They Call Me Lunatic

Chapter Eighteen: I'm Not Mad, Just Loud

The next few days were anything but exciting. Out of the five days that had passed since the incident with Alex, Eli had helped me see Kieran twice. Both times that I went down to see him, both Bolton and Kieran were there but not Marilyn. Apparently, she was being questioned quite frequently after she admitted to attempting to murder me.

Eli talked our father and brother into letting him stand guard of the cellars a few days of the week. At first, Greyson and Jale shooed away Eli and his 'stupid idea'. They already had various large groups of men ready for the job. Eli would be much more useful doing things like patrolling the new territory they had just expanded to or help assist training some of the younger warriors.

Eventually, they gave Eli the permission to help guard the cellars after he said, and I quote: "I will do whatever is necessary to protect this pack and my sister. I will be making sure she stays the hell away from them, and you won't tell me otherwise." Of course, that wasn't the real reason. The real reason was that he was trusted to stand guard during dinners, so that gave me much more time to see Kieran.

I was definitely happier than before now that I was getting to see Kieran, but Alex's words from our argument were still bothering me.

"I'm sure they've killed people right in front of you, and you didn't even think anything of it! They have you brainwashed, Grey. That's not how pack wolves like us act." I couldn't push away the memory of Kieran shooting the redhead who tried killing me. He did it with so little to no remorse, but then again she tried to murder me. So, she pretty much deserved it, right?

Alex was right, though. Grey Hayes was a pack wolf, but not Arden Aldridge. Arden Aldridge was just some orphan child who grew up in a mental hospital, and then happened to meet a group of psychotic, killing machines that call themselves shredders.

"You alright?" Kieran asked breaking me away from my thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," I answered tossing him another pretzel from the bag I stole from the kitchen. I turned to Bolton in the cell across from Kieran and tossed him one, too. He shot me a wicked smile.

"Thanks, Princess," he thanked me with a smirk. I nodded and turned back to Kieran when I heard a low growl emit from him. I knew he wouldn't like Bolton calling me princess.

"Hey, stop it," I scolded Kieran. I didn't need anyone hearing him and coming down to make sure everything was okay. I would for sure get caught, and I don't even want to know what would happen.

"Got anything else to drink?" Marilyn asked with a scratchy voice. She tossed the water bottle I had given her back to me empty.

"No. I could only bring so much," I stated picking up the bottle and chucking her a pretzel. She huffed, but ate the pretzel.

"Why not just bring a duffel bag next time, Grey?" Bolton joked. I glared at him for using my real name.

"Don't call me that." I told them what happened with everything. I told them about the fight with Alex, and how Eli was making it his mission to help me. Since then, Bolton insists on calling me Grey. He's only joking, but it still makes me mad. With them, I'm Arden. I'm not Grey.

"Grey, you gotta go," Eli shouted from down the hall of the cellars causing me to jump. I didn't answer him. Instead, I just stood up and looked back at Kieran.

"I'll be back, I swear," I assured reaching into the pretzel bag and throwing a handful of pretzels into each of their cells.