[Book One in a three-part series]
At the age of twenty-six, Slater still hasn't met his mate and the pack elders are running out of patience. They want him to either take a mate or step down as alpha. To keep the pack out of the hands of his younger...
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Within a few hours, all the audience members and crew that had been forcing the wolves to fight were gone. Now came the hard part: moving all the caged wolves into the truck.
One by one, we moved the cages from the room and loaded them into vans where doctors waited. Some wolves were easier than others to move. Some lay still on the ground, probably from fear, as we moved them. Others snarled, growled, and fought like their lives depended on it. Well, in their eyes, their lives did depend on it.
The more we moved, the more I began to realize just how many wolves were kept in this hell hole. We've had the building on our radar for months now, but we didn't want to rush in until we knew just how many wolves were inside.
Even now, it felt like much more than we were expecting.
"There's no way we'll be able to accommodate all these wolves when we get back," Indiana told me as her eyes followed the warriors carrying cages out.
"I know," I told her honestly. "I'll have to talk to Alpha Emerson and Alpha Bowen and see if they'll be able to house a few of them for the time being."
Originally, the plan was for Alpha Emerson and Alpha Bowen's packs to help when it came to rescuing the rogues and then we would take them back to my pack, the Silver Crescent, but now that idea doesn't seem like it'll work anymore. There were more rescues than we originally thought.
"Alpha, I've found something!" My head warrior, Emilia, called out. My head turned in her direction as she moved a group of boxes out of the way. Behind them is a small door.
Frowning to myself, I made my way over to her as she turned the doorknob, but it didn't budge. Emilia took a step back before she slammed into the door, effectively busting it open.
Inside the room were children. Children who look way too young to shift. They stared at us with big eyes and shook with fear. My stomach churned at the sight of them.
I knew the man, Alfie McClain, was a monster, but this was something else entirely.
One of the older kids glared at me and tried to mask her fear. She moves in front of the smaller children and meets my eyes.
"Go away!" She demanded.
My eyes softened and I slowly crouched down to her level. "We're not here to hurt you."
The young girl doesn't budge. "You're lying, just like he was," she accused.
I shook my head. "I promise you I'm not. My name's Slater and this is Emilia. We don't want to hurt you, we only want to help you get out of here."
The girl still stared at me with a suspicious look, but one of the little boys peaked from behind her.
"Really?"
The boy didn't look like he could be older than five. His face was covered with dirt and his blonde hair was a matted mess.
I nodded and offered him a smile. "Really."
The girl pushed the boy back behind her and I fought back a sigh.
"How about you come out with me and I'll show you nothing's wrong? We'll even let you all stay together."
The girl still looked skeptical, but she nodded slowly. I extended my hand to her and the group of what appeared to be around ten children slowly followed me out. They all stayed huddled together and their eyes looked around the room with both fear and curiosity.
Behind them, Emilia followed as she made sure some of the younger ones were okay. When we made it outside and to the van, Emilia and I helped the children inside where Doctor Monroe sat. We weren't expecting young children to be here, but I'm glad that Dr. Monroe tagged along since children were here specialty.
As she talked to them, I slowly backed away and made my way back inside the building. Growls were the first thing I was met with when I reentered the room where the caged wolves were. Two warriors were trying to move one of the wolves and the closer I got, the more I realized just who it was.
I quickly approached them and took the cage from them. The wolf's head turned up to me and our eyes connected. It stared at me with a mixture of confusion, fear, and anger before it let out a growl. The wolf thrashed around its cage as I took it outside. I placed the cage in the back of the first van before I stared into the wolf's eyes.
"I'm not going to hurt you mate; no one is," I promised. "Not anymore - I'm never going to let anyone touch you."
The wolf stopped growling momentarily before it resumed. Sighing to myself, I slowly backed away from it and closed the door. As much as I wanted to stay with my mate and let them know that everything was going to be okay, I needed to get the rest of the wolves out as well.
So I took one last look in the direction of the van before I turned around to go back inside. When I got home, I'd make sure they were okay and take care of them, but right now I needed to help the others.
Inside the room was partly empty but we still and a ways to go. So I took a deep breath, pushed the thoughts of my newfound mate away, and moved to go and join the others.
We spent what felt like the whole day moving wolf after wolf, but it was worth it in the end. When the building was finally cleared out, we checked to make sure there weren't any other hidden rooms before leaving.
Moving all the wolves was the easy part, but now came the hard part of finding them places to stay, helping them get better, and dealing with everyone who was involved.
I sighed at that. As tiring as it would be, it was worth it though. My eyes traveled to the van where my mate was inside and I nodded.
It was definitely worth it.
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