Aurora's POV
I sat on the dungeon floor, face down in anguish as my encounter burned into memory. It was like some force was trying to mess with me, mess with my head. I woke up years after being killed and now I have a mate, a new one after the last one took part in my murder.
"The guards said you won't eat," someone said from the shadows. He stepped out wearing a radiating smile and also bearing the mark of the betas on his neck.
"I have this fetish for girls in cages, it turns me on,"
"You are his beta. Did he send you? Tell him I'm not playing your games, if he wants to mess with me, he should come do it himself,"
"Feisty!" He purred, his grin displaying just how excited he was.
"I would have definitely loved a girl like you in a different circumstance. Now, I'm here for business,"
"Business?"
"Uh…uh. I don't know who you are but something feels off," he replied , pacing back and forth. It was normal that he might have felt the matelink Kane and I established. Betas and Alpha have a connection just as similar as the one with mates, it's a bond between souls.
"What are you? Sorry… who are you?"
"Doesn't matter," I dropped my head once more. I was disoriented, the room wouldn't stop swirling.
"Nothing matters,"
"You intrigue me stranger, I guess…"
He paused as the door creaked open and Kane walked in.
"It's a glorious morning and you are just as handsome as ever,"
"What are you doing here, Rod?" He asked. He turned to me but he wouldn't look me in the eyes. He must have been feeling tension as I was.
"She's my prisoner,"
"Hey! You have no problem with me," Rod backed up, smiling warmly.
"I will see you around, cage girl,"
He waited for his beta to step out before he opened the prison bars.
"Come with me,"
********
I could barely see anything with my blurred vision. He seemed to notice as he grabbed my hand to lead the way. The zapping feeling I had when our hands touched was almost familiar, similar to what I felt with Alphonso. To some, that feeling should come with a satisfaction but it was just fuel to my burning fate. That sensation was tied to a painful moment of my life.
"Get in," he helped me into a massive bedroom. Judging from the scent that the bed gave off, it was his room.
"I'm older," I groaned as I sat back on the chair.
"What?"
"If what you say is true and you are the little kid I met years ago, I'm older," I responded .
"Why should that be a topic?" He handed me a map.
"The river is what separates us from Crimson and my mate was taken from a settlement close to the riverbanks. Do you have any idea where they would have taken her?"
"Yes… yes I do. In fact, I saw her about a month ago," I answered with a goofy expression.
"What part of I just woke up in the woods don't you understand? I don't even know the map I'm looking at and I knew the map by heart,"
"The map has changed six times in the past ten years, empires keep falling and new ones are built. More silver mines had been developed, so more slaves,"
"That's how he pays for the war, he is using the mines to dig out silver," I muttered.
"Eat this," he placed a fruit basket in front of me.
"You are not going to be any use to me if you are constantly fighting hunger,"
I was hesitant but I couldn't deny the hunger that made my stomach rumble like an earthquake.
"Kane!" Rod pushed the door open.
"Oh…sorry to interrupt you with your guest prisoner"
"What do you want?"
"You need to come with me to the council room, it's urgent," Rod replied with a serious countenance.
"The council Chambers? But there is __" hHis expression suddenly shifted, as if he had just realized something.
"One moment. Don't go anywhere," he said before walking out with Rod.
I grabbed an apple and headed out with them. I had no idea where I was going but I followed his scent, all the way to the other side of the Alpha mansion. The huge pillars reminded me of Crimson, my pack house.
I bit into the apple as I approached a large room filled with noise and arguments. Men were cursing and quarreling among themselves.
"Halt!" A guard held me back by the door.
"Only Elders are allowed in here. Tell the Chief maid that if she wants to deliver something with one of her girls, she should come herself,"
"Oh, the Chief maid is sick. She's not feeling too well and I have to pass a message to the beta," I said with a slender tone and misty eyes that didn't seem to faze him.
"Okay, tell me and I will pass it along," He replied, his gravely voice making my heart tremble.
"You are not allowed in,"
"It's a matter of pack importance. I was told to deliver it only to him," I said, letting tears roll down my cheek as I chewed on my apple.
"Please… I don't want to be killed. Do you want to be the reason for my death?"
"Uh…" he stuttered, looking both ways for an answer.
"You have five minutes and if you are not out by then, I will be the reason for your death,"
"Thank you," I wiped off my tears as he pushed open the door. The arguments were even louder than I thought it was. Kane's disapproving stare fell on me the moment I walked in. He sat at the head of the table while the other men argued between themselves.
"You have been silent, Alpha Kane!" One of them thundered.
"Our resources, our limited resources that are being used to cater for the slaves you saved, are still shared with other packs. How do we survive?"
"What do you want me to say? You held a meeting without my approval, and now you expect me to speak?"
Silence instantly fell over the room as he rose to his feet. His gaze swept across each of them before finally landing on me—making every head turn in my direction.
"Who is she?" They whispered among themselves. I walked carefully to Rod who stood at the edge of the room, sharpening his dagger.
"Hello again," he muttered when I approached.
"Here to join the fun?"
"Are these the members of the Elders court?"
"These are the pioneers of our great pack," he replied as he sheathed the blade.
"Stay, observe,"
"Food is depleting, our children are starving and we are feeding the public? Why? Why should we prioritize other people that are not our kin?"
"What defines kin?" He asked huskily and once again the room became silent.
"Many of you in this table are not originally from Crescent but yet you are kin. These people backed us up when we needed them and I'm not going to abandon them,"
I knew the major reason why he shared the resources was to keep our secret because an alpha first instinct was always to protect his people. Sharing the little he had was only dooming them.
"Our supply from the north has been cut off, so we have nothing coming. Our food will run out in a month tops,"
"Not necessarily," I uttered from the corner. Kane's expression hardened, though the flicker of shock at me speaking was impossible for him to hide.
"Who is she?" An elder asked fiercely.
"Why is a random refugee speaking?"
"I …"
"I told her to speak," Rod replied before I could.
"Does anyone have a problem with that?" He asked with a cold am and a frosty look that sent shivers through me.
"Go on," Kane said.
"Late Alpha Ray of Crimson had a food shed, not far east of here. I noticed that the town was still there on the map, so …"
"You want us to steal food from the people trying to exterminate us? And the town you are talking about is now a settlement camp for refuge," An elder retorted sharply.
"You are talking about a storage that has not been used for ten years,"
"He built it to store food for twenty. They are preserved that way, he spent a lot of coins on it,"
"How do you know so much about this storage?" Another elder asked. The question caught me off guard because I had nothing to come up with. I glanced at Kane for an answer but he was just as dumbfounded as I was.
"Her father helped build the storage," Rod supplied.
"I also heard tales of it as a boy. The food can last us months before we device a way out,"
" You want us to send troops on a host hunt to find food that might not exist?" Another countered with the same fears that were on their minds.
"Not a troop," Kane said as he walked up to me.
"I will be taking her alone to check it out,"
"That is absurd!" They blurted.
"You are the alpha, you can't be putting yourself at risk. What about your people?"
"Enough!" He growled, freezing everyone in place.
"I will be leaving, first light tomorrow,"
His eyes darted towards me causing pressure to pent up within my chest.
"You better be right about this,"