"You got to be kidding me"

Chapter Four

The moment Callister had seen the blood on his sheets, disbelief had contorted his face. 

His head pounded as he sat up, his body sluggish, and his mouth dry. Something felt… off. 

His gaze swept over his bed again, and he hadn't seen wrong. 

Blood.

Dark stains on his sheets. His breath hitched. His mind was foggy, as the memories were blurred but deep down, he knew. 

His chest tightened. His fingers curled into fists. 

“Did she drug me so I could sleep with her?” he growled, the words bitter on his tongue. “I wanted to save her, and she drugged me?” 

‘Do you know what exactly happened last night?’ he asked his wolf. 

‘I blacked out. I told you to minimize your alcohol intake.’ his wolf blamed him and he rolled his eyes. He had a lot on his plate, he wasn't going to deal with him now. But something gnawed at him that his wolf knew something.

“She drugged me. Me! She dared to do that.” He almost yelled inside his room. A common slave wouldn't have the guts to do it. 

It could only mean they were putting on a show so he'd take pity on her. Was it a coincidence that the slave his cousin picked to bully on the only night he decided to leave his room, looked exactly like his Lilith?

Rage surged through him. He swung his legs off the bed, shoving his hands through his hair. He didn’t remember everything, but he remembered enough. The drinks. 

The way his body burned hotter than it should have. The way she didn't flinch at him when he demanded she served him again and again. 

His jaw clenched. "She set me up."

Disgust churned in his gut. He grabbed his coat, throwing it over his shoulders as he stormed out. He needed to get out of here. Away from this cursed place. Away from his torments. He was leaving last night. 

Why did he stop to save her?

By the time he reached his car, it was morning and he knew it wouldn't be long before word went out that he had slept with a virgin last night. 

Everyone knew he had saved her and taken her to his room. This was probably what the slave wanted. She wanted to change her status and he walked right into her trap. 

He knew the pack would use this against him. They would tell him he didn't deserve to be the Alpha. Was that not what the slave's father wanted? It took him just one night to have her fulfill her father's desires. 

Fuck the throne! He didn't want it in the first place. He hated the title more than anything in the world. 

Without a second thought, he started the engine. 

And without looking back, he drove away.

His phone began to ring and he swore under his breath. He knew exactly why his phone was ringing. Somebody had found out. And that meant everyone had heard it too.

Callister gripped the wheel tighter than necessary while his jaw clenched so hard it ached. 

He picked up the call regardless. He was going to tell him he was leaving anyway.

He spoke immediately he picked up. “I'm leaving and...”

His father had barely let him speak before making it clear. “I want you to stay. You are expected to rule.” 

But he wouldn’t. 

Not this time. 

Not ever. 

He had already had enough of this place, of its shadows, its schemes, its ghosts. 

And then last night happened. 

His cousin, his own blood, had set him up. He knew it now, even if the truth made his skin crawl. The girl… the servant hadn’t drugged him. She was only following orders. 

But that didn’t change what had happened. 

It didn’t change the anger burning through him. 

What did Brenda promise her?

He cut the call before his father could remind him of what he had done last night. The mansion was a blur in his rearview mirror as he drove away. 

Good. 

He never wanted to see it again. 

But just as the tension in his shoulders began to ease, something shifted in the back. 

It was a soft, barely-there sound. 

His eyes flicked to the mirror. The trunk. 

Something was in the trunk. He tuned out every noise so he could focus on the noise coming from the trunk. 

His fingers flexed against the wheel. 

No. 

It was someone. 

His foot slammed the brakes and the car skidded to a stop. 

Silence. 

Then, he heard a sharp inhale. 

Callister threw the door open, moving before he had the chance to think. 

He yanked the trunk up. 

And there she was. 

Huddled, shivering, and wide-eyed. 

It was the girl. The slave.

Eileen Sanders. 

His breath left him in a slow, controlled exhale. 

She didn’t move. Didn’t speak. 

Just stared at him with those haunting, defiant eyes. 

Callister’s lip curled in disgust. “You got to be kidding me.”