The Alpha’s Shadow

ANNE’S POV ‘One, Two, Three...’ The water dropped from the leaky sink and into the rusty steel bucket ‘Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen....’ 12 drops per minute 720 drops per hour And 12960 drops make a day ‘Twenty-three, ‘Twenty-four, ‘twenty-five....’ 12960 drops till I fall asleep, I can’t count when I’m asleep, but I begin counting the moment I wake up. It's all I could do really. I never had any visitors, never had any meals, never had any baths. ‘Thirty-seven, Thirty-eight, Thirty-nine, Forty....’ I heard a rat scurry past me and I had to retreat further into the corner where I hid myself, still it came to where I was and bit down painfully on my big toe. I pulled my lips together to hold in a scream but I couldn’t resent the rat, being treated awfully was just something that came with being an omega. ‘Fifty-four, Fifty-five, Fifty-six, Fifty.......’ I just wished I had kept count of how many days I had spent here. Perhaps if I wasn’t unconscious when I was thrown in here, I would’ve been able to. But how could I have been conscious after having goddess-knows-how-many watts of current flow through me. ‘Sixty, Sixty-one, Sixty-two......’ I had watched others of my rank get electrocuted for committing heinous crimes but never did I think I’d be in their position one day. I was too much of a coward to do anything to warrant such punishment, too submissive and reserved to even think of breaking any of the pack house rules. So how then? How could I be the one responsible for the Luna’s missing diamond plaque? Her symbol of authority? Even if I had wanted to steal, there was not a single daring bone in my body that would’ve allowed me to go as far as taking something as sacred and precious as that. In all my years of cleaning the Luna’s chambers, I had never even taken a leftover piece of bread on her breakfast plate, but they think I took her plaque? Is there anything more outrageous?! ‘Eighty-four, Eight-five, Eighty-six.......’ And now here I was, in a dark lonely cell, waiting to die. I was sure I was going to die, either from starvation, loss of blood from the rat’s consistent biting or even from loss of my sanity. But if I’m lucky I might figure out how to take my life before either of that gets to happen. I turned to rest the side of my head against the cold wall, my lips parted to let in as much oxygen as possible. My lungs might probably give up first, because in a windowless cell I wasn’t sure what I breathed in was oxygen. ‘One hundred and twelve, One hundred and thirteen, One hundred and fourteen.......’ “Pssstttt!” I blinked, that was a human’s voice, but was it real? Did I imagine it? “Pssssssttttt!” It came again, but I didn’t doubt it’s origin this time because a question followed soon after; “are you awake?” The voice came from the wall where my head rested. There was a person in the cell on the other side of the wall, so I sat up. “Are....are you talking to me?” “Yes,” “Why?” “Because I have good news.” My brows pulled together, “do I know you?” “No, but I know when you came here, it’s been seventeen days.” the parched husky voice sounded like it belonged to a woman, so I tensed down a bit. “How do you know that?” “I know alot of things” I suddenly developed a sort of admiration for her, she wielded power, her knowledge was her power and I knew I’d believe anything she’d tell me. “So, what is the good news?” “We’ll be free soon?’ “Has the alpha ordered our release?” I let the hope inflate my lungs and escape through my nostrils “No, but he intends to sell us off soon........to Alpha Jonathan.” How was this good news? I frowned Everyone knew Alpha Jonathan, everyone knew how much of a tyrant he was, how fierce and merciless he was, people called him a living, breathing, walking rage, he was always angry. So how was being sold off to him good news? “I know what you’re thinking,” she said, interrupting my silent deliberation. “but it is good news because we can escape while we’re being transported.” And for the first time in a while I felt the corner of my lips lift up in a small smile. But it immediately wiped off the more I thought of it, and dread replaced the hope in my lungs. “But how? What if we get caught? We'll surely be killed.” “It sure is a risky venture but if I’d rather have myself killed than be transported to another cell in Alpha Jonathan’s pack.” I stayed silent. So she wasn’t scared of death? “I’d suggest you make yourself a weapon though and hide it with you, you’d feel safer knowing you’d be able to defend yourself if something goes wrong.” My blood boiled with adrenaline, “Out of what can I make a weapon? I’m in an empty cell.” “You have a steel bucket, do you not?” I looked over at the bucket that welcomed the many drops of water from the sink....my drops, I had lost count of them. “Pull out the handle and twist it into a hook,” she instructed and I was sure she’d already made her weapon. I wondered if she was holding it right now. I slept peacefully later that night, with my amateur weapon laying still beneath the band of my skirt. The hope she had given me still swirled in my lungs, I dreamt of us finally living as free beings having successfully escaped our captors. I dreamt of fresh air and clean water, fried bird and vegetable stew, new clothes and sunlight. I wish the guards hadn’t rudely barged into my room and pulled me out of my peaceful sleep But they did, they roughly woke me up and gruffly ordered; “Stand up omega, it’s time to go.” And I repeated to myself; ‘it’s time to go!’