Chapter 84-Prisoners

The Next Day
Athena P.O.V
I try to roll over, but I’m being held in place by Andreas. I kiss his arm and say, “Time to wake up, my love.”
He groans and hugs me tighter. “No, thanks.”
I laugh and try to roll over again. “If you squeeze me any harder, Andreas, I’m going to pee.”
“Fiiiiiine.” He releases me with another groan before rolling onto his back and rubbing his eyes.
“We can’t stay in bed,” I say as I get up and go into the bathroom. “We have way too much to do in the next few days. We still haven’t questioned the others we captured with Leon the other night. We have to get the pack house sorted out…”
“I knooooow,” he says with another groan, cutting me off before I repeat the seemingly never-ending list of things we need to do.
I giggle as I finish up and wash my hands before turning the shower on. I hear Andreas come up behind me, so I turn around and wrap my arms around his neck with a kiss.
He smiles into my lips before kissing down my neck to my mark. He leaves a chaste kiss on it before looking at it.
“Huh, it does kind of look like two crescent moons.”
“Show me,” I say, turning his head to the side. “They look like they’re back-to-back… This is so weird.” I say with a sigh.
“I’m getting really tired of not having the answers,” he says, mirroring my sigh.
“I know,” I say, kissing his mark and turning and getting in the shower.
He sits down on the closed toilet lid and fiddles with his hand while he observes me carefully.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“There’s something I need to tell you…” He says pensively.
“Okay,” I say, stepping into the water and sighing as it runs through my hair and down my back.
“I was originally told that I shouldn’t tell you this, but I disagreed…” he says, looking down at his hands,
I stop what I’m doing, turn the water off, and give him my full attention. “Tell me.”
“I called Laskaris yesterday…” he says, not looking at me. “I had to tell him what happened yesterday…”
“Okay…” I say, unsure where this is going.
“He contacted the high council… The high leader is coming…”
“Shit…” I mutter, turning the water back on, and begin to wash my hair.
“You don’t seem too concerned,” Andreas says.
“Oh, trust me, I’m concerned. But what can I do about it? It’s the high council. They must think it’s important.”
“Athena, this could be bad. Laskaris told me that High Elder Hasapis can be ruthless. What if he thinks we’re a threat and they decide to end us? We still don’t know what our purpose is as the chosen. They could do what they did to the last generation and just kill us all to save a war.”
I pause for a moment and think about it. Then I shrug my shoulders and rinse my hair out. “If they decide to do that, then we’ll kill them all before they get the chance.” I turn the water off and wrap a towel around my body before kneeling in front of Andreas. “No one is going to kill us, though. The high council is bound by the laws of the Moon Goddess.”
“The Moon Goddess’s laws didn’t stop them from killing the chosen last time, Athena.”
I place my hands on his knees. “How do we know that that wasn’t the will of the Goddess?” I ask him. “From the little we know about the last generation; they were the ruthless ones. Power hungry and killing anyone who stood in their path. What if the only thing the Moon Goddess could do was to have them killed?”
“I guess,” he mutters, still clearly worried.
“Andreas, we have so much we already have to worry about. Let’s worry about the high council when there’s something to worry about.” I smile at him, placing my hand on his cheek.
“I guess you’re right,” he sighs, taking my hand and kissing my palm.
“And besides, the council leader could be the person to finally give us some answers. I also believe Enyo. I believe that the Goddess visited her. And I’m believing what she told her.”
“And if the visit was a part of a hallucination?” He asks.
Enyo growls at the insinuation. “Believe in your mate, Andreas. She believes in you,” I tell him and lean up and kiss him. “Come on, we have things to do. I think we should start with the prisoners.”
Andreas shudders. “I’ve been trying to avoid that,” he says with a grimace. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I see Roy.”
“I meant what I said last night about there being too much death lately,” I tell him as I walk back into the room. “But I also made you a promise. And that fucker will pay for what he did to you. If he dies, he dies.”
*
We walk hand in hand down the stairs into the bunker and find Luca sitting behind a table near the bottom.
“Alpha’s,” he says, standing and bowing his head.
“How are you, Luca?” I ask.
“I’m good thanks, Alpha. It’s been quiet,” he says, nodding towards the door that leads to the cells.
“Nothing from any of them?” Andreas asks.
Luca shakes his head. “No, Alpha. Not since they were brought here.”
“Thank you, Luca,” I say with a smile, and go to the door. I turn when I realize Andreas isn’t behind me, and I see him with his eyes closed, taking deep breaths.
“You’ve got this, my love,” I tell him. He opens his eyes and nods and comes over to me with Luca.
“We’ve had to house a few of them together because of the limited number of cells we have. The two humans are together, and the six wolves were split into two groups of three,” Luca explains, as we stand at the door.
“We might need to speak to our contractors and have the bunker remodeled and extended. We barely have room for the parents and children if there’s a crisis and they need to be kept safe.” I say.
“I’ll speak to Ryna about it, Alpha,” Luca says. “Who do you want to speak with first?”
“The wolves.”
He nods and opens the door, and I hear indistinct murmurs coming from the cells. Luca turns on the lights and the cells come into focus at the back of the room. Quiet growls are coming from the two cells the wolves are in, and I flash them Enyo’s eyes in warning.
“We’re not afraid of you,” one of them growls.
Enyo growls back at them. “Do not disrespect us, or we will give you something to fear,” she says, extending our canines to show she’s serious.
“We’re not going to hurt you. So don’t give us a reason to defend ourselves,” Andreas tells them.
“We don’t believe you,” one of the younger males says defiantly. The five men glare at us, while the one female sits in the corner behind them with her head in her hands.
“We have given you no cause to fear for your lives. You may be in cells, but that’s for our pack’s safety. You’ve been clothed, fed, and kept warm despite the freezing temperatures. We didn’t have to do any of this, considering your plans for us in that field.” I tell them.
They share glances with each other but still stand defensively toward us.
I hear a sniffle, and the female finally looks up at me. “What did you do to our pack?” She asks.
‘They think we’re the ones that killed their pack,’ Enyo says.
“I didn’t do anything to your pack,” I tell them.
“LIAR!” the young male yells. “WE FELT THE CONNECTIONS BREAK AFTER YOU TOOK US AWAY!”
“That wasn’t us,” Andreas says. “We believe it was the rogue pack you were working with.”
“Don’t believe a word they say,” Roy says from the other cell, and Andreas’s head snaps in his direction.
Andreas growls aggressively at him. “You haven’t been given permission to speak.”
Roy smirks at him, and I have to place my hand on Andreas’s arm to calm him. I turn back to the wolves. “The blood of your pack is not on our hands. Your previous Alpha got into bed with the wrong people, and it cost the lives of many,” I say sadly.
“My mate…” the female whimpers.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I tell them all.
“Where’s Alpha Leon?” One man asks.
“He unfortunately didn’t make it,” Andreas says, his eyes still glued to a smirking Roy.
The wolves whimper at the loss of their Alpha.
“Karla and her son are alive, however,” I tell them, and their heads snap up in surprise.
“Where is our Luna? We wish to see her,” the female asks.
“She’s being treated in our pack hospital. I will send the Doctor down later to tell you how she’s doing.”
“She’ll be dead soon. As will all of you,” Roy says, and this time I can’t stop Andreas in time. He runs at Roy and grabs him by the throat through the cell bars.
I run behind him and mind-link him. ‘Not here. I will give you your time with Roy. But not here, and not with witnesses.’ I see him squeeze tighter and Roy reaches up to try to pry his hand away. “That’s an order from your Alpha, Andreas,” I tell him, letting out some of my aura.
He slowly releases his grasp on Roy with a growl, glares at me angrily, and then stomps from the room, slamming the door behind him.
Roy starts laughing as he rubs his neck. “Poor mutt can’t catch a break. Now he has to take orders from the bitch Alpha.” He laughs again.
But I see the flicker of fear in his eyes when I let out a growl and stalk towards him.
“The only reason I’m not letting him kill you yet is because these wolves have been through enough, without them witnessing what we’re going to do to you, Roy,” I say, my claws extending in anger over the human that tortured my mate.
I see him gulp as he starts retreating towards the back of the cell and sits next to Alice.
“Anything you wish to say?” I ask her, and she shakes her head no and turns her back to me.
I walk back to the wolves. “Again, you have nothing to fear from me. If you co-operate with us, we may even offer you a place in our pack. I’ll give you some time to think it over,” I tell them and leave the room.
I close the door behind me and find Andreas pacing the room with a nervous Luca watching him.
When he sees me, he stops pacing and gives me a broken look. “Why did you stop me?”
“Because now is not the time for Roy to be killed. We need to know what he knows,” I explain, walking over to Andreas and placing my hands on his face.
“I want him dead, Athena,” he says, his eyes full of unshed tears.
“I have more in mind for him than an easy death,” I tell him. “Trust me.”
He nods slowly and wipes his tears.
I turn to Luca as I take Andreas’s hand and start to walk up the stairs. “Luca, keep an ear on them, will you? I want to know anything that’s said.”
“Yes, Alpha,” he says with a nod.
“Where to now?” Andreas asks.
“I need to see my best friend.”