Chapter 3 - Stolen

Selene

I can't believe my ears. I don't want to believe the words I'm hearing. There's no way that what Darius is saying can be true.

It's like I'm stuck in a terrible nightmare, and have no way out. I keep blinking, thinking that maybe I'll open my eyes and see that everything has been fixed, that I'm simply lost in a bad dream.

Nothing of the sort happens, and instead, I have to keep watching and looking at this unexplainable turn of events.

"Let this sink into your head, you breeder. You're nothing to me," says Darius, sinking his hands into my flesh with so much strength that I'm certain my skin will be bruised.

"Darius . . . please, don't say that. I know you love me," I say, nearly gasping from the effort it's taking to speak coherently admist my sobs. If he is simply playing a joke on me, it has gone too far.

"Are you stupid? No, I don't need to ask that. You are stupid. Why on earth would someone like me ever want to elope with someone like you? In what universe would that be logical?" As he speaks, he binds my wrists together with a piece of rope.

"No. No. What are you doing?" I ask. "Let me go, please."

He harshly pulls me to my feet and shoves me forward, in the direction of the pack houses. I can already see a faint outline of amber light coming from that direction, and the breeze brings with it another wave of unpleasant smoky air.

Something bad is happening. Something very, very, bad.

I can't run away. Every time my legs hesitate, I'm shoved harshly forward.

I'm still trying to grasp at my current situation and what is actually happening. Darius just rejected me, and called me a breeder. I should be feeling the weight of being treated in such a way, I should be completely shattered, but my mind is still struggling to move past confusion.

Why this sudden change? What did I do to deserve this?

Questions and more questions floods my mind, but there's no answer in sight. I'll just have to wait to see where he's taking me to.

By the time we emerge from the darkened path, and enter back into the compound, the shaking in my bones has reached a new, terrible height. The lump in my belly tightens, and pushes up against my neck.

The world spins for a moment, as I'm met with a gruesome scene.

Dead bodies litter the floor around the compound, and I can spot the empty stares of some of the omega breeders on the ground. The living quarters for the omega breeders crumbles apart from the flames eating it up, and I swear I can hear screaming still coming from inside.

Before us, strange men move around, either dragging, chasing, or slaughtering members of the pack. From their hunched strides and large bodies, they are undoubtedly werewolves, and the ones that had been howling earlier.

But why are they attacking us?

Darius shoves me forward again, and my feet slam into a body that I didn't notice at first. I tumble over it, and land painfully on my knee, turning to look at the corpse.

It's the mistress. Her eyes are still open, staring into nothingness. Her skin is now smudged and matted with dirt and blood. A pool of blood sits around her head and neck, created by the three deep gashes on her neck.

I look away, taking deep breaths through my mouth so that I don't vomit.

"Get up!" Darius shouts, dragging me up to my feet again. In the process, one of my slippers snags on a rock and removes from my foot.

I keep my head up after that, because I can't imagine seeing another face that I recognise.

Darius pulls me into one of the smaller quarters, and I start to envision the end of my life.

I'm shoved to my knees once we get inside, and I look up to see more of the strange men already here. They're about five in number, with equally stern and vicious looking faces.

More of the omega breeders are huddled here as well, and in seconds, my eyes find those of Sheila's. She's holding on to the little omega breeder, jaw held tightly together even though fear clouds her eyes.

The men turn to face us, and Darius walks over to where they stand and greets them.

He points to me. "Look what I found close to the border trying to escape. Another filthy breeder."

One of the men, with a hairless head and a braided goatee holds his crotch, growling and staring at me with eyes that are in no way friendly.

"Are you sure we can't have a little fun with them before taking them back to the king?" He walks over to me and grabs my face harshly, turning it from side to side. "This one looks like a screamer."

The others behind him laugh, including Darius. Although, one of them who stands a few feet back, only shakes his head in obvious irritation.

"You know his rules, Ragnar. We don't touch the prisoners," he says. His voice is calm and steady, and I can immediately tell that he's the most respected in the group.

The laughs taper to a stop.

Ragnar drops my face, but not before shamelessly palming my backside and squeezing so hard I whimper. "I can be patient. It's all they're good for anyway."

"Ragnar," the man says again. A clear warning.

Ragnar lets me go and raises his hands in mock surrender. "Alright alright. You don't have to be so stuck up about it. Just because you've decided to be a virgin all your life doesn't mean you get to stop the rest of us from having a little fun, Anton."

Anton's face remains impassive, but he takes two steps forward and looks at me. An odd look crosses his face when he does—like there's something about me that puts him off. The look is gone so fast that I wonder if I imagined it.

He's easily the most handsome man I've seen in a long time, with long, bright red hair that's been pulled into a braid slung over his shoulder and brushing his chest, and clear green eyes that are as mysterious as they are beautiful. Like the others , he's only wearing bottoms made out of animal skins. On his right arm, is a mark that the other men wear as well. Three inky bands that curl over the top half of the arm.

"We've gotten what we came for. The Alpha of Unguibus has been eliminated for his treachery, and so we should not waste any more time. The Crimson Moon is waning, If we leave now, we'll be back before daybreak," Anton says, pulling up two breeders and throwing them over his shoulder like they weigh nothing. The girls do nothing but whimper.

Ragnar rolls his eyes and mutters, "Who does he think he is?" under his breath, before moving to pick up two girls as well. They squeal, trying to get away from him. One girl, who I know to be Samara, scratches him on the arm, and tries to run for the exit.

Ragnar growls and grabs her by the hair, before slamming her face so hard into the nearby wall that it cracks open like an egg.

The whole room falls deathly silent after that. Every ounce of energy left in me bleeds out.

I barely even feel anything as Darius drags me to my feet and takes me outside.

———

The rest of the night passes by in a blur. I've detached from the present, choosing to lock myself in the safety of my mind. I was basically on autopilot from the time we breeders were stuffed into a wagon that restricted us from seeing outside, and throughout the journey.

Sheila had somehow found her way to me, and tried to get me to say something, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. Still, she simply stayed by my side.

When we finally come to a stop, my brain starts to function again, especially when the wagon is opened and we are pulled out one after the other.

At this point, I'm so tired that I simply want to close my eyes and not have to open them again, but the men taking us don't take kindly to expressions of weakness.

Ragnar turns to us, gesturing to the large building behind the steel gate in front of us. The place is like a castle reaching for the sky.

"Welcome to your new home, breeders! The Lycan King will see you now."

I've heard that name before, and based on the stories, if we omega breeders survived this long, only terrible suffering awaits us once we enter into that castle.

If we don't lose our lives first.