Chapter 19
Chapter 19
The Pack Rejects
The Desert Storm pack lands were huge, dense forestry surrounded most of the borders. The patrol was heavy and the wolves all looked rough, most had some sort of scars on their bodies as they walked around shirtless.
The packhouse was a stunning building, second only to the Alpha’s mansion. The training ground was also huge, sectioned into different areas and it was full of wolves of all ages, training according to their levels. Where Elijah’s pack encourage pups to start to train from as young as 6 years of age it was not mandatory, here it seemed that it was compulsory as soon as the pup could talk and walk.
Scarlett watched the little 3 and 4-year-olds do their training. They were made to lift heavy weights and carry them across the field, if any of them stopped or dropped it they had to restart. Many were silently crying but fear had been instilled in them, none daring to utter a sound. She felt a wave of sadness wash over her, thinking how brutal Zidane was, even thinking of him as ‘her father’ now made her sick.
Elijah’s eyes rarely left Scarlett, for the last 20 minutes she had been almost blanking him, from the moment Cade came to their room. But he was not going to back down so easily, not until he had explained his point. Something about her rejection had upset his wolf too, he could feel him brooding within his mind. He wished he could talk to him, like how it was said in books where the wolves had a voice of their own, it sure would make things easier. It confused him a little too, his wolf never cared for any of his fucks.
Cade looked between the two, it seemed the Alpha’s plan worked. He could see the tension between them as they walked with him out to the pack grounds, the Alpha’s order was to show them the entire pack… He knew the reason, to show Scarlett the twisted rules of this pack so it would guilt-trip her into wanting to help them. Her father would use that against her and take control of her.
Cade himself actually didn’t mind, if it meant keeping Scarlett close, she had grown into a fine thing after all…
“What is this?” Scarlett asked stopping near a large building that looked as if it was about to fall apart. The gaps in the roof were covered with planks of wood, several windows were broken and there were two large cracks in the architecture of the building.
“Where the trash of the pack lives.” Cade said, feeling a sliver of pain despite the words that left his mouth.
“Meaning?” Scarlett asked her green eyes cold.
“Omegas and those who aren’t good enough and are demoted to omegas, and other low lives.” Cade said shrugging. Scarlett and Elijah both frowned seeing a six-year-old girl step out of the doors, holding a bucket.
“Why is a child there? Shouldn’t she be training?” She asked, “or at school?”
“Omega children aren’t allowed to train and neither are discarded trash like her.” Cade said. Scarlett’s eyes flashed silver and she growled at Cade. He frowned sensing the strong waves of power that rolled off her.
“Red…” Elijah warned, walking over to her he placed a hand on her back. ‘Don’t show your power’ he mind-linked.
She cast him a dirty look before calming down but the damage had already been done, Cades eyes were sparked with curiosity. Was there something about Scarlett that Zidane knew of? A reason he was hell-bent on finding her when for years he had thought they were dead?
“They’re children born of rape.” Cade said shrugging. “Some are killed and some are left here if their mother is compassionate enough.”
“Why the fuck does that sound like it’s fucking common?” Elijah growled.
“It is, as werewolves we have an extremely high libido, sometimes if our mates aren’t around or what not we will fuck other she-wolves but of course we don’t want the kids.” Cade said. “So it’s simple-”
A loud menacing growl tore through the air and the next thing Elijah saw was Scarlett pinning Cade to the nearest wall.
“I never want to hear you talk like that again.” She hissed menacingly, her Alpha aura rolling off her in waves.
“Y-yes Alpha…” Cade said his face pale, the weight of her command hitting him hard. He lowered his eyes in respect and Scarlett let go of him, kicking him hard.
“This place is fucking messed up.” She said running a hand through her hair. Elijah frowned, it was but each pack had its own laws. There was no supreme rule that bound anyone, it was on the Alpha who was the supreme king… He glanced around hoping no one saw what had taken place, swearing inwardly when he saw the claw marks around Cade’s neck.
‘Fuck Red, you scratched him!’ He growled through the mind link.
‘I don’t give a fuck, he deserved it.’ She shot back.
‘I know but your ability is out too…’ Elijah said, not liking how this was going. She didn’t reply, simply walking to the entrance of the battered building.
Cade stood up massaging his neck, the stinging was still there and although she had only scratched him, he was not healing.
‘Leave them to look around… come to my office now.’ Zidane’s icy voice echoed in his mind.
‘Yes Alpha.’ He replied before looking at Elijah.
“You’re free to roam around on your own, I have work to attend to.”
“Hmm, one thing before you go Cade. I know you would want to report that to the Alpha, but I wouldn’t if I were you.” Elijah said. Cade didn’t reply, the young Alpha didn’t know how dangerous Zidane was, if he withheld anything from him he would be the next one dead… He simply nodded and walked off.
Elijah took a deep breath and walked towards the building where Scarlett had vanished off into.
Entering he saw it was not as bad as it looked from outside. Yes it was in a dilapidated state but it was clean, in spite of it being barely furnished there were signs of life. A child’s battered shoes stood by the entrance, a cracked frame with a hand-drawn picture hung crookedly on the wall. A small shelf with hooks contained several pairs of keys and a couple of tattered children’s coats were on the floor against the far wall.
The worn out mahogany wooden floors groaned under every step he took, several were completely sunk in. The single bare bulb that hung from the ceiling was weak, casting a sickly white light around the dark hall. A rickety flight of steps led upwards, the bannister was broken and in areas completely missing. A danger for young wolves, he thought. It seemed rather silent and he wondered how many people lived here. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
He followed her scent into a large kitchen, this room was clearly the newest in the building, with three large stoves, 4 American style fridge freezers and a double door that led off outside. He realised this was probably where the food for the pack members was prepared.
He spotted Scarlett helping an elderly lady with some potato sacks, each weighing 25kg, squatting as she lifted another. Elijah’s gaze fell to her ass, feeling himself throb and looking away. The stupid drug
had worn off a short while ago but looking at Scarlett was just going to make him hard again. He had not gone without sex for this long, but for her he had, and here she was not even realising the effect she had on him and he knew he did not want anyone else.
He was brought out of his thoughts when the elderly woman bowed and repeatedly told Scarlett she did not need help.
“Please my lady…” She whispered. Scarlett shook her head.
“Please don’t apologise, the Alpha’s given us permission to look around, no one will know if I helped or not.” She said, Elijah walked over and took the other two sacks.
“So where are we taking them?” He asked, the woman looked at him paling as she sensed his Alpha aura, despite having reigned it in, it was ever noticeable.
“J-just over there..” She whispered pointing to another door that Elijah had not noticed when he came in. He led the way, pushing the door open and stepped inside holding the door open for Scarlett who held two bags with ease, she frowned at him.
“I can manage.” She said coldly.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t.” He replied cockily.
She simply ignored him, the room which had been humming with quiet conversation and the hustle and bustle of several women slicing and dicing vegetables now fell silent as all eyes went to the newcomers. It was a second kitchen and like the other was in better condition than the rest of the building
“T-they just wanted to help… they won’t hurt us.” The elderly woman said, looking at Elijah furtively. He gave her a cocky smirk.
“I don’t hurt women.” He said trying to ease her concern but it was the wrong thing to say, feeling the wave of anger that radiated off Scarlett.
“Yeah, I noticed.” She said bitterly placing the potato sacks on the worktop.
“Red…” Elijah said, not missing the many eyes on them.
“Don’t fucking talk to me.” She growled, her power flaring up again. The women all paled fear filling the eyes.
“Fuck you know what? I’m talking and you’re going to fucking listen.” Elijah growled advancing towards her. Scarlett grabbed a large knife and pointed it at him. He raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously a knife? Your claws would do more damage.” He said advancing towards her.
“Thanks for reminding me.” She snapped back. “Just leave me alone, I don’t want to see your ugly face.”
“Oh please, I’m sure we can all agree I’m fucking handsome.” He said smirking arrogantly, as every woman nodded their agreement. Whether it was in agreement or in fear of disobeying an Alpha, he was not sure but he didn’t really care.
“You’re just a twat.” Scarlett said in disgust.
“Just hear me out.” Elijah said, his command tempting her to obey but she was stronger than that. She frowned bitterly remembering the women from earlier. She did not want to hear anything… sure her father probably planned it for whatever reason but Elijah could have kept them off him. It wasn’t so hard; he was a flipping Alpha. But no, he was ok with them having him pinned to the bed. The image of earlier sent a sharp stab of pain through her.
“Answer me one thing first Elijah…” Scarlett said, not missing the elderly woman motioning for the rest to continue cooking. Not knowing what to do with herself, Scarlett tore open the potato sack and began peeling one.
“Anything.” He said, his heart racing, she was talking… He took a step closer but seeing her tense he stopped, not missing her chest rising and falling or the slight tremble in her fingers.
“Didn’t you at least tell them to leave you alone? From what I could see you weren’t gagged.” She spat, jealousy rearing its ugly head once again.
Elijah frowned, “I did, a couple of times… but it didn’t seem to work…” He said, thinking that sounded lame. An Alpha’s command was something that no wolf could disobey unless they were a stronger Alpha.
“You expect me to believe that three she-wolves disobeyed an Alpha who is incredibly strong?” She growled.
“I’m telling the truth, even the damn drugs didn’t seem to work on-” Elijah began. Scarlett spun around placing the cold blade of the knife to his neck, he gripped her hips rather than defend himself and pulled her against him, pleasure coursed through Scarlett but she tried to ignore it along with how good his body felt against hers…
Their hearts raced, both feeling sparks of desire course through them.
“Then you should have torn their fucking throats out.” She growled venomously. Elijah felt ashamed, yeah, he should have. His brain wasn’t working properly though, all he was thinking was he needed to get out of there… He felt disappointed in himself, he had fallen into such a stupid trap…
The women watched them, it was clear the two were a couple who were having a dispute. They made a remarkable couple, both were very good looking and the male was a complete god.
The elderly woman was the only one not drooling, in fact, she was frowning deep in thought.
“I know… I should have sweetheart-”
“Don’t call me that.” She said pressing the knife to his neck. She knew it would do temporary damage unlike her own hands and despite how angry she was with him, she didn’t want to add any more marks to him, she could still see the previous ones, although they were almost gone now.
“Forgive me… but are you talking about the Alpha’s women?” The woman asked, her deep blue eyes sharp and curious as she looked at them. Both Scarlett and Elijah looked at her, the knife still at his throat, him still holding her firmly against himself.
“No idea… there were three of em, an Asian woman, a black woman and a Latina.” Elijah said. Scarlett glared at him, the knife biting into his neck, a thin line of red trickled down his neck.
“Oh, so you remember what the fuck they were too?” She hissed, a few women hid their smiles, it was clear this feisty redhead was jealous.
“Come on baby, they were nowhere as hot as you.” Elijah said ignoring the blood that dripped down his neck.
“Not as? But still were right?” She said. The elder woman seeing that the conversation had gone off- topic nodded.
“Those are the Alpha’s women indeed… your Alpha command won’t work on them.”
Scarlett’s eyes widened as she turned towards the woman, the knife slack in her fingers, her heart hammering at her words. Elijah felt a deep sense of relief but he was curious as well.
“Why not?” He asked.
“Because they no longer have their wolves.”