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  His mind flashed back to Edrik stumbling over with that wheelbarrow and spilling the food scraps all over the earth. The omega had hoped that regularly dumping water on it would wash the smell of rotting away.

  Peregwin frowned. There was a connection there, but he couldn’t quite make it. He threw the water to the side of where he usually did, and wondered if the plants would grow there as well. He stood and watched, though it seemed a foolish thing to waste time on when there was so much to do. As he was starting to realize how silly he was being, a howl pierced through the air.

  One that was getting horribly familiar to Peregwin.

  A foreign alpha.

  Peregwin put the tub down and dashed toward the howl, seeing Stone leave the hut right alongside him.

  They followed the sound to the outskirts of the village. Most of the pack had beaten him to it and were gathered around a small cave.

  Locan was pacing back and forth in front of it.

  "You—you caught more alphas in a prey trap?" Peregwin stuttered. The pregnancy had done a lot to rob him of his breath.

  Locan shook his head "This one was meant to catch alphas, brother."

  Peregwin, along with the rest of the pack looked into the small cave. Wooden poles barred the entrance, caging four pacing alphas. One of them growled, throwing himself at the bars, but they were made of small tree trunks, and did little more than shudder in response to the assault.

  "I took some of our dirty clothes," Locan started to explain. "Ones thick with our scent. Tossed them in a cave, along with some rotting food. That was the lure. Edrik made this trap. A little rope they tripped on triggered the bars to fall."

  Rohan peered in, growling back at the invaders. "Will the poles hold them?"

  “They’re pretty thick,” Edrik said. "And the rotting food I laced with a little wolfsbane. Of course they gobbled it right up when they found it."

  Rohan laughed. "You clever omegas never cease to amaze me."

  Peregwin smiled at the feat, but this still worried him all the same. There were so many threats from the outside, and the gathering was getting lean. He hated to think so pessimistically, but the threats to their little heaven were coming from every direction.

  "So, what now?" Edrik scratched his head. "Do we just kill them?"

  "Well that's what we said we were going to do, right?" Rohan said, looking a little too please with the idea.

  "Do we really want to leave such a bloody reputation among our people though?" Peregwin said.

  “What?” Edrik said with a hit of venom. “Are one of these your mate too, Peregwin?"

  Peregwin forced himself not to rise to Erik’s insult, reminding himself that they all had plenty of reasons not to trust alphas. He spoke gently when he said, “We can't assume every rogue is a predator, or that they're irredeemable."

  "I never wanted to come along anyway!" One of the caged alphas called out. "My pack force me to come."

  "Are you some sort of coward?" One of the others called out, pulling him away.

  "Quiet. All of you!" Rohan commanded. The alpha paced about. "If we're not going to just kill them, what are we going to do with them? Keep them prisoner? We barely have the food to feed ourselves. We can't just have prisoners leeching off of us."

  Edrik looked toward the caged alphas. "We could put them to work. There's always way more building to do than we can really handle. I could use the extra muscle, and we can free up some of our own to forage and hunt."

  "And let them roam free among our pack? Are you insane, Edrik?"

  "We bind them. Even when they work."

  Lucan chuckled. "What a turn about. Make them do the labor for once. See what it felt like to be an omega for the Bloody Fang."

  Lucan’s tone frightened Peregwin. "I thought we were trying to build a better society than we came from."

  "We are. We’re just teaching the alphas a lesson." Edrik made sense, but something about the glint in his eye still made Peregwin nervous. He turned to Briar, who was quite lost in thought during all of this. "You can't seriously be thinking of allowing this, can you? You're the pack master."

  "Wait, what?" One of the caged alphas started, but fell silent when Edrik jabbed a sharpened pole at him through the bars.

  Briar shook his head, speaking slowly. "Peregwin, I can see why you'd object, but the only other option is killing them. I'm sure even they would rather have a chance to prove themselves useful."

  Peregwin nibbled on his lip. "Fine. I guess this is okay."

  He started to storm back to his hut, but Stone followed.

  "Are you going to be okay, Pere?"

  Peregwin grumbled. "I don't know... I'm just afraid of the path our pack is taking."

  "What? they're being merciful. I thought you would be happy there was no bloodshed."

  "Still. The way Edrik talked about it. We're essentially going to turn them into our slaves."

  Slaves. The term made Peregwin shudder. No one had called him as such back in the Bloody Fang, but that was what he had been. No say in his future. Or who he mated with. Or what he ate—if he got to eat. He had been a tool. Used for nothing more than labor and pleasure.

  Stone pulled Peregwin close to him. "You don't need to worry. You're strong, clever, compassionate, and loving Peregwin. As long as this pack has you, I can trust that it'll have it's heart."

  Peregwin looked up at his alpha. He'd say the same thing to him, but he wanted to enjoy this moment. It let him forget about the rigors of the pack and the stress that came with it, even if only for a brief moment.

  Chapter Twelve

  Stone

  The pack had finally given him a duty as something other than Peregwin's assistant in cooking and distributing food.But even though it demonstrated that he pack had built a great deal of trust in him, Stone couldn’t claim he was happy about his role as prison guard.

  Even Stone was sweating under the beating sun and he didn’t even have the workload that the captives did. The alphas grunted as they pulled a heavy cart across the village. Loaded down with wood, freshly taken from the forest. With chains around their necks, they weren't going to go anywhere as long as they were bound to the cart, especially not with the heavy lumber holding it down.

  It was usually a job the omegas dreaded doing. Now? Stone looked over at Edrik, acting as foreman for the project. A sadistic grin played on the corners of the omega's lips.

  Stone let out a sigh. He wasn't going to push the issue. He had been voted in, yes, but not by much. He didn't feel fully accepted anywhere outside of Peregwin's hut.

  Stone understood why. He knew he'd have to work for his acceptance. All the same? It didn't make the meantime any less arduous. He didn't know everyone who’d voted against his acceptance, but Edrik was convincing him that he was one of them with how he acted.

  "Got the mid-day rations right here!" Peregwin called out. The pregnancy had been less tortuous for him recently. He began to hand out little leaf pouches to the working omegas, as well as Stone. They hastily devoured them, something Stone was used to seeing. Everyone was always hungry.

  "What are you doing, Peregwin?" Edrik called out with a scowl.

  "I'm feeding all the workers."

  "They are not our pack, they do not get our food."

  Peregwin was standing near the alphas. Smaller rations, but still rations and he was prepared to hand them over. They salivated over the simple prospect of food.

  "What? They're doing work for us. What are we going to do, Edrik? Starve them to death?"

  “They’re welcome to pick whatever they want from the waste pits.” Erik smirked. "They act like beasts, and we are treating them as such."

  Peregwin clenched his fist. "That's monstrous!"

  "They're the monsters, Peregwin!" He shoved the omega, making Peregwin stumble backwards.

  Stone had seen enough. He rushed in to separate the two. "You don't speak to my mate like that."

  Edrik turned his anger on Stone. "You aren't one to
talk. You should be bound to the cart right along with them, rogue."

  "What?"

  He spat on the ground "You're just lucky you managed to seduce Peregwin. The rest of us aren’t as stupid as he is."

  Stone calmly took a slow breath. He wasn't about to start a brawl with the pack he was trying to prove himself too.

  The altercation had drawn attention from the omegas working on the building. Several eyes looked Stone's way, a few with concern, but even more with scorn.

  Edrik wasn't alone in his feelings about Stone.

  Yet their reaction wasn't what was instilling fear in Stone.

  It was Peregwin.

  He was staring at Edrik stone cold. If he wasn't carrying a pup, Stone suspected Peregwin may have already thrown a punch. "The alphas are not our enemy, Edrik," Peregwin said. "Cruelty is. We left the Bloody Fang due to cruelty. We're not about to go from the oppressed to the oppressors."

  There was no defusing this situation. It was going to grow more and more intense, and it would only be bad for everyone when it finally exploded.

  “Hey, this isn’t the time to stand around chatting. We all have a lot to get done.” Stone tried to smile lightly. "You need any help setting traps?"

  Erik’s sneer grew more intense. "Not from you."

  Stone didn't react. He knew when he was being goaded. So he led Peregwin away. It was the wisest decision he could make.

  There was silence between the two as they walked behind the alphas dragging the cart. Then, above the noise of the creaking cart an labored breaths of the captives, stone heard a sniffle. He looked down at Peregwin. His omega was crying.

  "What's wrong?"

  "This. This is wrong." Peregwin gestured to everything around him. "We're becoming everything we hated."

  "Edrik is getting to you that much?"

  "Alphas are us. You more than anyone should understand that. They're hungry. They're confused."

  "They're violent," Stone responded almost automatically.

  "Because that's the world they were brought up in. I wanted to create a society where we don't enslave half of our people. Is that so crazy?"

  Stone shook his head. "No. No it's not."

  "I want Ollas to learn compassion for all of our people. For our pup to be the same."

  "The other omegas are angry, Peregwin. I can see why. It won't be easy for them to accept what's been done to them and try to move on."

  "We have to. Otherwise we risk losing the very soul of Mount Liberty."

  Stone massaged his shoulder. He wanted the same world. He wanted for Peregwin to be happy. It would be long. "Let's get you home. You can spend time with Ollas. I'll get someone else to guard the prisoners and finish your deliveries for you. I'm surprised you've been getting around this well."

  "The worst is over, I think... but thanks."

  Home wasn't far away. Before they reached the door though, Peregwin ducked behind the hut.

  "Where you going, Pere?"

  "I need to check something."

  "Hmm?"

  The alpha followed, curious to what he was up to.

  His brow furrowed as he looked at the small clearing behind the hut. There were some plants growing, and quite a lot of them.

  "Yes, oh yes!" Peregwin exclaimed rushing to the field.

  Stone was sort of befuddled, scratching his head. "Yeah, there's some leaves and bushes... and shrubs back here." He'd be the first to admit that no one ever taught him about gathering food, so one set of green leaves looked like the rest.

  "No, no, it's not that." He shook his head. "I've been watching this. This is where I dump my old cleaning water. This is also where Edrik spilled some food scraps a few moons back."

  "I'm... I'm not following. He made a mess, you made mud."

  "Have you ever noticed that where one plant grows, more plants like it grow?"

  "Not really." He couldn’t understand why Peregwin cared so much about this, and Stone felt a bit dumb due to his lack of curiosity.

  "Plants are living things. They grow—look.” He picked up a pit of some kind and held it in Stone’s face, almost too close for him to look at it properly. Stone took it in his hand, seeing that it was slightly cracked with a little green plant poking out of it. He vaguely recalled seeing things like this on the forest floor, and didn’t understand why it had gotten Peregwin so excited.

  Peregwin took the pit back from him, and cradled it in his hands like it was a baby. “I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of different plants. I’ve figured out that with a little water and good earth, we can make just about anything grow!"

  "Wait... so you're saying we can create food out of nothing?"

  "Not so much that, but we can take a little and make it go a lot further with patience and dedication."

  The alpha was still sort of scratching his head. At the end of the day though, he knew his omega was a clever one. Alphas had strength for their survival, and omegas had intelligence.

  "I need to tell Briar about this. This could change the entire future of the pack."

  Peregwin took off running, still impressing Stone with his pregnant agility. Stone was quick to follow, still not quite understanding this moment of brilliance, but he’d caught Peregwin’s excitement.

  "Good moon, Peregwin, what's the rush?" Briar asked as he opened the door.

  "I need to talk to you. About something very important." Peregwin barged in. Stone followed, allured by his mate's sudden madness, unable to pull himself away.

  “What's that, then?"

  Peregwin took a moment to catch some air, out of breath from his dashing. "I know a way we can get more food without sending our scouts so far out."

  "How?"

  "We grow it."

  "Grow food?” Briar’s lip quirked in amusement. “How on earth do we do that?"

  "I've been putting some food scraps into the ground. Dumping water on it. Now it's turning into actual usable food again. Roots. Berries. Leaves. Things we can eat."

  Briar was as bewildered as Stone was. "Wait, we put scraps in the ground, dump water on it, and it turns into food? Are you feeling well, Peregwin?"

  "It doesn't just happen. It takes time. I've been experimenting with it behind my hut."

  The pack master was still not getting it. He looked to Stone, confusion on his face.

  Stone laughed. "Okay, I'll try to explain it. He wants us to put scraps in the ground. Keep it under the sun. Pour some water on it regularly. We wait awhile. Then food grows. That right, Pere?"

  Peregwin nodded. "Yes. We just need to do this in a big enough scale and often enough so that there's always food available."

  Briar rubbed his chin. "That does seem to make sense. I’ve had similar thoughts while gathering food. I hadn’t put together that plants would need water to grow."

  "We could take water from the river and use it. This could be really good. If it goes well, we wouldn't have to forage at all anymore. Just hunt for meat."

  Stone chuckled again. "Clever, clever omegas. What next, you're going to suggest we just keep the beasts in a cage, breed them, then kill then when we want meat?"

  Briar and Peregwin both looked his way. The latter shrugged. "That just might work."

  "I wasn't actually suggesting..."

  Briar piped in. "We should take it one step at a time though. See if we can get this growing thing working."

  "We should find a nice sunny spot," Peregwin suggested. "Then burry the scraps. Have the pack carry the water to it, to make sure it's watered regularly."

  "If we do it on a scale enough to feed the pack though, that's going to be a lot of work. Can we spare that? We need to keep gathering until we see if this works. Where are we going to get the labor?"

  There was another knock on the door and Edrik stepped in. "Am I interrupting something? I was just going to say the alphas have moved all the lumber I need them too, and I don't really know what else to do with them."

  Briar grinned.

  Peregw
in sighed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Peregwin

  Peregwin didn't know what was hurting him more. The aches of pregnancy coming roaring back, or watching Edrik yell at the alphas like animals as they pushed barrels of water up a the mountainside.

  If he had known that it would lead to this, he never would have shared his discovery. He would have just played stupid, gathered what grew there naturally, and continued to forage.

  In the weeks that had passed since Peregwin’s discovery, Edrik’s sharp mind had deduced what parts of the plants things grew from and had them buried in a uniform grid. Every day, he made sure that they were well watered. There was a perverse pleasure on his face as he oversaw the alphas who grew leaner and leaner as they struggled up the mountain to water the growing plants.

  Even on rare rainy days, Edrik showed no mercy to the alphas. He forced them to stand out in the wind and rain, digging more ditches to for planting. He was simply relentless.

  Cruel.

  After dark, Edrik had the alphas dig through the waste pit for food scraps that could be used for planting. He’d let them keep anything else they found as their supper.

  It disgusted Peregwin.

  Which was what had led him to his current predicament.

  Sneaking down a hill in the dead of night, only the moon lighting his path toward the alpha’s prison. He frowned as he approached the building. It was supposed to be the school—a place to teach their pups how to be good members of the pack—now it was a symbol of the rot spreading within their pack.

  "It’s me," he whispered, peeking through a crack in the wall. The captives were huddled on the floor. They were thinning, weak looking, but they rushed toward him with excitement. "This isn't a whole lot, but it'll keep you alive." He pushed the pouches through the crack— food that he had personally procured. Famished, they wolfed down every little crumb he brought.

  "I hope that pushes away the hunger pangs. We just need to buy time until Edrik realizes how insane he's being."

  The eldest one among them was in no rush to finish his portion. Peregwin had learned his name was Greyl over the course of his visits. He passed his food over to one of the younger looking ones, Rogel, and turned to Peregwin. "Why... why are you still doing this?"