meant by breeder and why the size of my balls mattered. Still, I listened as the two men talked.
“What do you have to report?”
“We managed to take out twenty of Michael’s wolves, ending with his Beta Capo, the boy’s father, Sir.”
“And the mother?”
“My group and I had fun with her before I left my boys to dispatch the bitch.”
“Women are only good for breeding and satisfying a man’s needs. I would have liked to have one who’d been proven to produce natural-borns, but after what you did to her and her husband, it was probably for the best that you ended her life,” the Alpha said.
Hearing them speak about my family in such harsh words, with no emotion or sympathy for what they had done to them, for what they had put us all through, enraged me. I hated them, but I hated Winston more. Hell, I hated this pack, and I realized I’d rather die than be a part of it. I didn’t know what it was inside of me that made my little legs move, but I took off running as fast as I could. My heart was beating like a drum as I jumped over logs and felt the grass and twigs crunching under my every footfall. I could sense that someone was in pursuit of me, most likely Winston.
“I will kill you, boy!” his roared behind me.
I ran as fast as I could and just when I made it back to the stream, I was jerked backward by the scruff of my neck and slung to the cold, unforgiving ground. Winston towered over me, a snarl on his face that shook me with fear to my very soul. Tears, more tears flowed down my cheeks. I was so ashamed that I felt this weak. Was crying the only thing I could do?
“You ungrateful wretch!” Winston growled, then kicked me hard in my stomach. I gagged, nearly vomiting up the breakfast I’d recently eaten.
I covered my abdomen with my arms to best protect myself from several other kicks he dealt me. The one to my back was particularly painful. So much so, I felt it vibrate through my spine. I begged him to stop, and when his boot struck my face, everything went black.
~*~
It was the sound of something moving around that began to pull me from unconsciousness. I opened my eyes slowly, because the light, even though dim, was still too blinding. I brought my hand up to shield my gaze as my vision went from blurry to clear. My head ached and I felt nauseous, so I swallowed hard to keep the bile down. Immediately, I noticed I was laying on something softer than the fur I’d slept on the night before. It was a cushion-like mattress, a real bed. I sat up and looked around, noticing that I was no longer in a tent, but a home with a roaring fireplace on the other side of the room. I looked down to see I was no longer naked, but wearing a long, white gown, which was very warm.
“About time you came to,” a voice I recognized said.
I turned to see my captor sitting at a table by the window, eating what looked to be hen and dates with bread and wine. My stomach growled as the scent of the savory food seduced my nostrils. I was starving, but I was also scared of what was going to happen to me since I’d tried to escape.
“Come over here and eat, boy,” Winston said, then kicked the chair out from under the table for me to sit.
I climbed out of the bed and walked over to the chair, taking a seat. I scooted back up to the table to look down at the plate that had been set for me. I reached down, pulling a piece of the roasted hen apart and stuffed it into my mouth.
“What do you say?” Winston asked.
“Thank… you, Sir,” I managed to say around the meat in my mouth.
He snorted, then took a swig of his wine. “Do you know why you are still alive?”
I swallowed hard, trying not to choke on the meat. “No, Sir.”
“Because I respected your attempt to flee. That took guts, Deacon. You may have pissed your pants the night we met, but you’re a brave lad. Under my tutelage, you will grow up to be a grand wolf. Maybe even rising to a Beta Capo, like me. We lost a lot of wolves in this war