Scarred Alphas

Chapter 30

This…this can’t be my home. I refuse to call this place my

home.

I watch as men and women

are displayed like cattle. As

we continue to walk, we

come across an area where a

man is bent over a tree

stump, and from behind, a guard holds a long hot metal rod that he presses against the man’s spine. The man screams as the metal brands

his back and smoke comes

out.

“What is this, Poppy?” I

whisper.

“This is the reforming camp.

As she says this, we walk near

a few erected cemented

walls. On these walls, there

are chained werewolves in

their werewolf form

aggressively trying to get free and trying to attack the guards. I can see how the silver chains burn through their skin. The guards whip

them with silver thin wires

that cut through the

werewolf’s skin. It is horrible

to watch.

“These are mostly Alpha werewolves who do not want

to comply…so they are being broken,” Poppy explains.

I look away, unable to stand

1. it. And then I see it. What

Colt had told me about.

There is a long rectangular stage in the middle of the camp. On the stage, there are long wooden poles with

chains and attached to these

chains are what I believe to

be men and women. It is

hard to make out because

their skin has been melted

just like Colt told me, with silver liquid.

They breathe but these

people are not alive, not

really. I feel so disgusted.

And to think that this is all

what Colt, Dash, and the

others all went through. I

want to cry just thinking

about it.

“Why did you bring me here first, Poppy?”

This is behind the official

pack house about a hundred feet away from it. It is far away from the main home

where I am staying so you really can’t see any of this.

“I didn’t want to show you

the worst part last because then it is the only thing that will stick with you.”

I shake my head. “It will still

haunt me. This is horrible.”

She looks down and nods.

I look behind us where Colt

walks a few feet away, following us as he guards

1. me. He looks at me but I

can’t read his expression. There is no sadness, anger,

or anything else.

“Let’s go to the pack house,”

Poppy says but as she says this, we pass by a small

building that almost looks

like a bunker. In front, there

are two chained men. I put a

hand on my mouth as I stare

at them. They have muscle tendons showing on their

back as if the outer skin was

cut from their b*dy in

precise long rectangular

strips. Skinned alive yet still

alive.

Poppy notices where I stare.

“Uhm…it’s a punishment…”

“No…it’s hellish torture.”

After what seems an eternity of silence, Poppy leads us to

the front of the pack house

where now you can’t see or hear what is happening in the back. The pack house is bigger than the one on Colt’s pack.

When she goes in, the house

is filled with children

running around laughing and playing. To anyone else, this would be a tender sight but I know these are orphans and probably many are children to the people being

tortured in the back.

“Miss Poppy! Miss Poppy! Who is that?!” They ask

Poppy and look at me with

curiosity.

“This is Miss Casseopea.” She responds. “Did you all hear

that there will be a festival

tonight!”

“Yeaaaah!” they all cheer.

Leaving the children with their excitement, Poppy leads me through the pack house meeting a few of the pack members. They are all

curious as to who I am but

Poppy only tells them my name and reminds them of

the festival tonight.

Between the pack house and

the main house, there are

fields of crops and I can even see some cattle in the

distance.

Poppy points to the forest on the right. “There is a lake in

that direction. That is where

we have our moon festivals

and you can go there whenever you are looking for a swim.” She points to the left. “There are jogging trails that way. And that is it. You

are free to roam the areas

with your guards but…you

are not allowed to leave the

pack territory. Not without your father’s permission.”

“Okay.” That is all I say.

She pats my back and walks

away.

I head back to the house. As I

walk back, people stare at me

and I am not used to it,

though at this moment I am very distracted by something weighing heavy on my chest.

I walk inside the house from

a door in the back. I have no

idea where in the house I am

but I start walking through a

hall. Colt is silent behind me.

The feeling inside me busts and I am unable to get to my room before I am

overwhelmed by these

feelings. I turn to a door and open it. It looks like a fancy

living area but it is empty of people.

Once inside, my hands cover my face.

I hear the door close behind

1. me. “What is wrong?! What is it?!” Colt asks sounding a bit desperate.

“I…I…I am sorry.

“What?”

I lift my head to face him.

“Why are you crying?” he

asks.

I can see that he fights with himself to try not to come

over and comfort me.

I point to the window.

“That… out there…that was

not okay.”

He takes in a deep breath and nods. “I know. But you

will get used to it.”

“No. I will not allow myself to get used to seeing that. It is so wrong.” I look up at him. “I am sorry.”

“Why are you saying this to

me?” He asks still confused.

“I am so sorry for what you went through,” I tell him.

He slightly smiles. “It’s okay. I am okay.”

“How are you okay?”

Taking a deep breath, he looks around the room

making sure no one is there. He then suddenly picks me

up

and sits me on a console

table that is against a wall, almost knocking down the decorative vases on it. His hands cup my face and he looks straight into my eyes. “I am okay because every

day that passes, you mend

my heart just a bit more.”

I look into his eyes and he looks into mine. I could get lost in those green orbs for all eternity and not mind

one bit.

He starts to get close and I whisper. “You are so…corny.”

Even as I say this, I still have

tears in my eyes.

He stops and looks at me with surprise. “Corny!?”

I start laughing–wiping my tears–and so does he. But

then he grabs my chin and crashes his lips with mine.

“Mh…” I moan.

He ends the k*ss, smiles, and

mutters. “This girl calling me corny and ruining the moment…”

This makes me laugh again.

“Hey…could we… could we

go for a run tonight?” I ask

him.

“After the festival?” He looks

down as he thinks, then

nods. “Yes. I think we can.

“You are free to roam the

pack as Poppy said. Just as long as we don’t cross the border.” he says. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“And what if we did. What if

we ran? There is nothing

stopping us now.”

“Nothing? Except that

Warrick has the borders

heavily guarded, not to

mention the men he has

outside near the pack. We

wouldn’t get far, Cass. And besides, this is probably a test. There is no way he is a hundred percent convinced

about all of this. He’ll want to

see if you will stay or leave. I am sure that putting me as

your guard is also a test for

1. me. So…”

He backs away and takes me

down from the table. “Let’s

not do anything stupid.”

I take in a deep breath feeling irritated but nod.

He opens the door and walks out then waits out in the hall

for me.

I come out and start walking

but I have no idea where I

am going. Suddenly, Victor

appears in front of me.

“There you are. Here.”

He hands me a piece of

paper.

“What is this?”

“Your training schedule, you

start tomorrow.” He says and nonchalantly walks away.

I look at the time on the

schedule.

“Five- Five in the

morning?!“I scream after

him.

“Yeah.” He replies now at the

end of the hall.

“…Great…” I say with sarcasm.

I DO think learning

self–defense and how to

properly fight is a good

thing. I have never learned

how to fight or anything like

that but I am a lazy person. I

don’t want to get up

this

early to get my ass kicked.

I wander around most of the day, exploring the house. I

found a theater room where I spent a good amount of time watching a movie. Colt

acts distant the whole time and stays a good distance away from me. I get why but I don’t like it at all. To say that every time I see him I want to jump his bones is an

understatement. How I wish

I could be in his embrace all

day. He makes me feel safe. When evening comes, Poppy comes to my room to help me get ready for the festival. I wear a long black flowy dress with large pin flowers.

She called it a maxi summer

dress. It looks casual but

once on me, it looks

amazing. Again, it is a dress that shows cleavage and my

back but I am not worried

about it at all cause I still

look good.

“Yes?!” Poppy asks to the

knock that sounds on the

door.

Colt walks in and stands

staring at me with his hands

on his back.

“Alexis! Doesn’t she look

beautiful?”

Colt clears his throat as he

stares me up and down and nods. “Yes, she does. I came to tell you that I am relieved of duty tonight. It is Serge’s turn to watch over you.” He says all this as he looks at me through the mirror which I

stand in front of.

“Oh…okay.” I am

disappointed but it is what was agreed to.

He nods again. “See you at the festival, princess.”

I watch him close the door

and feel deflated.

“He’s a handsome one, ain’t

he?” Poppy asks.

I nod fully agreeing with her but making sure I do not

look so enthusiastic.

When I am done, she takes

me downstairs to the back of

the house where the festival

is already underway.

Surprisingly, it is cheery

despite all that bad stuff I saw today. I guess people in this

pack are used to the way things are here and

obviously, there is nothing

they can do about it.

“Well look who’s here! The

guest of honooor!” Beck says.

His words sound a bit more

dragged than they usually do

and I am sure it all has to do

with the drink he has in his

hand. It’s probably not his

first.

“Shoo! You vermin!” Poppy

says putting a hand up to

him.

I almost laugh.

She continues walking until

she reaches Warrick. She

k*sses him on the cheek and

motions towards me.

Again, his eyes suddenly glisten as sadness fills them.

“Casseopea…” he whispers,

barely audible but even Poppy hears it. And the thing is that it didn’t seem like he was calling my name or even referring to me. It is as if for a split second he was seeing someone else.

He clears his throat and

straightens. “Excellent.

Come, daughter. Let’s make

a round.” He lifts his hand to

me and I hesitantly take it.

He starts walking around with me in his arms, greeting people. Most of these people are from the pack but then

we come to some men at the edge of the forest that seem…off. They dress in drags and look a bit dirty but by no means do they look harmless. They are scary and to me, they seem dangerous.

“Crow,” Warrick calls him.

The man who seems to be

the leader, smiles at me with

his rotten teeth showing as

Warrick speaks to him. “This

is my daughter. Remember

her well.”

“Of course, Alpha Warrick.” They all say with a bow.

“Who are they?” I ask as we

go past them.

“Those, my dear, are my

tracker rogues.”

“Rogues?”

“Yes, rogues and they are

good at what they do so if I

were you, I wouldn’t get any

ideas. These men would find

you within minutes.”

“I–I never thought of

running.”

“Who said anything about

running?” He asks.

“I–I mean, that’s what I

assume you meant.”

He laughs.

This man makes me so

nervous and he obviously enjoys it.

“One would think you are almost evil, Alpha Warrick.”

A tall man walks into view.

Even taller than Victor and

that is saying something

because Victor surpasses

almost all pack members I

have seen here.

His blue eyes rake over me

and marble my face as if he

is studying a piece of art.

“What can I say? My

reputation preceded me.‘

Warrick gives him a sly

smile.

The tall man is no Adonis

but he is still an attractive

man. His ashy blond hair is slicked back yet a strand falls

on the front.

“Cass, this is Oliver Vald. He is Alpha to a new pack, the

Crescent Pack. They came from Europe and established their pack on the northern

territories just a few months

ago.

“It is a pleasure, lady Casseopea.” The man takes my hand in such a gentle

manner and then k*sses it. If

his European accent was not enough to melt me already, the gesture surely did. He looks up as his lips finish touching my skin and smiles

a smile that could take down

any hardheaded maiden. He

has such charm and subtle

swag that even I am taken by

him.

“We are working on an

alliance of a sort,” Warrick

says bringing me back to this

real world.

The man called Oliver,

straighten up and gives

Warrick a small side nod,

almost like a bow.

“Though we have much to

learn from each other before

we get to that,” Warrick says.

The man gives a side smile. “All in due time, Alpha

Warrick.‘

“Yeah…due time…” Warrick

acts almost impatiently. He

pulls my arm and takes me away from the charming

man who smiles at me as I

walk away.

“Alliance? I didn’t think

you

did alliances.” I whisper to

Warrick.

“I don’t…but, even I know I

am not always right and I have plans that require some flexibility on my part in order to succeed. I just have

to make sure of this man’s

intentions first.”

“So you don’t trust him?”

“My dear, I trust no one. You

will learn to do the same.”