Page 114
Story: May the Wolf Die
The camp was massive, surrounded by stone walls covered in strange runes that glowed in the moonlight. Guard towers loomed at each corner, and watchful sentries clad in black armor stood like statues as they surveyed the landscape.
Inside, rows upon rows of ramshackle barracks stretched into the distance, punctuated only by large, open squares where even at night, shifters were forced into labor.
From our distance we could hear the cracking of a whip and faint whimpers—the sound of a punishment.
“Moon, how many are in there?” Nolan gasped.
“Too many,” Camden spit. He looked over his shoulder to the pixie. “Why the hell did you bring us here?”
“Safe to hide, hard to find alphas in havens!” Starbloom said. “Must blend in.”
I watched as a group of shifters—betas, most likely—crowded around a small fire, speaking in hushed voices.
“Are all shifters in havens like these?” I asked.
Dewdrop spun quickly around my head. “Yes, yes, many types of havens… Only mean alpha and nice omegas free.”
Kian’s violet eyes glowed in the moonlight, Petalwing making herself cozy on his shoulder. “Omegas? As in more than one?”
Julian growled. “Don’t get any ideas, bloodsucker.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he sighed. “It’s just that Marlowe is known astheomega on Earth, so if we’re asking around and it turns out there’s a lot, we might end up following the wrong lead.”
As far as I was concerned, Kian had proven his trustworthiness to us enough. We had talked extensively on the drive, and I’d learned not only about his research on the Great War and what he’d discovered, but also his life. The oldest son of a vampyr elder, he was expected to take his place one day, but really just wanted to live a quiet life with his servaglio in Austin.
But my other pack mates would take a lot longer to warm over. Several generations worth of prejudice was hard to combat.
Camden clicked his tongue. “Speaking of omegas, you guys notice anything strange about the camp?”
We all turned our attention back to the shifters below us, observing the few that were still up at this hour.
“They’re all betas,” I commented quietly. “Dewdrop, where are the alphas and omegas?”
“Alphas go to Soldier Haven, omegas go to Love Haven, betas go to Work Haven.”
This must have been the “Work Haven,” then. It was easy to imagine what a “Soldier Haven” was, but a “Love Haven” I could only assume was a pretty term for forced prostitution.
Starbloom zoomed around my head. “But pretty omegas taken. King loves omegas.”
“Omegas so nice! New omega is queen!”
“Queen omega!” they said in unison. “So nice!”
Queen omega? “You saw Marlowe?” I asked.
“Hm, Marlowe? No name, but cute omega! Looks like mean alpha.”
“Mean alpha, but handsome.”
These pixies had seen Marlowe and Ezra together. My throat went dry at the thought of her in this world, navigating it without us to protect her. “Was she okay?”
“King loves new queen,” Petalwing said. “Kiss kiss kiss!”
The involuntary growl that erupted from Camden’s chest frightened the pixies, and they flew behind Kian, shivering in place.
“Scary alpha,” one of them whimpered.
Alphawas certainly the right word to use for Camden thesedays. For some reason, I’d never really thought to research the effects of alpha barks and commands in my own studies, but after the Conclave was executed and we took their positions in the interim, I’d noticed our “fearless leader” seemed to carry himself with a bit more influence and forcefulness.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114 (Reading here)
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191