The Alpha Luna's Veiled Emotions

SEVEN

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC SCENES.

Next time.

He had said it would get better, next time.

And there had been lots and lots of next times.

But the next time had come and gone too many times, and it hadn't gotten better. Once, twice a day sometimes, Kane would find me and take me just like he had the first time. His hands pinched and slapped, grabbed, and groped. He was greedy with his touches, demanding with every thrust. He was unceremonious. He took me in the hallway, frightened-looking Omegas running the other direction when they accidentally caught us. Each time he finished, he praised me. Caressed my face. told me that he loved me, that he was sorry, but my body was weary.

After that first, pain-filled night, he had left me alone for two days. I was told I had to do my "duty" by him, but I had hardly been able to get out of bed, the pain of his infidelity still echoing. I had finally started to feel better, and that night at dinner he had been immensely sweet, gentle, and caring. He had convinced me I was making him a changed man, and that he was sorry - his male urges had just overcome him.

Sometimes I wondered if he thought I was stupid.

I realized why he had been so happy at dinner that night, after the doctor had spoken to him, when he took me roughly in the shower, pounding into me so hard that I had split my own lip from biting down on it.

He had made sure I was fertile.

He fed me three meals a day, and I took a few daily vitamins that were supposed to promote a "healthy womb". The food was mediocre at best, but I still ate. The doctor had told him that one, two times a day, was the most that was necessary to get me pregnant, so when he was done with me, he moved on to his whores. Especially when he was drunk, his whores were his favorite. I wept in pain a few times a week. But every time my cycle came, like clockwork, each month, he would get especially angry. Alex would come to me, and usually, I was delirious from the pain. He would carry me to the bed, and apologize, profusely. How funny it was that a man of such few words could apologize so much for something that wasn't his fault.

Months passed though, and I did my duty.

I was locked away in the office for most of the day. I signed paychecks for outside staff, prepares schedules, and created supply lists. Soon I started being given correspondence that needed replies. We sent gifts to packs that didn't ask for them. I offered treaties that I learned Kane had no intention of honoring, but he would do anything to save face, wouldn't he? In my spare time, I sorted through the office, through boxes. One particularly rough morning, I had accidentally come across a box of pack files. And another. I probably wouldn't have gone through them, but I had been kept up late by his screwing, and breakfast hadn't even been palatable, and I was feeling bitter. I hadn't known what to expect - the filing system of Blood Moon was incredibly disorganized, but I had been pleasantly surprised.

One box contained member files. It didn't include everyone in the pack, but when I could, I read about those it did list. The young girl from the kitchen on that first day, regularly tended to me, bringing me meals. The smile brought to her face when I addressed her by her name - Sarah - had been dazzling and heartbreaking at the same time. How long had it been since she had been called by her Goddess-given name? I recognized some of the warriors that guarded the front door, and the backyard that I could see from the bedroom. One of them, Byron, was my age. He had been one of the old Alpha's nephews, and I had originally been surprised to see him alive, but when I caught sight of his face and saw how much his once handsome, young face had been destroyed, I understood. He had completely lost his left eye, and I never once saw him smile.

The other box contained pack finances.

Account numbers, ledgers, and even a few passwords. Years of pack tax information. Business names, and records. The boxes had been so well tucked away, and such a disaster, I had gotten curious. I waited until it was Sarah's turn to supervise my lunch, and opened a private browsing window. I was able to see that though Blood Moon had almost completely wiped out a few accounts, a few looked untouched. I memorized the passwords and had crumbled up the documents before hiding them amidst my lunch trash. Sarah took them away with a smile on her face.

Sometimes it paid to have friends in low places.

I wasn't trying to do anything bad - but the mate bond that my father and mother had spoken praises of my entire life - was wearing thin. Every time Kane laid hands on me, my heart grew further away from him. My wolf growled in my head every time he laid his hands on another woman just down the hall from the bedroom we had been meant to share.

And I was angry at him.

He had lied to me, taken me for a fool. Promised me things he couldn't - or wouldn't - deliver on. It had been four months, almost five now since he had asked me to come along with him, and I had agreed. I hadn't spoken to my family once. He told me that they hadn't sent for me, but I knew in my gut he was lying. He never spent time with me. Actually, he seemed to assume that his niceties would heal any wounds he inflicted. And don't get me wrong, there were a few weeks where I prayed to the Moon Goddess to give me a child, to just give me a pup to be his heir, because for a time I was sure that if I could just do that that he would just accept me. Love me.

Now I prayed that I would never bear a child because Alpha Kane Copeland didn't deserve one.

There were moments where my wolf still howled in pain within me, wanting him, wanting to go to him. There were even moments where my body betrayed me, and oh how he reveled in those moments. But the scent of him grew more bitter and burnt every day. Some days I really thought that he had just been a rogue wolf who got lucky, who was able to fool a council of eighteen Alphas, including my father. I found it harder to hold my tongue around him. Dinner with him was difficult, as he barked orders and shamed Omegas left and right.

Suddenly there was a knock at the office door and I raised my eyes from where they clicked through territory maps that I was supposed to be "reviewing", but I knew all the territories by now. Like the back of my hand. Alex was there, but he looked...unwell. My eyes flashed to the clock on the wall. It was only 3 PM, too early for him to be collecting me.

"Alex?" I asked softly, standing from the desk.

"I-" was all he got out before he collapsed right in front of me.

"Alex!" I screamed, running around the desk to him, and falling to my knees, "Alex, what's wrong?!"

My hands fluttered around him nervously, checking him for injuries, and suddenly I saw it, the large bloom of red spreading onto the floor.

"Alex, stay with me!" I yelled, lifting up his shirt.

I gasped as I saw the damage there. There were huge slashes up his side, the flesh hanging limply. This had been done by a shifted wolf. All at once, I realized what he was wearing. A dirty baseball tee that was a size too big for him, and a pair of gym shorts. He wasn't wearing any shoes, and I could see the trail of blood down the hall. He had to have returned from a shift.

"Ca-Camilla," he hissed, his voice ragged.

"No, no! You stay with me Alex, do you understand?" I insisted, tearing his shirt and trying to bind his wound enough to stall the bleeding, "Help!"

Sarah appeared in the doorway, the young girl's eyes wide and frightened.

"Sarah! Sarah, please, I need you to hold pressure on this," I cried, my voice hitching, but she stood as still as a statue, "Sarah!"

She snapped out of it, lurching forward and burying her hands in the dirty tee shirt we held pressed to his side. I looked up at her, to see her crying silently.

I tried to stall my own tears, to make my voice more calming, as I moved her hands, "Sarah, you cannot let go, do you understand? If you let go, he will die, okay? I'm going to try to get him to the doctor, okay? I'm going to pull him."

He was bigger than me, but luckily he wasn't overly tall. I shook my hands out a few times, Sarah watching me with frightened eyes, but I knew she wouldn't let go. I could do this, he would be okay. he had to be okay. With one last deep breath, I wrapped my arms under his.

"This is going to hurt okay? Okay, big guy? But we have gotta get you to the doctor," I said quietly, "One, two..."

"Camilla, you...the eastern - the eastern border," he breathed, but my count was over, and with one swift yank, I heaved his upper body off the floor, dragging him down the hall, and his words were broken by a cry of pain.

I only got him a few feet down the hall, Sarah scrambling through a trail of blood behind us, trying to keep pressure on his wounds. They were fatal. I knew they were deep down, but I had to try.

Only a handful of Omegas roamed the halls on any given day, but Kane promised there were warriors outside that would keep me from leaving - and so far he had kept that promise at least. If I could just get him downstairs, they could help. He was their Beta! I had to stop for a moment, taking a breather as my arms burned. I counted down again, and heaved once more, eliciting another grunt of pain from him, his head lolling about. Just a few more feet I told myself. Just a few more to the top of the stairs from here. Sarah and I repeated the process a few times, but I grew weaker by the second, my resolve leaving with my strength as I realized how much blood he was losing.

I caught sight of another Omega leaving one of the doors down the hall, "Hey! Hey! You have to help, go downstairs. Please," I cried, "Go get help!"

The Omega just stared at us wide-eyed in horror at the grisly sight in front of him. I growled in frustration and did my best to muster as much of my Alpha tone as possible.

"Your Beta is hurt! Go get help, now!" I insisted.

The Omega took off in an instant, flying down the hall past us, and running down the staircase. I dragged Alex a few more feet, my arms and wrists burning. A bloody hand came up and grabbed my wrist, and I looked down to see Alex's kind brown eyes, the ones that reminded me of the strength and softness of my childhood best friend, my own Beta who waited for me, looking straight into mine.

"Please..." he breathed, "Please...stop."

A sob ripped through me, and I dropped to my knees, cradling his head in my lap as I cried. his hand continued to clutch my wrist, and Sarah's silent, gaspy sobs echoed mine.

"The easter-eastern border," he murmured, quiet enough that I had to crane my head to hear him, "There...there is the river. A...a boat."

My eyes lifted to see Sarah watching him too. She met my eyes and nodded in silent understanding. This was a secret, that much we both knew. I let my eyes go back to Alex's, his breathing getting more laborious by the second.

"Okay," I whispered, "Eastern border. A river. A boat."

He half chuckled, before wincing in pain, "You're...quick."

I smiled, but the tears didn't stop, "Alex. I don't want you to die."

"Hidden...you have to-have to live," he hissed, "But...I need..."

His hand tightened on my wrist, and he fought for air, trying to keep himself alive, trying to keep his mouth moving.

"What? What do you need?" I asked softly, one hand brushing a few stray hairs out of his face.

"My-I need...you...my...my..." he croaked.

"Ah! There's a trail. The traitor wanted to leave some clues!" Kane's voice boomed from below.

Alex's usually calm eyes widened in fear, and for a moment he looked almost crazed, "My...son."

My heart skipped a beat, and he searched my eyes, I nodded frantically, "Yes, yes. I'll get him."

I said the words with a promise in them, though I realized at once what I was promising. He had a son. A son that from what I understood, no one else knew about. Or at the very least - Kane didn't. The river, the boat. It all came together in my mind at once. Moon River was famous for the rushing rapids that flowed through the territory, into no man's land. There were not easy to ride, but more importantly, no wolf had ever survived trying to swim through them.

Alex, with his dying breath, told me how to escape Blood Moon with his son.