The Alpha, The Rogue & The Beauty

Reasons

Conrad POV

When I returned to the compound, I expected there to be fighting. I didn’t expect my people to be caught off guard and I didn’t expect all my men to be moaning and groaning on the canteen floor after being trounced by some unknown pack wolves. I also didn’t expect to be explaining myself to a group of strangers and reliving my traumatic childhood experiences at the hands of my father.

Not many people knew about my father’s abuse of either myself, my mother, or the other women my father had taken to his bed. My mother and the women he abused were under an Alpha order not to disclose what had happened to them. However, being a child and not having a wolf back then, I could not be commanded like the others, but that didn’t mean I wanted everyone to know what was happening to me.

The only people I told were my best friends, Brutus and Rory, and only because they saw the bruises hidden under my clothes. When I told them of everything my father had done, they vowed to help me escape and help me take as many of his potential victims with us.

When my mother finally succumbed to my father's torture of the mate bond and repeated beatings before my eighteenth birthday, I knew he would escalate the number of women that he went through, so I had to act. I was too late to save Silvy’s sister, Lily, but I wasn’t too late for Silvy and the ten other women I saved that night.

Brutus and Rory had managed to recruit some other kids around our age, and we managed to kidnap the women and escape the pack lands, breaking our pack bonds as we left and becoming rogues by choice. We travelled as far and as fast as we could, unsure as to whether my father would have us followed. We eventually ended up where we are today and set up camp here two years ago, two days before my eighteenth birthday.

Once I got my wolf, those that had already shifted swore allegiance to me and the others followed suit as soon as they got their wolves. The women, though, refused, so we had to resort to restraining them to keep them with us, to keep them safe. That was until we got the bungalow built and tunnelled into the hill behind it. Then we no longer needed to restrain them, as there was only one exit and we guarded it.

We managed to recruit more men, both werewolves and humans, and went on several missions to rescue more women from my father until we filled the compound. We used the money I had managed to divert from the pack funds before we left, but after building the compound and surviving for two years, funds were running low.

That is why I took the k********g job and why I sold Beth.

I explained all of this to the men that had invaded my compound and the women I had managed to rescue from a fate worse than death at the hands of my father. Hoping, beyond hope, that they would all believe me.

As I spoke of the all the abuse that my mother and I suffered at his hands behind closed doors that had ultimately resulted in my mother’s death, Brutus and Rory entered the room dragging an unconscious Alpha Lucas between them and dumping him on the ground next to me.

As I finished my tale, Brutus disappeared and returned with a bucket of water which he tipped over Alpha Lucas’s head, causing him to splutter and gasp.

“This is the man who bought Beth and should be able to tell us where she is.” I said after my tale had ended, pointing to the gasping, sopping wet man on the ground next to me. “This is Alpha Lucas of Crescent Moon.”

Quicker than my eyes could register his movement, Alpha Leon was holding Lucas up by his throat, his feet dangling in the air.

“Where is my daughter?” Leon growled, his nails extending into claws and digging into the skin of Lucas’s neck.

“Uhh….. What?..... Who?” Lucas blinked, as his hands came up and grasped at the hand around his throat and his legs started to tremble in fright.

“Where is my mate?” Connor demanded, his fist connecting with Lucas’s side as he dangled in Leon’s grip.

Lucas’s eyes bulged as Leon’s hand tightens around his neck, restricting the flow of oxygen into his lungs.

“H…he…ee c….call….lls him…self…. Th….the co…oll….lect….tor.” Lucas finally manages to croak out.

Leon finally releases his grip and Lucas falls to the ground in a heap, gasping and groaning, one hand holding his throat, the other rubbing his side where Connor had punched him.

“The collector?” Alpha Patrick asked, “who is that?”

“I have heard of him,” Leon answered, “he trades in rare items. There are rumours that this includes women and that he has a harem located somewhere in the east full of rare beauties.”

“He doesn’t trade, he collects.” Lucas informs us from his now seated position at our feet. “You don’t contact him, he contacts you.”

“I think we will need Wanda again.” Alpha Patrick says, stating the obvious.

“Me and my men will help in any way we can.” I told them.

“Why would we want help from someone who sells their own mate?” Connor scoffs, turning his back on me and striding off, followed closely by Alpha Patrick. I can’t say I blame him for his attitude, because I am full of guilt and remorse for what I have done to Beth.

Sighing, I wander through the canteen, righting furniture and helping my men back to their feet, making sure no-one is seriously injured. I find myself in a secluded corner of the room and sit down at an empty table. Placing my elbows on the table, I buried my head in my hands and let the tears that had been threatening to escape for a while finally fall from my eyes.

My thoughts go to Beth, who can’t even remember who she is or where she comes from because of me. Beth, who is owned by a man who has his own harem and is suffering Goddess knows what, at his hands. All her suffering is because of me, because I agreed to kidnap her, because I still sold her knowing she was my mate. My men have suffered a beating because of my actions. I am not worthy of anything.

A hand comes to rest on my shoulder, and I raise my head to see who it is. Alpha Leon is stood next to me looking down at me with sympathy that I do not deserve. He sits sideways on the seat next to me and gives me a small smile.

“What you have done to Beth is wrong and I can see that you are remorseful and regret your actions. But I do understand why you did it. You have your pack to consider and, as an Alpha, I know that is a lot of responsibility, especially on young shoulders such as yours.” he tells me, and all I can do is stare at him.

“But now is not the time for self-pity, now is the time for action,” he continued. “Now is the time to pool our resources, find Beth and bring her back home.”

He looks across the room at Connor, who is leaning against a wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he scowls in my direction, his face full of anger and disgust. Anger and disgust are what I feel about myself as well, so I can’t blame him.

Looking back at me, Alpha Leon grimaces. “You and Connor will have to set your differences aside and work together if we are going to rescue Beth. She will need both of her mates to help recover from whatever it is she is going through right now.”

Standing up, he holds his hand out to me, “So get up off your backside and help me get my daughter back,” he demands.

Taking a deep calming breath, I grasped his hand and rose to my feet. “Yes, Sir.”

He claps me on the shoulder with his other hand, before releasing his grip and heading off to join Alpha Patrick and Connor with me trailing behind him like a scolded sulking child.

“Wanda is on her way.” Alpha Patrick tells us as we approached. “She said that we would need a globe or atlas of some sort for her location spell. She will bring the hairbrush with her.”

“I’ll go and see what I can find.” I told them, before heading further into the compound to my office.

Searching through the shelves in my office, I finally found the atlas I knew I had after what seemed like an eternity. Rising to my feet, I turned round with the book in hand and came face to face with Bridget.

“What do you want, Bridget?” I asked, my irritation evident in my voice.

“You,” she tells me, her hand coming up to rest on my chest. “I want you. I want us to be together like we used to be.”

“It was only ever s*x. Nothing more, nothing less.” I inform her, sidestepping to get round her, but she follows me and blocks my way.

“Just s*x!! Just s*x!!” she screeches, “I thought you loved me until that b***h came along.”

My blood boils as my hand comes up to her neck and grips it, pushing her away from me. “I could never love someone like you, Bridget. Someone that just uses people and throws them away when they have nothing left to give.”

I throw her to one side with a bit more force than I intended, and she falls to the floor in a heap next to my desk. “I never want to see you again. Do you understand?” I told her.

She doesn’t respond, so I ask the question again, “Do you understand?”

She nods in reply, tears filling her eyes. But I just ignore her and leave my office. I have a mate to help save.