Chapter 24
Kayden's POV:
'Holy shit! Did they find out already?!' I link Marcus.
He looks miserable...'If they did, you loosing your mate might be the smallest of our problems, remember what I told you about their numbers?' Shit, they can wipe out the whole pack if they wanted and it would be totally justified. I rub my eyes trying to get all the sleep out, would Loiza command the massacre of my pack for revenge?
As we follow Aymaco, we are approaching their medical tent...once they got it up and running they didn't go near our medical ward, and now that I know what the stone close to the entrance of the medical ward is I can understand why. I feel like I'm going to puke. Then the smell hits me! Blood, decay, pineapples and vanilla... I can see a spread of people on the lawn. The Osupa medical team is assisting those awake, while Warriors put some on gurneys and more medical personnel start cutting their rags off.
"What's going on here?!" I see Loiza come out from the tent, wiping blood off her hands. She looks at her hands while wiping them. She looks exhausted.
"That's exactly why I summoned you here." She keeps wiping her hands getting in her finger nails.
"What are you talking about? Why are these prisoners outside of their cages?" I am using as soft a voice I can. She looks at the other Priestess...Yaya?
"Yaya?" She asks...Ok, mental note.
"He is indeed confused Alpha." Yaya responds, how many Truth Seers do they have?
"Alpha are you telling me that you had no knowledge that members of YOUR pack, a pack that lives by YOUR example and YOUR values, have what can basically be called a slave trafficking scheme?" She is looking directly at me full of contempt still wiping her hands, as if they would never be clean again. I look at the people on the lawn and then at Marcus, he just blinks at me with his mouth open, it looked like his jaw was going to hit the floor.
I put my hands out in surrender "Alpha Loiza, I don't claim to be an Alpha that has everything working to perfection here, but I swear by the Goddess I haven't a clue about any of this!" I look at Kevin one of the guards of the dungeons. "What the fuck have you idiots done?!"
Yaya waves me off... "Neither of these idiots know what is going on..." She scoffs at us looking at us with even bigger contempt than Loiza she almost looks disgusted, she returns into the tent.
"Come here, both of you." Loiza hooks her finger at us, signaling to follow her into the tent with a VERY scary calm voice. I look at Marcus and we both gulp at the same time. Have I really been such a terrible Alpha that I have no clue some of my own people are capable of this? We both follow Loiza with our heads hung like two boys about to get whooped by their parent. When we walk in I understand why so many are outside, many of THEIR own people are still healing from yesterday and now they are treating those they found in the dungeons.
"KEVIN! Get everyone from the medical ward up and in here, NOW!" I yell at the young guard that I will probably have to sentence to death soon.
"You will do no such thing soldier! I will not have a medical staff who look upon a broken altar every day touching MY people. You WILL however bring EVERY SINGLE WOLF who partakes or has partook in this activity at ONCE..." She walks to him and grabs his jaw in her hand, and from the look on Kevin's face it looks like he is in a LOT of pain. She KNOWS about the altar, DAMN IT! "IF you decide to be a 'nice bro' and warn ANY of them of what is happening here, I recommend that you run very far, very fast, but NEVER think you will be able to escape my wrath... do I make myself clear?" I can see her eyes are molten gold and I can hear Kevin's jaw give a small cracking sound. And he looks at me for help.
"DON'T LOOK AT HIM! DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" Kevin nods and I can see tears fall from the corners of his eyes. Another CRACK! And suddenly I see Kevin has pissed himself. "Yes Alpha, at once!" Kevin says with a muffled words.
"Good. Now go..." She says just above a whisper. She used her Alpha voice to command Kevin to break eye contact with ME! She's not even his Alpha! She turns to face Marcus and me now, her eyes still gold, she walks pass us to show us an unconscious woman who I can't even describe because she is so filthy, her hair is so matted, I couldn't recognize her if I knew her.
"Do you see this woman?" Marcus and I look at each other.
"I'm pretty sure that either of you is smart enough to answer a simple yes or no, do you see this woman?" She asks her voice more impatient than the last time. I don't dare test her patience, we are not looking good right now and this is not the worst part of what I have discovered of my pack today.
"I do My Lady." I say immediately, calling her not necessarily by her Priestess title, that is a simple reminder that she was MY lady. She smiled. Then looks at the woman with warmth, her eyes now her normal amber. She strokes the woman's cheek with love.
"She is my brother's mate." SON OF A BITCH! I look at Marcus, he clearly can't take anymore bad news today and decides to sit on the ground and puts his arms on his knees burrowing his head between his arms.
"My Lady I have no words to express how sorry I am...I-" She cuts me of right there. "No, I did not expect that you would have. There are no words invented in any vocabulary that can express what THIS is. She is an Omega you know..." Huh, what does her being an Omega matter?
"Tell me Alpha, have you ever studied our ancestral animal?" And Marcus starts laughing his head still between his legs, damn he KNOWS I never paid attention to Primal Wolf Studies, that was an elective class people take to ditch and make out... I'm screwed!
"Well, it seems your Beta can help... tell me Beta Black why is the Alpha the LAST when all wolves from a pack are on the move?" She doesn't even look at us.
"Because he's making sure that every wolf is accounted for, so he stays behind the old, the sick and the pups so that the entire pack will keep pace with those who are weakest." He says bitterly.
"I suspect you were very good student when you were in school Beta." She says looking at him. Marcus just sighs. "Do you know WHY Omegas are the weakest physically of the pack?" She asks.
To this even Marcus had no idea, he looked at her shaking his head slowly. "Have you ever noticed who are the ones who usually take the vocation of medic, healers or doctors for the pack? Who are the most gifted healing people that other people cannot heal? Chis, Psis and Omegas are blessed with the element of Water by the Goddess.
Each and every member of a pack is a piece of the puzzle which makes the puzzle whole. The energy of healers does not lie within their physical strength, that is why they do not make the best warriors. However if you nurture what they're actually strong at they help The Pack be complete, hence why they are so valuable! The element that rules the Alphas, the Betas, the Gammas, the Deltas, basically the best warriors is fire. Its energy is ruthless and unyielding which are the qualities that a Warrior and leader needs, however we are pack creatures a few does not make us whole, every link in the chain has value.
The Kappas are blessed with wind, they're valuable to us because they are artisans, do you think we survive with warfare alone? Even the strongest Alpha enjoys a good movie, a good meal prepared by someone who is skilled at it. The strongest Warriors enjoy music. So even though the Kappas are also not the best Warriors even though they are not the worst either, the strongest don't mind protecting them because they give us so much more in return from just mere protection. They are the ones who remind us why we fight so hard... I've been a spy for many years and I have traveled a great deal, I have been a Goodwill Ambassador from the Goddess to many packs, but the lack of harmony that exists within this pack is among the worst I have ever seen.
"I suggest you get off the floor though, I still have much more to show you. Come, both of you." What have these idiots done? Fuck, I have no idea of ANYTHING she just said. 'Brother have you ever read of anything that she just said?'
'Never, and am including the library at The High Council, yesterday her people started chanting the word Cacique' He says.
'Yeah what was that?' Of course Marcus wouldn't let something small like that go.
'It's Taíno for 'Chief' or 'King'. I asked around and The Osupa don't stray away from their OLD ways and traditions, they only really use the Greek coding for daily life, but they REALLY see her as a QUEEN, I was even verifying on the whole Elders situation they have, and I heard that they can trace her lineage to the old Caciques before the Spaniards came. When they were worshiped as gods. So I'm guessing that the use of Greek is something that they have perfected as a way of uniting every member of the pack, by codifying the strengths rather than the weakness of a member they value ever single link. Making them as united as we have seen them.'
We walk towards some air tubs full of water were Yaya is tending two patients. They are in murky mint water like the one Loiza was in while she was healing. Both girls have white hair and very pale skin, yet their eyelashes are black, their eyebrows ash. They aren't albinos. Marcus comes up behind me to see in the tub and he gasps, I look at him questioningly.
"ARE THOSE? ARE THEY REALLY...?" And Loiza goes to one and motions Marcus to go with her. She kneels and clears one of the girls hair from her forehead. Marcus kneels next to her looking at the girl's forehead. Marcus starts crying and now I REALLY feel fear, I go to my bother...
"They DID FUCKING CURSE US!" He shouts.
Loiza and Yaya look at each other, shit he's going to blow everything to hell!
"My lady, I won't lie, my brother has always been better at me in scholastic matters. I beg you forgive my ignorance." And I kneel at her side opposite Marcus. Yaya scoffs at me again, she is totally going to talk shit about me to my mate behind my back if I actually get out of this!
"What are they?" I ask just above a whisper. She looks at me like she can't believe it. "You better believe it Izzy, he has no clue!" Yaya comes over and pours a pale pink liquid into the mouth of one of them.
"FOR GODDESS SAKE KAYDEN! THEIR FUCKING UNICORNS! WE, OUR PACK, HAD UNICORNS IN OUR DUNGEONS!" My jaw drops. We ARE cursed! He stands up. And he looks at Loiza... "Alpha Loiza, I will make sure that the criminals are brought to justice with your leave." I look at him, but his eyes don't break away from Loiza.
"Go Beta, I suggest you take your Alpha with you and explain why Lady Yaya and I will have to contact Avalon at once. I would advise you figure out if these are the first unicorns imprisoned in this territory and explain to your Alpha the consequences of the death of any of these creatures under YOUR custody and that even when an Alpha is ignorant of something happening in their pack is THEY who carry the weight of such consequences. That is why not everyone can be an Alpha. She stands up and I can feel her looking at me for a moment, I can feel her disappointment through the Bond and she walks away. I get up and follow Marcus out the tent and look the scene before me. I go to the nearest bush and finally puke.