2

~~~

Two days later...

"Iris, have you caught on to the buzz?" a rotund Omega maid murmured to her fellow worker, both holding trays of food.

"About what, Freya?" the latter queried with knitted brows.

Freya eagerly answered, "I've heard it from the lips of several others that the Alpha has found his mate."

"Oh, that's a good thing then. Is she from our pack? I reckon she's quite beautiful and classy," Iris commented with a smile, her eyes twinkling like crescent moons.

Freya scoffed, "No, Iris. It's that lowly slave Bellatrix,"

"What?" Iris stopped in her tracks, "That ugly thing?"

Freya shrugged, "I bet she and her mom are very happy now. But personally, I'm not sure I can bring myself to bow to a Luna from a background much worse than mine."

"Me too. Let's hurry up before our masters get us whipped," With that, the two girls picked up the pace.

They didn't realize that Bellatrix was some distance behind them and had heard the conversation. She covered her mouth, her eyes dilated with traces of fear evident in them.

"No, this is not good," she shook her head as a tear made its way down her cheek, "Why is this happening?"

Making a swift pivot on her heels, she sprinted back in the direction she had come from, moving as fast as she possibly could towards the slave quarters.

Reaching there, she found the door to the tiny room that she and her mom dwelled in had been torn down and even the bed had been wrecked.

"Mom..." her knees grew weak with several fearful thoughts running different trails in her mind.

Had the Alpha already caught wind of the rumors?

Suddenly, a fellow female slave ran over, only stopping an inch away from Bellatrix to catch her breath.

"Bellatrix... thank goodness... you're here!" she said with fragmented breaths.

Bellatrix immediately asked the urgent thing in her mind, " Emelia, where is my mum?"

"S-She was... taken away by the guards. She was accused of stealing the Beta's late wife's missing jade bracelet."

Bellatrix's eyes broadened in disbelief, "What? My mom would never steal! Where is she now?"

"The Alpha has ordered her execution. She will be flogged to death. You'd better run." Emelia advised. "As for me, I never saw you," she added.

"I can't escape this pack with all the tight security put in place. We're both aware of that."

"You can at least hide anywhere you can," Emelia urged while sneaking quick glances at the entrance of the slave quarters. But much to her dismay, the latter disagreed.

"No, I can't. I need to see my mom,"

"Bellatrix, listen to me. You can't go to her. You could get killed!"

"I'm good as dead anyway. If anything, we'll both die together," With a resolute look, Bellatrix made her way out of the slave quarters, ignoring the panicked calls of her fellow slave.

"The Alpha will kill me anyway. But I want to see mum one last time before I meet my end, or I'll really regret it," she muttered tearfully as she summoned the will to increase her running pace, even with her vision becoming hazy.

...

On finally getting to the pack's square, she found many had gathered. Shrill feminine screams were accompanied by boos and mocking remarks from the crowd.

This made Bellatrix's heart skip several beats and her fear increased as her mind spun with worst-case scenarios.

But she couldn't stop now; hiding wouldn't solve anything.

"Please, let me through," she pleaded while trying to force her way through the crowd. However, a burly man gave her a death death stare before slapping her with the back of his hand, the impact sending her weak self to the ground in a pathetic manner.

Still undeterred, Bellatrix got on all fours and endured being stepped on by many, until she ultimately got to the front. Only for her to meet an appalling, and heartbreaking sight!

Her poor mother, who was lying on her tummy on a wooden bench, was half clothed with her hands and feet tied to two separate poles. Her bare but horrendously bloodied back was being repeatedly kissed by a long cane that was covered in nails and held by a tall, brawny and mean-looking guard.

"Mom..." she muttered in disbelief and heartbreak.

As the cane descended once more on her mom's bare flesh, mother and daughter screamed in pain.

"No, don't hit her anymore. She would never do such a thing," Bellatrix ignored the prospect of being hit by the cane and rushed forward, successfully taking the next hit.

"Don't hit my mum," she covered her mom's bloodied back with her body.

"Don't hit her," she cried in a throaty voice.

"You rotten slave, get the blazes out of here this instant or I'll kill you too." The stern-faced guard warned but she shook her head adamantly.

"I won't leave. You can hit me. Don't hit my mum anymore," she pleaded tearfully.

"Very well then. Two of you can go to hell," the guard resumed flogging and the cane tore Bellatrix's flesh, drawing blood.

"Bellatrix... g-get off me," her mom weakly pleaded with blood flowing down her mouth.

"No. We'll die together and meet dad in the afterlife." Bellatrix muttered amidst the mockery of the crowd all around them who were reveling at the sight of the duo's misery.

"L-Listen to me. I-I'm... your mom..." her mom reasoned but her daughter cut her short.

"And... I'm your daughter. It's duty to protect family. And you're my only family, mom," Bellatrix cried.

Her mother began to struggle, wanting to push her daughter away and receive all the hits meant for her rightfully. But she found herself too weak to achieve her aim and her daughter was rather bent on being stubborn.

"Get... off, please..." Vivian pleaded weakly but her daughter's heart-rending screams as the cane relentlessly thrashed her back was the only answer she got.

"Stop! The Alpha's here," A red-haired man, lofty and muscle-bound, suddenly said after the crowd had made way voluntarily.

At that, the guard stopped midway of hitting Bellatrix. Then he turned towards the man who just spoke and bowed, "Greetings, Beta Lorencio,"

Subsequently ,upon seeing the other much-dreaded figure behind the pack's Beta, the guard and all the others present went on one knee, placing their right hand across their chests. "Greetings, Alpha King!"