Chapter 141 Chapter 141: But You Have a Choice

Chapter 141 Chapter 141: But You Have a Choice
Senna’s POV

“Do you mean…” my voice trailed off. For a moment I was so stunned I couldn’t even speak. I looked to Kalev. He was shocked too. It was obvious we were thinking the same thing.

It was a moment before I spoke. My mouth was dry. My heart was racing.

“What do you mean stolen?” I asked.

“We were hunted. The older ones here, they didn’t grow up in this sector. We used to belong to other sectors. We were all taken. Most of us at a very young age. We were brought to a facility. Our wolves were drained.”

“You were all flora wolves,” I said sadly. The weight of it hit me hard. That made sense. They were all of varying ages. Flora wolves had been hunted for a long time.

Viktor.

He had siphoned the wolves of these people. He’d taken them and brought them to his facility. He’d drained their wolves. Then he’d tossed them out here, in this sector, to fend for themselves without wolves.

I couldn’t believe this. Why had no one known about this? Why had no one ever come out to this sector? It was like all the sector had just dismissed this sector and written them off.

We’d had no idea what he’d done to the people once their wolves were siphoned. We just assumed he’d killed them. But now we knew. The people had been brought here. To this sector. To live the rest of their lives without their wolves.

It wasn’t just Viktor who had siphoned wolves. We’d learned that a lot of nobles were part of it. Viktor had just done more of it, since he didn’t have his own wolf. Most of the nobles didn’t know that he was siphoning wolves on his own. He needed the wolves. The other nobles just siphoned wolves to make their own stronger. Viktor did it to cover up the absence of his own wolf.

I didn’t know which was worse. I supposed it didn’t matter.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked the group. “Why didn’t you tell the other sectors what was happening?”

It was horrible to think about. All this time, these people had been living here, carrying a secret from the capital. And not a single one of them had said anything about it.

“There wasn’t any point,” a woman shrugged. “Besides, would they have believed us?”

I thought about that. Probably not. The other sectors had always looked down on sector 7. If someone from there told them a story about being locked up in a facility and having his wolf siphoned, the other sectors would have laughed. They would have called them crazy.

“I’m very sorry that happened to you,” I told them. “I know how painful it is to lose your wolf. I’m here to offer you help.”

“We don’t want your help,” a man said. “And we don’t want your pity. You think that just because we’re poor, we’re not happy. But we are. We don’t want any part of your other sectors. We just want to be left alone.”

That wasn’t the answer I’d been expecting. Were they for real? I was offering them a spot in a different sector. With better houses. And schools for their children. They could get jobs and make money. They could integrate into another sector.

They didn’t mean that. I was offering them a chance to change. The chance at a better life. Things were different now. No one would look down on them. All the sectors knew that Viktor and the nobles had been siphoning wolves. If anything, people would be sympathetic towards these poor people.

I explained that all to them. But they looked at me with blank faces. It was as though they didn’t care about anything I was saying. As though I was offering them something silly, or stupid.

“You don’t get it,” a man said. “You can’t see things the way we see them. We like it here. We’re proud of our sector. Everyone takes care of everyone else. We’re a community. You don’t understand because you haven’t lived what we’ve lived.”

“Anyone is welcome here,” a different man said. “We take in rogues. And orphans. And the wolfless, of course. We don’t judge anyone. Everyone here is free to do as they will, as long as they don’t hurt anyone else.”

“We appreciate you taking the time to come out here. And we respect what you’ve done for the other sectors.” It was an elderly woman speaking now. She was holding the hand of a small child. “But we’re not interested in your offer. We politely decline. We like our community just the way it is.”

I let her words settle over me. It took me a moment to fully process them. Kalev was silent beside me. It was hard for me to believe they wanted to stay. But looking at their faces, it was clear that none of them wanted to leave with me.

It had never occurred to me that Sector 7 might be happy with the way things were in their sector. I’d just assumed that because they were poor, they would want to change. I’d been naïve. Just because they didn’t do things the way we did, didn’t mean it was wrong or less-than.

But looking around, I saw that these people actually seemed quite happy. There was something actually very beautiful about these people. They’d been through something horrible, but now they all supported each other. The sector was simple. Easy.

In a strange way, I think I understood.

But still. I still wanted them to know that they had a choice.

“Okay,” I nodded. “I respect that. If any of you want to come and live in Sector 6, you are more than welcome.”

Kalev pulled on my shirt sleeve. He leaned in close.

“They don’t want us here, Senna. Let’s respect their wishes.”

I nodded.

I’d given them the offer to choose something different.

None of them did.