The Hunters

Chapter Four - Prisoners

The first few days we were kept in cages made from silver. While we were kept in separate cages, at least they were side by side each other.

Those first few days we didn't eat. We both cried and grieved for the loss of our friends and family. Our entire lives had been erased and our future was now uncertain. We hardly spoke to each other. We were too busy wallowing in our sorrows.

"You two best snap out of it," another female voice called from further down in the basement or dungeon. Whatever one would call such a dark and dreary place. There were many cages. Some were empty and some held other werewolves. Most of them looked feral as if they were more wolf than human.

I was laying in the center of the cage, curled up into a little ball. I wanted to ignore her. I wanted to ignore the rest of the world forever and fade away into nothing.

"If you want to survive, you two have got to get past whatever happened to you no matter the travesty," she urged. Her voice sounded older, but I didn't look. I hadn't looked at anyone.

"She's right, Alana " I heard River's voice for the first time in two days. "We have got to find a way out of here."

I still lied there on the tattered blanket one of the guards had given me, completely unmoving. I felt such emptiness that it didn't matter if I was trapped in a cell or free outside.

"They will eventually kill us. They have no use for us," she urged me.

"There's no where for us to go," I croaked out finally. "They are gone."

"They wouldn't want us to die. We lived for a reason," she tried again to encourage me.

"Sounds like she has survivors guilt," the woman spoke again. I forced my weakened body to sit up. "There is freedom out there. Anywhere even no where is better than this. You don't want this misery," the old woman spoke.

"Shut up!" I heard a thundering voice echo down the damp hallway. The door had swung open and a few men were now walking towards us. One of them I recognized from the night of the attack. He was their alpha.

River scrambled to her feet and prepared herself for self defense as if she was already under attack. Her midnight colored hair fell around her pale face in tangles. Piercing eyes shooting their gaze as the approaching werewolves.

I simply sat there, swallowing my fear the best I could. My green eyes narrowed into a poisonous glare.

He stopped in front of our silver cells, his eyes shifting from one to the other.

"I am Alpha Remus of the New Moon Pack," his voice scent a shiver down my spine as his gaze lingered on me uncomfortably. "Neither of you have any place to go. I have decided to keep you both here as servants."

"You mean Slaves?" I growled at him. River glared at me and I knew she meant for em to keep my mouth shut.

"Whatever you want to call it," he chuckled. "I will have one of the guards take you two to live among the omegas, and I promise you... if wither of you try to escape or do anything stupid," he paused for a moment. A sheepish grin kept onto his features. "You will be punished. You will be made a mockery of in front of everyone." One of the guards was making gestures with his tongue and laughing. We knew what he meant. He meant to publicly defile us. "Depending on the severity, you will be dismembered and killed," he stated before turning to one of the guards and giving him a nodd.

"You have no leverage, we won't obey," I weakly rose to my feet, slightly swaying. I felt light headed from lying in the cage for days. He turned to look at me again.

"I will have fun breaking you. I promise you that," he said in almost a hiss before turning on his heels and storming off.

"Alana, stop this foolishness," River called out. One of the two guards reached for his keys and opened my cell door to release me. He pulled out silver hand cuffs bounded together by a chain, and placed them around my wrists. He then took out an herb and brought it up to my lips.

"Eat this if you want to be out of the cells. It's a small amount of wolfsbane, just enough to keep you from being able to shift," he explained. I nodded and ate the herb. Afterwards, we were taken to a distant wing in pack house where the omegas stayed.

The pack house was much larger than the one at the Full Moon Pack. I felt like I could get lost in there. It sat in the rolling hills, overlooking an expansive ever-green forest. The wing for the omegas consistent of only a couple of rooms with multiple, small beds.

When we entered the room, it was completely empty. They all must have been working. Being stuck in the cells, River and I had no idea what time of day it was.

"You two will report to Sasha. She is a pack member tasked with the care and oversight of the omegas. Neither of you are allowed to leave the pack house since you are prisoners," he explained and with perfect timing a shewolf I assumed was Sasha appeared. She had beautiful tanned skin and chocolate brown hair that fell past her shoulders.

"I can take it from here," she told the guard.

"If they get into any trouble, you will lose your standing," he warned her firmly. River and I merely looked at one another in confusion. Sasha laughed at his remark.

"Your job is to keep everyone here in line. My f**k up will fall on your shoulders," she warned him with such fire in her voice before turning her attention to us. "Get into any trouble and I'll have Farrel here cut off one of your fingers," she warned us. "Or I can turn you two into whores for the unmated males," her eyes narrowed.

Mated werewolves shared a strong bond. They knew when each other would sleep with another. Their inner wolves would also protest such a despicable act. It happened, but it wasn't like it was among humans.

"We won't cause any trouble," River quickly replied. It was sort of strange seeing her so complacent despite being a beta wolf. She had enough power to probably take out both of these two on her own despite not being able to shift due to the wolfsbane in our system. Yet, as we saw on our way to this side of the pack house, an unplanned escape was going to be impossible. There were many werewolves wandering around. Too many unfriendly, watchful eyes. There was no way she could overcome all of them.

"Good," Sasha said. "You two can have the two beds on the end towards the window. I have clothes I want you to wear laid out already on them. Your first assignment is going to be cleaning," she explained.

The guard took that moment to slip away from us and back to whatever work he had been assigned to do.

"Every night and every morning you will eat wolfsbane to keep you from shifting. If you refuse, I have orders to have you escorted back to the cells. If you end up there you are subject to Alpha Remus's punishment and I promise you it is far worse than anything you will endure with me," she paused before pulling a key from her pocket snd unlocking our silver cuffs. "Try to escape and the pack has orders to kill you on sight," she warned.

At least we weren't locked in the cells anymore. Now maybe we actually stood a chance of escape. Though part of me still wondered if I should even try. Nothing was out there for me. Yet I could still hear the older female's voice from the dungeon in the back of my mind.

No where is better than here.