Chapter 3: A familiar howl

“A…alpha D… Derrick…” Athena stammered as her eyes wandered from his face to his hand which was holding her heart and life.

Her baby… her only son.

The muscular man in front of her had a devilish smirk on his face, but she knew that he was more evil than that. Derrick, the Alpha of the Shadow Eclipse pack who captured her almost three years ago!

Now the monster was holding her baby in one hand, and what he could do made her shiver with fear.

He can end her baby’s life in a blink of an eye if he wants!

“Athena, you look surprised to see me here. Can’t I come to meet my slaves?” Derrick asked with a sick smile as he took a step inside the room. But she didn’t take a step back as he expected. Her feet stood rooted on the spot.

Athena couldn’t concentrate on his words as her mind and heart were to her son who was too scared to let out a sound of cry at that moment. He was too scared to even call her. But big fat tears were rolling down his chubby rosy cheeks. Her heart broke into pieces seeing him like that.

“A… alpha, please let him go… my son is scared.” Athena requested in a shaky tone as she took a step toward him with forwarded hands to take her baby.

“What’s the hurry, little slave? Can’t you see he is having so much fun with me?” He asked as he acted like he was going to drop the baby but caught him at the right moment. She felt her heart coming out of her throat.

“Ace!” She gasped loudly in shock and fear. Ace was the name of her dearest son, the two years old baby.

“Mommy…. mommy…” Her little baby cried while looking at her with fearful eyes.

Derrick let out a loud laugh, making her baby cry out loud in fear. That sound seemed to amuse him more as he laughed wildly. That’s how he is called a monster. He enjoys torturing people and takes pleasure in other people’s misery and pain.

But she wasn’t going to let her son be the element of his fun today or ever. She fisted her hands by her side as she felt a sudden wave of anger wash over her.

“Alpha, please give me my baby back right this moment.” She said calmly as she looked up at his eyes.

Her words made him stop laughing but soon there was visible anger on his face.

“You are showing so much gut just for a bastard, huh?” Derrick asked with darkened eyes as he took another step toward her.

“Oh, alpha! What did you just do?! Don’t call her son that. She doesn’t like it.”

Athena looked at the door after hearing Amanda’s bitchy tone. She walked inside the cell with her minions and stood beside Derrick while Helena and Selena stood behind her while glaring at Athena with crossed hands.

“Please, Alpha, I don’t mean to show disrespect to you. Please give me my baby back.”

“Let’s have some fun with your baby first. I am sure even a bastard loves to play games, right?” He said with a smirk as he turned around to leave suddenly.

“Wait, Alpha! Where are you going? Where are you taking him? Give him back!” She shouted after him in panic. She was going to run after him when the evil twins held her arms, restraining her from moving.

“What are you doing?! Leave me!” She snapped at them as she struggled to get free.

“Girls, bring her downstairs. The real fun will start.” Amanda said with a dangerous smirk.

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“Everyone, gather around. It’s important.” Alpha Derrick announced using his alpha tone and every pack member gathered around him.

Everyone started to murmur in confusion about what it might be. But the major confusion was what an unknown child was doing in his hands.

“What’s happening, alpha?” Someone from the crowd couldn’t keep the curiosity to himself anymore.

Derrick didn’t say anything and waited for Amanda and her group to drag the slave to him.

“Leave me! I wanna go to mommy!” Suddenly the baby in his hand started to cry and trash around, pissing him off.

“Derrick, I brought her.” Amanda said proudly.

“Good. Now hold this piece of shit while I handle her.” Derrick said with gritted teeth evilness in his eyes.

“No! Don’t touch my baby! Leave me!” Athena shouted in an offensive tone. She didn’t want Amanda’s dirty hands to touch her son.

But her protest died down as soon as a hard slap landed on her cheek, throwing her off her feet on the floor. Her cheek is hot and stung. Everyone went silent while her son’s cry intensified seeing her on the floor.

“Keep your eyes down, bitch. Don’t forget you are standing in front of your Alpha and you are just a slave.” Derrick snapped at her with so much hatred which confused her.

Why was the Alpha who never looked her way till now was showing so much hatred toward her suddenly? She could see that there was something else in his eyes other than hatred and anger. But she didn’t know what it was.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked in a calm and fearless tone.

“Why am I doing this? Everyone must have this question. I will tell you why.” Derrick said with a smirk as she looked down at Athena who was still sitting on the floor.

“Everyone might know this low slave of our pack, Athena, but you might not know that she is a whore as well. She has a bastard hiding in her cell.” He said with a smirk while pointing at her crying baby.

Everyone is aware of that. They all have disgust-filled looks toward her. Hateful murmurs filled the room.

“Alpha, there is a rule in the pack that we don’t have any place for whore and bastards in our pack. You can punish them severely or even take their lives as well.” One of the pack members said in anger.

“Are you going to punish them today, Alpha? If yes, please start from the bastard.” Amanda spoke in excitement but hissed out the next second feeling pain in her hands. She looked down to see that the baby had bit her. She was going to say something when Athena cut her off.

“My son is not a bastard.” She spoke up again, not fearing anyone or any rules one ounce. Derrick looked down at her and pulled her by the hair and made her stand up.

“So, who is his father? Not anyone from my pack, that’s for sure. Tell me the truth and I might let you go.” Derrick said with a frown. He sounded a little anxious to know the answer.

Athena’s face turned blank hearing the question.

“He is not from the pack.” She admitted but that was not what he wanted to know.

“Is he from your mate?” Derrick asked, making her go blank some more.

“Yes.” She curtly answered.

“Who is he?” Derrick shot the next question.

“I don’t know.” She replied while looking down.

“Don’t play with me. Tell me who he is. From which pack he is? What’s his position?” Derrick demanded, getting impatient every second.

“I don’t know who he is. He rejected me and left. And why do you sound so anxious? He is not an alpha. Otherwise wouldn’t you have smelled that from my son?” She asked in a challenging tone, making him fume.

Derrick fell into thoughts. She was right. An alpha’s blood smell can be recognised by everyone. If Ace had been an alpha’s baby, he would have smelt it. It put him in a little relief but he couldn’t be in relief completely, not until he takes care of this slave.

“Alpha, don’t you know what she used to do before? She was a thief! She used to steal things from people and God knows how many men she slept with to steal from them. I am sure this thing is a result of that only. Must be a rogue as well.” Amanda spoke up once again.

“That’s none of your business, Amanda! Give me my baby back!” She shouted and went forward to take her baby but she was stopped mid-way.

Alpha Derrick picked her from the floor and tore her shirt with his big hand. The piece of cloth hung lifelessly by her waist. Her eyes widened in shock, now she was just in her bra and ragged jeans in front of everyone.

“If you are so much interested in keeping the bastard from a rogue, I am sure you will be thrilled to keep a bastard from an alpha as well.” He said nastily with a smirk as he yanked her back by her elbow and made her stand in front of him.

“What are you doing?! Leave me!” She shouted in anger and tried to get away but his dirty hand on her right breast silenced her for a second. But she was quick to come in sense and acted on impulse. She punched him square on the nose, cracking it and making it bleed.

Everyone gasped in shock while it angered him beyond limit. He slapped her back. He didn’t give her a chance to do anything as he got a hold of her hair and slammed her hard on the nearby wall, making her head bleed. He gripped her neck tightly, strangling her.

“You bitch! You dared to punch me. Now you will see what will happen to you! I will fuck you until your screams make your son deaf and then give you to my-…” He couldn’t complete his sentence when a sudden punch threw him directly on the floor.

Athena fell on the floor immediately while holding her throat, trying to breathe as much as she could.

Her vision was blurry and her head was spinning.

Suddenly everything was a mess around her. Everyone was running around and she saw people turning into wolves within seconds.

The Shadow Eclipse pack was under attack.

She looked around with blurry eyes and found her baby was sitting on the floor silently in the middle of the fight. The wolves might have scared him too much. Her heart flipped seeing him so scared. She started to crawl toward him with difficulty as the smash was bad.

She saw her son crawling to her as well, which made her smile in happiness even in all these. But her smile dropped suddenly, her heart as well.

She saw a wolf running toward her son at full speed with no good intentions. It was Amanda.

Athena ignored all the pain and stood in the blink of an eye before running toward him at full speed.

She reached him at the right time and hugged him, covering him from any danger.

But that earned her a big bite on the stomach. She let out a loud howl in pain but her grip on her baby didn’t lose a bit. She hugged him tight as she fell on the floor, losing a lot of blood. She saw black dots appearing in front of her eyes and soon lost consciousness.

But before that, she heard someone let out an earth shattering howl in pain.

Why did that sound so familiar? Why did she feel like she heard that before? Almost three years ago…

That night when she got and lost something valuable at the same time.