Page 72 of Mated By the Pack
“Damn it, Calla,” I mutter. “This isn’t what we agreed to.”
“What’s so bad about Haven North, huh?” she questions. “I’m not saying it doesn’t have its flaws, and I know you guys think it’s just a breeding colony, but it’s home to a lot of people. Good people.”
“Good people, hiding behind a wall, because they’re scared of what is lurking in the dark,” I growl. “So scared, they exiled the ones who helped them fucking build it.”
“Wait, you… you built the wall?” Calla’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“More than that,” I grunt, my eyes flickering with anger. “We protected them. After the solar flare ended the Great War, the world was in chaos. We came home—well, to what was left of it. We weren’t leaders, but we tried to help. We fed them. We built settlements. We were still learning how to shift. Learning how to control the call of the wild. But we weren’t animals. Not entirely.”
“I didn’t realize…” Calla says.
“Once they had their wall, they didn’t need us anymore. Those in charge knew what we were, and they used it against us. Convinced people we should be thrown out of the city we helped build,” I sigh. “That should have been enough to make us hate humans, but it took losing Silas for us to finally be done with them.”
“What happened?” Calla asks apprehensively. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“After we were banished from Haven North, we made our way south. Found other settlements. Blended in for a while. Helped where we could.” I blink hard, feeling the emotions stir. “We kept what we were to ourselves, but people noticed we were different. Not many well-fed giants with gold eyes running around back then. Still aren’t, I guess, except for the hybrids.”
“There were more of you then, right?” Calla moves closer. “Brothers and… sisters, too?”
“Yes,” I confirm. “Slavers were the first thing we had to deal with. They came for our sisters. Shifting was harder back then. It took a toll, and the slavers were heavily armed. We settled in The Tangle after that. Hybrids and trihybrids were the biggest threats. We got stronger. Learned to control the call of the wild better, so we could rely on our wolves a lot more. But that didn’t come without a price, and we dug more graves than anyone should ever have to dig.”
“Silas was one of them?” she asks.
“The last one,” I mutter. “We were down to six. The five of us and Silas. He was our leader. The winter was brutal that year. Our food reserves were running low. We went to The Outpost to barter. Trinkets, silver, and other things we had collected. We would have been fine with rations, even though we hate them. We were starving.”
“The humans didn’t want to trade?” Calla tilts her head, paying close attention to what I’m saying.
“They did. One promised us meat. Said he had some in his warehouse, so we made a deal,” I sigh. “Except it was an ambush.There was no meat. Not meat we wanted to eat. They were cannibals.”
“Oh, no!” Her eyes get wide.
“It was awful. They had people in cages, keeping them fresh. Until they were ready to slaughter them. The cannibals were no match for us. We killed them all and didn’t feel bad about turning them into a decent meal, despite their meat tasting foul.” I shudder and shake my head. “We helped the ones they were holding prisoner. Freed them and took them to Haven South, since that’s where most of them were from.”
“This was before Haven South burned?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I confirm. “We got them home, but they weren’t grateful. They fucking betrayed us. Silas didn’t have a chance to shift before the knife went in his back. All because they wanted our damn silver.”
“I heard things were rather bad in Haven South,” Calla murmurs. “Before the fire.”
“They were.” I blink a few more times as the memories come flooding back. “That’s why Caleb burned the fucking place to the ground.”
“Wow, really?” Calla blinks in surprise. “The entire city? He’s the one who set the fire?”
“There were no innocent people in that hellhole,” I growl. “Just a bunch of murderers, thieves, and bandits. We should have left the ones we found in their fucking cages instead of taking them home. That’s what Caleb wanted to do to begin with. Knox, too. But Silas was our leader. Jace, Vance, and I supported him when he said we should try to help them.”
“That’s why Caleb doesn’t talk much,” she sighs, looking in the direction of our midnight haired brother. “He blames you.”
“Yeah,” I mumble, then motion ahead. “We’re almost there.”
“I just see a wall,” Calla says, looking around. “There’s a way in?”
“Tunnels.” I point toward a shimmer of metal. “Most people don’t know they’re out here, but they’ll get us inside. Probably how the slavers are getting in, too.”
“Oh, I see it.” Calla nods. “It looks like the hatch at the bunker.”
“I need to talk to my brothers,” I say. “Take the others over there and wait for us.”
I make eye contact with my brothers and motion for them to peel off from the group. I’m not looking forward to this. Silas could decide, and we would fall in line, even if we did so begrudgingly. I may be going through some changes. Getting bigger. Stronger. An Alpha, according to Vance. But I’m no leader. I vowed I never would be.
