by Maggie Walsh
“Alpha Prime?” a small, soft voice came to them. They all looked over and found a frail, elderly woman with her hand raised.
“Yes, ma’am?” Micah said to the woman.
“Michelle’s brother was only fifteen. I used to work in the Alpha house, and I was there the night they brought Lenny in. By the time he made it to James, he was nearly dead already. Then James and the others took him down to the cells and I heard Lenny screaming. He was trying to tell them that he hadn’t done what he was accused of, but they wouldn’t listen to him. They just kept beating him.”
Micah turned his attention to James, and the wolf began to shake as Micah’s rage filled eyes fell on him. “Where is he?” Micah snarled.
“He was a fairy, and he was dealt with,” James said in a shaky voice.
“Where. Is. He?” Micah growled. James looked away. “How do you know that the person making the accusations was telling you the truth? Or did you just take their word for it?” James’s eyes flicked to Micah’s and away quickly. Micah looked around the crowd. “Is this everyone left from the pack?”
“No, Alpha Prime. There are a few others. Including the men James has patrolling the town,” a man’s voice came from the back of the group.
Micah turned to James and gave him a mischievous smile. “Call your pack to come to you. Use your pack link, Alpha.” Micah said the last word as a challenge.
“I can’t,” James mumbled softly.
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you. Maybe you should speak in your alpha voice,” Micah dared.
“I can’t,” James said a fraction loader.
“That’s what I thought.” He looked back to the crowd. “This is my beta, Raith Angel. And these are my cousins, Lucian’s sons. Gabriel, Castiel, and Raphael. This is Taylor Angel, Gabriel’s true mate and the Guardian,” Micah introduced. Gasps could be heard from the crowd when Micah stated that Taylor was Gabriel’s true mate, and more gasps could be heard when he informed them that Taylor was the Guardian. “Taylor, can you tell me where the other members of this pack are?”
“No problem, Alpha Prime.” Taylor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He released it slowly and his eyes snapped open, only the whites showing. Taylor’s head turned right, then left, and then back to the front. “There are twelve members scattered. Five appear to be hiding, four are watching television, two are trying to sneak away through the woods in that direction”―Taylor pointed to his right―“and the last one appears to be dead. She is hanging from the rafters in her bedroom,” Taylor disclosed in a monotone voice. Then his eyes closed again. When he opened them a few moments later, they were back to his normal color.
“Thank you, Taylor.” Micah nodded, and then looked at James again. “Maybe I should call them to me?” he said with a shit-eating grin. “Come.” His commanding voice rang out in every one of the pack members’ heads. They all looked at him in shock, including James.
“We haven’t heard anyone through our pack link since the attacks and Alpha Angel was murdered,” the old woman gasped.
“That’s because you haven’t had an alpha since then and you all know it. This man has ruled you all with fear. Not because he is a true alpha,” Phenex interjected.
Movement came from the woods surrounding them. Micah turned to see a couple step out of the tree line holding hands, looking shocked and confused. They stopped when they reached their pack members. Then four others came from different directions, their faces showing the same confusion. Five others came into view, but they moved slower than the others and looked frightened. “They are some of James’s men, Micah,” Jesse informed him. “They were supposed to be in the town searching for the wolf, but they were hiding instead. I can see all the horrible things they have done under his command.” Jesse’s voice showed his disgust.
“Thank you, baby.” Micah kissed Jesse’s head. “Enforcers, grab these five men.”
“May I, cousin?” Raffy asked and Micah looked at him and smiled.
“Old friends of yours, Raf?”
“You could say that.” He gave Micah a smirk.
“Be my guest, cousin. Do as you wish.”
Raffy looked to the first one and gave him an evil smile. Suddenly the man’s clothes disappeared from his body, and he stood before them naked. He gasped in surprise and quickly covered his groin with his hands. The other members of the pack stared in shock as he began to lift off the ground as his eyes went wide in fear. Higher he went, arms now flailing. He hovered toward a branch near the top of a tree and then was placed upon it. The man quickly latched his arms around the trunk in a death grip as his face went pale and his body shook. Raffy looked to Micah. “That’s Carl. He’s afraid of heights,” Raffy explained with a big grin on his face. “He liked to follow me wherever I went, when I was allowed out. He would smack me and kick me as I tried to walk. Many times he would spit on me and call me derogatory names.”
Raffy turned his attention to the next one. He was a short guy, about five foot five, but he was built like a bulldog and had the face to match. “That’s Kip. Kip thought I was his own personal punching bag. That’s how he got all those muscles, by training on my face. He knew that if I showed up at home with cuts and bruises, showing that someone had beat me, that father would beat me even more for being a weakling. So Kip would beat the shit out of me at least once a week,” Raffy explained with disdain.
“Come on, Falafel, we were just horsing around. You were just too damn sensitive,” Kip said with a tremble in his voice as he stared wide-eyed at Raffy. “I was just trying to toughen you up.”
“Why did he call you Falafel?” Gabriel asked with a deadly growl.
“It was a pet name that James came up with for me, along with a few others, because I wanted to be called Raphael, not Balthazar. They said it fit because I was a chick, like the chickpeas in a falafel.” Raffy’s voice gave away his pain as he explained.
“Then I think it is only a rite of passage for your big brothers to defend you. Wouldn’t you agree, Gabe?” Cass asked as his eyes bored into Kip.
“I believe you’re right, brother. We need to show this piece of shit what happens when he messes with our baby brother.” Gabriel’s face was red with rage as he bared his teeth to Kip.
“We were messing around,” he said in a quivering voice as he tried to defend his actions. “That’s what kids do.”
“You all treated me like that from the minute I had my first shift and you found out I was an omega. We were fourteen then. We’re two hundred now. How was that what kids do?” Raffy said enraged.
“He’s all yours, cousins,” Micah offered.
Gabriel and Cass stalked up to Kip with fangs bared, eyes shifted, and claws out. Kip’s eyes went wide in terror. He turned and ran in the other direction. Suddenly he lifted into the air and flew back right into Gabe and Cass’s hands. Raffy looked at Taylor in question and Taylor shook his head no. Then Raffy smelled him. The most wonderful scent in the world. Raffy smiled as Christian wrapped his arms around him from behind and placed a kiss on his neck.
“I would love to claim rights to his pathetic ass seeing as it is my mate he wronged, but I think he’ll have a much better time with my angel’s two big brothers,” Christian called out.
Gabriel had Kip by the throat, and he turned him to face Raffy and Christian. “You see that man? That is Raphael’s true mate. You’re lucky all he did was lift your ass off the ground.” Gabriel turned and dragged Kip off around the back of the house with Cass following.
“What about the others, Raf?” Taylor asked.
Raffy looked at the third man and tears came to his eyes. “That’s Neal. He used to pretend to want to be my friend. He would lie to me and I would believe him. They knew how badly I wanted a friend, so they used it against me. He would take me off to their secret hideout in the woods. Once I went inside, he would do things to me. He would put things inside me,” Raffy spoke low with tears in his eyes.
Screams of torment and pain c
ould be heard coming from behind the house. Suddenly Neal’s eyes went wide in horror. “No, no, no,” he cried. But it was too late. A massive wolf sprang through the air past Raffy and attacked Neal. The wolf clamped its jaws around Neal’s leg and dragged him off into the woods, kicking and screaming. His cries rang out through the trees, sending waves of fear through the others standing around. Neal’s screams stopped and the wolf appeared. He was covered in blood as he walked to Raffy and sat at his feet, staring angrily at all the members of this pack. Raffy knelt down and hugged Christian around his neck. A few of the members met Christian’s eyes and nodded to him in thanks. Christian’s wolf nodded back.
Gabriel and Cass came walking around the house and stood behind Raffy and Christian. “What of the last two, Raffy?” Gabriel growled.
Raffy looked up and met the eyes of the two men remaining. Their eyes were full of fear, and if the wet spots on the front of their pants were any indication, he believed they pissed themselves. “That’s Manny and Bruce. They were more the followers. They followed James around like dogs looking for a bone. They would do whatever he told them to do to whomever he told them to do it to.”
“Did they beat you and violate you too?” Micah asked gently.
Raffy’s sad eyes met Micah’s as he nodded. “They all did. James used to instruct them what to do to me. He told them that for them to get their powers before they reached three hundred, they had to fuck the omega. He said that if they fucked the omega once a week, then their powers would be stronger than anyone else’s. So they all use to track me down weekly and rape me. Whenever Father locked me in the house for weeks, the four of them–James, Carl, Manny, and Bruce– would get pissed and try to break into the house. Sometimes they got in, but most of the time they didn’t. But once Father let me out and sent me on errands, they would find me and all of them would take turns.”
Suddenly Carl was thrown from the trees and his body landed with a hard thud. Breaking bones could be heard by everyone, as a few of the pack members screamed in horror.
Christian was back in his human form and held Raffy tight. “He won’t ever hurt you again, angel. These others are the ones you told me about?” he asked gently.
“Yes, Christian,” Raffy whispered in a sad voice.
Christian held Raffy tighter, kissed his forehead, and then met Micah’s tear filled eyes. “Alpha?”
“Let’s hold them for now until we hear about all their crimes. Then they will all pay for every second of pain or fear they caused your mate. I give you my solemn vow as your alpha,” Micah vowed, his voice full of emotion.
“Micah?” Ryland’s strained voice came from behind him. Micah turned to face his father-in-law and saw that his eyes were misty, too. “The others are here.” Micah nodded at Ryland and turned his attention to Crew.
“This is Fallon, Alpha Prime. He was the only one we found down in the cells,” Crew reported.
“But where are the others?” A voice came from the crowd. Micah turned to face who had spoken. He recognized the face of the man, but couldn’t remember who he was.
“What others?” Micah asked.
“They have been taking pack members and bringing them here to do gods only knows what to them, and we never see them again. We thought they were being held in the cells. James told us they were. Where are they?”
“He gave them to the witch dude,” Bruce blurted.
“What witch?” Micah questioned as he looked at Bruce.
“That Malachi guy that hung around here. He told James that he could see inside people and see their depravities. He let us know what was truly inside of them. The sick twisted things they did and hid from the world. James would have us grab them up and bring them here. Then we punished them for their crimes as the Bible stated. An eye for an eye. Then Malachi would take them away to be locked up so no one would have to worry about them again,” Bruce confessed.
“How much you want to bet those members are rogues now?” Phenex whispered.
“No. Malachi confided to us that he worked for the council, and it was his job to collect the sinners. Each pack was to punish their own, but then he would bring them to the council to lock up. When the new council came to be, Malachi said that they wanted each pack to punish their guilty and then kill them. That it was the new council’s way of culling the weak and guilty, so that our new world would be safer. Malachi assured us that once the new council got everything in order than they would take the guilty again and deal with them.”
“How long has this been going on?” Micah seethed.
“Malachi came to us about twenty years ago. Mr. Brighton brought him and spoke to us in confidence. He said that the council suspected Alpha Angel of crimes against the paranormal world and that Malachi was sent in by the council undercover to check everyone. Lucian Angel backed up his story. They said that the council had called upon them to help because of how deep this went. Right up to the alpha. It started with Trevor. They informed us that the council sent Malachi to collect Trevor because he might be an omega, and we knew what troubles omegas brought to a pack. He took Trevor to the council. Then he returned him about a year ago and told us that the council was able to change him. That he was no longer an omega.”
Micah looked to Trevor. “Where were you for those nineteen years?”
“I don’t know exactly. I was tied up, gagged, and blindfolded in the middle of the night and dragged from my home. When I woke up, I was in this dark place. It reminded me of a cave, but not. It was huge. There was no way out. No doors or windows. It was set up like an apartment though, but in one big space. Bedroom, kitchen, living room, bathroom. I was there for over a month without contact from anyone. Then one day a big man showed up. He was much older, and he had a white beard―”
“Did he have dark eyes? Like lifeless, but evil?” Jesse cut him off.
“Yes.”
“That sounds like the man I saw in the Underworld,” Jesse replied.
Micah nodded and looked back to Trevor. “Go on,” he encouraged.
“He told me that I was being kept there for my own protection. That my pack had already been blessed with a birthed omega, and if the alpha found out that I was an omega also, that he would have me killed. I spent five years there with the man only coming in once a month to bring me food, books, and DVDs, and then he would leave. Then one day he showed up and he stayed. He said that things were getting really bad in the paranormal world, and he would stay with me to make sure the alpha didn’t find me. After a few weeks, he started touching me. Then he started…you know.” Trevor looked down as shame crossed his face.
“Did he force you, Trevor?” Jesse asked gently.
“Yes,” he whispered.
“It wasn’t your fault, Trevor. He took advantage of you. He raped you. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not ashamed of that.” His voice was soft and full of pain.
“Then what is it?”
“He would hurt me really bad if I fought him. So I…” Trevor choked on a sob.
“So you stopped fighting him and just let him take what he wanted,” Jesse finished for him. Trevor nodded and kept his head down. Jesse went to him and wrapped his arms around him, comforting him. “You did what you had to do to survive, Trevor. There is nothing wrong or shameful about that.”
Micah looked at James. “Who is this man he speaks of?”
“I don’t know. I never met a man with that description. We dealt with Malachi, Brighton, and Lucian.”
“I never knew his name,” Trevor said from Jesse’s arms. “He spent a whole year there with me, and then one day said he needed to go back and do more work. After that, he showed up once a week, until a year ago. He came and told me that it was time to go back to my pack. He said that something big was coming, and I needed to be here. He stated that once I returned to my pack, my omega powers would start to show up and the pack would need them to protect itself. He drugged me with something and I passed out. When I woke up, I
was lying in the grass over there.” He pointed to a spot in the gardens next to the house. “Alpha Angel found me and brought me inside. I told him everything I told you. He kept me here safe and away from the rest of the pack. He said that he didn’t trust anyone in the pack anymore, except for those he had living under his roof. Like Fallon, Quincy, Tatum, and Ash. When I met all of them, I knew instantly that Fallon was my mate. Alpha Angel was so happy for us that he threw us a small party with those of us here.
“One day he told us that he had been suspicious of his brother, Lucian, for many years, but that he found some evidence that linked Lucian to a powerful witch named Malachi. He confided in us that he had been working secretly with a member of the council for over two hundred years and they were trying to find out what Malachi was up to. Now that he had the evidence that they had been looking for, he needed to go meet with his contact on the council. He made Fallon his beta and put him in charge when he left.”
“Did he say who his contact was on the council?” Micah asked.
“Yes. He told us and made us promise to never tell anyone. He said that we were the only ones he trusted. When he returned he was very upset. He said that he feared for his friend, the man on the council. They were worried that Malachi and his followers would strike soon and that the council would be taken out. He was so worried and upset that we all thought that there was maybe something going on between him and the council member…romantically speaking. He always got this wistful smile on his face whenever he mentioned the king.”
“The king?” Dante asked in surprise.
“Yes, King Marco Alessandro Calabrese. The king of the vampires. That was Papa’s contact on the council.”
“Papa?” Micah said in a whisper.