.

"I'll leave you two to it"

We both watched him leave the room and Natalie took the seat he'd just vacated.

"So when am I getting out?" I really wanted out.

"Grey, this is actually quite serious"

"That my mate left her crazy parents and came to live with me??"

"No. That you took a minor from her home without her parents' consent" her voice was hard.

"Minor? Gracie's not a minor. She's going to be 18.... tomorrow" I swallowed. Tomorrow was her birthday. I'd let her down.

"Grey. She was a minor as at the time she left her home and frankly she's still a minor today for another-" she checked the watch on her wrist, "3 hours"

I sighed, "so what do we do?"

"Well under normal circumstances, we'd wait until the minute she turns eighteen and have her come here and basically explain that she consented to leaving home etc. But that isn't possible so I'm going to have to try some other tactics. I'm going to try my best but the way it's looking, you might have to spend at least tonight in a cell"

I growled and she immediately bared her neck.

"I'm sorry Alpha, but you have to understand that they will not allow bail until they can at least see the girl. Right now, they think you've tied her up somewhere or killed her"

My shoulders slumped, she probably was tied up somewhere. But I refused to consider that she might be dead.

"Okay"

She relaxed and stood up, "I'll begin the proceedings. And I'll have them send somebody for you. Remember that you aren't allowed to be questioned without your lawyer"

And then I was alone again, running over everything that had happened in the space of a month. It was crazy that this was my reality.

Mind-links were coming to me from different members of the pack but I ignored them. The only information I cared about was about my mate.

An officer came into the room and I was handcuffed again and taken to one of the cells.

It was empty and I sighed in relief. I did not want to be stuck all night with some humans.

The handcuffs were removed and the door clanged shut behind me.

All in the space of a month.