Eyes of Onyx
924 Words
Luca
"Yes, Alpha," I gritted my teeth, staring blankly straight ahead, not daring to let my eyes dart to my father. Alpha Bane of Bloodwater Pack, my dad, was the biggest hardass in the history of hardasses and then some, and he was about to become worse than I'd ever imagined.
My wolf, Alaric, was rankling at being submissive to my dad, as he always does. I'm the son of an Alpha, an Alpha myself, and at 24 years old, I was old enough to take over a pack by wolf standards. My father would never give up Bloodwater until he died, so I had long years of pretending to be subservient ahead of me.
I say pretend because Alaric seemed to think--and I agreed--that we were even stronger than my dad. We can't beat him quite yet, but one day, maybe.
"There's a girl in the basement with Greeley. Go fetch her."
That shocked me enough that I looked my father in his eyes. His were black and currently sparkling with something sinister. I knew whoever that girl was, nothing good was about to happen to her.
Father narrowed his eyes at me. "Go! Get her!" he snapped.
I nodded at him and left the room, going deliberately slower than I needed to just because he wanted me to go quickly. I knew my father was impatient and that if I made him wait, he'd take it out on someone else later, but my main concern was how a girl was smuggled into the castle, and I hadn't heard about it.
I had no friends here; everyone was too loyal to my father for me to get close to, but I guess the nearest thing I had was my dad's Gamma, Charles. He took over the Gamma position when his dad was killed in the service of mine. He's only about five years older than I am, so we do train together fairly often. I stopped by his office instead of heading straight to the basement.
"Gamma Charles," I called formally, poking my head in the open door of his office.
Charles, a broad-shouldered blonde with kind eyes, looked up from his paperwork. "What can I do for you, Luca?"
I decided hesitation would get me nowhere, so I flat-out asked, "What's with the girl in the basement?"
Charles frowned, stiffening. "If Alpha Bane hasn't told you, then..."
"Oh, come on, Charles!" I rolled my eyes, "You know he doesn't tell me anything. He sent me to fetch her and I just want to know what I'm walking into."
Charles bit his lip, giving me a look over the bridge of his nose. "If your father asked you to fetch her, you'd better get on it. As for her condition, all I know is that the Alpha ordered her retrieval two weeks ago and has been keeping her under a regimen of wolfsbane and silver for the past two weeks."
I nodded in thanks and turned on my heel to head for the basement. He was right that I'd better hurry now. So my father ordered the kidnapping of a girl--because clearly 'retrieval' was code for kidnapping. I knew that girl was in for hell, but it wasn't my problem. I'd do what I could to make her stay bearable, but I couldn't go against my father over a girl who was likely a s*x slave. I needed to wait until I had more backing before planning my strike.
You should help her, Alaric spoke up.
I was about to respond when I felt a sudden ache in my gut and chest, so hard I doubled over. What the hell?
Alaric howled. I couldn't get any real thoughts off of him, but he led me faster down the basement steps.
I wasn't even sure where in the basement she was, but I felt a strong pull towards a door off to the right. I banged on the door. "What the hell is going on?" I demanded.
Greeley, my dad's i***t Beta, opened the door partway, and I shoved it all the way open.
MATE, Alaric howled, and it took everything in me to remain impassive as I gazed down on the dirty, bleeding girl in the white slip dress. She had dark hair down to her waist that fell in gentle waves, and her eyes were an impressive shade of blue. She was--well, she was my exact type of girl. Even after everything she'd been through, I could see that she was beautiful.
I glanced at her briefly. The barest look was all I could spare. Any more than that, and Greeley might suspect something or, worse, report it to my dad. I could tell she felt the bond, too, but I completely ignored her, praying she'd take the hint and keep her mouth shut.
Why the f**k did I have to have a mate, and why the f**k did it have to be her? I had too much to do and not enough time to deal with this s**t.
I could see it in my mind's vision perfectly, the way my dad's jet-black eyes would devour her, the way he would take her and leave nothing left.
Bile rose in my throat. It was too soon. I couldn't challenge my dad yet. Not now. Regrettably, my mate would have to survive on her own a little longer.
She started to open her mouth to ask me for help, probably, but I cut her off. "Alpha Bane wants to see her now."
- Writer
