Chapter 76 The Rescue
Young Sera woke before dawn to find a message waiting.
The Riverside Alpha had responded to their demands. His answer was short and clear. No. He would not release his daughters. They were his property under the pack law. The Northern Kingdom had no authority over his pack business.
Young Sera read the message twice. Then crumpled it in her fist.
“He just made this very simple,” she said to Kael, who had delivered the message. “We go get those girls. Today. Right now.”
“I already assembled a team,” Kael said. “Lyra is leading. Garrett is going. Ten of our best warriors. They are waiting in the courtyard.”
“I am going too.”
“Your shoulder is still healing. You should stay here where it is safe.”
“Those girls need to see that the Luna Queen came for them personally. They need to know that someone with power actually cares about what happens to omegas. I am going.”
Kael looked like he wanted to argue. But he just nodded. “Fine. But you stay in the protected centre of our formation. No taking risks. No fighting unless necessary. Understood?”
“Understood.”
Young Sera dressed quickly in practical clothes. Dark pants. Boots. A jacket that hid her bandaged shoulder. She looked at the silver knife Lyra had given her during the fight with Victor. The blade was clean now. All the blood was washed away. But young Sera could still remember what it felt like to use it.
She put the knife in her belt. Just in case.
In the courtyard, twelve warriors waited. All experienced. All loyal to the Northern Kingdom. All ready to fight if necessary. Sarah stood with them, looking nervous but determined.
“I am coming too,” Sarah said when she saw young Sera. “I know the house. I know where the basement is. You need me.”
“It might be dangerous.”
“I do not care. Those are my sisters. I am not staying here safe while you risk yourselves to save them.”
Young Sera understood. She would have felt the same way. “Okay. But you stay with me. Stay protected. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
They left the Northern Kingdom territory in three vehicles. The drive to the Riverside Pack took two hours. Two hours of tense silence. Two hours of everyone preparing mentally for what might happen.
When they arrived at the border of Riverside territory, guards were waiting. Three warriors are blocking the road. All looking hostile.
Lyra got out of the lead vehicle. “We are here on official Luna Queen business. Stand aside.”
“You have no authority here,” one guard said. “Turn around and go home before this becomes a problem.”
“We are not turning around. We are here to retrieve two omega children who are being held illegally. You can let us pass peacefully or we can go through you. Your choice.”
The guards looked at each other uncertainly. They were outnumbered. And they had probably heard about what happened at the summit. About young Sera killing Victor Kane.
“Let me talk to our Alpha,” one guard said. “Maybe we can work this out.”
“You have five minutes,” Lyra said. “Then we are coming through regardless.”
The guard made a phone call. Spoke in urgent whispers. Then returned looking even more nervous. “Our Alpha says you can meet him at the pack house. He wants to negotiate.”
“There is nothing to negotiate. We are taking the girls. But we will meet him. Lead the way.”
The vehicles drove deeper into Riverside territory. Young Sera watched the landscape change. This pack was smaller than the Northern Kingdom. Poorer. The houses were older and less maintained. Pack members who saw them pass looked thin and tired.
The pack house itself was a large building that had seen better days. Paint peeling. Windows cracked. A place that spoke of decline and neglect.
The Riverside Alpha was waiting on the front steps. He was a big man. Tall and muscular. But there was something mean in his face. Something cruel in his eyes.
He looked exactly like the kind of man who would lock his daughters in a basement.
“Luna Queen Sera,” the Riverside Alpha said, his voice mocking. “How nice of you to visit. Though I must say, you should have called ahead. I would have prepared a proper welcome.”
“Where are the girls?” young Sera asked, ignoring his sarcasm.
“My daughters are in my house. Where they belong. Under my authority. As is my right under the pack law.”
“Pack law also says omegas have the right to safety and protection from abuse. You are violating that law.”
“I am disciplining my children. That is not abuse. That is parenting.”
“Locking children in a basement with no light is not discipline. It is torture.”
The Riverside Alpha’s expression darkened. “You have no proof of that. My daughter who ran away is a liar. She makes up stories to get attention. I should charge you with harbouring a runaway.”
“Sarah is not a runaway. She is a refugee seeking protection from an abuser. And I have every legal right to grant her sanctuary.”
“You are overstepping your authority.”
“Then file a complaint with the Council of Alphas. Tell them that the Luna Queen insisted on protecting children from abuse. See how that works out for you.”
They stared at each other. Neither is backing down. The warriors from both packs watched tensely, hands near weapons.
“I will make you a deal,” the Riverside Alpha said finally. “Pay me for my daughters. Fifty thousand dollars each. One hundred thousand total. That is fair compensation for the investment I have made in raising them.”
Young Sera felt disgust crawl through her stomach. He wanted to sell his own children. Wanted to profit from releasing them.
“No deal,” young Sera said. “You do not get rewarded for abusing your daughters. You release them right now. Or I send my warriors to get them. And if anyone tries to stop us, we go through them.”
“That would be an act of war.”
“Then we go to war. Your choice. Release the girls or fight us. But either way, those children are leaving here today.”
The Riverside Alpha looked at the warriors young Sera had brought. Looked at Lyra standing ready to fight. Looked at Garrett whose size alone was intimidating. Then he looked at young Sera herself. At the Luna Queen who had killed Victor Kane just days ago.
He was calculating. Trying to decide if holding two omega girls was worth fighting the Northern Kingdom.
“Fine,” he said finally, his voice tight with suppressed rage. “Take them. Take the worthless things. I never wanted daughters anyway. Should have drowned them when they were born.”
The words were meant to hurt. Meant to show his power by demonstrating he did not care.
But young Sera saw through it. Saw the fear beneath his anger. He was backing down because he knew he would lose a fight with the Northern Kingdom.
“Where are they?” young Sera asked.
“Basement. Through the kitchen. Down the stairs. The door is locked. The key is hanging on the wall.”
Sarah started moving immediately. Young Sera and half the warriors followed her inside while the others stayed outside with Kael and Lyra to make sure the Riverside Alpha did not try anything.
The inside of the pack house was as neglected as the outside. Dirty dishes are piled in the kitchen. Trash overflowing. The smell of rot and neglect is everywhere.
Sarah found the basement door and grabbed the key from the wall. Her hands were shaking as she unlocked it.
“Emma? Lily?” Sarah called down the dark stairs. “It is me. I came back with help. We are getting you out.”
A small voice answered from the darkness. “Sarah? Is that really you?”
“Yes! Come up. Come to the light. You are safe now.”
Two thin shapes emerged from the basement. Girls who looked like ghosts. Pale from lack of sunlight. Too thin from not enough food. Dirty and scared and barely able to believe they were being rescued.
Emma was fourteen but looked younger. Dark hair like Sarah’s. Eyes that had seen too much pain.
Lily was twelve. The smallest. The most fragile-looking. She was crying silently.
Sarah rushed to them and pulled them both into a hug. All three sisters are holding each other and crying.
Young Sera felt her own tears building. This could have been her. If her grandmother had not been watching. If Kael had not taken her in. She could have ended up locked in a basement just like these girls.
“We need to go,” Garrett said quietly. “Before he changes his mind.”
Young Sera nodded. “Can you walk?” she asked the two younger girls.
They nodded, still crying, still holding onto Sarah as she might disappear.
They made their way back outside. The Riverside Alpha watched them leave with an expression of pure hatred. But he did not try to stop them. Did not send his warriors to fight.
He just stood there and let his daughters leave.
Once they were back in the vehicles and safely away from Riverside territory, Emma finally spoke.
“Is this real? Are we really free?”
“You are really free,” young Sera said. “You are going to the Northern Kingdom. You will have your own rooms. Food whenever you are hungry. Safety. No one will hurt you there.”
“What about Father?” Lily asked, her voice small and frightened. “Will he come after us?”
“He would have to go through me first,” young Sera said. “And I promise you, he is not that brave.”
The girls settled into quiet relief. Too exhausted and traumatised to fully process what had just happened. But safe. Finally safe.
Sarah held both her sisters close, whispering reassurances. Promising them that everything would be better now.
When they arrived back at the Northern Kingdom, Maya was waiting with Mora and medical supplies. They took the two younger girls immediately for examination. Checking for injuries. Making sure they were physically okay.
Young Sera watched them go, feeling the weight of what she had just done. She had threatened war. Had pushed boundaries of pack law. Had taken children from another Alpha’s territory without permission.
But those girls were safe now. That was all that mattered.
Kael appeared beside her. “You did well today. Your grandmother would be proud.”
“I threatened to start a war over two children.”
“Yes. Because those children needed saving. That is what Luna Queens do. They make hard choices to protect the vulnerable.”
“What if the Riverside Alpha complains to the Council? What if other Alphas say I overstepped my authority?”
“Then we deal with that when it happens. But I doubt he will complain. Because complaining means admitting he was abusing his daughters. And no Alpha wants that kind of attention.”
Young Sera hoped Kael was right. But even if the Riverside Alpha did complain, she would do the same thing again. Would save those girls again. Would fight anyone who tried to stop her.
That was her job now. Luna Queen. Protector of omegas. Fighter for those who could not fight for themselves.
It was terrifying and exhausting and more responsibility than any eighteen-year-old should carry.
But it was hers. And she would do it well.
Over the next few days, the three sisters settled into the Northern Kingdom. Mora treated their physical injuries. Maya helped them adjust to having their own rooms and enough food. Kai spent time with them, making them laugh with terrible jokes.
Young Sera visited them every day. Checking on their progress. Making sure they felt safe.
One week after the rescue, Emma found young Sera in the garden.
“Luna Queen Sera?” Emma said shyly. “Can I talk to you?”
“Of course. And you can call me just Sera. You do not need to use my title.”
“Okay. Sera. I wanted to say thank you. For coming to get us. For fighting for us. No one has ever done that before.”
“You do not need to thank me. That is my job.”
“Maybe. But you still did it. You could have left us there. Could have said it was too dangerous or too complicated. But you came anyway. That means everything to me. To all of us.”
Young Sera felt tears building. “I am glad I could help.”
“I want to be like you someday,” Emma said. “I want to be someone who fights for people who cannot fight for themselves. Someone who makes things better instead of just surviving.”
“You can be. You survived something terrible. That takes strength. Now you just need to learn how to use that strength to help others.”
“Will you teach me?”
Young Sera smiled. “Yes. I will teach you. When you are ready. When you have healed. I will teach you everything I know about being strong.”
Emma hugged young Sera tightly. Then ran off to find her sisters, excitement in her step.
Young Sera stood in the garden alone, feeling the weight of her new role settling more comfortably on her shoulders.
This was what being Luna Queen meant. Not just fighting in trials by combat or surviving summits. But protecting children. Giving hope to those who had none. Building a world where omegas did not have to be afraid.
Her grandmother had started that work. Young Sera would continue it.
For Emma and Lily and Sarah. For all the omega girls who were still suffering. For every child who needed someone to fight for them.
Young Sera would be that someone.
Luna Queen of the Northern Kingdom. Protector of the vulnerable. Fighter for justice.
It was a heavy burden. But she would carry it well.
Because that was what her grandmother had taught her. That was what her position demanded. That was who she was choosing to become.
And she was just getting started.