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My eyes grew wide as I waited to see if she did in fact understand what I said to her. I wouldn’t take any of it back though. If I was going to be in hell, so were they.

“I didn’t steal anything. Gerard did.” There it was. Cy understood sign language. Right now, it was unclear if that was a blessing or a curse. “I did, however, tell you this was your home for now, even if it is also your prison. That doesn’t mean snapping carrots to annoy me won’t go unnoticed.” She raised her brow at me, and I grimaced, unable to feign ignorance. “Besides, carrots with hot sauce is an abomination.”

Have you even tried it? I interrupted.

“No, and I won’t.”

But—

“No.”

I slumped back, but getting Cy to try my delicious concoction was now on my list for the next few weeks.

“Even though you haven’t apologized for your annoyance, I will apologize for not knowing that you couldn’t speak.” Everything else she had said had a twinge of irritation laced with boredom; everything except that sentence.

I sat up straight, tilting my head to the side, hoping she would explain or give me a detail about herself, but that hope was crushed when she turned away. Instead of going back to her seat, she gathered up everything she originally had out to make her smoothie. I watched her make it, then she slid a small glass my way.

It was the same light pink as before, and I hesitantly picked up the glass before sipping some of the contents. It was a simple strawberry smoothie with a hint of marshmallow. The smoothie was delicious. Frozen strawberries, yogurt, a hint of honey, some milk, and a scoop of something that looked like a protein powder jug, but it was unlike any I had seen before.

Before I could ask, everything was put away as it was before she had made me my drink.

Her back was to me, so I knocked on the counter to get her attention. When she turned to me, I thanked her. Then because I couldn’t help myself, I pressed my luck.

I thought you said to never ask you for anything. I smirked around the rim of the glass, polishing off the delicious smoothie I already wanted more of.

“Don’t.”

That was all I got out of her before she grabbed her own glass, washed it, then vanished down the hall, leaving me entirely alone in the living area of the cabin.

What was I going to do now?

Chapter 5

Mine

Deciding boredom was overrated and their cabin was now my cabin, I moved over to the smaller couch where the remote to the large TV was resting after rinsing both my glasses and depositing them into the dishwasher as Cy had done with my bowl earlier. I glanced at the hallway entrance, wondering if anyone was going to appear and disturb the strangely welcomed silence. When no one did, I clicked the power button, bringing the large screen to life.

If I had access to food, a TV, and a few other necessities, they could ignore me the entire time. That was perfectly fine with me. I didn’t need or want constant interaction or attention. This was my normal, and I would like a little bit of normal after the last half day sent my world into a spiral.

Flipping through the channels, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but something I could space out to would do the trick. I landed on Discovery Channel where Shark Week was in full swing. This episode was all about sharks with interesting features, like the cookiecutter shark who was aptly named and one of my favorites. It was small but fierce and had an adorable name. What wasn’t there to love about it?

Time passed, and after about thirty minutes of watching, Ellie came running out of the hall. Her head swiveled across the room, searching for something. When her eyes landed on me, a large smile crossed her face, and she charged for me, throwing herself on the cushion next to mine.

“Have they been nice?”

I scrunched my brows. That wasn’t what I expected her to ask; perhaps I thought she would ask how I was dealing with things so far, but maybe that was a much more obvious answer than whether the Alphas were nice or not. I shrugged in response. Nice was too strong of a word. Indifferent to my presence was better suited besides the small act of kindness of the smoothie. I would consider that a fluke, an out-of-character experience, for now.

She hmmed before turning and glaring at Odie who had followed her out of the hall and was now getting water from the kitchen. With how loud the cabinets and ice dispenser sounded from here, no wonder Cy lost her cool earlier. I had no doubt I would have done the same if the circumstances were switched. A stranger in my home causing a ruckus? Not on my watch.

“I picked my room and demanded that yours be next to mine. I hope you don’t mind. Oh, and I will be buying us all sorts of new things to decorate them. I have my dad’s card info memorized; even if I didn’t, I’d find a way. I don’t know how long we will be here, but I don’t really care. Here’s one big fuck you to dear old dad for putting us in this mess.” Her grin was devious, but there was no chance I’d say no to that. It was the least Gerard could do after falsely accusing and imprisoning me. I matched her grin and laughed maniacally, and she continued, “And their rooms are on the opposite side of the hall. We both have bathrooms attached to ours, so they won’t ruin it with their gross habits.” She made a faux gagging sound, which devolved into laughter.

“We do not have gross habits,” Odie grumbled as she came over and leaned against the back of one of the wingback chairs with the glass of water in one hand. “You haven’t lived with us in years anyway. What would you know?”

“Well, you’re an Alpha, and from experience, you’re inherently gross.”

I chuckled. With how much Ellie was making me laugh, I was glad the curse hadn’t taken that ability from us. We could laugh, sigh, whistle, and so on. Anything to do with our mouths and vocal cords besides talk and sing. Even humming was on the list for some. I couldn’t force it, but I found myself doing it every now and then when I spaced out and had a song in my head.

“I will believe that until proven otherwise.” Ellie turned away from her and smiled at me. “Hopefully, this won’t be as bad as you were expecting. They are dicks, but they aren’t mean, I guess.” Her face fell a little as she said it.