by Aya DeAniege
“All right,” Gerrid said, facing the Alphas. “Rebecca was used as a breeder against her will. Over the last two years she’s had four pregnancies. Two resulted in miscarriage. Her youngest is less than six months old. She’s had three children. The first were twins, which she was pregnant with before Owen broke her, too early for her to know, but long enough that the breaking didn’t cause her body to fail.
“Which we often see in pregnant women who are broken.”
“Had Rebecca been allowed to carry to term before she was broken, she would have bonded with her children in a way that would prevent anyone from ever breaking her,” Blane said. “Which makes me believe that Owen knew, and he knew that if he didn’t act quickly, it would be too late for him to do as he wanted, and capture the sisters. Gerrid.”
“The twins were born of an unknown partner. They are Alphas.”
“Which means nothing,” one of the Doms called out with a shake of his head. “One of Owen’s followers plowed the field without telling him.”
Blane looked to Peter.
“That’s one,” Peter called out.
“One what?” the Dom asked, turning toward Peter.
“Your first warning,” Peter snapped. “Plowed the field, does she look like a field to you?”
“She’s a breeder.”
“That’s two.”
“What happens when you reach three?” the Dom demanded.
Peter turned his head and looked toward the Dom he had stabbed. No one had helped the man in anyway, just left him on the floor behind his table. They were too afraid to help him, afraid of what Blane and Peter would do to them for offering that help.
Peter held that look for a moment, then turned to the one who had two strikes against him. The Dom turned back to Blane, clearly ashen faced.
“The twins are Alphas,” Gerrid said. “As is the solo child. All three carry a very special genetic sequence, one we’ve only seen twice before in living Alphas.”
And then he turned and motioned to Abraham.
“Are you saying that all her children are like Abraham?” another Dom asked. “Let’s assume the rest of us don’t have the genetic background to understand.”
“I am,” Gerrid said. “We are searching for the father of the twins, but we strongly suspect that he’s not an Alpha. We strongly suspect he’s a normal body.”
“Thank you, Gerrid,” Blane said.
Gerrid moved up the steps, back to my side. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close, kissing my temple.
“These two sitting on the steps behind me are the genetic lottery. Created by the old regime to kill us off, to make us fight among ourselves, destroying one another over the blood that we want to breed in with us. I have one stance on that.”
He hesitated, looking over the tables.
“Doms, these two sitting on my steps. Are people. They are not fields. They are not breeders. They are not here for your amusement or to be fought over. Rachel is a Dom. You were all there. You all saw what she can do. If you need more proof of what she is capable of, I would be happy to provide you with the security footage of what she did the night before last.”
“And Rebecca?” another called out.
It was the second of the Dom who had gotten stabbed. He stood and glanced at Peter, then walked over and up the little aisle that the tables created.
“You’re calling Rachel a Mother, that’s not proven. It’s not, I’m sorry. You can count me with three strikes if you want. That is an untried woman. I’ll give her a stand, I’ll see what she does and what he did? What Owen created on his land? Fuck it, wipe it off the face of the planet. But she is not a Mother. She is a rage filled woman and she’s going burn out in a decade. So, what of Rebecca? Who you kept hidden, who you allowed to bond with that piece of shit.”
“Piece of, what are yeh talking about?” Gerrid asked, standing and moving down the steps. “Are yeh mad?”
“Oh, like the higher houses aren’t all a twitter about it? You’re the one who started the war!”
“I’m sorry. Have you had your dick inside a woman yet?” Daniella asked.
“Daniella, that is one,” Peter called out.
“Why doesn’t he get a strike for starting something?” Daniella asked Blane.
“Because Peter said so,” Blane responded. “Look, you all know that whoever started the war was pardoned.”
“A little piece of shit, poking things he shouldn’t have been poking, and now you’ve got him linked to her.”
“That’s one,” Peter called out.
“What?” the Alpha demanded. “I’m questioning your ability to provide them with the choice and knowledge they need to choose a proper man.”
Blane looked past the Alpha, to Peter, who was clearly considering the man’s words. Peter shrugged finally. I thought he should get a strike for suggesting that we had to have a man. Like we didn’t exist without one, but to Peter it must have sounded differently.
“They have a right to make that choice,” Blane said. “You have a problem, you take it up with Gerrid.”
And suddenly Blane was reverting to that ideal as well, that we needed men to be anything. It simply wasn’t true, and I wouldn’t stand for it.
I stood and walked down the steps. As I did, Blane turned, his mouth opened to stop me. I raised a hand with one finger in the air. I kept my eyes on the Alpha who was protesting, walking up to him as I did so.
“Who I fuck is none of your business,” I whispered to him, watching him flinch as I did so.
I looked over the tables, finding the Alphas looking away as my gaze fell on them.
“This house was attacked,” I said. “That is why you were brought here. That is what you will talk about. We were attacked. They were going to hurt me, to…”
“We’ve wrung it out of them, and passed the information on to those here,” Blane said quietly.
“To rape me,” I said finally. “What is wrong with you Alphas that you think raping a woman is okay?”
“I never said it was okay.”
“You visited Owen,” I snapped, jabbing a finger at him. “You knew.”
“That’s two,” Peter said.
“What?” the Alpha protested. “She said it, not me!”
“You knew, and you didn’t report it,” Peter said. “All others, admit now, or I count a three strike when she points you out.”
Hands raised. Firsts and seconds mainly, but there was one other Dom. Blane growled behind me.
“You all are at fault for Owen,” I said. “None of you reported it, and you knew it was going on. For shame. I hold you accountable. How many of you still have mothers alive?”
The hands shifted. A few more went up in the air.
“I’m calling your mothers.”
“What?” a room full of Alphas shouted.
“Yes, yes,” I said as I nodded my head, pointing around the room. “I’m calling your mothers. I’m going to tell them. And if they agree with you, I will find a man, hire that man, and have them raped.”
The room erupted in shouting.
And one little giggle.
The giggle made them all go silent again, and turn toward the sound. Daniella had tears in her eyes, she was laughing so hard.
“Oh, oh, God. And you people thought I was bad?” Daniella cackled. “You just pissed off the wrong woman.”
“It’s not that funny,” Blane said.
“But,” Daniella had to stop to gasp in a breath. “They. Hehe. They don’t want their mother raped. It’s hilarious.”
I turned back to the Alphas, looking them over.
“Tell me, how many of your mothers agree with rape?”
“None, obviously,” one of them protested.
“And it is my understanding that Alphas have a close bond with their mother,” I said. “You have two choices. You send your mothers to me. The other option is that I send Peter to collect them.”
“But we haven’t done it to anyone.”
“By s
itting by, being complacent, you take responsibility for the acts that were done under your watch. Take your lumps.”
“I won’t do it,” a Dom said, standing with a snarl. “Being ordered around by a woman?”
“Sit down,” Rachel barked.
“Fuck you.”
Peter remained silent.
I walked toward the table and set my hand on it, bending toward the Alpha. His second was nearest to me. I turned to the second and smiled just slightly.
“He just threatened your mother,” I said to him, reaching out to caress his cheek.
The second lunged at the Alpha, shouting as I pulled away and the other Alphas leaped to their feet, moving away as Peter strode forward. All the Alphas but for Blane, and Daniella still cackling at the bottom of the steps, moved away from me in an effort to keep that from happening to them.
All but Peter, who moved into the fray.
“Really?” Peter asked me as he moved past, grabbing the second by the back of his neck and pulling him off the Alpha. “Really? Rachel?”
“Rebecca,” I said.
Peter struggled with the Alpha, he really did. He gave me a scathing look and I looked around.
“All of you. Every last one, could be this man here. Sweetie, sweetie, hey, come to mother.”
The second latched onto me, instead, bawling his eyes out in relief as I patted his back and the Alphas just watched me. I almost laughed, but ducked my head instead. I whispered to the Alpha that everything was all right and he’d just woken from a dream. Then I patted him and walked away.
“God have mercy,” I called out over my shoulder as I walked up the steps. Just behind Blane, I stopped and looked over the room. “Because the Mothers and Daughters will not.”
The room erupted in shouting, but I ignored it, walking up the steps and out of sight as if I hadn’t a care in the world.
Chapter Twenty
Just around the corner, I found several doors. I tried three before finding one that was unlocked. I slipped inside.
I had just gotten the door closed when I burst into tears. I couldn’t help the tears, they just came and I didn’t even know why. I cried and cried, tears streaming down my face and soaking the dress shirt and jacket they had given me. I wiped at my wet face and eyes with my hands, doing little more than spreading it around.
There was a light knock on the door, and I kicked it in response.
Someone tried to open it and I kicked it closed. I swore I heard a growl.
I knew what that meant. I moved away from the door as it slammed open and Blane jumped into the room, growling as he looked around for an intruder of some sort.
The Alpha snarled, and it brought on a renewed bout of tears.
“I don’t know why I did that,” I sobbed out.
The angry Alpha turned into a startled, confused man. Blane looked around the room and then turned, closing the door and flicking a lock. He turned back to me and closed the distance between us, pulling me into his arms. He hugged me until no more tears would come. Then he pulled away and looked down at me.
“Now?” he asked, looking me over. “I need a really big favour.”
“What?” I asked, my voice weak and shaking.
“I need you to go back through the meeting,” Blane said. “Gerrid has slipped out. He’ll take you to the safe room with Matt.”
“Isn’t there a back way?” I asked. “I look a mess.”
“Mm, yes. However…”
“I am not a pawn,” I said.
“No, you aren’t. See, I remember this time where my mother screamed at me, just screamed for like an hour. I had done something that I’m not proud of and I don’t want to share. It was a very bad thing. She was well within her rights to yell, but at the time, I was haughty and annoyed about it. When she was done yelling, she went off to her room. My father heard about the fight and still made us all sit down for dinner.
“I didn’t understand it at the time. She was mad at me, I was mad at her, and he was just… so calm about it. He made us sit down to a formal dinner as if nothing had happened. And I looked over at my mother, and it was clear that she had been crying. That’s how I remember her.
“Not weak, not at all, but so disappointed in me that she ended up crying because she couldn’t make me understand.”
“Are you trying to say that a crying woman isn’t a turn on to you?”
“A crying woman isn’t a turn on to any Alpha,” Blane said. “Alphas don’t cry in public. That’s not because we’re taught it’s a bad thing. What we’re taught is that when you push someone too far and they just can’t deal with you any more, can’t handle you, they start crying. It’s what normal people do when Alphas go too far. It’s what our mothers do when… when we do that bad thing that every Alpha has a story about. They aren’t going to see you and see weakness.”
“Just try not to cry again,” I said.
“Not while down there, even around the corner will work. But you, Rebecca, crying in front of a bunch of Alphas that you just did that to? It could start a fight. They’re all feeling it. Whatever it is that you do, that I enjoy so much about having you around, they’re feeling that and are worried. If you start crying, they’ll probably act like everyone else in the room attacked their mother. Not a great thing. Just need you to not cry in front of them.
“Oh, and Daniella is super pissed and has already claimed the land that belonged to the old Dom. She’ll probably make the land her own. Possibly even putting a Dom in the area under her.”
“Isn’t that a bad thing?” I asked.
“Not necessarily. Someone will have to succeed me, and she’s more than twenty years younger than I am. I think she can handle it well. As time moves on, her mood will temper. Don’t bite Daniella.
“Unless she bites you first, then all bets are off, and I’m told I should throw water or mud on you and then walk away before the fun begins.”
I giggled. Blane smiled, leaned forward, and kissed my forehead. He breathed in my scent and then pulled away, sighing.
“I want you in the safe room. I need that, Rebecca.”
“What about Rachel?” I asked.
“As a Dom, she has to stay,” he murmured, thumb working over my cheek and down my jaw. “She’ll survive. That’s what matters. Go, please.”
I nodded weakly and moved off. At the door, my fingers stumbled. Blane reached around me and unlocked the door, pulling it open for me. I sighed, looked up at him and then pulled in a deep breath.
I left the room and walked down the staircase again as a hush came over the room. I kept my eyes on the door. While I wanted to look at my feet, I knew that was dangerous, because someone might step in my way. Eyes on that door, I walked through the silent Alphas, uncertain of if they were looking at me or elsewhere.
Out of the door, I saw a motion to my left and moved toward it.
Gerrid pushed off the wall and opened his arms. I ran right into his embrace. He hugged me tightly, then sighed and released me with a head motion.
We moved through the estate as I fought back the tears again. Gerrid pulled me into a room and suddenly I was on a set of steps and moving down.
I swear, Alphas had safe rooms and then they had ‘safe rooms’ which were basically fancy prison cells they pushed people into.
At the bottom of the steps, I glanced around the elegant safe room, then dropped my eyes to the floor and tried not to sob. All my sass had been put into that one little thought, then I was just raw again.
“Uh oh,” Morgan said as I burst into a fresh set of tears. “Rachel?”
“Rebecca,” Gerrid said sternly.
“No, did something happen to Rachel?” Morgan countered.
“Oh, no, nothing happened to Rachel,” Gerrid said.
“I figured I’d ask before I ran for the door,” Morgan muttered.
“’s wine,” Matt slurred out.
“Is he drinking from the bottle?” Gerrid demanded.
“Swine,” Matt
said.
When I looked up, Morgan was biting his bottom lip and trying to look innocent. He stood and approached Matt ever so quietly. He slipped the bottle of wine out of Matt’s hands and walked away, tiptoeing as he went. Morgan set the wine on the counter and then turned back to Matt, who was laying, mouth slack and eyes closed.
“How often does he drink?” Gerrid whispered.
“Since these two showed up? Twice,” Morgan said. “Well, no, three times. I think he’s upset about Patrick, but he won’t talk about it. Hey, Rebecca, you want some wine?”
“You talk about people who drink like that?” I asked with a sniffle.
“We’re worried, is all,” Gerrid said.
“And you look like you could use a drink,” Morgan said. “You want to talk about it?”
“I… I used an Alpha as a puppet to attack another Alpha?” I squeaked out with a shrug and a look to Gerrid.
“That’s actually a pretty good description of what you did,” Gerrid said. “You’ll have to wait to see it in detail, though, Morgan.”
“Used a—?” Morgan made a face, frowning at use.
Morgan raised his hand like he had a sock puppet on and flapped his fingers as he gave Gerrid a questioning look.
“Yes,” Gerrid said. “Would you pour her something stronger than what Blane gave her earlier?”
“He gave her alcohol?” Morgan asked, jabbing a finger at me. “It’s no wonder she used an Alpha as a meat puppet.”
“It was non-alcoholic,” I protested weakly.
But it was said so quietly, that I don’t think either of them heard me.
“I’d really like to study that,” Gerrid said to me. “Blane thinks that with alcohol, it helps you do what you do because you stop thinking so much.”
“He didn’t give us alcohol,” I said again, this time with a hiccough.
“What?” Gerrid asked. “Yes, he did, he sent you two a bottle of wine.”
“It had no alcohol in it, I checked. We drank the whole thing and weren’t buzzed at all.”
“Well, Rachel certainly works better while a little tipsy,” Gerrid muttered. “We can do an experiment easy enough.”
Morgan pulled a white wine and brought the glass to me. He arched an eyebrow at Gerrid, then walked away and poured himself a glass from the same bottle. He smelled the wine, then sipped it and seemed to consider the flavour.
