City Dogs

Chapter 32

Jude's cold hands gripped mine. "It's falling apart," he whispered again, "and there's nothing I can do about it."

"What do you mean by 'falling apart?'" I asked slowly. "Your pack— Red Brook?"

He nodded, his throat bobbing with a hard swallow before he continued. "I think— I think Damon's gone insane; he's not right in the head anymore. Not that he was a nice person to begin with, but now. . ."

Not a nice person, indeed. I've seen enough of Damon's 'bad side' and have experienced his raw cruelty firsthand to know just how violent he could get. And if he's acting in a similar way toward his pack, the people he was sworn to protect, then the situation must be worse than I had originally thought. Red Brook is no small pack to say the least, and if even those werewolves were falling prey to Damon, then. . .

Naja slid up next to me. "Explain," she said simply as she guided him to rest on the couch. Jude sat down, running his fingers over the fabric as if it's been a while since he's last felt something so soft.

"Damon," he began in an unsteady voice, "our Alpha. He started acting strange— more strange than usual— a few weeks ago. Almost right after August escaped. His temper got worse, and he was more violent when training with the warriors. Like the breaking bones kind of violent." Jude paused to take in a deep breath. "I got worried for the pack's safety, as we had just been attacked by Blue Cloud, and morale was low. I never told them it was a planned attack with me as the double agent."

Ramona sat down next to him and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. Her eyes flicked briefly to Naja's, and then back to Jude.

"I talked to Axel, our Beta, about the issue with Damon, but he didn't seem too worried and brushed it off like it was nothing. He wouldn't even listen when I told him that Damon pushed the newest recruit hard enough to land him in the hospital wing for two weeks." Silent tears streamed down Jude's cheeks, yet he prevailed on in a monotonous voice. "Next, I talked— or, tried too talk— with Damon. He just got angry, as per normal. And he hit me. Said a filthy submissive like me shouldn't have been chosen to be the Delta."

The room was completely silent, the air a bit too heavy, my heartbeat a bit too loud. My hands were clenched into fists, and when I loosened them, I saw small crescent curves from my fingernails embedded into my palm.

"At that point I knew the pack wasn't safe in the hands of our leaders. So, I tried to send a message to Blue Cloud for help, to at least take the young and the elderly before things could escalate. But before I could even cross the pack lines, Axel found me. He beat me, dragged me back to Damon, and beat me again in front of the pack. To serve as a warning, he said, to anyone who tried, or even wanted, to disobey their Alpha and Beta."

Ramona embraced him without a single word, and Jude leaned into her warmth, burying his face in her shoulder. She rubbed his back and fixed his messy brown hair out of his eyes as a mother would.

I was speechless. To think Damon and Axel would damage their pack, their family, to such an extent to where the Delta turned to a different pack for help. . . Just the very thought of it filled me with a raging sadness.

"How did you escape, then?"

"Naja, leave the poor boy alone, he's been through enough already—"

"Since he's here, it must be because he's asking for help. I need to make sure he's not lying."

"Naja!" Ramona's face was nothing but disbelief. She clutched Jude tighter as if it would save him from the Alpha's burning gaze.

"I want to know if I'm sending my warriors into a fucking death trap before I get them all killed!"

I quickly stepped between Naja and Ramona. The last thing we needed right now was a fight, especially one between the Alpha and her wife. "If I know one thing about Damon," I said slowly, calmly, "is that he would be the kind of person to do something like this. Jude helped me when I needed it most. Please." I turned to Naja. "Please, even if it's just sending out messages to other packs."

Naja clenched her jaw before sighing and slumping down in the armchair. "I'll do what I can," she said, "but I'm going to need a lot of intel. I assume that you, as the Delta, will be able to provide me with some?"

Jude untangled himself from Ramona's embrace. He nodded, his shaggy hair flopping back into its messy state. "Anything. I will tell you anything if it'll help."

Naja grinned at last, a predatory gleam in her eyes. The aggression she had shown mere moments before had completely disappeared. "Perfect. I'll take pleasure in knocking down any Alpha like Damon. As a matter of fact, I've always planned to take him down, it was just a matter of when." She shrugged. "Sorry about earlier, Jude, but I wanted to make sure that you weren't being forced to come here and beg for help. You've proved enough." 

The pure relief shinning on Jude's face was enough to make anyone want to cry. He mumbled his thanks over and over, his words combining in an incomprehensible sentence. I smiled and flopped down on the sofa next to Ramona, who still had a troubled look on her face.   

"What's wrong?" I asked her quietly, not wanting to interrupt the conversation about pack terrain going on between Naja and Jude.

She gave me a weak smile. "There's a lot going on all of a sudden, so I'm just a bit stressed, that's all."

I gave her an apprehensive look. "That's all?"

"Well, no. . ."

"Do you want to talk about it, then?"

Ramona chewed on her bottom lip. "I do," she admitted, "besides, it's good news, anyways. Naja will be happy to hear it."

The Alpha perked up at the sound of her name being called. "Hm?"

"I'm pregnant." 

". . ."

". . ."