Chapter 29 The Asylum Seekers
Dana couldn’t stop shaking even though she was safe now.
She sat in the pack den with Lisa and Marc while Sage examined their injuries, old scars, fresh bruises. A lifetime of abuse visible on their skin.
“This one is infected,” Sage said touching the cut on Dana’s shoulder. “How long have you had it?”
“Two weeks, maybe three.” Dana jerked in pain. “Grey doesn’t let us see doctors. He always says we heal fast enough on our own.”
“Wolves heal fast but not from infected wounds.” Sage cleaned it with antiseptic. “This needs antibiotics. Lisa you too, that cut on your leg is getting worse.”
Lisa nodded in agreement, she had not said much since arriving, she just sat quiet and scared like she expected someone to hit her.
Marc was the same, twenty years old but he looked older and worn down.
“How bad was it?” Sage asked while she worked. “In Grey’s pack.”
“Bad.” Dana’s voice was flat. “He rules through fear, if you disobey, you get beaten in front of everyone. If you question him, you disappear.”
“What do you mean disappear?”
“Grey has wolves he calls enforcers. They take people who cause problems and you won't see them again.” Dana looked at her hands. “My brother questioned why we couldn’t leave pack territory without permission. Two days later the enforcers came. Grey said he died in a training accident but I know that’s not true.”
Sage felt sick. “How many has he killed?”
“Five that I know of, probably more.” Dana looked at her. “He is a monster but he is also our Alpha. Pack law says we obey him or die.”
“Not anymore. You are Seattle pack now.” Sage finished bandaging the wound. “You are safe here.”
“Are we?” Marc spoke up. “Grey will come for us, he always comes for runaways.”
“Kade will fight him.”
“And if Kade loses?” Marc’s voice shook. “If Grey wins the challenge, he takes us back and he will kill us for running.”
“Kade won’t lose.”
“You don’t know Grey, he has been Alpha for thirty years. He has never lost a challenge.” Marc stood up and paced. “We shouldn’t have come here in the first place, we have just made things worse.”
“Sit down,” Sage said firmly. “You did the right thing. You escaped an abusive situation, that takes courage.”
“It is not courage, it’s desperation.” Marc laughed bitterly. “We were going to die anyway, at least this way we had a chance.”
Beth brought food. The three asylum wolves ate like they were starving which they probably were.
“How often did Grey feed you?” Sage asked.
“Once a day, sometimes.” Lisa finally spoke. Her voice was barely a whisper. “He said food was for wolves who earned it.”
“That is not how packs work.”
“That is how his pack works.” Dana set down her plate. “Everything is about control. He chooses who mates with who, where we live, what jobs we have. We are not wolves. We are slaves.”
Sage wanted to ask more questions but Kade arrived with Cole.
“I need to know about Grey’s pack,” Kade said sitting across from them. “How many wolves. How they are organized, any weaknesses.”
Dana straightened. “Sixty wolves total. Twenty are enforcers. They are loyal to Grey completely. The rest are too scared to resist.”
“Are any of them unhappy enough to leave if they had the chance?”
“Most of them, but they are terrified. Grey has spies everywhere, if you even talk about leaving, the enforcers find out.”
“What about during the challenge?” Kade leaned forward. “If I beat Grey, would any of them defect?”
Dana looked at Marc and Lisa. They nodded.
“Yes,” Dana said. “If you win, I’d say at least half the pack would come to you. Maybe more.”
“That would destroy Grey’s power base.”
“That’s the idea.” Dana smiled for the first time. “He can’t rule without wolves to terrorize.”
Kade stood. “Then I will make an announcement after I win. Any wolf from Grey’s pack who wants asylum can have it.”
“If you win,” Marc said quietly.
“When I win.” Kade’s voice was steel. “I have fought bigger wolves, stronger wolves even. Grey might be experienced but he is also old and slow. I can beat him.”
After Kade left, Sage stayed with the three wolves. They were settling into rooms Beth had prepared. Small but clean. More than they had before.
“Why is he doing this?” Lisa asked. “Your Alpha, why risk his life for us?”
“Because that is who he is.” Sage helped her make the bed. “He doesn’t believe Alphas should rule through fear. He wants to change things.”
“That is dangerous thinking.” Dana sat on her own bed. “The council doesn’t like change. Traditional Alphas have all the power.”
“Then maybe it’s time that changed too.”
Dana laughed. “You are as idealistic as he is.”
“Maybe, but we have survived this long.” Sage finished with the bed. “Get some rest, tomorrow we start integrating you into the pack properly.”
She left them and found Kade in his office going through files on Thomas Grey.
“Learn anything useful?” she asked.
“He is brutal but predictable. Always goes for the throat first. Fights aggressive not defensive.” Kade closed the file. “I can work with that.”
“You are still not fully healed from the last fight.”
“I have a week, that is enough time.” He pulled her onto his lap. “Stop worrying.”
“I can’t help it, Grey threatened to take me if he wins.”
“He won’t win and if he tries to touch you, I will rip his throat out before the challenge even starts.” Kade kissed her neck. “No one threatens my mate.”
“Protective Alpha.”
“Always.” He winked.
They sat together for a while. Then Sage spoke. “What if Grey is right? What if half his pack does want to leave? We can’t absorb thirty more wolves. We’re already at our limit.”
“We will figure it out, we always do.” Kade sighed. “Besides, leaving them with Grey isn’t an option. You heard their stories.”
“I know, it just feels like we are constantly fighting. Constantly taking in refugees. Constantly at war.”
“That is what happens when you challenge the old ways.” He turned her to face him. “But we are making a difference. Dana and Lisa and Marc are safe now. That matters.”
“I just hope it’s worth it.”
“It is. Even if I have to fight every traditional Alpha in the country, it’s worth it. Things need to change and if we have to be the ones to force that change, then so be it.”
Sage kissed him. “Then we fight together.”
“Always together.”
The next few days were spent preparing. Kade trained constantly, Sage helped when she could but mostly she watched and worried.
Dana proved helpful. She knew Grey’s fighting style and his weaknesses. She trained with Kade showing him what to expect.
“He will try to intimidate you first,” Dana said during a sparring session. “He will make himself look bigger, stronger. Don’t fall for it. It’s all show.”
Kade nodded. “What else?”
“He has a weak left side. Old injury from a challenge twenty years ago. It healed wrong. He protects it.” Dana demonstrated. “If you can get past his guard, target that side.”
“Good to know.”
The day before the challenge, Dana pulled Sage aside.
“If your Alpha wins, if Grey’s wolves do come here, some of them will be trouble.” Dana looked worried. “Grey’s enforcers are fanatics. Loyal to him even if he loses. They might try to kill Kade after the challenge, or come after you.”
“We will be ready.”
“I hope so because Grey doesn’t fight fair and his wolves don’t either.” Dana hesitated. “There is something else. Grey has been talking to other traditional Alphas. Building alliances. If he wins, they are planning to challenge Kade’s reforms. Try to force the old ways back.”
“So this is bigger than just three asylum wolves.”
“Much bigger. This is about the future of pack law. About whether Alphas can rule like tyrants or if wolves have rights.” Dana turned to face Sage. “Your mate is starting a revolution whether he knows it or not.”
Sage felt the weight of that settle on her shoulders.
They weren’t just fighting Grey.
They were fighting centuries of tradition.
And if they lost, it would set back any hope of reform for decades.
No pressure.
She found Kade that night and told him what Dana said.
“I know,” he said simply. “I have always known this was bigger than just us.”
“And you are still going through with it?”