CHAPTER THIRTY TWO: LOCKED AWAY

I made it halfway down the hallway before I heard Kieran's office door slam open behind me.

"Laila, stop!"

His voice carried the full force of his alpha authority, but I kept walking.

I was done letting him command me.

"We're not finished talking about this!"

I turned around to face him, my own anger still burning bright.

"Yes, we are. You made your position clear. You think I'm too weak to handle the truth about my own life."

"That's not what I said."

"It's exactly what you said."

I crossed my arms.

"You'd rather keep me ignorant and 'protected' than treat me like an adult who deserves to make her own choices."

Kieran's jaw clenched as he approached me.

Several pack members had emerged from nearby rooms, drawn by our raised voices.

I could see Marcus, Elena, and Dr. Martinez watching us with concerned expressions.

"This is not a conversation we should be having in the hallway," Kieran said through gritted teeth.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have followed me out here."

His silver eyes flashed with frustrated fury.

"You're being unreasonable."

"I'm being honest. Something you apparently have trouble with."

The watching pack members shifted uncomfortably.

Elena looked annoyed rather than concerned, probably thinking this drama was exactly the kind of trouble she had predicted I would bring to the pack.

"Fine," Kieran said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

"If you want to act like a child throwing a tantrum, then you can be treated like one."

Before I could ask what he meant, he moved with supernatural speed.

His hand clamped around my upper arm and he began dragging me back down the hallway.

"Let go of me!" I struggled against his grip, but his alpha strength was too much for me.

"Kieran," Marcus called out, stepping forward.

"Maybe you should—"

"Stay out of this, Marcus," Kieran snapped without breaking stride.

"This is pack business."

The dismissive way he referred to me made my blood boil.

Like I was just another problem to be managed.

He dragged me up the stairs toward my room, ignoring my protests and struggles.

When we reached my door, he pushed it open and shoved me inside.

"You want space to think?" he said, his voice cold and furious.

"Fine. You can have all the space you need."

I spun around to face him, but he was already stepping back into the hallway.

"Kieran, what are you doing?"

"What I should have done from the beginning. Keeping you safe from your own reckless impulses."

The door slammed shut and I heard the unmistakable sound of a key turning in the lock.

I ran to the door and pulled on the handle.

It didn't budge.

"Kieran!" I pounded on the door. "You can't lock me in here!"

"I can and I will," his voice came through the wood.

"Until you calm down and start thinking rationally."

"Let me out right now!"

"When you're ready to have a civilized conversation about this, we'll talk. Until then, you stay put."

I heard his footsteps retreating down the hallway, and I pounded on the door harder.

"This is insane! You can't just imprison me because I disagreed with you!"

But he was already gone.

I stared at the locked door in disbelief.

Had Kieran really just locked me in my room like I was a misbehaving child?

The reality of my situation wrapped around my neck like a vice.

I was trapped.

Kieran had used his alpha authority and physical strength to force me into compliance, just like Damien used to do.

The comparison made me sick.

I sank down onto my bed, my hands shaking with rage and something that felt dangerously close to panic.

The walls of the room seemed to be closing in around me.

How had I been so wrong about Kieran?

How had I convinced myself he was different from Damien when he was capable of this kind of controlling behavior?

About an hour later, I heard footsteps in the hallway.

Someone knocked on the door, but it wasn't gentle like Elena might have been.

This was sharp and impatient.

"Laila." Elena's voice came through the door, but it wasn't sympathetic. It was irritated.

I got up and pressed my face against the door.

"Elena?"

"I brought you food. Kieran's orders."

"Can you unlock the door?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't." Her voice was cold.

"This is exactly what I warned everyone would happen when Kieran brought you here."

"Drama, conflict, chaos. You've been here less than two months and you're already turning our peaceful pack upside down."

Her words stung, but they also made me angry.

"I'm not the one who chose to hide important information and then lock someone up when they got upset about it."

"You're not pack," Elena said bluntly.

"You don't understand our ways or our loyalty. Kieran has protected and led us for years."

"If he says you need to cool off in your room, then that's what needs to happen."

"So you're just going to go along with this? You're going to let him keep me prisoner?"

"You're not a prisoner. You're a guest who forgot her place."

The coldness in her voice shocked me.

I had thought Elena might have some sympathy, even if she didn't like me.

But she clearly saw this as my fault entirely.

"I should have insisted that Kieran send you back to your uncle the day you arrived," Elena continued.

"You're going to destroy everything good we've built here."

I heard her set something down outside the door, then her footsteps retreated without another word.

I slid down to sit with my back against the door, feeling more alone than I had since my first days at Shadow Ridge.

Even the person I had thought might show me basic human decency was against me.

Elena's words echoed in my mind:

"You're not pack. You don't understand our ways or our loyalty."

Maybe she was right.

Maybe I would never belong here.

Maybe I was just fooling myself thinking I could find a home with people who saw me as an outsider bringing trouble.

But that didn't make what Kieran had done right.

Loyalty didn't mean blindly supporting someone when they were wrong.

And locking me up was wrong, no matter how Elena tried to justify it.

I began pacing the room, my anger building with each step.

How dare Kieran lock me up? How dare he treat me like I was some disruption to be contained?

And how dare Elena act like I was the problem when all I had done was discover the truth about my own heritage?

I went to the window and looked out.

My room was on the second floor, but there was a large oak tree whose branches came close to the building.

If I could reach the tree, I could climb down and escape.

The thought of escaping through a window made me think of all the times I had hidden from Damien, all the ways I had learned to make myself small and invisible to avoid his anger.

But this was different. This wasn't hiding from abuse - this was refusing to be controlled.

I tested the window latch. It opened easily, letting in the cool evening air.

The nearest tree branch was about three feet away - a dangerous jump, but not impossible.

If the pack saw me as a troublemaker anyway, if they thought I didn't belong here, then maybe it was time I stopped trying to fit in and started making my own choices.

I swung one leg out the window, then the other, perching on the narrow sill.

The branch looked sturdy enough to hold my weight, but the gap between the window and the tree suddenly seemed much wider than it had from inside.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered my courage and leaped.

My hands caught the branch, and for a terrifying moment, I dangled in the air before managing to pull myself up.

The bark scraped against my palms, but I had made it.

Climbing down the tree was easier than I had expected.

Within minutes, my feet touched solid ground.

I was free.

But as I stood in the shadow of the pack house, looking up at my locked room, I realized that any chance I had of belonging here might be gone forever.

Kieran had shown me exactly who he was when challenged - someone who would use force and authority to get his way, someone who believed he had the right to make decisions for me without my consent.

And Elena had made it clear that the pack would support their Alpha over the outsider, no matter what.

I had thought I was falling in love with Kieran, but I couldn't care for someone who saw me as something to be managed rather than someone to be respected.

Seraphina had tried to warn me about trusting people who kept secrets.

I should have listened.

Now I needed to figure out what came next, because going back to that locked room was not an option.

I had escaped from one controlling man.

I wouldn't let myself be trapped by another, no matter how much I had thought I cared for him...

The pack territory stretched out before me in the moonlight.

For the first time since arriving at Shadow Ridge, I was completely on my own.

And despite the fear and heartbreak, this felt like freedom.