It took a couple of hours for them to enter Contingent. However, another trouble knocked on their car door as soon as they passed through the gates. Their cars were taken aside and all of them were asked to step out. Ashton did not know what was going on, but the mistress did.
So far all of the soldiers or guards as they referred to themselves Ashton had met were either cadets or junior officers like lieutenants. They were stronger than him as he had confirmed the same with the system. It was no wonder the Mistress was doing as she was told to. If he was in her place, he wouldn't have wanted to anger them either.
Soon, they were brought into a building that looked like a police station. Inside, Ashton saw a man standing with one of his feet on top of a man's head. The naked man had a metal collar around his neck and was bleeding profusely from wounds that were all over his body, while the officers around him were laughing and torturing him.
Behind them was a cell. From within the cell, muffled moans of a female could be heard. It didn't take long for Ashton to realise what these bastards were doing inside the cell.
It was a human slave, no, there was an entire family of slaves... a plethora of emotions washed over Ashton as he saw the humans being mistreated. He tried to calm his nerves down, but he was failing, quite miserably. The mistress must have sensed it as well, as she immediately pushed Ashton behind herself.
She was aware of Ashton's raw emotions as a former human and thus acted before he ended up doing something he would have regretted later. The push brought Ashton back to his senses, but he could not get such a terrible sight out of his head.
The only thing he could think of doing was to register the werewolf who was mistreating the humans. Ashton swore he would deal with him when the time was right. But for now, he had to control his emotions as he was weaker than them.
Standing 5' 9" tall, and solidly built with olive skin, the werewolf had an ominous feel about him. Something that Ashton did not like at all. He also had beady brown eyes and his short, straight, brown hair which was in contrast with his jet black moustache and beard.
The man was wearing a uniform just like the rest of the soldiers were, but it was a bit... more ornament than the rest of them. He also had a handful of badges spread across the left side of his chest.
"You bastards thought you could escape from Contingent? How big of a moron did you have to be to come up with something like that?" The man with the moustache barked and his subordinates joined in on the fun and began kicking the slave one after the other.
"Well, it's thanks to that we got ourselves a little treat." Someone else from the crowd said while pointing towards the cell, "These humans might be slaves, but damn, their females know how to make someone feel good."
At that moment Ashton realised that as much as he hated the mistress for what she did to him, she was far less of a monster than these bastards were. The elders living in the enclosure were right, they were indeed treated much better than the rest of humanity.
It didn't mean that Ashton's hate for the mistress had reduced. Far from it, no matter what she said or did, he would never forgive her. But in a weird way, Ashton felt a bit of respect had formed in his dead heart for the mistress.
'It's not a matter of respect...' Ashton thought to himself, 'It's more like comparing two evils and acknowledging the lesser evil between them.'
By this time the moustache man realised there was someone standing near the doorway and told them to stop their chatter. At this moment, the cadet entered the chamber and informed him about the issue.
"Ahem, Ms Mera Bismark. I suspect you had been banned from entering the city without permission from-" The man started speaking but was immediately cut off by the mistress.
"Here you go, Captain." She mumbled and handed the officer a golden envelope.
The man opened the envelope and quickly went through its content. As he did that, Ashton could see the man's expression change quicker than lightning. He was using an arrogant tone a moment ago but now it had disappeared altogether.
He quickly ordered his subordinates to clear the room. Within a matter of seconds, the power dynamic of the room had shifted and it appeared as if the mistress was the in-charge of the facility and not the captain.
"Disha, take Ashton to the academy. The captain and I have some important things to talk about. We'll join you later."
Disha was a blonde werewolf who was her closest aide after Donovan. She was also one of the only females the mistress had allowed to help train Ashton. Unlike the other werewolves, Ashton felt more comfortable with her as well... probably because just like him Disha was not born as a werewolf either.
In fact, she was from the first batch of humans to have been kept in the enclosure. This fact also helped her get close to Ashton. After all, she was once a human just like him.
With the orders being given to them, Disha and Ashton, both headed towards the academy. Which was the main attraction of the city. However, Ashton did not leave before throwing a soul-chilling look at the captain of the station. The captain had made it to his list of people to kill....