Rayne and Ronan got to the door of the dungeon a few minutes before Jay was expected to show up. Stuck around the side of the building, Rayne tried to prep Ronan for his task, but he was too busy waving her off. She frowned at his stubbornness and reminded him it was her plan they were executing.

"And remember. Act natural and make it quick," Rayne hissed quietly, catching sight of Delta Jay coming over with a tray in his hands. Ronan glanced around the corner and smirked.

"Act natural?" he scoffed. "I'm the king of natural. Watch and learn, Raynie baby."

She almost threw up at the nickname combination.

Ronan straightened his broad chest up. Pushing back the waves of light-brown locks from his tanned forehead, he sent a hazel-eyed wink at his best friend and went in for the kill. She almost fainted at his loud, "What uuuup, Mr. Jay? Looking good!"

It was official. Rayne officially hated her best friend.

Jay paused near the door of the room. A mix of amusement and confusion washed over his face as he took in Ro. "Ronan? What are you doing here?"

Ronan shrugged his shoulders casually. "Thought you could use some help. Rayne's done with training and my dad didn't have any work to give me today. So, mind if I help you spoon-feed the fairy?"

Jay snorted. "You can try. He might bite your hand off."

"We'll see about that."

Jay unlocked the heavily bolted door and creaked it open. Ronan followed closely behind him, their voices growing distant and drowning out until they shut the door securely behind them. Rayne breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Time for step two," she said under her breath. She turned away from the door and leaned her back against the wall of the building, willing her heart to stop beating so rapidly in her chest. She pressed a hand to it and focused on her breathing.

If anyone could do this, it was her. Her father may not want her down there, but it was time he saw her for who she was. She was his successor, and he needed to see her as such. She won't learn anything by sitting on the sidelines for the rest of her life. He needed her on defense. To him, she was his baby girl. His first born that he thinks he still has to protect.

Well, not anymore. Ambrosius was coming, and Nashoba needed all the resources he could get.

Five minutes after Jay and Ronan entered, and Rayne was on the brink of saying 'fuck it' out, the door finally reopened. She tensed against the wall, ready to spring into action as she slid her body behind the opened door. Jay was the first to step out with his back turned, taking a few steps forward so that Ro would have room to leave, and Rayne didn't let a second of that go to waste. Without spearing Ronan a passing glance, she slid inside by tiptoeing on the side of him. The quick exchange lasted all but two seconds, and by the time Jay turned around to close the door, she was already inside the dimly lit room.

Her heart pounded in her chest at the locking of the door from the other side, and she almost couldn't believe she could do it successfully. Especially Ronan. That one was definitely more surprising.

Before Rayne could chicken herself out of what she came to do, she swallowed down whatever fear that was building in the pit of her throat, and slowly made her way around the wall.

Instead of sitting on the bed like she was expecting, Jarrah was sitting against the wall with his elbows resting on his knees, his wings tucked away and no longer visible to her eye. His head hung low as he stared at the floor between his legs rather than the untouched food at his side. The skin around his chains was still raw and painful to look at, and the longer she stood there, frozen at the sight of him, the more she noticed how much paler his bronze skin looked under the bluish-white hue of the lamp. It made her stomach twist with nausea.

He didn't look up at her right away, though she didn't know if that was because he knew there was another presence in the room and didn't care, or if he didn't know at all. Whichever it was, he didn't show any surprise or emotion when he finally looked up at the sound of her clearing her throat.

Jarrah's sharp features dripped with exhaustion, his brown eyes simmering in an anger that rimmed around his iris. His jaw was set, and a muscle pulsed at his temple. He had a good reason to be angry. She knew that. But it still didn't stop the sting of his rage.

"You may not believe me," she started, her voice soft despite feeling shaky with nerves. "But I'm sorry to see you down here like this. I don't . . . enjoy seeing other people this way, as hard as that might be to believe coming from me."

Something moved in Jarrah's jaw as it clenched with a tick.

"I've been trying to convince my father that it isn't humane to keep you locked up like this, but he is the alpha. I can't convince him to let you go until he knows he can trust you enough to help him with Ambrosius."

His eyebrow moved at the name. It wasn't a name unknown to the Fae Folk. Ambrosius hunted them down just as brutally as he hunted the wolves. There was no kind good enough for him, not unless they themselves were vampires. Humans, the Fae Folk, and werewolves alike were being hunted, and soon enough, there won't be a safe place in sight if the Weres and Fae still refuse to work together.

"I don't know about you, but I will not let my pack die. They're too important to me," Rayne continued. "And I'm sure this is something you've heard a thousand times before, but it would be really helpful if we can work together. You don't have to trust me, hell you have no reason to. But I want you out of those chains and to contribute to—"

"And why should I care what you want?" he demanded.

She paused, stumbling with her words at the sound of his voice. It was raw, deep, with a woodsy huskiness that carried on the back of the wind. She hadn't expected him to talk to her, though she didn't deny that was what she wanted. It would be easier to communicate that way, even if he met her with his anger.

"Look, I know you're angry, but I'm not my father. I'm going to figure out a way to get you out of here as soon as possible," she said. "But it would be nice if we could work together to stop Ambrosius. I won't force you to help, but my father's convinced you can help us. And you might be our only hope."

Jarrah rose his wrists, his eyes dark. "I'm treated like a prisoner by your people. Until you get me out of these, I'm not helping you."

Rayne bit her lip. "Alright. I'll-I'll get the keys and come back come nightfall."

That surprised him. A humorless smirk played at the edges of his lips. "You want to turn your back on your father? Didn't know alpha pups can go rogue."

"I'm not a pup or a rogue," she growled, narrowing her eyes at his mocking tone. "What I'm doing is for my people, and if you're part of the pack, you're included in that. So would it kill you to help us out? And then you can get out of here?"

His lips mouth twisted into a disgusted scoff. "Why don't you mongrels take the time to learn about your new pack members instead of throwing them in a dungeon attached to iron? You really think we eat whatever this revolting shit is?"

She didn't spare the tray a glance. Instead, she kept her eyes trained on the brooding man in front of her, wanting to learn everything she could because the rest of her pack was doing a shitty job at being decent people to someone of another kind. "Then teach me. What do you eat instead?"

Jarrah looked at her for a long minute. He was watching her deliberately, his lips pressed flat and jaw set. He searched for any sort of bluffing or weakness that proved she wasn't all in. But when she rose her eyebrows in a 'well?' gesture, he flattened his legs to the ground and crossed his arms. "Natural foods from the earth and fresh food that is recently caught and cooked. You expect us to survive off of frozen meals that are easy to replicate for each prisoner so that it's easier for you, but that's not how we work. We're more civilized than that."

His jab made her grit her teeth, and she rolled her shoulders back to relax. "That's doable."

He said nothing else. Thinking that was all for them to discuss, she nodded her head at him and spun on her heal, ready to leave before Ronan called her father. Somehow, she'd have to get him out of the dungeon room. He wasn't a prisoner and didn't need to be treated like one. She'd also have to figure out a way to get natural food to him so he doesn't continue not eating.

"And one more thing, pup."

Rayne's gaze blazed as she whirled around. Fists clenched and teeth smashed together, she pushed out. "Stop. Calling. Me. That. My name is Rayne, not 'pup'."

A smirk played at the edges of his lips, but it quickly dropped from whatever he was about to say next.

"A Fae's word is branded onto us until our end of the bargain is upheld. When I told your father—reluctantly, might I add—that I would help him, I was telling the truth. I have no choice now," he murmured, the words sour on his tongue. He gestured to a swirl on his shoulder that she hadn't noticed before, with intricate designs that curl into a symbol she didn't understand. "Enemies or not, I can't break a bond."

"What happens if . . . if you don't follow through with your word? If you went back to your people?"

"We die," he said simply. "It's the burden of magic."

Rayne mulled over his words silently. She was at a loss for words with this new information. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want out of here. It should be enough to prove that I won't flee once I am released," he murmured. "I am king, and I won't leave my people defenseless by dying. I'll help to protect my people, but when I help is on my terms. And the quicker your kind cooperates, the quicker I will tell you what I know."

And that was that. He said nothing more and Ronan opened the door to her quick knocking.

"Please tell me spending ten minutes with Delta Jay wasn't a waste of time," Ronan complained the moment the two of them started walking very briskly to Rayne's house.

She rolled her eyes. "Jay isn't that bad."

"Tell that to Amira's girlfriend. The girl is terrified every time she comes around him."

"Jay is overprotective," she admitted. "That's probably why he and my dad get along so well. Remember prom night with Nate?"

Ronan snorted. "What idiot actually kisses the alpha's daughter in front of her? He got what he deserved."

"You're awful."

"Maybe. Now, why are going to your house? Alpha Vance isn't home yet."

Rayne wrapped her fingers around the knob of their front door and nudged it open. "I'm not here to see my father. I'm here for my mom."

"Luna Nevaeh?" he blanched, bewildered. "Why do we have to see—"

"There's only one person whose opinion matters more to him than anyone else in the pack, Ro. If I have to get through to my father, I need to get through to her first. She's the only one who can bring him to reason."

Ronan rolled his bottom lip between his teeth briefly, clenching the sides of his jaw with the motion. When she looked up at him and asked if he was with her on her plan, he just shrugged his shoulders and moved to open the door for her.

"What the hell. Our dads are going to kill us either way, so we might as well give them another reason to lock us up with your lover boy down there."

Rayne's smile was bright as she followed in behind him with a new purpose in her step.