Chapter 29
The warriors surrounded the pack grounds. They gathered everyone they could find, from the very old to the teenagers.
A warrior stood before them. "Do any of you know what has been happening in this pack, in the buildings two miles away on your pack lands?"
To the warriors' disgust, almost all of them raised their hands, except for the very old and some of the younger teenagers. The warriors took those who didn’t know to another house under guard. The others looked around at each other.
"Tell us, pack members, where is your leader?"
"Who is in charge right now?"
One of the females looked at another male in fear, but she spoke up anyway. "Alpha Michael has been gone for some time now; no one knows where he is or when he will return. The Beta is dead, killed by the Alpha. We are unsure who or where the next ones in charge are."
"We all knew that really bad things were going on. The Alpha and Beta threatened us all; if we talked or tried to leave, they would hunt us down and kill our whole family and our neighbor's family."
"At first, we thought it was an empty threat until the Davis's left. They went after them. When they brought them back, they were all executed in front of us, then they did the same to their neighbor's family."
"We were too afraid after that. It was like he had eyes everywhere. If we complained, our pups would come up missing, especially if they were young or female."
"We all had to keep ourselves from under the Alpha's radar."
"There are two more places you need to know about: the orphanage and the party house. They are on the other side of the wooded area; there is a path easy enough to see and follow."
The leader of the werebear group sent 25 warriors to check these houses out. When the warriors got to the first house, the music was so loud you could feel the beat in your body. They looked at each other with a smile—time to crash the party. All 25 warriors crashed in through every entry point. In the main room were six male werewolves, all looking to be around their early twenties. They surrounded them, tied them up, and gagged them.
"Will someone find the source of that shitty music and shut it off?"
One of the warriors found the player and smashed it against the wall—silence. They started looking around. Upstairs had four bedrooms; all of them were a mess. When they found the door to the basement, they found six female werewolves, all chained to the walls with silver chains. All of them were in bad shape; two of them pleaded for them to kill them. The place was filthy and damp. One warrior for each victim, as they carried them out, the females wanted to stop when they saw the males.
Each one of the females, no matter how weak they were, rejected the males as their mates. The males started to roll around in pain. Each one of the males was tied to another rope as a warrior each started to drag them down the path.
The remaining thirteen warriors went on to the next house. This one was a little bigger and quiet. It was as if it was sleeping. They all rushed the house, coming in from every entry point. The ground floor was dark and empty; it looked like the setting for a school.
This time, they went to the basement first; they didn't find anyone—it was just full of supplies. They went up to the first floor; it had two doors. Upon opening them, they were in the sleeping area of the male pups, bunk beds lined the walls. In the other room, the same, only it was for females.
They went to wake them up but discovered they were drugged. They decided to leave them where they were for a minute and search the rest of the house. When they got to the third floor, it was one giant room. There, they were met with two males and three females. They managed to tie them up and gag them fairly easily.
When they looked around the room, it was lined with several cribs. There were fourteen of them, all of which had an infant pup in them. All of the infants seemed like they were drugged as well. One of the warriors called the leader and told him what was going on and they needed more warriors to come to remove all the pups.
Once everything was done and all the houses were empty, they loaded the innocent people onto a bus to be taken to another pack. The rest, such as the six young males, would be taken to the Royal Gardens to meet with the king. Six other older males were also singled out and taken with the first six.
The other pack members that knew but did nothing were to stay and watch them burn it all down. Once that was done, they would be split up and given to other packs as servants.
When they were done that night, nothing was left of Rising Moon Pack but embers and ash.
Twelve males total now stood before Jack and Duncan. They ordered the guards to place them in the dungeons until the king decided to deal with them.
Duncan let out a sigh. "So the Alpha is still missing; the Beta is dead by the hands of the Alpha. We got six of the ones that were in charge or knew too much to be innocent, plus those six males who were torturing their mates so they could sell them to the Alpha."
"Yeah, that about sums up this shit show. What I really want to know, Duncan, is where is Alpha asshole shitface hiding?"
"We better get to looking harder. I don't want that piece of rotten shit popping out and causing more trouble."
"I will go inform the King that these twelve have arrived. Jack, why don't you go down and have a little fun with the prisoners? I have sensed for a while now that you need to let loose some of that anger."
"Yeah, you're right. I think I will go down and welcome those twelve pieces of shit to the Royal Dungeons. I mean, it's only fair to them that they learn the rules and what is expected of them. Don't want them complaining that they don't know what to do."
Duncan knocked on the King's chamber door. The King was no longer who he once was. He was quiet and somber. He was angry at his son for doing what he did and for what he had to do to stop him. He would always smile, though, when Adira came to visit; she was getting bigger by the day, and seeing her helped him to forget that anger for a little while.
Duncan stopped before the King, "Your Highness, we have twelve guests in the dungeon that are awaiting your notice."
"Duncan, I think for these twelve we will hold a public trial and execution. I will sit as King for this trial, and all the council will also be in attendance. I want everything that they have done made public."
"I want pictures and video of it all shown at the trial. I want everyone to see why the Rising Moon pack will no longer exist. Nor will the name be allowed for another pack to use. I want them all to see what happens when you break the laws of our world."
"I will see it done, Your Highness." Duncan bowed and left the room. The King turned to the window with a sigh. Things felt wrong with the world now; it felt empty and lifeless.
Oh, he was sure in time he would deal with it all easier. He also knew that a part of him died that day, and he would never be the same again. Time heals all wounds—whoever said that should be flogged and shoved in a closet to be forgotten. LIE
A Small interlude set in the future****
In the spring, three mages and a group of witnesses gathered around a small place in the middle of a clearing in the forest. It was a wonderful spring day; the sun shined through the trees with their newly formed leaves, a gentle breeze moved around playfully as everything was coming back to life after a harsh winter.
Before them were the bodies of the six females that had died, each was wrapped in white silk. Each one lay on a bed of rose petals. Each one laid at the bottom of a grave that was dug out carefully in the ground.
The three mages stood before them, as the earth filled in around them, as if it had a mind of its own to do so. Then the mages magically erected a stone archway in the center of the grave site. Flowers began to grow and cover the graves in a perfect circle.
Hanging from the archway were moon flowers in an unusual shade of lavender that seemed to change its color as the wind would pass by.
On the top of the archway was a golden plaque. It read, "Here they lay, six beautiful females. We do not know their names, their families, or anything of their lives before they met a terrible fate. We named them all beautiful."
On the plaque were six words, all of them written in a different language that when translated would read the word beautiful.
The mages announced that this place would remain sacred. The flowers will bloom every year from spring to fall and sleep in the winter. If anyone needed to be reminded of the good of this world, they need only come here and stand in the flowers.
No storms of nature nor hands of man can destroy this sacred site. Children may pick the flowers without harm; no adult must pick them, though, to do so is an invitation to join the dead.
Standing in the middle of the group was an older werebear named Oliver; on his shoulders was a little girl, she held on to his hands, as she watched the ceremony.