Rescue

NOVA’S POV

My body writhed in pain as the strokes landed on my skin, the depth of their whip seeping into my skin and dragging my flesh alongside as they whipped me mercilessly.

Unfortunately for me, it began to rain as they tortured me, the dripping water adding to my agony.

A salt to my open wounds.

“This would teach you a thing or two about respect, you murderer,” one of the soldiers who had joined Beta Jasper to whip me said, his spit landing on my face afterward.

I couldn’t even lift my hand to wipe his smelling spit from my skin, the disgusting liquid running down my face as I whimpered in pain.

I don’t think there was any part of my body, aside from my stomach, that wasn’t affected by their floggings.

Alpha Ethan directly gave them that rule. They were to inflict injury on any part of my body aside from my stomach.

He didn’t want me to lose the baby in the process of their whippings.

They left me there, under the rain, and went back to the pack house.

The rest of the pack members who had come outside to watch them beat me retreated to their homes after the show was over.

I was left there alone, the rain adding to the pain coursing through my body as it seeped into my skin.

Several minutes later, as I lay there, wishing for death to come for me, I felt someone carry me in his arms, and the next thing I felt was my body being lowered onto a flat surface, and then some noises.

By the time I woke up, I noticed two strangers looking at me, carrying a baby in their arms and smiling down at me.

“I thought you were going to die on us,” the man said to me, rushing to my side to help me up when I wanted to sit up. “Thank the goddess that you are now awake.”

My body was still in pain, and I winced as he helped me to sit up, the pain more prominent in my lower abdomen.

I looked down and noticed that my stomach was much smaller than it had been the last time I saw it. I looked up at the baby the woman held in her arms, my eyes asking silent questions.

“The moon goddess had mercy on you and decided to spare your life,” the weird-looking lady holding the baby said to me as she drew closer to me.

“You were bleeding a lot when my husband brought you in here,” she said, bringing the child closer to me and resting it on my arms.

“I needed to take out the baby before I began working on your bleeding. He is premature, but he is somehow as healthy as a baby that was carried to full term.”

She patted the child in my arms gently on his cheeks, staring dreamily into his eyes.

My face lit up with a smile as I cradled the baby in my arms.

“He is a strong one. This young lad,” she added, refusing to take her hands off my child. “The moon goddess must have seen your suffering and decided to shine her light on you.”

My eyes fell on my child.

My baby.

The only reason I had endured all the ill treatment I had gotten from the alpha and his family was that.

I smiled in appreciation at her, tears pooling in my eyes and slowly dropping to my cheeks.

I could have sworn that I wasn’t going to make it last night, but not only was I alive, but my baby was alive too, and very healthy.

“How long was I unconscious?” I asked them, gently cradling my baby in my hands.

They glanced at each other, exchanging subtle cues as to whether to tell me the truth.

“You were out for two days, my lady,” they said in unison. “But we made sure that your baby was well taken care of while you were unconscious,” the lady continued. “Thank the goddess that you weren’t out for too long. I would have run out of milk to feed the child with.”

The two of them giggled softly at each other. I earnestly wished I knew their names. They had saved my life after all.

I forced a smile at them, swallowing tersely. “The alpha,” I said sharply, recalling my life back at the pack house. “His guards must be looking for me.”

The woman scoffed bitterly. “They are more interested in finding a ring than finding you,” she said. “Rumors had it that they searched everywhere for it.”

My mind went back to where I hid the ring that Alpha Draco gave to me.

.

Those long days as I was locked in the dungeon, just before they came for me.

I had dug a hole in the dungeon, at a spot I knew they would never look, and I had hidden the ring.

I wouldn’t be losing my most prized possession to a witch like Aubrey.

“If he discovers that I have delivered, he would definitely come looking for me,” I told them, panic rising in my chest as I gently stood to my feet.

They surrounded me, trying to get me to calm down.

“Even if they go looking for you,” the lady said. “This would be the last place they would come looking.”

My eyes drew together. “And why is that?” I asked, my voice low.

They hesitated before they spoke. “Because my wife was a healer banished from the pack a long time ago,” the man said, his voice unusually low. I didn’t miss the undertone of hurt in his voice as he spoke.

“Our hut would be the last place they would come looking for you in,” he quickly added.

It all made sense to me now, how she was able to save my life and that of my baby.

“My baby…” I said, my expression growing dark with dread. “They would kill him if…”

The man rushed up to me, grabbing me by the hand. “I will never let that happen to you,” he rasped, taking my hand in his and rubbing it gently.

He swallowed, taking a moment before he spoke again.

“Alpha Draco sent me to watch over you,” the man said. “My name is Bastian. I am sorry that I didn’t get to the scene on time to save you while they flogged you.”

“It is fine,” I said to him truthfully. “If you came there to save me, the same fate would have befallen you, or even worse. And then I would have been left with no one to save my child.”

My words offered him a little comfort, and his face lightened up.

“I need to keep my child safe from him,” I said, exchanging glances with the two of them. “From the Alpha and his cruel Luna. I need your help,” I said, my eyes shrinking with my pleas. I turned to his wife. “The two of you.”

They nodded, their expressions telling me that they were more than eager to offer their assistance to me.

“Alpha Draco planned to come to your pack in a few days. The last time I spoke with him, he said they were devising a plan to get you out of there.”

“I doubt they will be here before the alpha finds me,” I said, biting back the dread rising to my throat. “I need to take my child far away from here before he finds me.”

“What about you?” the lady asked. “Shouldn’t you be worried about yourself, too?”

I almost let out a laugh at her question. “My child’s safety is all that matters to me now. Alpha Ethan won’t stop looking for me until he finds me. And if he does, he would take the child away from me.”

“Then we have to make him believe that you have lost the child,” she suggested. I liked the idea immediately, quickly jumping on it.

“I will have the child taken to the Dark Stone pack, where she would be safe and cared for by the best wet nurses ever,” Bastian quickly added. I nodded, listening attentively as they mapped out the perfect plan to fool Alpha Ethan.

The wife went into the house, coming back with a heap of clothes covered in blood. My blood, I guessed.

“I don’t know why I kept this aside, but I think it would help build our evidence,” she stated, dumping the heap at my feet. I stared at it, holding tight to my child.

“We can claim that you lost the baby and were almost dead when my husband came for you. That way, they will have no idea that you had delivered.”

I liked the plan, and I was certain that it would work.

We put the plan into action immediately, and her husband left.

Her husband had already returned from the Dark Stone pack with more gifts for me from Alpha Draco when soldiers from my pack came banging at the door, demanding that I come out.

I turned to them, my eyes searching theirs. “I need you to go to the dungeon where I was locked in,” I whispered to Bastian as the soldiers threatened to pull the door down. “I buried the ring there. Just a few inches to the edge of the dungeon.”

He nodded, and just then, the door crashed to the ground. They stormed into the house, yanking my arms roughly and dragging me back to the pack house.

“Look who we have here,” Alpha Ethan drawled as they threw me roughly to his feet. “The scum of the earth omega.”