Captive Of The Alpha
Chapter 4

The puppies swallowed dryly when they were discovered and a light layer of sweat covered their bodies, but they calmed down when they smelled, at their backs, the scent of their older brother.

-Nico- Alan turned and showed an uncomfortable grimace- We were just taking a walk. We’re going back to our rooms to change for dinner.

The brown-haired wolf, like them, who wore his hair in a long braid down his broad back, looked down the hallway that led to his father’s office at the end.

-Did you hear what he said?” he asked with a frown.

Noa raised her hands in surrender and doubt.

-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” if there was one thing Nicholas never did, it was get upset, but woe betide anyone who was around when it happened.

The older wolf turned his attention back to them, his tone of voice dry and serious.

-You two. Come with me.

There was no reply to his words.

The two pups followed their brother, who after ushering them into his room and checking if there was anyone around, closed the door behind him.

-Apparently they already know.

Alan and Noa tensed up as they sat on the bed.

-Don’t make those faces, I’m not going to scold you or tell on you.

Two sighs of relief were felt in the room.

-What does father’s words mean, Nico? Is everything we heard true?

His brother sat down in a chair opposite them and leaned his elbows on his knees.

-If I tell you what is the truth behind the current alpha’s actions, what would you do?

Noa’s expression was a poem. Like her brother, they couldn’t believe it was happening.

-You’re not serious,” Alan ruffled his hair, getting up from the bed and turning around, “That means that father is a usurper and that the former queen is somewhere in this mansion,” Alan said.

-And there’s more,” his two brothers looked at him, “I recently discovered the location of the cell where she’s being held captive.

-And why haven’t you taken her out?” Noa also stood up with her fists clenched, she felt a strange feeling inside her for this person even though she didn’t know her.

-Because you can’t. She is inside the old torture cells in the catacombs, underneath the mansion. The only way to get it out is with the key that Father always carries in his chest.

Alan stood in front of him.

-How long have you known about this?

Nicolas leaned back in his chair when the door to the room opened, letting in the man they now knew as the Commander of the guard.

-Since a month ago,” he answered.

-Close the door Liam. It wouldn’t be good if someone overheard the conversation.

The newcomer did as he said and walked towards them, standing next to Nicolas.

The younger ones did not understand the situation well.

-Don’t worry, he’s on our side,” his brother didn’t seem uncomfortable. “Actually he was the one who discovered it in one of his routines, when he saw father and the doctor coming out of the catacombs when they had been abandoned for years. Of those of us here, he is the oldest and was under the orders of the previous queen, more specifically, he was her beta, so he could recognize her scent when he infiltrated.

-And what do they intend to do? Noa was getting desperate.

-Liam, tell them, sooner or later they had to know.

The commander nodded his head.

-Since I found out she’s alive, I’ve organized the army to rebel against the corrupt alpha who rules us.

-And how do you intend to do that when more than half the members of the pack are terrified of our father?

-That’s why we intend to ask the other packs for help.

-Although that’s the tricky part,” Nicolas touched his temple as if his head hurt, “Getting the support of another pack is difficult when there is no evidence and the alpha has taken measures to leave no traces.

-Alan said as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

-As if it were something easy to do, not for nothing is he the alpha of the pack, even if it’s imposed.

-What we do know is that time is crucial in this situation. If the queen keeps having cubs she will die soon, after all, she is procreating outside the heat cycles- -Having cubs!

-Having cubs,” Noa exclaimed, “The queen is still having cubs, and where are they?

-I have them in front of me,” Liam nodded at them.

-You’re kidding,” he looked at Nicolas who barely flinched at the revelation.

-When you guys started appearing out of nowhere I was surprised that your scent was similar to the firstborn. And that the queen’s disappearance was so sudden, she’s not the type to let go of her responsibilities. I asked the alpha and he answered what he’s been saying for years, but no one can fool a wolf’s sense.

Alan and Noa dropped onto the bed in shock. To be told that your mother is alive and that she is a captive was a bombshell that was hard to take in.

-How is she?” the older of the two asked in a trembling voice.

-I can’t answer that, your highness,” he bowed his head to sit up with an expression of disgust and rage remembering the current living conditions of his queen. That is something you have to see for yourselves-“.

The heavy breeze with a strong smell of dampness, rotting flesh and dust overshadowed the senses of the three silhouettes entering through a small slit between the stones that gave access to one side of the catacombs.

-What the hell is this place? -Noa felt what little she had eaten threaten to return to the outside.

-It’s what’s left of the torture shrine of the first members of the herd. This place must be about 3,000 years old.

-And this is where our supposed mother is?

Liam nodded towards the two cubs who shuddered as they walked behind him crouching low, to avoid the sharp stones on the roof.

They circled around for about half an hour as the commander warned them not to get separated as the hope of replaceing him would be nil.

-It’s here,” Liam declared as they stopped in front of a huge rusted iron door that must have weighed a ton.

That was when they felt it. It was slight, almost imperceptible but every limb in their body shook. Nicolas was not lying. They knocked at once on the cobweb-covered door. They smelled it, flooding more of the fragrance that made them so familiar and that they remembered as the first thing in their lives. Behind that door, in that impoverished condition, was the woman who had brought them into the world.