Alpha Brothers - The Cold Hearted Sister (book 5)

Chapter 15

Chapter 15
Allie
"This is a really bad idea," Nick said once again, as he stared out the tent entrance.
"Look, I promise to stay near you, I promise not to get into any fights and I'm wearin' the chains," I said, jiggling the chains that he was forcing me to wear, "plus, I'm bored and I'm difficult when I'm bored."
"Oh, oppose to when your difficult when your tired, feelin' trapped, scared - oh, wait, that's all the time," he mocked, looking back towards me.
I bit my lip, trying not to go off and laugh at the same time.
"Oh, your funny man today, that's great," I said, sarcasm dripping from each word, "You should be happy, you might actually prove me wrong."
I could see the workings of his brain, knowing that I was right. It wasn't that I didn't believe him. I believed that this world was different to mine and that it was dangerous. The question was, how dangerous?
"Fine," he groaned, giving in, "ready?"
I looked down at myself and turned around to see if I needed anything. It took me a moment to realized that everything in this tent wasn't mine and that I didn't need anything, anyway.
I nodded and walked over to Nick where he took my arm and led me out of the tent.
From where we were, there wasn't much of the pack. A few tents and the campsite. But I knew that there had to be more than our surroundings.
"So, what's this? Who lives here?" I asked Nick, leaning in close so that any lurking wolves wouldn't hear.
"This is Campsite A. It's the one of the campsites where the pack fighters live, if that makes sense?"
It did. We didn't really have that sort of system at home but many packs did.
"How many campsites of fighters are there?" I asked.
Rubbing his chin, he thought, "five, maybe six."
I swallowed, that was a lot. That was a lot more than my pack had. Wait, I stopped my thoughts, was I thinkin' that Hector's pack was stronger than Callum's?
We came to the campsite itself. It was a simple site. It had the fire pit in the middle with four ten-feet logs around it and enough circle of logs surrounding them.
"What do you eat?" I asked before I could stop myself.
The only food I was getting was what Nick had brought me which were small bird legs. What about the other people?
"We eat whatever we catch. There is a small group of us that cook for people that can't hunt for themselves and well, Hector."
I rolled my eyes. Of course. Lazy shite.
"They also cook of the prisoners too."
"Oh," I said, connecting the dots.
They really needed to get a new group because apparently they weren't good cooks.
"What about you, how do you eat?" He asked.
I stopped. God, I had never felt so much like one of those rich people looking down their nose at the poorer classes of society.
Sighing, I gave up, "the cook makes it."
"Cook? You have a cook?"
His shocked expression was exactly what I wanted to avoid.
"What? My brother isn't just the Alpha King, he's the lord of the land. Of course we have a cook and maids and -."
"Allie, Allie, I'm not judgin' you," he reassured me.
I frowned, "your not?"
"No," he chuckled, "I was just a little surprised. Not many people I know have food cooked for them."
"Well, your brother does," I said, before I could stop myself.
He looked at me dumbly, "aye, he does."
I giggled a little, taking another look at my surroundings.
There weren't many people around. Some were emerging from their tents, sensing fresh meat. All of them were large males with broad shoulders and killer stares. Some I recognised from the bawl. I stepped closer to Nick, not wanting a repeat of yesterday.
"Don't worry," Nick whispered, "they can't hurt you."
I swallowed, taking his word for it. They sure did want to hurt me. I never thought about it from their point of view though. People lost family members here too. They had a right - wait, was I bein' understandin'? I take it all back.
"I want to be Nathair!"
I jumped three feet high at the sound of that name. My head twisted and turned, trying to spot Nathair Macangus' ghost but only found three children, two boys and a girl around eight years of age.
"No, I'm Nathair!" The second boy yelled pushing the other one back, "you can be Callum."
My eyes widened when I realized what they were doing. They were playing a game. Reenacting the fight between my brother and Nathair Macangus. But, they wanted to be Nathair? What the hell?!
"Your always Nathair," the smaller of the two boys yelled.
"That's because I'm stronger than you, now do you want to play or not?"
The first boy didn't answer. He just lowered he head and nodded before they both shifted into small wolf Cubs. The girl watched in aw, clearly the prize of the fight.
"Wait," I started, "were they seriously fightin' about who plays Nathair. Do they know the end of that story. He looses and dies."
"I told you, the story's told differently here. Nathair is seen as a hero, it doesn't matter if he didn't win," he reminded me.
"I know, I know, but still. You can't imagine me to be calm when kids are fightin' about bein' the man who killed my parents."
"I never expected you to," he reassured me.
Before he could move topic, I quickly said, "it doesn't even make sense. They should be fightin' over who's Callum. He's the hero."
Instead of biting, Nick just shook his head and chuckled, clearly expecting me to say that.
Well, it was true. Callum - annoyingly - had a heart of gold. He was kind, compassionate, fair and the complete opposite to Nathair.
As we continued to walk, I began to realise, once again, how different he was to everyone else. I had already asked why he was different to Hector and I got the answer, it might have somethin' to do with our up bringin'. But now I wanted another answer.
"Why are you so different?" I asked him.
He frowned, "what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean," I said, halting and making him stop too, "you don't believe that your father was the innocent in all of this."
He dropped his head, as if ashamed.
It left me to put two-and-two together.
"Was it because, if you just pretended to agree, it would be one less thin' to argue about?" I asked.
His head shot up, sporting his disappointed face.
"Give me some credit. I have my own reasons for wantin' my father dead," he snapped.
My eyes widened. I couldn't pretend that it wasn't a shock. Nick striked me as the lad that wouldn't want his worse enemy dead let only is own fresh and blood.
Just as I went to speak, he butted in, "and I'm not goin' to tell you why, so don't even ask."
I groaned, frustrated. I was going to ask.
We continued to walk and I continued to wonder. What was Nick's pass? Was it as bad as he was makin' it out to be? Why did Nathair's own son want him dead?
With all my questions, I found one that I would force him to answer.
"Well, answer me this, did you try to stop your father?"
We halted. Nick's jaw dropped. His eyes widen. I already new the answer.
"You didn't," I said, not hiding my disappointment.
"He was my father, Allie. What would you have done?" He asked of me.
"I would have told Callum exactly what I thought."
"I'm not talkin' about Callum. What if it was reverse? What if it was my family in power? Would you have stopped your father from attackin' my family?" He asked.
"That's different," I argued, "it was our title first."
"It doesn't matter. It was only a few hundred years when that title was my pack's. The same way you were brought up to believe that the title is your family's, we were brought up to believe it was ours."
I opened my mouth to argue but couldn't find the words. The point was, I had no argument that was good enough.
"Then, how don't you believe that?" I asked again, "how are you not embarkin' in revenge like your brother?"
"Because Nathair brainwashed Hector. While he was ignorin' me, he was turnin' Hector into himself," he answer.
It still confused me.
"Why Hector? I mean, I get it. He's the oldest. But aren't you his mate's son. Logically, he should have loved you more."
Nick swallowed, clearly looking as if he had made that connection once or twice in his life before.
"Maybe it was because I was his mate's son and the fact that his mate died."
Crap. I forgot about that part. Instantly, guilt started to fill me knowing that I had upset him.
"Nick, I'm so -."
"Don't worry about it, honestly," he reassured me, "it's one of the only thin's we have in common so we can't be afraid to talk about it."
That was true. But as I got to know him, I was finding that I had more in common than we both realized. And that thought scared me more than it reassured me.
As another, larger campsite started to form, so did the large gathering of people. No wonder there was less at Campsite A than I had seen. Half the pack was here, if not all of it.
They all gathered around something, shouting, cheating and jeering at something that I wasn't sure of. Curiosity got the better of me and I was determined to find out what it was.
"Oh," Nick said stopping and pulling back.
I frowned, "what, what is it?"
"It's the first of the month," he stated.
"So, explain?" I demanded.
"Well, I, just think we should turn back," he told me.
"Why, we came this far. And you said that no one would hurt me if you were near."
"It's not that. It's -."
The roar of the crowd cut Nick off, causing me to turn around and look. From the large tent off to the left, two large males led out a smaller chained male and hauled him up what seemed to be a stage that I couldn't see. Davy appeared on the stage too, as well as another male, holding and sharping an axe.
My frown deepened and my curiosity built. I took a step forward but I had a brick stopping me from moving. Turning back around, I spied a very still Nick.
"Nick, what are you doin'? I want to see," I told him.
"No, you really don't."
His scared and worried expression only confused me more. What the hell was happenin'? I wanted to scream. Who was the prisoner? What did he do? What was the lad doin' with an axe? What the hell was Davy doin'?
Finally, Nick got the idea and led me over to the edge of the crowd. From there I could see better.
The two males from before had the prisoner pinned with his chained arms stretched out across a chopping block. I had seen this image on movies, read it in history books. But this was real life, the modern age. It couldn't be what I thought it was.
"Attention, Macangus Pack!" Davy started, making my skin crawl.
I hated him just as much as Hector.
"Allen is charged of stealin' another man's food. What do you plea?" He asked Allen.
"Guilty," Allen groaned, struggling under the weight of his male guards.
"You will receive the minim punishment, the cuttin' of one hand -."
"No!"
I jumped at the sound of a woman's screech coming from the suddenly silent crowd.
"He did it to feed his family!" The woman screamed as another male seized her arms and held her back.
She couldn't have been much older than me, perhaps in her early thirties and didn't look like backing down.
"Freya!" Allen called, "don't!"
"I'm with child!" She screamed out, before she could help herself, an attempt to get her mate free.
While a smile spread across my lips as I fought the urge to congratulate her, she was met with stern and emotionless faces. No one was happy for her.
"He did it for me!" She cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Things went silent. I followed the gaze of the male that held her to Davy's. He gave a slight nod causing my head to turn sharply back towards the girl. With one swing of his elbow the lad hit the girl in the face making her crumble to the ground with a groan.
"No, don't you dare touch her!" Allen roared, struggling to be held.
A part of me ached, wishing to see someone fight for me like that. Like an instinct, I took a step forward to try and fight, knowing that he couldn't.
I felt that rock, holding me back agin, spinning me around to Nick's warning look. His eyes big, screaming at me, don't you dare! You promised!
I bit my lip, the only way to keep my mouth shout.
When I turned back around, the male had snatched the screaming woman again, forcing her head to remain straight to watch what was about to happen. The other two males had contained Allen and had him back in the stretched out position. The axe was raised. In a blink of an eye, it went down.
I gasped. I turned. Arms came around me. For just a few seconds, everything was silent. All I could hear was the sound of another's heart and felt his warmth. It was heaven. But only for a moment.
I jumped at Allen's inhumanly roar and Freya's screams as her mate was in pain. The arms around me tightened, comforting me as I tried to block out the screeching.
"It's okay. Your okay," I focused on the sound of Nick's voice, the heat of his breath in my ear and the feel of his hand in my hair.
"let that be a warnin' to you," Davy called out making me jump, "no one, and I mean no one, not the young, the old or the pregnant, will have special consideration! Because of Callum Patterson, we all must suffer which mean we all must follow Hector Macangus' orders. And we all must pay the consequences when we break them! Euna Grieve!"
Everything inside of me went numb. This was sick. Why were people being punished for simply just wanting to feed their family? Why wasn't their any consideration? My insides burned as I fully began to understand their anger. Macangus had turned them against my brother and was making me rethink his decision as well. It wasn't their fault. So why are they being punished and Macangus was still at the top of the food chain.
"Come on," Nick said tugging on my arms but not moving an inch away from me, "let's go."
"No, I want to stay," I blurted out before I could stop myself.
I didn't want to see another punishment but at the same time I needed to see what lengths Hector will go to, to make a point.
"No your not. We're out of here. Come on."