Chapter 7 #2
I shrugged my shoulders, grabbing a longneck from the table I’d pulled next to my chair.
I watched her eyes follow me as I took a pull, saw her lick her dry lips.
Yeah, I just bet she was thirsty. Again, I gave no fucks.
I was the alpha and a bastard. Until she gave me answers, I could sit here and drink, even catch a few Z’s.
Hell, I may even call for some female attention.
I wondered what kind of reaction I’d get from our captive if I had a woman bouncing on my cock.
An image of Laikyn popped into my head. I barely contained the snarl that wanted to erupt. The smell of burning flesh brought me out of my own personal hell.
“Ah, little bitch, are you hurting? I got all night. I snap my fingers, and I have food, drinks, and even women if I want. So, you just sit there and lie. I can smell it, you know that, right?” I asked her. The more she fidgeted, the more she burned. Silver hurt worse than anything to a shifter.
“You’re a sadist. You use women and throw them away, just like all men. Sandy said so.” She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
“Ah, so this Sandy is your boss?” I finished my beer, pulling out another, acting as if her words didn’t mean shit to me.
“Go on, maybe if you say something that I want to hear, I’ll tug those chains off your flesh.
If you keep moving like that, they’ll go all the way down to bone. Do you know what’ll happen then?”
Her eyes sharpened. “That’s right, little bitch, the silver will continue until it disintegrates your bones. A shifter without hands would be useless to your Sandy or whoever is in charge of you.”
“Fine. All I know is my job was to bring Breezy to a meeting point. Sandy was adamant it was to be her, not another female. It’s always been her.” She spat the last word, clear hate in her tone.
“Where is your base of operations?” I sat forward.
“I don’t know. We are always brought in and out in darkness.” She yelped in pain.
I scented the air. I didn’t doubt for a minute that she was telling the truth, which didn’t help us. “What were they going to do to Breezy once they had her? Don’t fucking lie, I know you have an idea at least.”
Her chin fell to her chest. “Kill her, I hope.” Her head came back up. “Our leader hates her with a passion. Clearly, the one named Breezy has done something and deserves to die. Maybe you should ask her what she has done to warrant a death sentence.”
I laughed. “Little bitch, a mad woman doesn’t need a reason. You were just a pawn. Do you see anyone knocking down our doors to rescue you? You’re collateral damage.” I scoffed. “Right now, she couldn’t care less if we were all using you for our own baser needs, before ripping you to shreds.”
“You said if I answered you, you’d let me go.” Her voice cracked.
I stood. “No, I said I’d tug the chains off your flesh.
I’m a wolf of my word.” I grinned, knowing my canines were showing.
The scent of her fear and burning flesh assaulted my senses.
Taking the leather gloves out of my back pocket, I stood.
With ease, I crossed the short distance quickly and adjusted the chains, making sure I didn’t inadvertently expose myself to the metal as I ensured they were no longer touching her skin, too.
“Tsk, now look at that. You’ve really done some damage.
You’ll need to shift in order for this to heal properly, or you’ll be scarred for life.
” I bent down on my haunches, my face near her eye level.
I knew I was a big son of a bitch, yet she met my gaze.
“Now, tell me everything you know, and I’ll think of allowing you to live. ”
“What do you mean?” Her bravado disappeared as my words registered.
I nodded. “This is my pack. My law. You came into my world and tried to take one of mine. For that, little bitch, I sentence you how I see fit. As of right now, you are a dead wolf walking, or sitting as it is. However, I have the power to save you, or not. It all depends on the next few minutes. I said I had all night, but I’ve changed my mind.
” I got to my feet, my leather pants creaking as I stood.
“I can do other things.” She licked her lips.
I grabbed her by the back of the hair. In the position and height we were at, she was in the perfect place to suck me, if I chose.
“I wouldn’t allow you anywhere near my dick if you were the last bitch on earth.
” I jerked her head back. “Now, get to speaking, or I’m sending in my second, who just so happens to be mated to the wolf you tried to take.
He’ll be glad to end you in the most painful way possible. ”
“I don’t know anything. My job was to retrieve the girl. I am trained like all the other lesser wolves, but I moved up because I’m not a submissive.” She growled.
I glanced at her again. “So you were just to take her, meet at a rendezvous, and what?”
“We get picked up by trusted soldiers, and then we are taken back. We are blindfolded the entire time.”
“All right, how long does it take for you to get back to your home base? Don’t lie.”
“An hour, give or take fifteen minutes.”
My eyes narrowed. “How long have you been with this group, and how many of them are there?”
She seemed stunned by my question. “I was always there.”
“How old are you?” I guessed she was in her early twenties.
“Does it matter?” She turned her head away.
“Nope, not really. I’d kill you if you were fifteen or fifty for what you did. Just ask my enemies. What’s your name?” I realized I’d not asked her that in all the time I’d had her captive. Again, I didn’t give two shits, but maybe that was the key to why she seemed familiar.
“Carly McCartney.”
The McCartneys’ betrayal still stung. I wondered if she was related to them and what the connection to the Iron Wolves was. “How old, Carly?”
“Twenty-one. There, happy now?”
When Xan and I had been fourteen, we’d been wild as two young wolves, but I knew I hadn’t fathered any young, and neither had Xan.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Breezy was only six years older than the girl, so there couldn’t be a connection there.
Whatever the reason, I recognized the girl.
I assumed it was due to the elderly couple who’d betrayed us.
I wouldn’t make any excuses, nor apologize.
“How many men, women, children, wolf, or non are in your, whatever you call yourselves?” I paced away from her.
“Why? So you can decimate us? We are stronger than you. We have an army of humans willing to eliminate the trash.” She jerked as if she believed I was what she called me, crying out as the silver hit her flesh again.
I was done being Mr. Nice Guy. “You want to know who the trash is?” I allowed myself to partially shift.
My nails turned into claws. My face morphed into that of a wolf with huge teeth.
Only a true alpha could become the larger being I became, shifting only parts of my body that I allowed.
The muscles in my chest and arms bulged as I stalked to her.
“Has your alpha ever explained about the big bad wolf who eats its enemies? Right now I’m hungry, and I can guarantee,” I stopped in front of her, my hands resting on the silver, ignoring the pain, and inhaled.
“I can smell everyone who has ever come in contact with you. It would take me some time, but I could track them without a problem. When I do, I will rip their heads off. Maybe I’ll play with them for a while before I kill them.
Do you know how many in my pack can do what I can?
More than a handful. So you think your pack is more powerful than mine? Think again.”
“This isn’t possible.” She tried to shrink away.
I chuckled. “Do you think you’re hallucinating?” I snapped my wolven jaws in front of her, letting her feel my hot breath an inch from her face. “Tell me everything you know right fucking now, or I’m done playing with you. I was being nice before, but I’m done. Feel me?”
Her whimper and fear filled me with victory.
It was good to be alpha. I listened as she outlined the almost commune-type world she’d grown up in.
The look of her neutral clothing, which I’d assumed was due to her trying to slip in and out undetected, now held a different meaning.
Her severe braid, which had come loose during her struggle, made me blink.
I realized she was as much a prisoner of her upbringing as any that had been brainwashed.
“Fuck!” I cursed, a feeling almost like guilt had me turning away abruptly.
Laikyn stood in the doorway. Her eyes met mine, and I was taken back to a night a couple of years ago when I felt my world crumble beneath me.
“Can I tend to her wounds?” She nodded in the direction behind me.
I shook my head. “Not alone. I don’t trust her. She’s been trained to kill without remorse.”
Laikyn licked her perfect bow-shaped lips. “There’s a couple guys out here. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t allow her to leave the building.”
She thought I didn’t care if the she-bitch killed her. I’d allowed her to think that. I growled, but Laikyn didn’t flinch. Not like most other wolves would have. “I’ll have Arynn come in with you. He will protect you and make sure she is not a threat.”
Without another word, I turned on my heel and pinned Carly with a glare. “You try anything stupid, and I will gut you. They’ll find your insides on the side of the road, and your head will be hanging on my mantel.”
The she-wolf nodded. “She may look harmless, but remember, she drugged Breezy and took her out of here, right out from under our noses. Even knowing she would be taking her back to wherever and that they’d be killing or doing worse to her, without a qualm.
Don’t let your guard down. If you have to kill her, do it. ”
I left them both with their mouths hanging open, calling out to Arynn. “I need you in the garage to watch over Laikyn while she does her doctor shit on the captive.”
“Alrighty then. I can sense you’re all twisted up. You need me?” Arynn’s quiet presence soothed through our connection.
“Nah, I’m solid. Just get your ass there quickly. If anything happens to Lake, I’d hate to have to kill the bitch and hurt you, too.”
My Omega’s chuckle came across loud and clear. “Walking in now. Laikyn is gloving up, and that is not me talking dirty, you nasty bastard.”
I flashed an image of me in wolf form, snapping my teeth at him and ending our connection with a snap. I was twisted as the Omega so eloquently put it, and not because of Carly. No, having Laikyn back made me think about things best left in the past.
Walking back into what we called the War Room, or my office, I glared at the men who’d made themselves comfortable in my space. Grabbing a glass tumbler, I filled it with some Maker’s and a cube of ice. Nobody could accuse me of not being civilized.
Kayan cleared his throat. “What’s the game plan, boss?”