Chapter 24

I ignored Reid’s offering and got up quicker than a dick in a brothel, which would have been my second mistake. Getting up too quickly made me dizzy as hell from lack of food and throwing up the little of what I had last eaten. Reid grasped at both of my arms to steady me and only let go when I was able to look at him with pure horror after remembering my predicament from moments before.

I stumbled a few steps away from him, just to put a bit of distance between his well-endowment and my hormones and finally got to look around at where we had been brought. It looked like a dusty, dirt yard that surrounded the rear of a u-shaped, dull grey building, reminding me of a prison. It held a dark, miserable, gloomy air to it, making me feel as if there was never going to be anything happy in my life again.

As I craned my neck looking up to the higher parts of the desolate place, I felt nothing good about our future home, or place that we now inhabited. A pit began forming in my stomach as fight or flight kicked in. I wanted to run but I knew that it was pointless. It took everything in me to stay where I was even though I really feared going inside.

The more that I looked around and focused on my new environment, I noticed disturbing details that made my blood curdle. There were bloodstains, like, everywhere; up the exterior walls, permanent red stains in the dirt after absorbing what must have been heavy blood spills, and on items that simply littered around the place. Stacked against one of the walls was a bunch of wood which drew my attention; they all seemed to make more than just a random pile of wood waiting to be burned, and the more that I concentrated on it, it dawned on me that there were wooden posts like what had been staged by Corbin’s men back at Moonlight territory. There was also a rope, shaped in the hangman's noose just resting with the piles.

The smell of death emanated from everywhere. It was as though the scent was deeply embedded into everything in a ten-mile radius, and not just a recent, fresh death smell, but a pungent, hit-the-back-of-your-throat decomposing smell.

The trucks that had brought us to this hellhole had pulled up to face the centre of the building, and off to the one side there was another noose but this time it was set up on a frame and unfortunately in use. A decomposing person swung limp and freely in what should have been a fresh morning breeze. Instead, it was a reminder of awaited us. Their long hair billowed with the wind, brushing past the delicate feminine face of a young female wolf. Beneath the frail wolf was a small mound of their innards; a small piece of their intestines was spilling from a gash that had been made in her abdomen and birds hovered around awaiting their turn to scavenge at the remains. A couple of poor omegas just below the devastating scene had the duty of finally bringing the woman down and being able to lay her to rest.

The wolves in this pack were sadists; to be able to do that to someone was disgusting and humiliating. Regardless of what the wolf had done, no-one deserved to be punished in that way.

“Can you believe this straggle of weirdos that they’ve brought in? Just what we need; more shit to clean up.” Some random bloke came over to me and Reid, drawing my attention away from the horrific yard and its occupants.

Reid growled and nodded his head in agreement to the newcomer’s statement.

“This my Beta, Dane Goodman. This is Olivia, my mate.” Reid gruffly introduced us to each other in his deep, sexy baritone voice and with a slight incline of his head at us both.

Dane’s head turned to face me, and I watched as he looked me up and down and scowled, clearly judging me without attempting to hide it or any fear. But I will admit, I did the same. I wanted to know the man behind the future Alpha, my supposed mate.

Dane stood slightly shorter than Reid, just a couple of inches less at probably around six-foot and even though he wore a t-shirt, it was tight enough to see that he had a slightly smaller build but was just as toned and muscly. His mousy brown hair was ruffled with slight curls, like he had just gotten out of bed and not bothered to do anything with it before coming here. His stormy grey eyes were focused on me, analyzing.

“This way now.” Another male voice bellowed over all the turmoil, tears and low chatter.

I whipped my head to look at the person that had spoken from a stage made from delivery pallets, next to a degraded, broken-down wooden door to the building. He was an older male, that had to be in his late forties at least and looked like the double of Dane. He also stood at just over six-foot, with mousy brown coloured hair with greying tiger stripes, but he still looked like he was in his prime. But the more I observed him, I noticed that he looked haggard, like time was not kind to him and he was drastically over-worked. There were two scars that ran parallel to each other across his left jaw, most likely from a fight in the past, over-all giving him the look of a seasoned fighter, and with his frame I could tell that he still worked-out.

The stranger observed the gathered, petrified wolves with the look of utter disgust on his face, as if he would rather be anywhere else but here.

“I am Beta Neil Goodman and when in my presence you will address me with my proper title or Sir. The Alpha of this pack is Alpha Corbin, and you will regard him and his mate, Jennifer, the Luna with the utmost respect and also by their correct titles. Whilst you are here, you will be given duties to do every day. If you don't, then you will be punished.” He paused speaking to check that he held the attention of the group before continuing.

“You may be asked to do extra things other than your duties. Again, you will do this without complaint, regardless of what they may be or there will be repercussions.” He huffed, already fed up with having been here longer than he wanted but droned on anyway in a flat, emotionless voice. “There are four rooms in the slaves quarters of the packhouse that you all will be sharing with the omegas that are already here. But before that, all females over the age of eighteen will be checked for mating marks. Any of you that have no mate, will then be lined up and males from Bloodmoon will come and pick any of you that they deem worthy to claim as their chosen mate.”

Many of the enslaved wolves turned to the person next to them, suddenly crying in despair, some just gasped, but chatter erupted, and the Beta did not appreciate the disrespect and interruption.

“Shut the fuck up!” The Beta screamed, the frustration and Beta power whooshed over everyone, instantly muting them. “Do not ever interrupt me again! Tomorrow you will be taken to the town centre, where you will be shown where we hold all our public punishments and deaths. This is reserved for the more severe of wrongful acts. But for tonight, you will be shown the rooms you will be staying in, and our head omega Rina will be working on placing you all on rotation and instructing each of you on what your duties will be. Now if you will all follow her.” He indicated to a woman in her late fifties standing at ground level next to his make-shift stage, before he sharply dismounted it, walked briskly around the packhouse and disappeared from sight.

“And if you would all follow me.” The thin woman spoke with a heavy French accent as she shuffled to the dilapidated door. It was so run-down that I did not think it would be possible to open, or that it would disintegrate when Rina tried, but it did not. The door opened freely into a barely lit room that was impossible to see into from where I stood.

I begrudgingly went to follow, seeing no other option but to obey the Beta’s orders, but Reid clutched tightly at my upper arm, halting my steps.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He did not seem impressed with the idea of me moving away from him.

“Where we have been told to?” I questioned rather than answered Reid, confused by the situation I was now in. The sparks from him holding onto me did not help how I was able to process anything either.

“You’re not going with them, you’re coming with me.”

Reid let go of my arm and started marching away. I took that as a hint to follow him to the edge of the building that Beta Neil had gone to, struggling to keep up with his pace. I could hear footsteps behind me, so I took the chance of stealing a glimpse; future Beta Dane was walking behind us, keeping me enclosed within the middle of the two, with no chance of any escape should I have tried.

“Eyes down bitch.”