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1329 Words
Calliope
“Oh My God.” A gasp escaped my lips the moment I stood in front of my father's palace. This building that used to be the pride of ShadowCrest was now a Shadow of itself. It looked deserted and it was very obvious that no one lived in the palace.
What was going on?? And where’s mom?? Romana told me that Mom was fine each time I asked why she never came to see me. She told me that Mom was too busy overseeing the affairs of the pack. What pack?? The one that was in shambles?
I kept on gasping and looking around. This was not the pack I used to know. What the hell happened here??
“What happened?” My heart was beating fast and I stared at the red-haired girl. I took into her appearance, she looked just like the others. Malnourished. But this one had a look of survival instinct in her eyes.
“Please what happened here? What is going on here??? What happened? Where is the queen?? Where is my mother??” I demanded, my voice cold and harsh.
“I asked what happened here?”
“What happened here is that you abandoned us. You got married and abandoned all of us over here and left your husband to torture us. What are you doing here? I thought you wanted nothing to do with this pack. Your letters clearly said that we could all die and your true subjects were the Nightfangians.” There was a scowl on her face and her eyes held so much anger.
What letter? I have no idea about any letter. All the letters I've written home were to send my mother greetings and good wishes. And which husband was torturing them? Ragnar??
“I asked what happened???” I demanded through gritted teeth and this time I grabbed her shoulders.
“Can't you see that ShadowCrest has changed, Calliope? This pack is now known as the Lands of Slaves. This is where Alpha Ragnar dumps his slaves and rapes them. 50% of them are the women and girls that he and his subjects raped.” My hands turned numb, slipping off her shoulders and I felt my heart shatter to pieces.
“No…no..” I muttered, shaking my head in disbelief. Ragnar couldn’t do such a thing. Land of slaves?? My land?? My pack. I swore to the moon goddess that I was going to make him pay. I would make him pay for this. He had reduced my pack to nothing.
I might have overlooked him rejecting me and declaring me a rogue, but I would not overlook this. I would make him pay. But how? There was no one here, no warriors. I was alone. Unless….
“Where is my mother?” I demanded.
“The Luna?? Seriously, have you been enjoying so much luxury that you know nothing?? Our Luna is dead. Ragnar killed her. And the rumors going around is that he killed Alpha Kratos and his three sons.” The red-haired told me and the tears that I had been trying so hard to hold back finally slipped off my eyes.
“My mother is dead? My pack, my home—The place that was once filled with laughter…Has all turned to ashes?”
That couldn't be possible.
My father and brothers had already perished in the war—how could my mother leave me too?
The red-haired girl just mentioned Ragnar—it must be him!
I quickly wiped the tears off my face as that was not the time to start shedding tears. I needed Ragnar to pay.
I looked at the girl firmly, “What's your name?”
“Echo.” She replied.
“Okay, Echo, you are going to help me with a few things, I'm going over to the north.” I had not seen him since the night of my 18th birthday, but I needed his help. Because if Ragnar killed my family, he would be coming for me too.
…..
“And what are we going to do in the north?” Echo asked and I slowly looked back to see her dragging a bag behind me while I held the horse.
“To meet a friend,” I replied briefly. He was the only person that I could think of and I silently prayed that he would receive me into his pack. None of the packs in the whole of Luparia agreed with each other. And the feud became worse after my father’s death.
Knox and I had a special relationship. We were friends despite the bitterness and since the last time I saw him, I heard that he had been faring well. And was a very feared Alpha. I've not been talking to him and I felt like a hypocrite for going to his pack. But Knox was my last hope.
“A friend?” Echo scoffs. “The southerners and the northerners do not agree with each other. None of the packs agree with each other. So how do you have a friend there?”
“He's an old friend. And the only one I can turn to. And why are you following me?? I don't need your help Echo. You can go.” I dismissed her, but she shook her head. Determined to come with me. Echo already told me her story, she was an omega and she had been living in the shadows, trying to hide from Ragnar and his army. She watched him slaughter her father and mother, then raped her sister to death.
My heart clenched each time I remembered that I was once married to Ragnar. I never knew that he was hiding such a disgusting part of him.
“I'm not leaving you, princess. You are our only hope of retaining our lost glory and defeating Ragnar. I will stay by your side and help you figure things out.” I also told her about my story and we both agreed on how stupid I was to turn a blind eye to Ragnar’s lies.
My father never trained me to be stupid. “We will be crossing the borders soon. We need to find an inn to pass the night.” Luckily I had some coins with me and the journey to the north would take about three days by horse. Seven days by foot and one day in our wolf form.
……
“There is no way that we can get past this gate,” Echo whispered to me as we hid behind a huge tree, while we watched the gate from a distance. She was right. They would kill us at first sight. I had to think of something on how to get to Knox.
We already arrived at the North after a three-day journey and how we would get in was a problem due to the tight security.
“Agreed,” I mumbled. There were guards everywhere, huge guards and they would drive their swords into our hearts the moment they realized that we were not from the north.
“What do we do now??”
“We think. We can go in with disguise.” I whispered back to her nervously tapping my fingertips on the tree bark as I thought hard on how to reach Knox.
“Hide.” Echo quickly said at the sounds of horses coming. She squatted down to hide her small frame, but I did not move. Echo tried to drag me down, but I remained stiff.
Since Ragnar rejected me, this was the first time that my wolf was becoming excited. She had been so quiet and had been in so much pain, but now she was on edge. “Princess, do you want to get us killed? They are coming.” I did not move even on hearing her voice and right at that moment, my wolf suddenly cried ‘Mate!’
- Writer
