Alpha's Guest

GEORGIE

I awoke to the sound of metal bars clanging. The cell was brighter than it had been last night, which I realized was due to a barred window in the top of the wall.

I was surprised to see a tray of food in front of the cell door.

A large guard standing outside my door sneered at me. It was a different one from last night.

I crawled out from under the blanket. I winced as the pain in my back and chest felt decidedly worse. I grabbed the tray and leaned against the bars dividing the next-door cell from mine.

I glared at the guard but quickly lowered my eyes. I’d heard somewhere that looking a werewolf in the eye could make them really angry.

With one glance at the guard’s face and posture, I could see why. His whole aura exuded a dominance that I’d not seen in a human. He also looked like he could snap me in half if he chose to.

As angry as I was, my own self-preservation kicked in.

I looked at the food on the tray, some sort of porridge and a roll. Also a cup of water. I hadn’t expected to be fed, so I made the most of it.

I’d only eaten a few spoonfuls when I heard the voice from the next-door cell.

“You smell!”

It was the same voice I had heard last night that told me to shut the fuck up.

“So do you!” I hissed.

The words had hardly left my mouth when a hand came through the bars and grabbed my dirty blonde hair, yanking my head back against the bars.

“All humans smell!” he growled. “And you need to learn some manners!”

He let my hair go, and I jumped away from the bars.

“And you need to fuck off!” I spat.

He chuckled, then tilted his head to one side.

“Feisty, aren’t you!”

I rolled my eyes and sat on the bed. I wasn’t going to waste this food; I didn’t know when I’d eat again. Although being stuck in here wasn’t so bad. At least I had a bed and food.

As long as they didn’t decide to beat me.

The werewolf in the next cell looked at me and smirked.

“When did you bastards start beating puny humans!” he yelled.

I guessed he must have seen some of the bruises on my face. He didn’t know the half of it; he hadn’t seen the rest of me.

It was quite amusing to think that he thought that only werewolves were capable of beating people up.

I took a closer look at the man through the bars; he was just as big as the guard.

I wondered what he had done to be locked up. I was surprised at how good-looking he was. His brown hair hung loose at his shoulders, and his eyes were brown with a hint of yellow.

I watched as the guard approached his cell door.

“Shut up, Ash, or I’ll wipe that smirk off your face!” he growled.

The prisoner, Ash, rolled his eyes. “When are you going to stop feeding me this shit? It might be all right for a puny human pup, but I need meat!” he growled.

The guard opened the cell door and grabbed Ash by the throat, slamming him against the bars that divided our cells.

“When you learn to shut the fuck up, rogue!” the guard growled.

I gasped a little fearfully. If they did that to me, then they would probably kill me.

The guard looked at me disdainfully as he released the prisoner next door to me, who I now knew was called Ash.

Ash stood up. He glanced at me through the bars and winked. Then he walked to the front of the cell.

I realized he’d only done it to get a rise out of the guard. It also seemed that he hadn’t finished yet.

“Maybe if you used your eyes, you worthless mutt, you’d be able to tell that the human pup you dragged in here last night is hurt!” he growled.

The guard walked to the door of my cell, glaring at me.

“Are you hurt?” he demanded, a low growl coming from his chest.

I shrugged and quickly looked down at my food. The last thing I needed was to be thrown against the bars of the cell.

Not satisfied with my answer, he unlocked the door and came in. He grabbed me by the throat and pushed me against the wall.

I winced when my back made contact, then he pulled up my shirt, looking at my stomach.

“Hey!” I growled. “Fucking get off!”

I tried to bat his arm away, but it was like hitting a solid lump of wood.

He growled under his breath, “Who did this?”

I just glared at him. I wasn’t going to have a discussion while he was attempting to strangle me!

He finally let go of my throat and took a step back. I pulled my shirt back down and rubbed my throat. He’d left a red mark but no lasting damage. Still, I was pissed at him for doing it.

“Why are you here? Why is a human child in my cellblock?” he growled.

I heard Ash laugh. “Fine guard you are; you don’t even know why you imprison people.”

The guard let out a deep growl and turned away.

He stormed out of the cell, slamming the door behind him.

I glared at Ash. “Thanks for that!” I hissed.

Ash leaned against the metal bars separating us.

“Don’t worry, pup, they don’t usually keep humans in here; you’ll be out before you know it.”

I turned my head to look at him.

I rolled my eyes. “Why are you helping me?” I croaked hoarsely. Maybe the guard had done more damage than I’d originally thought.

“Looks like you could use a friend, pup,” Ash smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “Looks like you could use one too!”

Ash grinned; he seemed way too cheerful for someone who’d just been half-strangled.

“You got a name?”

I nodded. “Georgie,” I replied.

Ash hummed, “What did you do? I mean to get beat up like that?”

I smirked at him. I’d kind of decided Ash was okay.

“What did you do?” I countered.

He laughed and shook his head. “You don’t want to know, little one!”

I raised my eyebrows, but he swiftly changed the subject back to me.

“Did your people do that?”

I rolled my eyes. “If you mean other humans, yeah, they did, but they’re not my people!”

Ash shook his head. “And they call us monsters!”

I looked at him right in the eye. “Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Doesn’t look like your people care too much for you either.”

Ash smirked. “They aren’t my people either!” he whispered.

The noise of my cell door opening diverted my attention.

The guard from earlier walked in.

“Can you walk, human?” the guard demanded.

I rolled my eyes and stood up. I started to walk toward him. I limped slightly as I realized it wasn’t just my upper body that was bruised.

“Stop!” the guard yelled.

I shook my head. “What! I thought you wanted me to walk; make up your fucking mind!”

I’d heard that werewolves had superfast speed; now I found out for myself.

Before I could even blink, I was slammed into the metal bars that divided my cell from Ash’s.

“What the fuck!” I groaned.

Now I was hurting. I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth.

Don’t fucking let them see that they’ve won, I scolded myself.

“You will learn respect, human,” the guard growled.

He grabbed my wrists and I heard a click. Cold metal encircled my wrists, keeping them in place behind my back.

“Big man, small dick!” I mumbled under my breath.

I saw Ash chuckle. With my cheek pushed against the side of the bars, I couldn’t help but grin.

“What did you say?” the guard growled.

I didn’t answer. This seemed to make him even more angry; he turned me around and slammed me back against the bars.

“I said, ‘What did you say?’” he growled again.

I bit my lip, shook my head, and lowered my eyes, trying to look submissive.

This was what he wanted. He grabbed my arm and pushed me out the door.

I wondered where he was taking me. Then the words of the previous guard rang in my head.

The alpha will deal with you in the morning.

From what I knew of werewolves, there was a strict hierarchy: alpha, beta. I wasn’t sure what it was after that. The guards, I figured, must have been fairly low on the pecking order.

That didn’t give me a great deal of hope. This asshole didn’t seem to care who he beat up on.

It probably meant he couldn’t kill anyone. That would be left to the alpha.

I guessed that meant he’d either kill me or let me go.

As the guard shoved me along, we entered a corridor. It was different from the cells. He stopped outside a plain metal door. The sign read Interrogation Room 1.

That was it; I was fucked. I wondered what they thought I needed to be interrogated over. Or maybe that was just an excuse to beat me to death.

Ash was right; they didn’t keep humans here. They just got rid of them as soon as they could. Maybe I was going to be the next meal for the werewolves.

Good luck with that; I barely had any meat on me!