Chapter 22 – Arsyn
Chapter Twenty-Two
Arsyn
I frown at the pathetic excuse for a wolf. I'm fairly certain he pissed himself. Dread currently has him pinned to the foyer floor.
Laithe lazily lounges against the wall, licking the blood from his nails. Absolutely zero couth to be found in that one.
The hound snarls as the wolf in human form curls up into the fetal position. If Dread isn't careful, he'll rip out his throat without even trying. I sigh. I'm fairly sure I'm going to have to intercede.
“If you kill him, we won't get any answers,” I carefully remind the hound.
“That's true,” Laithe says, pushing off the wall and coming closer. “And I'd really like to know what the fuck is going on.”
“Please,” Carson begs. “I'll tell you everything.”
He really is quite pathetic. The tiny wolf pup seems to be more dominant than her sniveling, whiny sperm donor.
“Give him some room,” Lai suggests to Dread.
The hound sits back on his haunches. His head tilts as he stares down at our prisoner.
“Now would be the time to speak,” Laithe says. “Unless you have nothing important to say, in which case, we'll go ahead and rip out your heart so I can deliver your corpse to my human.”
“My brother has my mate,” Carson hisses, clutching at his broken ribs.
“What the fuck ?” I grumble.
Dread snarls, turns, and heads off. He comes back a minute later in human form, wearing a pair of jeans and nothing else.
“Convince me not to kill you,” he growls. His tone is deathly serious. If I was that wolf, I'd be very worried for my chances of survival.
Carson clutches at his chest. His t-shirt is covered in blood, likely from when Laithe plunged his claws in and threatened to rip out his heart.
It was a long trip back to the mansion, and even I have to admit, the pathetic wolf was on my last nerve with his sobbing. His hair is shaggy and falls around his chin.
The more I study him, the worse he looks, and not just from the pain we inflicted. He's on the gaunt side of thin, and the dark circles under his eyes are more noticeable now that I'm truly looking at him.
“I found my mate four years ago,” Carson says, struggling to sit up. He wraps his hands around his knees and shakes his head. “My brother has always been cruel. Some of it comes with the designation. He's always been a little too much like our father.”
“I swear to the gods, you better get to the point,” Dread snarls.
“Brayden wouldn't let me leave to be with him. He's human. Well, mostly human. He's got a bit of watered-down fae blood. Brayden has him. He's kept both of us prisoner under his thumb for years.”
“Sorry, wolf,” I say, chuckling. “That doesn't add up. No shifter who finds their mate is going to fuck other people. Let alone get one pregnant.”
“You think I had a fucking choice?” he snarls.
His eyes glow the amber of his wolf. “My brother is a goddamn psychopath, and there's no one powerful enough to stop him.
I don't have a chance. Even if I thought I might win, I'd never challenge him.
Not when he has Henry, but he's kept me so weak over the years, I know I wouldn't have a chance.”
Well, that's a bit more in line with reality. I frown.
“You saw him run with his tail tucked between his legs,” Dread says, crossing his arms over his chest. “ You might not be strong enough, but I am.”
“By all means,” Carson says, resting his head against his knees. “Do it, or he'll kill you. I know I won't survive this. I can accept that. Just please, if you stop Brayden...” His voice breaks. “Rescue my mate. I've been nothing but a curse on his life since day one.”
“And how does my mate factor into all this?” Dread growls. He's vibrating like the hound is desperate to escape and make this fucker pay.
“Brayden hasn't found his mate. He's tried to reproduce with every she-wolf he's come across but hasn't fathered a single child.
He has an oracle. She's old and has been mistreated by the pack for years.
I don't know what happened or how she foresaw it, but she knew I'd meet my mate. She even tried to warn me. I went out of my way to avoid meeting Henry. Brayden still knew, somehow. He brought him to the pack and has been using Henry to force me to comply with his demands for years.”
“He ordered you to fuck Emerson?” Laithe asks, squinting like he's trying to figure out if Carson is full of shit.
“Not just her.” He shakes his head. “I don't know what the oracle told him. She's been held captive for years now. Hell, maybe she finally snapped, too. I don't know. All I know is I did what I was told to save my mate's life. Can you say you would have done anything differently?”
“I'd never be so weak that I couldn't defend the ones who count on me for protection,” Dread snarls. The dominance in his words rolls through the room, despite the fact there was no command. Oh yeah, he's good and fucking pissed. “Who does he want? Emerson or Ember?”
“Ember? Is that her name?” he asks with wide eyes. “He wants the baby.”
Laithe tosses up an arm to block Dread from murdering the wolf before we have all the answers we need.
“If he tried to breed with every female wolf he's come across, then why the fuck does he think it would be any different with Ember?” I ask, because now I'm pretty sure he's lying again.
“Did you miss the part where he's feral?” Carson snaps. “Because he's out of his fucking mind.”
“Why try to extort Emerson for money?” Dread asks.
“Originally, Brayden tried to force her to him. He thought he might be able to breed Emerson since I did. Or that's the way he made it seem, but she wanted nothing to do with him. If she had joined his pack...” Carson coughs, clutching at his ribs.
“Then he'd have agency over Ember from the moment Emerson agreed to pledge to him,” I finish for him. “He also would have had easy access to them both.”
“Yeah,” the wolf says, nodding his agreement. “He wanted Emerson, but she wasn’t having it, so he used the money as an excuse. A way to torment her and constantly keep eyes on her. His entire goal was to stay in her life. He doesn't want Ember now . She's of no use until she reaches maturity.”
“And you'd hand over your own daughter to your deranged brother to save your mate?” Laithe asks, with a look that spells pure fucking danger for the wolf.
“I've been living one day at a time, one crisis as it comes for so long...” Carson sighs, resting his head on his hand. “I hoped, eventually, I'd have some kind of plan. You know he's going to punish my mate because I was taken.”
“Do you honestly think we care?” Laithe asks, finally releasing Dread.
“He's being held by wolves who see no value in human life.” Emerson comes down the stairs with her arms wrapped protectively around her middle. “Damn, Alix, you look like shit.”
“It's Carson,” the wolf mumbles, grimacing.
“Emerson,” Dread growls. He immediately stomps to her and picks her up. He wraps her around his chest and checks her over for injuries.
It's quite the sweet moment as his huge hands brush over her cheeks.
Emerson gives him a soft smile, running her hand over the back of his head. “I'm fine.”
I have the nearly undeniable urge to check her over myself, but I can feel her energy. She hasn't been physically hurt, and she's okay. A bit exhausted, but that's to be expected.
“Hey, Em,” the wolf with a death wish says. “Sorry about everything.”
I have the urge to remove his eyeballs from their sockets, so he can no longer look upon my bonded.
“You don't speak to my mate,” Dread snarls, perfectly echoing my thoughts. “You don't look at her. You don't even think about her.”
“Shh,” Emerson says, brushing her cheek against his.
The hound is trying to break free, but as she tenderly rubs her face to his, he settles enough to prevent the change.
“Brayden never had full control over me, and I can tell you...” She sighs.
“It was scary as hell. I only met him on two or three occasions, but I was uncomfortable the entire time.
I can't even imagine what it would be like being held captive by that lunatic.
I can't say what I would or wouldn't have been willing to do in order to keep you safe.”
With that, she pulls Dread's mouth to hers.
They kiss.
Carson frowns. Apparently, his brain isn't working. Dread issued a very clear command, which the wolf is not following.
Laithe steps over, viciously kicking him in the face. Carson lands on the marble flooring with a thump.
I roll my eyes.
Laithe chuckles, shrugging. “He doesn't know how to listen.”
Dread glances at the incapacitated wolf, snorts, and heads up the stairs with Emerson in his arms.
“What are we doing about that?” I ask, nodding to the unconscious asshole.
“I told you we needed a dungeon here at the house,” Laithe calls after Dread.
The hellhound simply raises a hand, flipping off the vampire, and continues up the stairs.
“I'll see about getting him settled.” Raisa, Dread’s sister, comes into the room with her two mates at her back.
“Not that I'm defending him. Nor do I agree with what he did...” She sighs.
Her dark hair falls around her shoulders as she shrugs.
“Dread can't empathize, because he's never been in a situation where he wasn't powerful enough to stop anyone who tried to control him.
The rest of us get it, because there's always someone bigger and stronger around who could control us if they'd like to. Luckily, my brother is an honorable alpha. Not all are like him.”
Laithe frowns at the battered wolf. “He could have petitioned the council or any one of the nearby sanctuary cities. He had better options available to him.”
“Fear and desperation will make someone do things they never expected. Things they would never do under normal circumstances.” Raisa frowns.
“Again, I'm not defending his actions. He's a slimy fuck.
I do agree with Dread's mate, though. The human Brayden is holding prisoner is just as much a victim as Emerson.”