Chapter Forty-Five

Damon

“Alpha Woods, for your transgressions by marking a human without her knowledge or consent I sentence you to six months seclusion in Brightnight,” Robins said and looked at me before continuing. “You will also undergo the cleansing ceremony whereby the bond will be diminished and your mark will disappear.”

“You can’t do that, she’s my bonded half,” I said as I looked at him.

“Miss Blake will be moved to an undisclosed location of her choice during your incarceration and given the option to forget you,” Robins said as five more warriors filed into the room.

“I need to make arrangements with my clowder,” Damon said.

“You will have twenty-four hours before your sentencing commences,” Robins said as he stood up and left the room.

“I don’t understand, incarceration…. are you going to prison?” Finley asked me.

“Sort of. Finley, look at me, it’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s a closed off town from which we can’t leave and it’s only six months but you’re free now, you can use your real name again. You don’t have to run and hide anymore,” I said as I took her hands in mine.

“Will they make me forget you? Forget everything that happened?” she asked.

“Only if you want to forget, the oath is binding, Finley. You can’t ever talk about what happened here, what you witnessed or about what you know, it can be fatal if you do,” I said.

“But you didn’t do anything wrong,” she said as tears glistened in her eyes.

“I did, Finley. I marked you without you knowing, six months is a light sentence,” I said to her.

“But you’re an Alpha,” she said.

“You’ll be okay, Finley,” I said to her as the door opened again and a female warrior stood waiting for her.

“Will you be?” she asked me.

“I’ll be fine,” I said to her with a smile.

“Liar,” Axel echoed in my mind.

She hugged me suddenly and I wrapped my arms around her, savoring her scent and I closed my eyes. I was glad now that things hadn’t progressed further and I hoped that she wouldn’t suffer the consequences of the bond breaking like I would.

“You need to come with me, Miss Blake,” the female warrior said as I let go of her.

Finley was led from the room towards the elevator and the last image of Finley was of her face streaked with tears as the doors closed and I turned back as I took my phone out. My hand was slightly shaking as I dialed Jared’s number.

“Damon, are you on your way back or are you spending the night with Finley in the hotel?” he asked me jokingly.

“Jared, I’m going to Brightnight for six months, you’re the new Alpha of the clowder. My last request though is that you accept Archer into your ranks as Kat’s bonded half,” I said to him.

“What?” he yelled suddenly and I could hear him breathing deeply.

“You know what happens now, take the lead and look after our people,” I said to him.

“No Damon, what are you saying?” he asked me.

“I’m stepping down, Jared, it’s for the best,” I said to him, “they’re going to break the bond and you know that no Alpha can remain on the seat without a bonded half.”

“This is insane,” he said.

“It’s how it is. You’re mated Jared, you know everything I know, you’ll be fine,” I said to him.

“I’m not an Alpha,” he said to me.

“You are now, the Oracle will transfer Alpha power to you, you’ve taken charge plenty of times,” I said to him.

“Yes, knowing you’ll be back,” he argued.

“This is exactly the same, only permanent,” I said to him.

“What about Finley?” he asked me.

“They’re going to make her forget me or make me forget her. If I do forget her I don’t want someone else, she’s my perfect match, so even if I do end up bonding with someone else the clowder won’t suffer because of it,” I said to him.

“Damon, you know I’ll always do what’s best for the clowder, but I’m taking this position just until you’re released,” he said to me.

“Jared…” I began.

“No, listen to me, you will always be the Alpha here, no matter what. When are you being transferred?” he asked.

“Probably still today,” I said to him.

“I’ll come see you in a few days, I know they don’t allow visitors in the first few days, so probably Wednesday, text me a list of what you need and I’ll make sure it’s there when you arrive,” he said to me.

“They’re waiting for me, tell Kat I love her and do what you do best Alpha Jared,” I said to him and ended the call before he could reply.

“Really Damon?” Axel asked.

“It’s for the best,” I said to him.

“Bastards,” he growled.

“Alpha Woods, a room has been prepared for you until transport arrives to take you to your final destination,” a man I didn’t know said from behind me.

“I’m ready to leave as soon as transport arrives,” I said to him and he nodded.

I followed him down the hall and to another set of elevators as we went up two floors and I was shown into a room. The man closed the door and I heard the lock turn as I sighed and sat down on the single bed that was shoved against one wall.

“I hope they send us to Montana,” Axel said after a while.

“It doesn’t matter where we go, it’s going to be grueling,” I replied.

“You need the exercise,” Axel said and retreated as I growled at him.

A few hours later the same man, named Walter, brought me dinner and clean clothes to change into. I showered and laid on the bed wide awake. My phone had been taken and I had no contact with anyone else until five am the following morning when Walter came to get me.

“Your transport has arrived,” he said as he unlocked the door and I stood up from the bed.

A collar was placed around my neck that was bound by magic. I couldn’t disobey an order, I couldn’t hurt anyone and I couldn’t run. The collar marked us as prisoners and we would be bound by the territory we’d eventually end up in.

“Let’s go,” he said and I followed him outside.

We took the side elevator down to the basement and I was led towards a transport van. Calvin wasn’t there so I at least knew that they weren’t sending us to the same location. As an Enforcer my location would be worse than his, I was meant to uphold the laws.

The drive took fourteen hours and by the time the warriors led me out of the van it was nearing dawn and my body was cramped from sitting in one position for so long. A witch stepped forward and she adjusted the magic on the collar around my neck.

“Prisoner three-one-four-one, welcome to Michigan,” the warrior said.

I was led into a run-down building as I looked at what seemed to be a desolate town. I could feel Axel retreat as the magic kept me from shifting. On the inside of the building was a low counter with two more warriors manning it.

“Move,” another warrior prodded me in the back as I took in my surroundings.

I was led through a door and down a corridor and we stopped in front of another door that read ‘Processing’, the atmosphere was relaxed because the collars did the hard work for them. We couldn’t escape and we couldn’t hurt them, although we could hurt each other, there were no laws against that.

“Name?” the man behind the desk asked me.

“Damon Woods,” I replied.

“Rank?”

“Alpha Enforcer,” I answered and he looked up at me.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve had an Enforcer,” he said looking amused. “Clowder location?”

“Vermont, Newport,” I said as he made notes.

“How does an Alpha Enforcer end up incarcerated?” he asked me with genuine curiosity.

“I marked my bonded half without her knowledge,” I said to him.

“Human?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I said.

“She’s the one that put you here?” he asked me.

“No, the Alpha that kidnapped her and tried to re-mark her, did,” I said as he shook his head.

“That’s some messed up shit, you shouldn’t be here, Alpha,” he said to me.

“The laws apply to us all,” I said to him.

“Right…. three of your clowder members dropped off some necessities for you yesterday,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said as he stood up.

“I’ll take you to your accommodations now. The setup here is mainly to revive this old town before it gets sold again, so we’re building houses and fixing the water supply and so forth,” he explained as I followed him out of the building and we started walking down the main street.

“It needs a lot of work,” I said as I looked around.

“It’s basically been a ghost town for a few years and we arrived only three weeks ago with four prisoners. You’re the first one to arrive today, we expect ten more before nightfall. That over there is the dining hall where we eat all our meals, if you’re late you go hungry, work starts at five am and ends at five pm, dinner is at six pm, breakfast is at four thirty and you get half an hour at noon for lunch,” he said.

“Sounds reasonable,” I said as he frowned at me.

“Twelve hour working days?” he asked.

“It’s less than what I’m used to,” I said with a chuckle.

“We’ll see after a week, so this right here is set up like a boarding house, you each have your own room, bathrooms are shared per floor, five rooms per floor, internal problems you sort out yourself, we’ll intervene when things become too violent, but I’m sure as an Enforcer you’ll be fine, we don’t share ranks or information about prisoners. You’re free to move around the territory because your collar will incapacitate you if you leave the borders, the only excuse for not showing up for work is if you're bedridden in the infirmary,” he said as he pulled open the door of the building where we stood.

“Thanks,” I said as I stepped into my new home for the next six months.