Scott was preparing to return to his mate's side when Joey suddenly summoned him. "Scott, we've found something. Meet me in the council room."
Scott's heart raced as he hurried to the council room. What had they discovered? Joey was already there, his expression grave.
"What is it?" Scott asked, his instincts on high alert.
"You see lately, the warriors informed me thatthere's been a sudden increase in the number of Wanderers lately and a lot of them have been venturing a bit too close to our borders."
"Yes, I'm aware of this. Remember I'm in charge of the warriors?" Scott asked, not really seeing where Joey was going with this.
"Well while you were busy with your new mate, we decided to interview a few of them to see what they wanted. It wasn't something that warranted your immediate attention and I thought it might have something to do with your mate as well," Joey explained.
"My mate? What do these wanderers have to do with my mate?"
"Well as I said, we interviewed a few of them, about 20 or so and almost every single one of them had the same story to tell, and an interesting one at that. Bring him in!" Joey called out to the guards at door door.
At their Alpha's command, they gently escorted one of the Wanderers in—a man who seemed to be in his 50s.
"Have a seat sir," Joey offered and the man sat down on a seat set out for him on the opposite end of the large table.
Joey and Scott listened intently as the Wanderer shared his story, voice laced with pain and fear.
"Tell him what you told me earlier. Who are you and why were you lurking around my pack's territory?" Joey questioned.
"I am Richard Hayes, nothing but a helpless Wanderer seeking refuge."
"How did you and so many other Wanderers end up here?" Scott asked. "What is your story?"
"You see, we were part of the Red Moon Pack," Richard took a deep breath and began. "But our Alpha Gage's rule was brutal. He was always a fickle man to begin with. He mistreated the people.
"We were forced to work but our pay was withheld. He seized the crops the farmers grew and rationed out the food to everyone. He never laid a hand on the omegas but somehow they got the worst of it. he found other ways to torment them too. He treated them as nothing more that rags to wipe the snot off his nose.
"He would feed the pregnant omegas drugs that would force them to miscarry when he found out they were with child. Only he could authorize who gave birth and when and even sometimes at birth, he would have the babies taken away and sent off somewhere.
The Wanderer's voice cracked as he spoke, his eyes welling up with tears. "Gage had torture cages, hidden away in the darkest corners of the pack's territory. He would lock up anyone who dared to defy him, anyone who refused to bow to his whims and wishes. We'd be trapped for days, with no food, no water, not even the meager rations we were usually given. He'd leave us to rot, to beg for mercy, to plead for forgiveness."
Scott's face twisted in disgust, his mind reeling with the horrors the Wanderer had endured. "And what happened to those who were locked up?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Wanderer's gaze dropped, his voice barely audible. "Some never came out. Others emerged broken, their spirits crushed, their bodies scarred.
And those who survived.....we were forever changed, haunted by the memories of what we endured in those cages."
"He was a dictator if I ever seen one. We were all slaves in our homeland but there was nothing we could do. We stayed out of dedication to his late parents who ran the pack before him. The older ones of us stayed in memory of what our pack once was and the younger stayed to take care of the elders."
Scott was horrified but it seemed the man's story was only just beginning. "One day, he suddenly snapped and became a terrror, even more so than before. He ordered the execution of anyone he deemed a threat, including his own Beta and head warrior, Samuel Conway."
Scott's eyes widened. "Samuel Conway? You don't think it's the same Sammy my mate mentioned? I mean, It's a pretty common name though."
"I think you should listen to the rest of his story," Joey said.
"The Wanderer nodded. 'Yes. Samuel was an energetic young man, and he'd decided that enough was enough."
"He was planning a rebellion," the Wanderer continued, "but Gage discovered it..."
The man's voice trailed off, leaving the consequences unspoken but implicit.
"Gage ordered his men to storm the Conway's house and brutally kill him," he finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"And he also ordered the execution of Samuel's husband -a young omega named Preston-and their unborn baby, who Gage deemed 'the child of a traitor'."
"This omega... Preston, what does he look like?" Scott asked.
"He's a young omega, long brown hair, blue eyes, about 5'4. A little thing he was, he didn't deserve to be targeted like that," the man Scott was asked shook his head as if feeling pity at remembering the omega.
It took scott a few moments to process everything and then it slowly dawned on him and he turned to his friend Joey. "Wait a minute, you mean my mate is..."
"Well, if the omega we have now is the same one they're saying barely escaped with his life back then, then yes, he's pregnant. And the child's father has been brutally massacred." Joey said.
Scott was in shock but composed himself as the man continued his story. "After that, we knew we couldn't stay there any longer. Many had died at Gage's hand but never directly like this. No one was safe anymore.
"Preston and a lot of us other members of the pack made a run for it, fearing we could be next. Once out, all of us ran our separate ways, fleeing for our dear lives. Nobody knew where anyone else had ended up — who had escaped successfully, who had been captured and killed, and who had died on the run."
"A lot of us went to nearby packs for help, a few others ran to the city for safety and the rest... goddess knows where they are now. And that's how we ended up here," the Wanderer finished his tale.
Joey's expression turned grim. "And now we have an unconscious omega in our care, with no idea who he is or where he came from."
The Wanderer's eyes filled with tears. "We didn't know if Preston made it out alive. But if your omega really is him... then please, you have to protect him. Gage won't stop until he's destroyed everything in his path."
Scott's growl was instinctive. "We won't let that happen. We'll keep him safe, no matter what."
Joey nodded in agreement. "We'll do everything in our power to ensure his safety and uncover the truth about his past."
The guards escorted the man to the hostel where all the Wanderers were being temporarily accommodated until Joey made a decision on what next to do.
"But what if he's lying?" Scott asked
"I don't know man. We interviewed a bunch of them separately and they're all saying the same thing," Joey said
"I don't want to believe him because of what he's saying is true, then we have an absolute monster on our hands," Scott said. This was such a horrifying tale that they had just heard, and Scott could tell that the man had help back on some of the more graphic details too.
Scott's heart raced as he though about everything this man had just said, his mind reeling with the implications. Could it be? Was his mate, the mysterious omega, actually Preston, the young omega who had escaped Gage's brutality?
As he looked at Joey, he saw the same determination and anger reflected in his friend's eyes. They knew they had to act, to protect the omega and bring Gage to justice.
"We need to gather more information," Joey said, his voice firm. "We can't let Gage get away with this."
Scott agreed, his mind racing with strategies and plans. "We need to send out scouts, gather intel on Gage's pack and his movements. We need to be prepared for anything. From the way this man described him, it doesn't sound like Gage is just going sit still, especially if he finds out that we're harboring the people who escaped from his territory."
Joey nodded, his expression grim. "Ill assign some of our best warriors to the task. We'll get to the bottom of this, Scott. We won't let Gage hurt anyone else."
As they continued to discuss their plan of action, Scott's thoughts kept drifting back to the omega.
He was determined to keep him safe, to protect him from the monster that was Gage.
He knew that the road ahead would be fraught with danger, but he was ready to face it head-on. For the sake of the omega, and for the sake of justice he would stop at nothing to bring Gage down.