Triple Alpha's Threat

Ch. 28 - Our Past

Kiera POV

"You two can sleep in there. I hope by morning you're both gone." Albert, the old man giving us shelter for the night sneered.

"We need a few provisions and then will be on our way." Devon spoke without an ounce of fear to the man.

"Thank you for the food and bed." I gave the man a small smile, hoping to break up some of the tension between us all.

"Don't thank me when I wasn't given a choice in the matter."

"Oh Al, be kind to the young woman." His wife gave him a look that had him softening instantly.

"Fated?" I asked her.

"Yes, dear. I cursed the goddess the day I found out she gave me such a cold and emotionless man to spend my life with. In time, I learned he was just a little puppy desperate for love."

"Martha!" Albert warned her with a look that would have her six feet under. The woman simply smiled at him.

"Don't make me upset, dear. Eat your food. Try smiling, you know how much it pleases me." Martha spoke to him like he were a child.

The old man with hate engraved on his face softened to her words. Words that I thought would enrage him further. He took a bite of soup then gave her a sexy smile. She winked at him and I shook my head.

I glanced to Devon and the look of pain crossed his eyes. He missed Tracy, he missed his woman telling him how to behave.

"Is there a car we can borrow to get to the North?" I asked, hoping I could get Devon to his mate faster.

"I'm sorry, but we own very little."

"It's a lovely home you have." I looked to Martha and she smiled, taking her husband's hand.

"It's not much, but it is ours." Her words seemed haunted.

"Was you pack destroyed by the North? It seems very quiet out here." I asked, needing to know what happened to them.

"It's not important." Devon spoke for Martha and my eyes shot to him.

"I thought I decided what was important, Beta." I warned him and he bowed his head to me.

"I knew you were a Luna. Your wolf is very strong, but seems somehow disconnected." Martha looked to me.

"I was a Luna. I won't be one ever again."

"Kiera." Devon seemed hurt by my words. He can't possibly think there was any hope I had at being a Luna. I would be lucky if I even survived the next few weeks.

"I was once a Luna." Martha smiled to her husband. He pulled her a little closer and I saw the pain in their eyes. "The North didn't take our lands. The South did, along with our children."

"The south? Why?" I asked in disbelief. I never heard on any so cruel in our lands.

"Power, my dear. Albert was one of the strongest Alphas to be born during his time. He had a brother and they were both very powerful wolves. When the South became over run with trading, they tried to stop it. My brother in law was killed and Albert nearly crippled."

"I'm so sorry. I never heard of any of this."

"No one has in the South. It's a black stain on our history they wish to keep hidden."

"What was trading?"

"Martha leave it." Albert grumbled.

"She deserves to know, everyone deserves to know our true history." Martha looked back to me. "The south was big in trading slaves, mostly women. They still do to this day, they just keep it much more low key."

"Slaves? I never..." I blinked rapidly at the idea I lived in an area so close to this.

"Not just slaves to work the households or for sex, but slaves for power. Alphas realized how powerful they could become marking a female. The purest and strongest became the most desirable and highest paid."

"I can't believe this." I looked to Devon. "Did you know about this?"

He lowered his head. "I only recently found out how deep it went, Kiera."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was trying to protect you. At first, I didn't think Jackson was involved. I couldn't believe the man we knew since we were kids would allow this, then I saw..." he quickly got up from the table. "Thank you for dinner. We will get some rest then be on our way. If you could pack a bag of food and water for our travel." He walked away and I stood to run after him. This conversation was not over.

"You are Alpha Jackson's Luna." Martha said with fear in her eyes.

"I'm Alpha Jackson's prisoner." I leaned over the table. My chest filled with anger and I could feel Athena pushing her strength into me. "And I will become his executioner."

"We will pray to the goddess for you. May she lend you her strength." Martha bowed her head to me and I watched her for a moment.

This old woman was once a Luna, young and powerful with her Alpha at her side. She tried fighting for what was right, and ended up with nothing but this old cottage.

"What happened to your pack? Your family?" I asked, needing to know the whole truth.

"We were attacked in the middle of the night. Every member was given a choice to denounce Albert or die. One by one our people left or were killed. Then they took our children, killed them before our own eyes."

"I'm so sorry." Tears filled my eyes. I can't imagine living though such a horror.

Albert put his arm around his wife. "They broke my spine, implanting wolfspain and silver in my back so I would never heal properly. Then they left."

"Why did they keep you alive?"

"They didn't intend to. They torture me for weeks then left me for dead. My beautiful wife found me, healed me and we ran."

Martha wiped a tear from her eye. "We spent our life helping those that escaped."

"And the North? Can they be trusted?"

"The North no longer has a part in the sorted dealings of the South, but they are no better. The Alphas of the North have an unnatural evil inside them and they desire revenge."

"Revenge for what?"

"We don't know exactly, but I've seen them with my own eyes come into a town, rip it apart, then take the woman and children as their own. The brothers are powerful and kill without mercy. They force the link between packs to break, we are unsure if it's by death or to take them as their own. I'm sure they have their own slaves though."

I shook my head. I knew the triplets weren't saints. I never thought all this could be happening. All those woman and children they took were living as not only slaves, but traitors in the North. I didn't want to think what torture they were exposed to every single day.

"I'm very sorry about everything you have witnessed and lived through. If there is a way I can help, I will." I tried to speak confidently. I was weak and a slave to my own husband though.

"Aren't you a special guest of the Northern Alphas?" Albert raised an eyebrow at me.

"I am, but I assure you, it's not the way you think." For a brief moment I felt Athena. I took in a deep breath, savoring the feeling of her connection and then it was gone.

Martha and Albert stood. "We should head to bed. We don't want any trouble and I ask of you to both be gone as soon as possible." Albert nodded to me.

"I'll pack you a bag. Be safe on your journey." Martha turned towards the kitchen then back to me. "I met a woman with lavender eyes, just like yours. It's a rare trait and I'm sure you must be relate somehow."

Excitement blossomed inside me. A family member? "Who? Where? I know nothing about where I come from."