Riley's P.O.V.

He came again. I had heard his footsteps come down the hall before they stopped in front of my door. I was laying down on the bed on the other side of the room when the little slot at the bottom of the door slid open with a clank. The same metal tray rattled across the cobblestone floor and onto the wooden floor of my room. I stood up from the bed and went over to receive my dinner on the tray. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a few apple slices and a water bottle. Same old school styled lunch.

He never said anything. All I ever got to see of his appearance was his striking grey eyes through the little glass window in the door. He may never say anything, but that doesn't mean that I didn't. He's a great listener.

"This time lunch looks like you took the recipe straight out of my elementary school lunch menu." I smiled at him through the glass. He just continued to stare.

"However, I really appreciate you bringing me food without meat since you know that I'm a vegetarian." I smiled at the memory. When I was first brought here, I had banged at the door to be let out, find Crystal and get her back to Percy. They were so close to making up and probably would've lived happily ever after if it wasn't for me being kidnapped and being completely defenceless. I was upset, mad and scared, so when I woke up in a strange room, I had screamed to be let out and even threw everything that I could get my hands on at the door. After a few hours of fighting an incredibly strong door, I stopped trying. I became quiet for the first time in my life and leaned my back against the wall. I closed my eyes and started to silently cry when I heard something snap open beneath the door. I looked over from where I was sitting and saw that someone was pushing a tray through a slot in the door. On it was a baked potato, a soft roll, and a medium rare steak. It looked like someone had taken such care and time to perfect such a meal to give a prisoner, but I didn't give a rat's butt about that. I ran over to the door, opened the slot beneath the door, screamed, "I'm a vegetarian! I don't eat meat!" and shoved the tray back at the stranger. It toppled over and a good meal was wasted.

Ever since then, the stranger has been bringing me the strangest food arrangements to eat, but all of them didn't contain any meat. I was brought back to the present when the stranger cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry Grey Eyes. I didn't mean to drift off like that. Anything going on with you?" I asked. He didn't reply, not that I expected him to. "Do you always have to be quiet? You could talk to me you know. I won't bite, not that I even could if I wanted to because of the door." I was always unsure if he could even hear me, but every now and then when I asked a question he would occasionally nod or shake his head to show that he could hear me.

I thanked him and picked up the tray from the ground. I sat back down on the light blue bed and began eating my lunch. While I was eating, I couldn't help but think of Crystal. Was she ok? Was she even still alive? And if she was, was she already mated to an idiotic werewolf? I knew that I wouldn't get an answer from the silent stranger, but I asked anyway.

"Is Crystal ok?" I asked. I took a big bite of my PB&J and silently waited for an answer that I was sure would never come, but it did.

"She's alright," The stranger answered. I choked on my bite at having been answered. I thought it was going to go down easily, but it became stuck to my throat like glue. I couldn't breathe for the second time that week and I thought for a split second that that was how I was going to go. Choked to death on a too big of a bite of PB&J. Lovely.

The stranger quickly unlocked the door and rammed the door open. He ran to my side and picked me up from off the bed. He placed his hands on my stomach and performed the Heimlich maneuver. The PB&J bite flew out of my mouth and I could breathe again.

My knees felt weak and Grey Eyes sat me back down on the bed. I looked up at him and for the third time stopped breathing. He was so handsome. His dark brown hair was long and went down to his shoulders. His hair was styled in a half-up, half-down way and a small hair escaped from the hold and fell in front of one of his eyes. I was beyond tempted to reach out and brush it away, but I restrained myself. He was wearing funny clothes, like the wizard Merlin's cloak was mixed with a black hunter's clothing.  Let's just say the clothes fit him very well.

I was brought back to reality when he spoke again. "Are you alright?"

His voice seemed like smooth water with a slight accent I couldn't place. It wasn't Romanian like the other werewolves. It was different and unique. I wanted to hear him talk again.

"Riley, are you ok?" he asked again. I nodded my head and looked up at the amazing person in front of me. The reason part of my mind finally broke through my head-over-heels act and brought me back to focus.

"Oh, come one Riley! Stop drooling over the hot guy in front of you. He could be one of the psychotic werewolves for Pete's sake!"

The guy gave me a sly smile and I knew that I had just voiced my thoughts. Shiver me timbers. I hate it when I do that.

"I'll take it by that comment that you're fine then," he said not as a question but as a statement.

I noticed that his hands were still on my shoulders and I slid back away from him so I could get some room to breathe. His hands fell onto the bed and his face looked sadden that me scooting away from him. He knew a lot of my secrets though from me constantly talking to him through the door all the days that I've been here. He was practically a friend now more than a stranger.

"Thank you for, um, helping me not choke." Could I be any more awkward?

"You're welcome." He smiled.

"You know, now that you're talking, mind telling me your name?" I asked.

"Well, just so you don't get any ideas about bonking me on the head with a lamp, I'm not a werewolf. I'm a warlock."

"How did you know that I was going to hit you on the head with a lamp?"

"Crystal said that you might if I ever got close to you. That's kind of why I've been hiding behind the door." He motioned towards the door with his head.

I snorted to myself that a warlock with powers would be scared about me whacking him with a lamp when he has magical powers that could do who knows what. "She knows me so well." Suddenly, I had to know more than just 'she's alright' about my best friend. "Tell me everything, Warlock about what's happening with my best friend! I need to know or you are going to have a major headache in your future!"

The warlock held up his hands in surrender. "Don't worry. She's ok, for the most part anyway. And my name is Terrell, not Warlock."

I leaned back and wrapped my hands around my bedside lamp. I yanked on it and it became unplugged. I sat up again and hit the palm of my other hand with the top of the lamp in a 'you better tell me everything now or I'm going to whack you' gesture.

"Woah! Woah! Calm down. Crystal is not mated with any of the wolves, but she needs help. The Alphas have formed a competition for her hand and we need to get her far away from here. I placed her under a sleeping spell for the time being so that way the Alphas can't hurt her and she can't hurt herself. Although, I think that she thinks that I betrayed her trust."

Terrell looked at me with such sad eyes that I knew that he was telling the truth. He really did care for Crystal. For some reason, I became instantly jealous of my best friend. She didn't like anyone at school while all the boys crushed on her and now she thinks she can have all of these super hot guys too? Man, life is just not fair.

"Why...why would she think that you would betray her?" I asked tentatively. 

Terrell met my eyes and drew in a deep breath. He told me everything that had happened outside of my door ever since I landed on my butt in the room. When he got to the part about placing my best friend under a sleeping spell, I looked away from him and down at the ground. Once he finished, he searched my face for any clue that could tell him what I was thinking. I kept my face expressionless. It was a lot to take in. It wasn't as much as when Crystal told me she was part werewolf and witch, but it was pretty darn close. 

"Now I know what you must be thinking," he said. Yeah, I seriously doubt that. "And you have every right to be mad at me for not telling you about how Crystal is, what's happening, and not opening the bond back open between Percy and Crystal, but here me out. I did it all so that I could protect her, my sister, and...you."

I whipped my head around and looked at Terrell. My shock must have been very noticeable because he smiled a small sad smile. "Yes, I did some of the things that I told you to protect you. The Alphas wanted to torture you to get Crystal to cooperate and obey them. I barely convinced them to let you stay here. I have been keeping them at bay as much as I could and making sure you got your vegetarian meals each day. You see," he gently placed his hand over mine. "You're different from any other human I've ever met. You're beautiful, smart, sweet, funny, kind, I could go on forever about the amazing qualities you have. You spoke to me like a real person, even when I wouldn't answer you through the door. The real reason for me hiding behind the door was that I just didn't know what to say to you. You seem so confident and beautiful, that I was afraid I would make a fool of myself in front of you. Now, I know that you probably don't feel the same way about me..." He stopped. He looked down at the floor and wouldn't meet my eyes. 

"Look," I said. "Thank you for protecting me from those horrible werewolves, and you most definitely have to call me after all this is over, but there is still a problem. We have to find a way to save Crystal and your sister but how do we do that?" He had no idea that I was jumping with excitement on the inside for a guy liking me, but I had bigger issues that I had to deal with first, like escaping.

He looked up and met my eyes. He smiled. "You're right. What am I thinking? We do have some work to do in only three days before the fight happens and Crystal wakes up. But I will definitely call you." He winked.

I blushed. As Terrell explained his plan, it was very precise and so intricate that if something were to happen that we didn't accord for, then the plan would come apart at the seams. I could only hope that everything went smoothly but knowing Crystal and her luck, something was bound to happen that we wouldn't ever see coming.