Xander gave some thoughts to the man’s action but couldn’t continue thinking when he still needed to relieve himself so badly.

Afterwards, Xander felt better but it seemed to be the time that the door opened once again, letting in three men.

“They are just newborns.” One said.

“Too early?” Another asked.

“Nah, we’ll rear them up ourselves!” The first one said.

Xander looked at the wolf and widened his eyes. No way!

The she wolf had just spent all her energy giving birth! She won’t be able to do anything!

 

“Clad and Stew take care of the bitch, I’ll get the pups!” The first one stated, then asked, “You ready?”

The men nodded their heads and the first man unlocked the cell, immediately making the she wolf growl and stand up. She went in front of her newborn pups but being attacked by two man at the same time was too much for her, just as Xander thought, and in no time at all, one pup had been taken out and put into a basket.

Xander looked from the she wolf, who just bit one of the men, and then looked over at the basket, seeing that it might be in arm’s length from his cell bars.

“Dammit!” The man yelled out, after being bitten.

“Get her!” Xander heard, as he quickly went to the basket.

“Be the bait or something, get her away from her pups!”

Picking up the small little pup, Xander rushed to the back of the cell.

“Got it! Two’s enough for now, let’s tend to your wounds!” The first man stated, pulling out one of the men and closing the door on the she wolf, making her hit her head.

 

With a swift kick, the she wolf banged up against the inner cell and then the door was locked.

“Where’s the other one?” The man said, not long after.

Xander had already hidden the pup, even going to another corner of the room and cowering in fear.

Why had I done that!?

What if they come in here and beat me!?

What if the pup will only die now!? What if me and my child dies now!?

Why had I done that!?

“Quick, look for it!” Xander heard one of them say.

 

The wolf huffed, then growled at them, snapping its jaws through the cell walls.

“Shut up, you mutt!”

“It’s not here, I can’t find it!”

“It can’t have crawled back to its mother so early after being born. Could it?!” One said.

Xander stayed still but started to really panic.

They wouldn’t just give up, would they? They’d want to find the pup!

“What if the mother is laying on it? It’s close to the basket…”

A man let out a harsh sound and said, “Just tell the master that she only had two pups, got it!?”

The men nodded and left, one of them obviously eager to get the bite on his arm seen to.

 

With the door slamming shut behind them, Xander waited for a moment before moving.

The she wolf moved its head to the noise that Xander made, then let out a small growl, seeing Xander show one of the little pups.

“This is all I could do.” Xander stated.

Not sure what to do now, he watched as the she wolf licked the cell bar and he went a little closer, putting the pup down but it was still too far away for the mother to grab it.

Xander took deep breaths and picked up the pup, to move it closer once again.

It hadn’t occurred to Xander until then, that the she wolf seemed to be hurt!

 

With the wolf hurt like that, Xander was even able to go as far and putting the pup directly into the wolf’s cell, not far from her head, quickly pulling his hands back into his own cell again.

The wolf licked at the floor, right in front of the pup and Xander bit his lips…It seemed that the wolf couldn’t move…

Pushing the pup closer to the mother, Xander saw her finally lick it.

“You’re hurt…Aren’t you?” Xander stated, scared now because…The third pup that was still here, now all left alone at the other end of the room…

“I…I can’t help you…” Xander said defeatedly, his eyes glassing over.

 

The she wolf seemed busy, so Xander tried to find where she was hurt…Maybe…Maybe he could do something, anything…

If he didn’t do anything, what about the little pups!? They depended on her to survive!

Hearing a growl, as Xander was getting closer, Xander breathed out, then said, “I…I won’t hurt you.”

The wolf continued to lick it’s pup, while Xander looked at that side of the wolf, only to find nothing…The problem was, blood was on the fur that was facing the ground and Xander didn’t know how he could get the wolf to turn over.

The blood seemed only attached to the wolfs fur, not flowing onto the ground, so Xander hoped that it wasn’t anything too bad…

 

Looking at the wolf now resting its head right near the newborn pup, Xander clenched his fists together.

Why? Why did they do this to her?

If…If I hadn’t of asked for a bucket, would they have come?

Was this…My fault?

Xander dropped his head and said, “I’m sorry. I…I shouldn’t have gotten their attention! I’m so sorry!”

The wolf groaned lightly but didn’t move.

Unable to do anything, Xander moved away from the wolf slowly and went to the corner and curled up into a ball.

With such happiness, with such joy just yesterday…Now this…

 

***

 

Derek had been out for eight hours!

Having taken a hit on his head, he had not been able to fight the Alpha Princess off easily, but they had indeed come across something strange, making Derek pay attention to something else other than getting back to Xander.

With what they had stumbled upon, by just aimlessly searching the capital, he and the Princess did find some sort of lead.

It may not be a lead that would lead them to ‘Oscar’ but it was a lead to state that there were indeed Omega’s being held in some sort of prison in the capital.

Derek had once thought of something like this but wasn’t sure about it until now!

The Alpha King must be included on being someone that was trying to use and contain Omega’s!

 

It was only a source that they had found, that was discretely selling some ‘new’ type of drug, well more so selling it and demanding to know results like…Like they were testing it!

It was a place in the capital that was dark and creepy, so, to an extent, Derek thought they were in the right place but…To test something like this on the normal citizens?

The only thing that Derek could conclude to, for the ‘source’ to act this way, was because the ‘source’s’ boss had run out of human’s to test the ‘new’ product on or…They need more people to be on their side for funding…

 

What alarmed Derek the most, was that he saw his father on this night!

His father had personally left home in the middle of the night, to come to this very source and collect something, making Derek really want to follow him back home for more than just one reason.

But, if they could get to the boss of this man with the new drug, they might be able to find out more about what’s going on with the Omega’s, which would benefit to his ultimate goal of giving the Omega’s back their freedom!

It really was a hard decision though, as Derek knew that something might have happened to Xander in the time that he has been gone.

 

At first, he had been unable to think properly because of the hit on his head, but now, watching this ‘source’, Derek felt like he was being pulled in two different directions!

He should go home and make sure Xander’s alright because…If he wasn’t, Derek didn’t even want to think about his new goal, yet alone accomplish it!

So…After Derek was sure that the Princess was determined to watch this ‘source’, and obtain information, he slipped away, going back to his home.

Lurking around his whole residence at first, Derek, discretely made his way in, hoping against hope that Xander was still safely at his mother’s quarters, only to be stopped by Scott, just before he was to walk in.

“Why are you here?” Derek asked quickly.

 

Scott shook his head sadly and looked away, “I was unable to stop the Alpha Master from taking Xander, Master.”

Derek looked up, trying to hold back his fury, “Tell me what happened!”

Scott finally looked at Derek and took a deep breath, “I tried to follow after them but was unable to handle the Alpha aura, but…I’m certain that Xander will be alright…That is until the baby is born at the very least.”

Derek widened his eyes, “You told him that Xander was pregnant!?”

Scott lowered his eyes, “Master, I think it saved his life!”

Clenching his fists, Derek just stood there, staring at Scott, yet thinking of Xander.

 

Not in a million years did he want his father to find out about Xander, but he couldn’t help but think he had thought it might happen, especially since Xander was within the same residence that his father was in.

Having to come up with another place for Xander to stay in had proved to be a bigger problem than he originally thought, and he probably had trusted his father’s uncaring nature of not coming to his mother’s quarters too much!

Thinking that he had brought Xander back and put him into this position, Derek felt terrible but…He wouldn’t have done it any other way!

…If their child was keeping Xander alive for the moment, then Derek was even more glad that he was pregnant! He will just have to find a way for his father not to touch him afterwards as well! Even if…

Yes, Derek had thought that far, that if he had too, he will kill his own father to protect Xander and his new family!

But for now, Derek was glad that Xander’s life wasn’t in danger but then…Where was he?

 

“What have you done to search for him?” Derek asked, trying to not yell and lash out.

Scott flinched, “I had not found Xander but have searched the whole residence.”

“Searched everywhere? There has to be somewhere…” Derek frowned. “How long was it before you stopped following them?”

“About five minutes Master.” Scott said.

“Five minutes…” Derek softly said.

Where could Xander be that was more than five minutes away from here? Perhaps…Not in the actual residence?

 

Narrowing his eyes, Derek tried to go through his memory upon a place that his father might take Xander, that was at least five minutes away from his mother’s quarters, and after a minute widened his eyes. “Come with me!”

Derek marched straight towards the south wing of their residence, then went outside the gate. Going left, he came across what seemed to be an animal enclosure and Derek again clenched his hands, hating that Xander might be here!

His father…His father might be this cruel!

Going up to the men, seeing two of them sleeping and one of them with an obvious new injury, Derek looked at the other one that was now bowing to him, “Master Derek!”

 

“Open it!” Derek stated firmly.

“Yes…Yes, sir!” The man said, opening the door that should lead to animals being in cells inside the building.

Walking in, Derek frowned, seeing a bear in one cell, then a tiger in the other.

He didn’t flinch at all the loud noise of the bear, nor to the tiger trying to put it’s paw out of the cell bars towards him. No, if anything, Derek was upset that he hadn’t found Xander here.

…That’s it?

Standing still for a moment, ignoring everything else, Derek pondered more, trying to be in the head of his father and wondering what he would have done…

This place had sounded like it would be where Xander would be the most!

Turning towards the man, Derek said, “Is there more cells?”

“…N…No, sir.” The man said, bowing. If the man was lying, it would be understandable of why he acted so strange, yet…Obviously though, Derek wasn’t the master here…It was his father!

 

Obviously, something fishy is going on here but what could he do?

Walking out, Derek again looked at the man that had an injury and narrowed his eyes.

Could that injury be done by a bear or by a tiger?

Having the injury being covered, so that he couldn’t see the bite marks, Derek looked away and sighed.

These animals weren’t all captured by his father or his father’s men, a couple had been placed here due to his inn, so…Derek felt like he had all rights to look around!

 

With Scott following after him, Derek walked around the area, but could not see much because it was only dusk.

He was getting tired but didn’t want to rest!

He needed to find Xander!

After walking around the area twice, Derek looked out into the distance and wondered if his father had more areas like this but that he didn’t know about it.

His father had some sort of job of bringing up the young animals to be pets to us humans. A lot of people liked that sort of thing and horses had been the most popular but, it seems that his father really might be going into the more dangerous types now. Having a bear or tiger animal to help protect you would be great but…It would be a lot of work!

 

This used to be where the chickens, cows and sheep would go but then it had all changed on his father taking up this line of work.

Their cattle were now to another side of their residence, while this place turned more into a prison for animals that were harder to tame but, Derek had known that already, it’s just…Where was the rest of it?

It really wasn’t part of their home residence, it was more so a business area that ended up being next door. The land had been bought about ten years ago, but now it was mostly a shed or two with food, then the main building that now imprisoned animals. The other land, now with the cattle, was bought just three years ago, again luckily to be next door to the residence, and now had two sheds, just like this one.

 

I suppose you could think they were a part of the residence now, but Derek’s father was adamant in stating that it wasn’t, that it was just a coincidence that his business was based just next door to his residence.

People have their chats, they have their rumors and own thoughts and Derek’s own opinion was somewhat the same as his father’s. The cattle, the animals, they were really a business, they didn’t have anything to do with where they lived and slept, it was just…Convenient…That’s all…

So…Could his father have really changed directions at some point when he took Xander away, to instead end up in the cattle area?

But, if he was his father, here is where he would place Xander…

 

It was strange how Derek thought that it wouldn’t be such a bad hiding spot really. The bear and tiger could frighten anyone away from thinking an Omega could be kept here in secret…But…Derek didn’t have a good feeling about it. This wasn’t a place to look after a person, hardly even an animal…Well, unless they tidy things up a bit more and make it more livable…

Derek sighed and told himself that he will keep searching, just for a bit longer, then check out the cattle area, perhaps then come back if he still hadn’t found Xander.

Just as the sun was finally giving some good light over across the land and in between trees, Derek heard a howl.

Their residence wasn’t all that close to the bush lands, but why did the howl sound so close?

 

Derek hid behind a tree, as he heard footsteps, and saw one of the men from before walking in another direction.

“Stupid mutt!”

Following after the man, Derek watched how another place had been well hidden, as it was actually underground and not on top!

With a finger to his mouth, Derek looked at Scott, who nodded, and they went to follow after the man after a short moment of waiting. Going down the stairs, Derek came to a stop, seeing the man through in some meat into a cell, and then kicked the cage. “You’ll pay for biting me, mutt!”

Hiding in a corner with Scott, Derek saw the man turn around and leave, closing the door at the top of the stairs.

 

From his corner, Derek looked around and couldn’t see too much. There were only two torches, only lighting the close by area but most of the cells were still in the dark.

A howl erupted once again, and Derek knew for certain now where it came from. This room had a wolf.

“I promise, okay. If I get out of here, I’ll get your baby back.”

Derek came out of the corner at the sound of this certain voice and walked to be in front of the far cell, “Xander?”

“…Derek?”

“I found you!” Derek stated, coming up to the cell bars, and as soon as Xander was in reach, he held him as much as he could with the interference between them.

 

“Are you ok?” Derek asked.

Xander looked up at Derek and slowly nodded, “I’m ok, at least I’m better than her…She…”

“That’s good!” Derek stated, sighing in relief.

“They took one of her pups!” Xander said.

Derek frowned, not caring much for the wolf, “As long as you are alright!”

Xander held onto Derek’s hand tightly, admitting to himself that he didn’t like it here. It wasn’t all that clean, he didn’t have a blanket and there wasn’t even a window.

But…With the thought of getting away from this place, when the she wolf was still stuck here, having lost one of her pups as well, Xander couldn’t help but feel ungrateful.

If he had lost his pup, while being locked up like this, Xander was sure that he’d go crazy!

Perhaps the she wolf isn’t going crazy not just because she’s hurt but because she still has a pup to care for…But, he was sure, that the wolf was really mad about it but just unable to do anything about it right now. She was stuck in a cage…Just like him…