Chapter 1 #2
The Warriors didn’t care though, didn’t listen to him, as they forced him to his knees and wrenched his arms behind his back.
He could taste a vaguely metallic flavor on the back of his tongue and wondered if he had somehow swallowed some of the blood, or if he had bitten his own tongue.
He focused on that as the Warriors hauled him up, their grip far too tight for him to even attempt to wiggle out of—not that he was going to try, not that he even wanted to.
“This can’t be the guy who murdered all of those Alphas,” a Warrior said over his head. They all stood several inches taller than him—Ren always hated how short he was, how other Wolves could act like he wasn’t there at all because of it. “Didn’t you see the state of them?”
“He’s literally covered in blood and his own mother reported him, of course it's this guy,” the other Warrior scoffed as he pushed him forward.
Ren stumbled, only held up by the hands forcing him forward.
His legs couldn’t keep up with the Warrior’s long strides, with how quickly they were ushering him through the streets.
He wondered where they would take him—wondered if they would make use of the building that was supposed to act as their village jail.
It was always empty until an Omega did something wrong.
By now, there had been so much yelling and noise that several people were poking their heads out of their homes, standing outside or peering through windows to watch Ren get dragged along. He heard their murmurs, their confusion.
“Is that Ren?”
“What did he do? He’s never been in trouble before.”
“Is that blood on him?”
“Is he hurt?”
He wanted to tell them all what he had done—wanted to scream it from the hill tops to make sure everyone knew exactly how those Alphas had died. But he kept his mouth closed—just like he always did.
Because he had been a good little Omega—always smiling, always nodding and doing whatever anyone asked of him.
He had never been one to glare or smack away hands that had reached out to touch him even as he walked by or was going about his day.
Had never been one to argue or fight when someone called out remarks about how pretty he was—what they would love to see him do, where they would love to put him.
He had always kept his face forward; had always just let it happen.
Ren gasped when the hands left him all at once, letting him fall heavily onto the ground beneath him. He groaned as he hit the cement, the stone cutting into his palms and adding his own blood to what was marring his skin. His knees ached, shooting pain all the way up to the roots of his teeth.
He stared up at the Warriors with the same round eyes his brother had turned on him as they observed him curiously. He wished he had grabbed his shirt, even if it was sopping wet, to be able to cover himself even a little.
“What?” he breathed when the Warriors said nothing to him.
“We’re waiting to hear what to do about you,” one of them explained.
“You’ll probably be taken to the castle.”
The castle.
The looming, black stone castle’s tall towers were always visible, no matter where you were up on the cliffs.
The castle took up almost half of the entire valley below and housed the majority of Wolves behind its walls.
Ren always wondered why some of them were sequestered to the outside, to the cliffs above where they could be more easily attacked—where the rules were far laxer without their King watching them.
He had always wanted to visit the castle—always wanted to hide away in a crevice where no one could find him, so he would never have to go back to his village atop the cliffs.
But the castle was quite a hike away—usually taking at least a few hours to get there. “So, we have to wait for a castle guard to come get us?” Ren asked.
“A patrol came by less than an hour ago,” one of the Warriors said with a shrug. “The others are going to see if they can catch up to them before it’s too late.” Ren’s fingers twitched from some strange sensation inside of him, but when he looked down, his hand was empty.
It felt like they sat there for an eternity.
Ren was strangely calm as he awaited his fate.
The Alphas seemed more fidgety than him—eyes shooting to him for quick glances before darting away again.
Ren’s lips tilted up in a smile every time he caught their gaze before it flickered away even quicker than before.
Hooves pounding on dirt had him looking up, pupils shining as the Warriors pulled their steeds up a few feet away from them.
Ren had only ever seen the castle guards from afar—they were so different from the pathetic excuse of Warriors that they had up on the cliffs.
The castle guards were clad in matching black fighting leathers, and wore similar expressions of harsh lines and clenched jaws.
Those faces turned curious when the three of them took in Ren, sitting on the ground, shivering without his shirt, without even his hands bound, looking like he was willingly waiting for them.
The Castle Warriors exchanged glances before one of them swung his leg up and over his horse, jumping to his feet.
Ren almost laughed at how short the Warrior was—weren’t Alphas supposed to be massive?
This one must have been even shorter than Ren, even if he was twice as broad.
His face was also far too kind—those eyes too blue under the blonde hair that curled over his forehead.
He squatted in front of Ren, gaze trailing over him to assess the damage.
The man glanced up at the Cliff Warriors, the two men flinching slightly under his attention. “This is what you came to us all in a panic about?” he scoffed, waving a hand at Ren. “You really couldn’t handle this one?”
“He killed five Alphas,” the one to Ren’s left argued. A single look from the short Warrior had the man flinching again and standing down, head lowering. Ren peered up at all of them curiously. “He… we thought for a crime such as this, he would be tried at the castle.”
“Why are you smiling?”
He turned his grin to the Warrior in front of him. “I’ve always wanted to visit the castle,” Ren told him.
“Did you kill five Alphas?” The man asked him directly, words slow.
Ren paused, considering his words before he asked, “which Alphas?”
The guard looked up at the two Warriors in question. “He’s covered in blood,” the Alpha said, pointing at him. “Why would you think he would admit to this?”
The Warrior stood up with a sigh and glanced over his shoulder at the other two Castle Warriors who were still on their horses, watching curiously. “Alright, I guess we’re heading back to the castle early tonight.”
Ren grinned again as he was helped to his feet.
He was nervous about riding a horse, had never even been this close to one, let alone touch or ride one.
But he let the short Warrior help him step up into the saddle.
The man’s hands were so gentle on his hip and waist that he almost couldn’t believe the Warrior was an Alpha.
A moment later, he swung himself up behind Ren.
Ren relaxed against the man, holding onto the saddle as they took off at a quick pace. As the sun rose over the horizon, the castle grew closer and closer.