The King's Gamma (#Wattys2024)

Nineteen

Five days in the cage with my growing hunger had my mind muddled. I had watched as the guards changed shifts and I have eaten food that tasted worse than what I imagined pig slop should taste like. The first day I puked the moment the wretched scent entered my nostrils. The second day I merely pushed the slop away and did the same on the third day.

The wolves, recognizing my own as a higher rank felt extreme sorrow to see me 'wasting away'.

The fourth day the slop actually started to look inviting as the final nourishment from the Leviathan seemed to wear off.

But there was another reason as to why I was not eating.

The fifth day I sat against the back of my own cage, eyeing the slop wearily.

"You must eat." Said Marietta, mate to the Alpha of Cinders, attempting to push her own slop towards me. "You haven't eaten in many days. Please, eat esteemed Adviser."

"You are our only hope." The Alpha confirmed.

I gave them a sweet smile, knowing that the time was drawing closer.

"With that child in your belly, Luna, I am certain that you need to eat much more than I do."

"Child?" They seemed spooked as they glanced at one another.

"You are not that far along. About a month." I pushed myself away from the bars, took my plate as I did each day and pushed it through the bars discretely towards her. "If you became any more malnourished than you had been four days ago, you would have been in danger of miscarriage." I turned away from her and looked  over at the cages that held the vampires. "And you must be going through hell with a blood craving by now. They feed you each only a drop a day with your food..."

For the first time in a while, I shifted my eyes, looking them over and seeing their auras tinged with surprise.

"It seems that one of you are already teetering on the verge of death and quite a few are not far behind..."

My eyes looked towards the guards before shifting back. I smiled at the vampires.

"Make sure to get enough and to share. Shifting will take some power out of me and I won't be able to help again as easily. Your leader will arrive shortly. I've been smelling his scent since yesterday."

They seemed confused as I suddenly allowed my body to collapse. The panic between the pack, the clan and the elves all together seemed immense.

"Adviser!" The Alpha shouted, with my eyes closed I could clearly hear the panic.

"Female!" One of the vampires shouted.

"Guards! Guards, she passed out!"

"Guards! Help!"

The shouts became more and more urgent as footsteps approached. I counted three in front of my cage. The cage was opened and one stepped inside. Just in time I slowed my heartbeat enough to convince them that I was either in a deep coma or dying. Fingers pressed to my neck.

"She's out cold. She will be of no use to us." The person turned his body away from me and I opened one shifted eye, checking the aura of the feet in front of me. "Drag her to the holding cells and force feed her."

I opened my other eye, smiling at the confused wolves beside me. I winked before I mouthed for them to step away. Reluctantly they obliged and stepped away as I closed my eyes again. I felt my body being picked up almost gingerly.

"Be careful with this one. The boss has expressed interest in her."

Once I knew that I was outside the cage I kicked into high gear. I rolled my body out of his arms, landing on my hands and feet. I twisted my body quickly, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying into the cage I had been in. On my feet again I forward kicked the one that had felt my pulse into the cage of the vampires. His head split at the back on impact, blood spraying onto the vampires.