A Babe Amongst...Werewolves? Ch. 03

"No you're not, not until the Alpha has had her" stated Buzz Cut. "You know the rules, you agreed when you joined this pack, and anyway" he added "you're all due on patrol in 10 minutes, so get the hell out of here."

Olly looked at Buzz Cut mutinously, before glaring back at me. I blew him a kiss and winked. Was I fucking insane, I wondered.

Olly curled his lip up in a sneer, before lunging towards the bars, surprising me, I stumbled backwards and landed on my ass. His hands curled around the bars as he stared down at me threateningly. "Just wait princess I'll get my hands" he then thrust his hips crudely towards me "on you soon enough" he licked his lips lasciviously before heading towards the stairs.

Once they were gone and the door was locked, there was a collective sigh of relief from the women. I slumped against the bars, pleased I had stopped the rape, but terrified for my future safety.

"Thank you"

I wasn't even sure I'd heard correctly, it was said so quietly. I craned my head down the aisle to see the young woman, now back in her cage staring at me down the rows, through the bars.

"Thank you" she repeated, "thank you for distracting them." A single tear rolled down her cheek, before she did an odd bow, before sitting back on the floor.

"That's ok" I replied softly. "I'm Elle" I offered.

She smiled back timidly "Amy"

It was so worth it, I decided. Now, time for some information. I turned to Marigold, "so," I started with forced casualness. "Why wasn't I injected then?"

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I growled softly in irritation as a young Beta from some southern pack got in my way. He must of heard me though, he leapt out of my way as if I'd shoved a hot poker up his ass. So there are advantages to being a Territory Alpha, I thought to myself amusedly, it's not just a huge pain in my ass with too much paperwork. My wolf wagged his tail in agreement, although we both knew we loved being a Territory Alpha, paperwork and all.

"Alpha Leo!"

I turned as someone shouted my name behind me, it was Alpha Morgan, he jogged to catch up with me.

Alpha Morgan was in charge of the North West packs, B.C, and California were both in his area, he lived in a small town near the mountains, where he was able to travel between packs when required with ease. Other than Alaska, his territory was physically the largest, however he only had thirty packs. Morgan's mate had been taken along with Lorek's mate, so it was doubtful he would of been thinking of anything but getting her back.

I felt sorry for the guy, his mate had been one of the ones taken in a raid, and he looked like shit.

"Good to see you Leo" he said, clasping my hand in his and shaking it. "Could we talk in private for a minute"

I nodded, before following him into a spare room. "So, Morgan, what can I do for you?" I asked bluntly.

"You know they took Elizabeth?" Morgan growled. He looked more broken than ferocious, though I sympathised with the guy. I also was glad I didn't have a mate for this exact reason, what a pain in the ass.

"I just wanted to ask, do you remember a pack member of mine, Olly Barcuso? Asked Morgan.

"Vaguely, I think I disliked him, why?"

"He was the one who betrayed us, and took Elizabeth and the other females from our pack" rumbled Morgan.

"He was the big guy with the long hair and beard right?"

"Yes that is him, if you see him at the battle" Morgan paused ominously "leave him, I want to kill that fucker myself, piece by piece.

I grinned at Morgan savagely. "My pleasure, I'm sure there will be enough rogues to go around"

We clasped hands again for a moment before Morgan nodded and walked off towards his packs.

I surveyed the scene, all around me were wolves, the strongest and most vicious wolves from every pack in North America. My wolf was growling inside me, I couldn't wait to find these rogues. They'd taken female weres from my Territory, from every Territory, that was a crime that must be punished. Order needed to be restored, and until the wolves got their mates back, that wouldn't happen.

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Marigold stood up and walked towards the bars between our cage, then sat down facing me. She crossed her legs and motioned for me to sit down and face her. I picked my ass up off the floor and strode over to the bars before plopping back down. I shivered, it was cold down here, I wrapped my arms around myself before waiting for Marigold to begin.

"You weren't injected because it's a serum designed to suppress our wolves so we can't communicate with our packs. You won't be injected untIl you've fully turned"

My head jerked up to meet her gaze. "I thought I was a werewolf? You mean I'm not, I can still be human?" And what the hell did she mean, suppresses our wolves?

"You are in the second stage of changing into a werewolf," she began. "From here, there are two options, you turn werewolf, or, you die. Once the change has begun, there is no turning back"

My heart sank as she said it, I knew hoping for a way out was to much to ask.

"So, you were going to explain to me about this whole, turning into a furry creature on four legs deal, before Fido interrupted with the shots so spill"

I decided to get the general facts before I got to distracted by specific details. I figured I probably understood the general points already, I'd read a bunch of werewolf stories as a kid but better to be certain. I smiled at Marigold, indicating to her that she should continue

She clapped her hands together briskly. "So, werewolves are made two ways, you can be born were, or you can be turned. Most weres are turned, births are rare for our kind. It's harder for werewolves to get pregnant and more often than not they are male births. Which means the ratio of females to males is very very low, like 10:1 so without turned weres our species would die out."

"Turned..." I repeated, slowly. "I assume by that you mean being savagely bitten by a werewolf and then kept in a state of crazy and pain for however long."

She smiled wanly "yes, the turning isn't a gentle process. Once you heal from the wounds, you must wait for your wolf to make herself known, which is where you're at now. It normally takes a few days, in stronger weres it can be quicker. It's unusual for anything to go wrong now, although it can happen. The process to change is why there are so few female weres, most can't survive the original attack."

"Is that what happened to the other women?" I tried to keep my tone calm, but I could hear it waver as I asked, and I'm sure Marigold could as well.

"Yes" she replied bluntly.

I appreciated her candor. I didn't want her to sugar coat it. "Is that why they took six of us? More chance of a successful turn?"

"It is, the success rate for females is about 15% for men it's about 90%, so about one in six females.." She trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence.

"Were all the women here turned by these werewolves? Were you? How do you know so much about us?"

I wondered how many innocent women had died in order to turn us, how many families would never see their daughters again?

"Nineteen of us were weres before this, myself included" her face twisted in distaste. "It's why they have to drug us, not only does it keep us weaker, if we weren't there's a chance we could communicate with our mates and then they'd find us."

"What is a mate? And what do you mean, communicate?"

"Werewolves mate for life. The easiest way to describe it is that they are your soulmate. A male were will recognize the scent of his mate as soon as he finds her. He'll mark her as his." She indicated to a faint bite mark at the crook of her neck where it meets the shoulder. I hadn't noticed it before through the bruises.

"A male wolf will do anything and everything to protect his mate once he finds her. After you complete the mating ceremony, I'll explain that later," she added as she saw me open my mouth "mates are able to communicate telepathically. We can only do this with our mates, except the Alpha of the pack, he and his mate can communicate with anyone in their pack telepathically.

I digested this slowly, my mind spinning. I couldn't help but wonder, if mates were so freaking great, how come Marigold and these other women were stuck in these cages like me? Were their mates dead? "So, how did they catch you and the others?"

"The rogue wolves here planned a raid that we thought was going to be at the main estate. Like I said, wolves are protective, so they arranged for all the women in our pack to be guarded in our stronghold... every were pack has a stronghold," she added. "It turned out the raid was a huge diversion, we were the real targets. By the time our mates realised what was happening they were still too far away to stop them."

"Didn't you try and fight them yourselves?"

Why did the man always have to come and rescue us, I pondered. Oh please Elle, my subconscious sneered at me. Don't get all high and mighty, it's not like you put up much of a fights when you were kidnapped. Maybe if you'd had someone to fight for you to you wouldn't be stuck down here either!

I inwardly rolled my eyes at myself. If I ever get out of this I told myself, definitely going to take some self defense classes. Or buy a gun. I grinned savagely, briefly fantasizing about blowing Blondie's, no sorry Dennis's I corrected brains out.

I looked back to Marigold again, waiting.

"We did try and fight, but we were significantly outnumbered and hit with a surprise attack. Three of the male wolves guarding us betrayed the pack and chose to align themselves with Dennis. If we hadn't surrendered it just would of meant more death" She sounded pained as she told me this, I felt guilty for bringing up such a difficult topic for her.

"Ok," I started slowly, "I think so far I am more or less with you, but what I still don't understand is why they took you at, from what I understand a huge risk to their own safety by stealing another weres mate. And then, why bother with also turning human women? What is so important about having female werewolves? If they wanted to get laid they could just hire hookers, or go to a bar, it's not like some of them aren't ok looking."

"You remember how I told you how few female were births there are?" Marigold started slowly.

"Yes, 10:1" I glanced at her. "I'm assuming that's about the ratio in all weres as well?"

Marigold nodded. "Not only that, but almost all of them are mated. Most single female wolves are incredibly rare, or still underage."

I was beginning to understand the motivation more now, but there was still something she wasn't telling me.

"But, if you're going to say, kidnap six human women, why kill five of them without doing anything? Not that I was hoping for it or something, but for me at least, they didn't touch me other than abducting me. What's the exact purpose of turning us, to mate so they can then get laid? What's the point? Can't wolves mate with humans?"

"Technically speaking, some wolves have found their mates when they were human, though from what I understand it is extremely rare." She hesitated here, looking down at her feet.

"Wolves only are supposed to mate with their true mates, however, I believe that these wolves are planning to forcibly mate with us."

As she said this, some of the women around us began softly crying, and, I was pleased to hear, a few were quietly growling.

"There's something you're not telling me" I said bluntly. "Which is, why. Can werewolves only have sex with their mates? It certainly didn't look like it earlier" I jerked my head towards Amy. "What is exactly so great about having a mate?"

"Having a mate makes you a stronger wolf" her voice was steady and calm. "The men are able to control their wolves more easily, and we think, because they now have a mate to protect, it releases some sort of instinct in the wolves, making them better fighters, stronger, bigger, more focused."

"So these men, have done this all to become stronger werewolves?" I was flabbergasted. All of this so they were a bit stronger?

"Yes, I think they are hoping to mate with us and then challenge the Territory and Grand Alphas for their positions. The fact that they are mated, combined with the fact that two of the Alphas have lost their mates..."

"So why haven't they mated with us yet? Are they waiting for a full moon?" I tried to joke, but it wasn't very funny, it sounded forced, even to me.

"We think they're waiting until they have enough mates for everyone. See if an average pack has 10% mated wolves, and they have an entire pack of mated wolves..well that has never been done before. They could take over a Territory Alphas pack with that sort of power, and all the packs under his control."

I was flabbergasted. "But why would the other packs just agree? That is ridiculous"

"You need to understand Elle, werewolf packs aren't a democracy, it's survival of the fittest. It's not always fair, but it's part of being a werewolf, and of this world."

I opened my mouth to argue, when we heard a large thud above us, and the sound of footsteps.

Marigold grabbed my hand through the bars, looking at the door to the basement worriedly before turning to me.

"Elle" she started seriously, "we don't have a lot of time before the Alpha, Dennis is going to come and I need you to listen seriously ok?"

I nodded mutely, surprised by her seriousness.

"Look, Dennis is going to come for you soon, and he's going to rape you. Don't talk, just listen" she ordered, looking back at the door.

"The Alpha gets the women first, it's the rule, I know it's awful, I really do know." She was squeezing my hand harder now.

"But whatever you do, don't fight, and don't antagonize him." She pleaded tearfully. "I've known Dennis a long time, we were in the same pack. He may call himself an Alpha, but he's not, not really. Real Alphas can communicate with their pack, he can't. They've pledged themselves to him, but it's not the same thing. And he knows it. But don't underestimate him, he is smart, and ruthless and dangerous. As much as he want female wolves, he is unstable, and if you push him to far he'll kill you."

I was just staring at her wordlessly, how was I supposed to process this?!

"He does the same thing to all the women. He's going to take you outside, in the woods" she started. "He'll strip, then let you go free. Then, he'll force you to run through the woods as a human, and he'll chase and scare you in his wolf form. Once he's had his fun, he'll change back and take you"

Marigold was openly crying by now, as were a number of the other women, myself included. Fuck, fuck fuck fuck. I was terrified, I didn't want this!

"Why?" I rasped hoarsely.

"Power" she stated simply. "He's not a true Alpha, he'll never get the level of respect our wolves would give a real Alpha, so he controls through fear. I know it awful, but sometimes to fight, you have to let the bad guys win. I know it's wrong, but don't make him angry. Our packs will come, I swear it, you just need to survive, please promise me.." She trailed off as the basement door was flung open.

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The end of this chapter!! I swear I will try and be quicker I really want to finish story, hope you enjoyed it!! :-)