Blood Legacy (Wolf Moon Academy Book 2)

by Jen L. Grey

  "Damn, this stinks," Simon whined from the backseat.

  I wasn't surprised it came from him.

  "What did you expect?" Liam rolled his eyes. "It's a chicken processing plant, for fuck’s sake."

  The second I climbed out of the car, one of the back doors to the building opened, and someone rolled a large cart out to the garbage. Now's our chance.

  The five of us walked across the parking lot and waited for the person, a woman, to turn around and go back inside.

  After a few minutes, she reappeared and headed to the door that led back into the building. When her eyes landed on us, she stopped in place. "What do you want?" Her voice shivered with fear.

  As I took in the young woman, I noted that she looked worse than the residents had in New York. She had a young voice, but her body sagged as if she barely had any energy. Her eyes were so sunken in that it looked as if she could easily be on drugs, but their scent wasn't in the air. Her hair was greasy and pulled away from her face. She was about my height but at least thirty pounds lighter than me.

  "Mr. Haggard told us about the plant, so we wanted to drop in and check it out.'" I had no clue what to say to her, but the other four guys were tense and came off intimidating as hell. "We're here for a visit and will be heading out tomorrow."

  "Who are you?" Her eyes glanced from me to the other heirs, one by one. "He didn't tell us you were coming." Her voice shook even more.

  I glanced at Micah, waiting for him to shine. After all, this was his territory.

  His golden eyes widened as he cleared his throat. "I'm Micah Croft, the heir to the Southern Blood Council position," he said as he pointed at each heir he introduced, "and that one is Simon Green over the west, Evan Rafferty over the east, and Liam Hale over the north."

  Her eyes seemed to bulge from her head as they landed back on me. "And you are?"

  For the first time in my life, I wanted to say the Overseer. Somehow, I forced other words through my lips. "I'm Mia Davis."

  "My fated mate." Liam appeared next to me and held my hand. "We were hoping to see what Mr. Haggard and Mr. Buckley were going on and on about."

  "Uh... Let me call him." Her face, a light olive complexion, turned pale. "I mean... I have to get permission."

  "To let the heirs to The Blood Council in a plant that technically belongs to us?" Evan arched an eyebrow as he stared her down.

  I hated that he was intimidating her, but he wanted the same thing as I did. To go in there without Mr. Haggard or Mr. Buckley knowing until after we were done.

  "Oh, I..." She took a step back.

  "Let us in now." Micah pointed to the door. "We won't stay long and promise not to interfere with your work."

  Her shoulders slouched, but she nodded her head in defeat.

  The problem was her wolf appeared stronger than this. When she met my eyes, she didn't divert her gaze automatically. It was as if her spirit was broken.

  She hurried back to the door and entered the code on a keypad. The door unlocked, and when I took a step inside, I stopped right in my tracks.

  The room was huge, at least twenty thousand square feet. Dead chickens hung from metal connected hangers on a track suspended from the ceiling. The room had three sets of them, holding what appeared to be thousands of chickens in one place.

  Blood slicked the entire floor. So much so that it was hard not to slip. Everyone was dressed in white clothing stained and soaked through with blood.

  As I took in each and every person, they appeared the same as the girl. They moved lethargically, and their physiques were skin and bones.

  "Who are you?" An older man approached us, the stench of dead chicken nearly covering the scent of his wolf. "Why did you let these people in here, Amelia?"

  "Dad, I didn't know what else to do." She took in a deep breath as her head snapped in our direction. "They are the heirs to The Blood Council."

  "Oh..." He lifted both hands in the air, and fear showed on his face. "We've been working to catch up for the last twenty hours. There is only so much we can do though."

  "What are you talking about?" Micah's forehead wrinkled.

  "The line went down last night, and we got behind. We're catching up." He waved his hands, signifying that the people should continue working. There were several people adding chickens to the hangers. "We've been working nonstop like usual."

  "That's not why we're here." Micah took a deep breath and winced at the foul air he sucked in. It smelled a lot like what I thought rotting corpses would. "We wanted to check on all of you."

  "Don't say things you don't mean." The man laughed, but it soon turned into a cough. “We will catch up. No need to take it out on our families.”

  “What do you mean?” Something bigger was at play here, and we needed to find out what it was.

  “You’re trying to tell me you don’t know that the reason every one of us is in here is all because we voiced a concern about our alpha’s decision?” He surveyed the group as if he was searching for something.

  “No, we do not.” Micah’s voice was deeper than normal.

  “What do you expect if you’re rising up against your leaders?” Simon scoffed and shook his head.

  “We didn’t. We only voiced our concerns about certain decisions.” The old man huffed. “They wanted to increase our taxes. My daughter and I voiced that we couldn’t afford it. Now, we’re here paying off the debt. That’s what happened to everyone here. You can’t disagree, or you’ll receive punishment while they hold the lives of your family over your heads.”

  I can’t believe this. Liam shook his head and turned his eyes back to the factory floor.

  The five of us began walking around, our shoes sloshing in the pools of liquid on the ground. This was one time I was happy that I wore tennis shoes, but I didn't think they'd be salvageable after all of this.

  As we walked by each person, they busily worked, doing their best not to meet our eyes. It was as if they were trying to pretend we didn't exist. When we got to one of the doors, the man from earlier appeared in front of it.

  "There, are you satisfied?" He stood there and crossed his arms.

  He was acting as if he was blocking the door from us. "No, we'd like to see in there."

  "There's nothing in there." He shook his head and pointed at the door. "Thanks for your visit, but we have a lot left to do."

  Liam nodded at me and walked around the man, throwing the door open. He stopped in his tracks, and his shoulders slouched at what he saw through the door.

  I hurried around and rubbed my eyes, sure that what I was seeing had to be a mistake. It was another large room about half the size of the one behind us where the dead chickens hung. However, this one held hundreds of hammocks hanging from the ceiling. There were at least two hundred people sleeping in them, all still wearing the white clothes they wore to work in with blood-soaked through.

  "Are they off duty?" I had a feeling the answer was going to break my heart.

  "Yes, as if you don't know.'' There was no anger in his words. "We work sixteen-hour days and sleep here. They leave food in the kitchen, but not enough for all the workers, so we have to split and make sure people get equal portions."

  "Why don't the stronger wolves take the food and let the others starve?" Simon's brows furrowed, not understanding the humanity these wolves showed by making sure each person was treated equally. Something that every member of The Blood Council should know and understand.

  "Because we are one pack and take care of all." The old man shook his head and sighed. "Something that you elites have forgotten all about."

  "What about clean clothes?" They had to at least change clothes every now and then.

  "Once a week, we sacrifice a little sleep to get clean and change. Most of the time, we're too tired to do anything after a long shift." His eyes landed on me, and I might have caught a small glimmer of hope within their depths. "Are you going to be a part of the council? I thought it was only those four?" he asked as he po
inted to the heirs.

  "Like hell she is," Simon laughed. "She's only a mate … to Liam."

  "But that is good too." His eyes landed on my mate.

  "We've got to go." Evan nodded back toward the door.

  "But..." I didn't want to leave them. I wanted to do something for them like we were able to in New York.

  The best thing we can do is leave and hope that Haggard and Buckley don't find out. Liam took my hand and pulled me toward the door. We have to get home and make changes for them. They can't leave here, and if they do, it'll cause a civil war.

  Good, maybe a civil war is needed. The rebellion group had formed, and now we all knew why.

  But why have a civil war when we can change things? Liam glanced around. Look?

  My eyes tore from the hammocks and back into the room where all the others worked. Fear shone clear in their eyes as they kept trying to focus on their goal.

  "I think it's best if you go. You're distracting us, which will only make us have to work longer and harder. We have nowhere else to go, and we couldn't find any other work. That's how we ended up here." The old man's shoulders slumped, and he gave me a sad smile. "But please, don't forget what you all saw. We need help."

  My eyes teared up as Liam gently pulled me away, and the five of us headed back out the door to our freedom. A freedom that none of these people had. The old man slowly followed us to the door, and right before Evan closed it, I searched the older man out again. "I promise," I vowed as the door shut, cutting me off from them.

  Chapter Sixteen

  When I woke up the next morning, the stench of the chicken processing plant was still stuck in my nose. I'd showered over and over last night, trying to erase the smell, but it didn't happen. It probably had more to do with my memories than anything else.

  "Are you already awake?" Liam pulled my back closer to his chest. "You didn't sleep well last night. Why don't you go back to sleep?"

  Well, you're up too. I didn't have the energy to actually talk, using our mind link instead. I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was six in the morning. Besides, the alarm is going to go off in thirty minutes.

  There was a loud knock on the door, and Micah's voice called, "Are you two up?"

  See, no point in going back to sleep. I hated to crawl out of his arms, but Micah sounded a little upset. I walked over to my bag and picked it up, taking it into the bathroom. I'll be out in a second if you don't mind answering him.

  Yeah, okay. Liam crawled out of bed, looking sexy as hell. He grabbed a shirt from the table next to him and put it on, covering his bare chest. "Give me a second."

  I hated that we didn't have a little one-on-one time, but after what we saw last night, we were out of sorts. Even Simon was quiet, which was a change. Granted, I wasn't sure if it was because of his displeasure with me or what he actually saw. Knowing him, I was leaning toward the first option.

  When I closed the door, I slipped out of my pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a sweater. We were heading to Chicago today, and it was cooler than the south. I quickly brushed my hair and teeth and put on some light makeup before heading back out to the main room.

  Micah was sitting on the couch and frowning. He glanced at me and gave me a sad smile. "I'm sorry for bothering you guys, but I was hoping we could go downstairs and eat together. I couldn't sleep last night, but I didn't want to hear Simon's commentary if I tried talking to him and Evan."

  "No problem." My stomach growled in response to his words. We hadn't stopped for dinner after what we saw, and no one mentioned eating. All of us had to be on the same page.

  "Let me run to the bathroom and change." Liam headed to the bathroom, picking up his bag on the way by.

  "Are you okay?" It was clear what his answer was, but I wanted to see if he'd admit it.

  His face was lined with worry, and his shoulders were slumped. There were dark circles under his eyes, which told me he didn't sleep well last night. Mine had been similar, but I was able to use makeup to cover it up.

  "No, I'm not." He sighed, somehow slumping even more. "I'm having a hard time believing my dad doesn't know about it, but at the same time, he couldn't be letting that happen," he said as his eyes caught mine, "could he?"

  I wanted to scream of course he knows, but Micah seemed shell shocked. It didn't feel right to pull the rug out from under him. Our relationship was still a little shaky, so I didn't want to ruin what little ground we had in common. "I can't answer that."

  Liam stepped out of the bathroom dressed and looking fine as hell. He wore navy blue slacks and a light blue button-down shirt. It made his eyes stand out even more than usual.

  However, I was jealous. It took him less than five minutes to get ready whereas it took me at least twenty.

  "Are Evan and Simon meeting us down there?" Liam headed over to us.

  "Yeah, I needed a second away. Simon had already started up this morning." Micah stood, dressed much like his mood. He wore a pair of black slacks and a black polo shirt. "I needed a break."

  Didn’t we all? I forced a small smile across my face. "Let's go eat. Maybe he is hangry."

  "Maybe." Micah shrugged and opened the door.

  Breakfast had been strangely quiet for the five of us, and soon we were back on the plane. We'd all been focused on eating what was on our plates instead of discussing anything. The one time Micah had brought up last night, Simon started getting loud, so Liam shut it down. We were around humans, and we didn't need to risk them overhearing.

  We took our usual spots on the plane and were soon up in the sky.

  Micah kept his eye on Simon, and when he was immersed in his show, he took a deep breath and said, "Do you think we're going to be able to help those people?"

  "I'm assuming you mean all of those we've discovered so far on this trip?" Liam arched an eyebrow.

  "Yeah, I mean the council can't know, right?" Micah shook his head as if he was trying to make it true. "They couldn't."

  "Our dads are alpha asshole jerks." Evan narrowed his eyes at Micah. "Are you so sure about that?"

  "Well, we are assholes too, and we didn't know." Micah's voice filled with hope.

  He didn't want to believe everything he saw, but you can't deny the facts when they are staring you straight in your face.

  I hoped those two cities were the exceptions. They were large and able to hide things better, but my gut said otherwise. "Why don't we go see the last two cities, and we can always go from there." I hoped I was wrong and that everything was normal.

  "Yeah, I guess that's a fair request." Micah's shoulders seemed to relax some like he was looking for anything positive to put his mind at ease. "They could be the outlier.'’

  The rest of the plane ride passed in complete silence.

  Chicago was one of the main cities of the North, which included North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas on to the right until it touched the borders of the south and north. This was the territory that Liam represented.

  When we got off the plane there and stepped into the private side of the airport, I wasn't surprised to find two towering male alphas again. Out of every city we went to, I had yet to find a female one, which didn't sit well with me. I understood that males were generally stronger, but female leaders were just as tough, albeit in different ways.

  Liam wrapped an arm around my waist as we approached the two towering males. This was Liam's area, and even though he hadn't told me in words, his actions showed he was ensuring that everyone knew we were a team and a package deal.

  "Mr. Hale." Kai's father stood right in front of us. He was the more muscular of the two and was in his mid-forties. He had Kai's facial structure; only his eyes were light blue instead of brown, and he had reddish hair. "Ms. Davis, what a surprise." His eyebrows raised as he looked at me.

  "I'm sure my father told you she was with me." Liam stiffened as he stared him down.

  "Actually, no, he didn't." Mr. Thorn kept his eyes on me. "But it seems you both have cla
imed one another. I'm assuming Kai knows."

  "Yes, he does." I didn't want his father to think I was leading Kai on or something.

  The thinner one held his hands out to Liam and cleared his throat. "Hello, Mr. Hale." His gray suit bunched around his shoulders as he and Liam shook hands. "It's great to see you and the other heirs again." His charcoal eyes met mine. "And to meet your mate." He didn't bother extending his hand out to me. "Your father did, in fact, inform me that she was in tow." A snide smile crossed his face as he stared Mr. Thorn down.

  "Why am I not surprised? Mr. Keith." Liam arched an eyebrow at him.

  Shouldn't Kai's dad know before him? This whole interaction was strange, and I couldn't quite put a finger on why.

  Mr. Thorn and my dad's relationship is tense, to say the least. Mr. Keith here is vying for the regional position. But he can't flat-out challenge Mr. Thorn because of how things work. Liam's expression stayed neutral even though the bond told me he was aggravated. That's partially why Kai and I have tension. Dad is strategically determining how to have Mr. Thorn step down without forcing it and causing chaos. If people think we aren't making sure things stay in a certain order, more people would be vying for a higher alpha position, which could cause civil unrest.

  "Well, you know me and your father talk daily." The city alpha arched his eyebrow at Mr. Thorn. "How often do you talk with him?"

  "I talk to him quite frequently too." Mr. Thorn cleared his throat and glanced at me once more. "I hate to run, but there were things that came up today, so I won't be able to stay with you right now. But next time you visit Chicago, I'll make sure that I can personally show you around."

  "Is everything okay?" Liam's brows furrowed. That's really strange.

  "It's fine. Something just came up." Mr. Thorn turned to Mr. Keith. "I'm assuming you can take it from here?"