Chapter 3 THE PRICE TAG

I woke up because someone was knocking. Not soft. Like cop knock.

Boom boom boom.

It was 7 AM. Light coming through the blinds in hard stripes. My mouth tasted gross.

I thought for a second I was back in Jonah's house. Because that's how he knocked when he wanted me to hurry up with breakfast. Same rhythm.

Then I remembered. Mud. Bags. Kael. Apple slices.

Boom boom boom again.

"It's me," Kael's voice from the other side. "You decent?"

I was in his big t-shirt. I had stolen it off the chair. I don't even know why I did it. It was just there and my pajamas were still damp in my bag. It smelled like him and it went down to my knees.

"Yeah," I said. My voice all scratchy.

He opened the door but didn't come in all the way. Stood in the frame. He was already dressed. Black shirt today. Hair wet. Like he had been outside.

"Your ex called," he said. No hello.

My stomach dropped. Like actually dropped. That elevator feeling.

"What?"

"On the pack line. He wants you back."

I laughed. I didn't mean to. It just burst out. Short and ugly.

"He wants me back? Yesterday he - he set me down in the mud like I was trash and now he wants me back? What, the alliance didn't go through?"

Kael's face didn't change. "The alliance went through. He got what he wanted. Now he wants... extra."

Extra. Extra what. Me as extra.

My hands were shaking again. I shoved them under the t-shirt. Under my thighs.

"Tell him no," I said. Too fast. Too loud. "Tell him I'm not - I'm not a thing you can just..."

"I told him no," Kael said. Calm. "I told him you're under my roof now. That means you're under my protection. He didn't like that."

Of course he didn't. Jonah never liked when someone else said no for me. He liked to be the one saying no.

"He said you stole his property," Kael added. And then his mouth twisted. Like he wanted to spit. "His words. Not mine."

Property. Five years and I'm property. God.

I stood up. The t-shirt was big and I felt stupid and small in it. My hair was a mess.

"I'm not his property," I said. My voice was shaking but I said it anyway. "I'm not yours either. I want that clear. I'm not - I'm not staying here because you own me now."

"I know," he said. Quick. Like he had been waiting for me to say it. "I know that, Elena."

He stepped into the room then. Just one step. And he set something on the dresser. A phone. New. Box still half open.

"Burner," he said. "If you want to call anyone. Or if you want to call him and tell him to go fuck himself yourself. Your choice."

I stared at the phone. I didn't have anyone to call. My mom died two years ago. My friends were all his pack friends. They stopped texting after year three when I got too quiet.

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered. Because I really didn't get it. Monsters don't do burner phones and apple slices at 2 AM.

He looked at me. That heavy look again. Too hungry. Too dangerous. Like if I got too close I would burn.

"Because when I saw you in the mud," he said, slow, like he was picking each word, "with your bags still warm... I remembered what it felt like. To be traded."

Oh.

Oh.

He didn't say more. He didn't have to.

He left the phone on the dresser and walked out. This time he closed the door soft.

I sat back down on the bed. In his too-big t-shirt that smelled like cedar and smoke and I picked up the burner phone. It was light. Cheap plastic.

I turned it on. No contacts. Blank screen.

And I thought about Jonah's face if he saw me now. In the monster's t-shirt. In the monster's bed. Not broken. Not crying in the mud like he wanted.

Let him try to claw back what he threw away, I thought. Let him try.

I didn't call anyone.

I just held the phone and listened to Kael's boots go downstairs. Quick. Not slow.

And for the first time since the car engine, my hands stopped shaking.