Chapter Seven
Two months. Geordie had told me they had a little over two months on their sentences and they’d be gone. Today was exactly two months to the day since I’d come to Starke Penitentiary. Two months of being Ze’s cellmate, his boy, and his secret mate. Two months and we were nowhere close to being free. I had no idea what the plan was, and he wouldn’t talk about it with me. The secret scared me. I wanted to trust him, but time was running out for him and for me.
Culin had become much bolder in the last two weeks. He knew as well as everyone else that Ze’s sentence was almost up. He was biding his time until he could take back over and run the whole place his way again. It would be hell for everyone, but it would probably mean my end. Either by his hand or mine, there was no way I could withstand belonging to that disgusting excuse for a shifter. He was evil, and I’d kill myself before I let him touch me.
Ze was my mate. We were closer now than I ever thought possible. I used my energy, my power, more and more every day to do simple things, but mostly to share my feelings with Ze. He loved it when I covered him with my magic, and he could feel my care and devotion to my mate. We had never had a choice whether we would be together. Mates were fated and hard to find. We needed to be together, or we’d drift, alone and lost. I couldn’t imagine being without him now that we’d found each other, but the one thing I missed the most was the claiming. I wanted to bear his mark and place mine on him for everyone to see. Ze refused to consider it. Our last discussion about the situation had gone the same as all the others.
Iwas lying in the bunk with Ze behind me, curled around me as he always did when we slept. His scent surrounded me, and his kisses slowly moved up and down my neck in a lazy ritual of licks and nips. I loved when he groomed me as his cat would if he were shifted. I could imagine his rough tongue scraping along my skin, scenting me for others to know who I belonged to.
“Ze, please. We’ve been together for over six weeks. Our bond is growing stronger every day. I need to feel you inside me. I need your teeth in my skin. Please, take me and claim me, finally. Everyone here already suspects we’re more than we say we are. You got up from the table and got me more rice yesterday for dinner, just because I said I wished I had it. Only mates do things like that, and you’d never have done that if I was just a toy for you to play with.”
Ze just kept licking and nipping the same spot on my neck until the skin was so sensitive the slightest touch made me shiver.
“I love that all I have to do is lick you and you tremble in my arms.”
Another lick from him brought another full body shiver, and my cock got even harder. I wiggled my ass back against his own hard-on, rubbing it back and forth and silently begging to be filled. He groaned and pushed into me for more friction, but didn’t go any further.
“I know what you’re saying is true, believe me, but there are things you don’t know. I have a plan in place that will go into motion in a few weeks. ”
Ze wrapped me tighter in his arms, and pushed his rock hard cock into the crease of my ass through my pants and began to move faster, with more purpose. His breath rushed over that sensitive spot he created under my ear, and my shivers increased as he rutted and spoke.
“Trust me, one day we’ll be free, and I’ll take you in every way I can. I’ll fuck and suck and bite you until you have no doubt who you belong to, baby. But I vowed I’d never claim you in these walls. I won’t tarnish something so beautiful with the filth this place represents.”
His hand moved lower down my body, covering my cock and playing with my hardness until I trembled in his arms again.
“There’s that shiver. Fuck I love the way you respond to me, baby. Don’t worry about us. As long as my plan is still in the works, we’ll be free in a month, I promise. Now, come for me and let me hold you while you sleep.”
He and I had come magnificently, and I had slept like the dead.
Slept like the dead, but now time was running out and being dead was looking like a distinct possibility if I was left here alone. As much as the thought killed me, I had considered asking Jarvis for his help and protection. I believed he would respect that I had a mate and just pretend to take over. I hoped I was right. It wasn’t that I didn’t think Ze had a plan. I just didn’t know if it would work or that it really would result in me being free with him. I wanted that more than anything. I just wondered what that freedom would cost.
And then there was the question of who Ze really was. That thought lingered in the back of my mind when I was alone, which wasn’t often these days. I did rounds with Ze and Luke for weeks, but recently I had been holding back and only hanging out with Jarvis.
Ze was still leery of Jarvis and would hover over me whenever he was around. I loved helping with the rounds, but lately, it had become too dangerous to visit the different areas of the floor. The only place Ze would let me be without him was the elderly area, and that was because Jarvis had vowed to watch over me for Ze.
As I helped Jarvis with the elderly, helping clean or whatever needed doing, my mind would drift to Ze’s past. Over the weeks I had seen him in many different situations, and he was always methodical, calculated, and in control. He wasn’t a petty criminal, and he didn’t seem like a killer. I had never felt cruelty from him as many times as I had read his energy. I had to admit, that had been a huge relief. But it still didn’t answer the question as to what he was in for. If the sentence had only been one year, it couldn’t have been that bad. I tried to convince myself of that fact.
Luke and Geordie, I assumed, had been convicted with him at the same time, so I had thought about trying to get the truth out of Geordie when he was distracted. I only considered it for a minute before I discarded the thought though. That wouldn’t be fair, and it might get him into trouble with Luke and Ze. I wouldn’t do that to my new friend.
All this was moot at the moment though, because I still didn’t know if Ze would be successful with his plan, or even what the fucking plan was.
Jarvis had stepped away from the area for a few minutes to head down to the prison store for some fruit for Farley. While he was gone, I had decided to take the soiled sheets down the hall at the back of the elderly area to the laundry chute. I was distracted by my thoughts and growing worry when I noticed everything had gotten quiet behind me. There was no talking, or even whispers now. I stopped in the middle of the hall, and the hair on the back of my neck started to rise.
I was being stalked.
If I could have shifted, my inner cat would have been clawing to come out. As it was, my magic was doing its own clawing, pushing against my barrier to lash out and protect me. I would have to see the predator to know how to handle the situation, so I dropped the bundle of sheets at my feet and started to turn around.
I never made it.
I was tackled violently to the ground, landing half on the sheets and half on the hard tile floor, banging my elbows and knees, so the pain went through me like a shot. I was temporarily breathless when a huge weight landed on my back, and a large hand shoved my head to the ground, grinding my cheek into the stone tile. It felt like my head was caught in a vice and I was sure if he kept pushing, my head would bust like a melon all over the floor.
That would ruin the sheets.
Funny the things you think about when you’re in mortal danger. It was insane. Who would care about sheets at a time like this? But that was my first thought. The fetid breath that met my nose was horrible. It reeked of rotting flesh and no dental care. Ever.
Then the words came, and I recognized who it was.
Screw the sheets. I’m fucked if I don’t do something fast.
