I ran to the side, looking down through the grate, locked with chains and silver. I could just barely make out the top of Kingston’s head in the inky depths.
“Who did this to you?”
“That ungrateful bastard, after everything I did for him, letting him join us like that...”
At first his mumbled rant didn’t make sense... until it did.
“Caleb did this to you? I’ll have his balls for this.”
A soft snicker filtered up from the well. “As much as I love the idea of you riding to my defense, I might have earned it.”
“What could you have possibly done to deserve being thrown into the well?”
Kingston let out a harsh laugh. “Broke that fucker’s neck.”
Alek whistled. “Ballsy.”
“Is that you, Viking?”
Alek moved to stand beside me, giving Kingston a little wave.
Shock had my mouth hanging open. It took me a second to process what Kingston had just said. “You broke his neck?”
I could practically feel his shrug. “He was keeping you from me.”
I was only just starting to understand a mate’s need to be near their fated love. I could only imagine how crazed he’d been. And how desperate. “He should have known better.”
“Yeah, well. The good priest is just as territorial over you as the rest of us. He thought he was protecting you. As if you’d ever need protection from me.”
“I’ll get you out of here. Maybe we can pry the bars off? Break the lock?”
“No. I’ll serve my sentence. If you free me, I’ll only have to do something else to appease him.”
“Did he say how long you’d be down there?”
“One day for each bone I snapped.”
“How many did you snap?” I asked, my voice tinged with exasperation and amusement. Why did I get the feeling he was oddly proud of himself?
“Seven. I got every damn one in his neck.”
“Am I supposed to get you a cookie?”
“You can let me eat yours when I get out of here.”
I blushed, my eyes darting up to Alek’s smirking face. He gave me a one-shoulder shrug. “I would have said the same thing. I like cookies.”
“Nope. You two don’t get to gang up on me. You’re not buddies, remember?”
“We’ve... come to understand each other,” Kingston said. “Take care of her while I’m down here, Viking. She likes to think she doesn’t need us, but she’s wrong.”
“Already taken care of,” he answered, surprisingly serious given his joking manner seconds earlier.
I shook my head. “And I’m what, just supposed to leave you down here to starve? That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not. The priest is feeding and watering me. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re not a fucking plant, Kingston.”