4: The Zarek Brothers
1249 Words
What? 20 strokes? Andromeda gulped.
She could take it. She had been through worse. But that didn’t mean she would stand there and accept it without speaking her mind.
She turned to Calantha, her voice sharp with anger. “This omega knows her rights,” she said, stepping forward. “She didn’t steal, she took leftover food… food that was already going to be thrown away and gave it to her hungry sister. And you call that theft? You want to punish her for trying to keep her family from starving?” She took another step closer, her chin lifted.
“And what about me? Is it because I spoke up? Is that why you want to flog me? Twenty strokes just for telling the truth?”
The crowd shifted, hushed whispers spreading among them. No one had ever dared to challenge Calantha like this before, least of all an omega.
Calantha’s eyes widened for a brief moment before narrowing into a glare. She was stunned because an omega, speaking to her like this? Defying her in front of everyone? She clenched her jaw, her nails digging into her palms.
“You think you’re smart, don’t you?” she said, her voice laced with mockery. She took slow, deliberate steps toward Andromeda, her lips curling in disdain. “Omegas are beneath us. You eat what we allow you to eat. You live because we let you live. That is how the world works.”
Her gaze swept over the gathered crowd, her tone growing sharper. “You all need to understand your place. You do not get to eat the same food as your superiors. You do not get to walk among us as equals. And if any of you think otherwise…” she turned back to Andromeda, her smile cruel “…then you will learn the hard way.”
Andromeda didn’t flinch, her fists tightening at her sides.
Calantha scoffed. “You’re lucky I’m only giving you twenty strokes. Maybe I should double it, just to teach you a lesson about that mouth of yours.”
Just as she was about to say more, a deep, authoritative voice cut through the tension.
“What is going on here?”
The crowd parted instantly, every head turning toward the source of the voice.
A tall man stepped forward, his presence demanding attention. His eyes swept over the scene, taking in the terrified omega girl on the ground, the smug expression on Calantha’s face, and Andromeda standing her ground.
Andromeda recognized him immediately as Dowan The Chief Beta.
A man known for his strictness and discipline. Unlike the others, he was not cruel for the sake of it. He was fair. And for the first time, a flicker of hope lit inside Andromeda’s chest.
Maybe, just maybe he would put an end to this madness.
Calantha straightened her posture, masking her surprise. She smiled sweetly, but there was a tightness in her expression. “Ah, Beta Dowan,” she greeted smoothly. “I was just handling a matter of discipline.”
She gestured toward the trembling omega on the ground. “This one was caught stealing. She dared to take food that did not belong to her, thinking she could get away with it.”
Dowan’s gaze flickered to the frightened girl, then back to Calantha. “She stole food?”
“Leftovers,” Andromeda corrected before Calantha could respond. “Food that was about to be thrown away.”
Calantha’s jaw tensed. “It does not matter. Rules are rules. If we let one omega steal today, what happens tomorrow? Disorder and disrespectf. A pack without structure. We can’t have that.”
Her lips curled as she turned back to Andromeda. “And then there’s this one. She thinks she can talk back to her superiors. She forgets her place.” Her smile was sickly sweet. “I gave her a simple punishment… twenty strokes. Maybe next time, she’ll think twice before opening her mouth.”
The crowd remained silent, waiting for Dowan’s response. He stepped closer to Andromeda, his expression unreadable. Then, his deep voice rang through the air.
“Are you the one who dares to speak to a superior in that manner?”
Andromeda couldn’t understand it. How could he judge her without even hearing her side? How could he look at her and decide she was guilty without a second thought?
Dowan’s gaze was cold and unmoving as he turned to Calantha. “What punishment did you give this disrespectful omega?”
“She is to be whipped. Twenty strokes,” Calantha replied, standing tall, her lips curling slightly as if pleased with her decision.
But Dowan shook his head. His expression was filled with something close to disappointment… like even that wasn’t enough.
“Double it,” he said firmly. “Make it forty. I’m sure it’ll serve as an example to any other omega who doesn’t know their place.”
Andromeda’s stomach twisted.
These people, they were nothing but green snakes in green grass. They hid their true selves like chameleons, pretending to be righteous when, in reality, they were worse than the dirt beneath their feet.
Calantha smirked, then turned to the guards. “Take her to the town square. And flog the hell out of her.”
Before Andromeda could react, rough hands grabbed her, dragging her forward. She didn’t fight them, she knew it would only make things worse. The crowd parted as they led her toward the center of the pack, whispering amongst themselves.
She kept her head high, refusing to let them see fear in her eyes.
The town square was already gathering an audience when they arrived. The wooden post stood in the middle, used for punishments exactly like this. The guards wasted no time, they forced her against it, binding her hands tightly.
She thought, “Me, The Alpha princess. Bound and about to be whipped forty times in the city square”.
Could she take this? Or should she reveal who she was? Should she let them know she wasn’t just an omega, that she was born of royal blood, that she was never meant to be treated like this?
Her mind raced. Before she could decide, a guard hurried toward Calantha, leaning in to whisper something in her ear.
Whatever he said made Calantha’s entire expression shift. Her smirk disappeared, replaced with something close to shock.
“Are you sure?” she whispered back, her voice suddenly careful.
The guard nodded.
Calantha’s eyes darkened. She turned to Andromeda, her lips curling into something unreadable.
“You got lucky today, Meda,” she murmured, stepping closer. “You ought to have been punished, but it seems fate has other plans for you.”
With that, she turned to the guards. “Unshackle her.”
Andromeda barely had time to process before the tight restraints around her wrists were undone. She let out a slow breath, rubbing her sore skin as the guards stepped away.
She turned to one of them, keeping her voice even. “Who?” she asked. “Who came that made her stop?”
The guard hesitated, but then he spoke. “The twin princes. From the Tenebrous Wolf Empire.”
Andromeda froze, The Zarek brothers.
They were known everywhere. Feared, deadly and ruthless. No pack dared to cross them because those who did never lived to tell the story.
What were they doing here?
She needed to find out. Immediately.
- Writer
