35. Jaxon
“They’re ready for you, Alpha.” Jon bows his head.
Kayden approaches my side as I breathe raggedly through my nose. “Thanks, Jon,” he says. “You ready for this, Jaxon?”
I grit my teeth so hard I hear them grate. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then, let’s make them suffer.”
We head down to the dungeon in silence. I don’t speak in an attempt to keep my head clear. I don’t want this to be quick; I want this to last all night. It won’t make up for the years of pain Ava had to endure, but I’m going to make it feel like an eternity.
Lucien and Damon are strung up by their wrists to the ceiling. The silver digs into their skin, leaving red marks across their hands. Both are naked. Both are unconscious. Both have no fucking idea what I’m going to do to them.
“What’s the plan?” Kayden asks darkly.
I stroll forward through the cell door and push my sleeves up to my elbows. “This,” I murmur before tightening my fist and punching Lucien in the face with racing adrenaline.
Blood splats the air, and within seconds, Lucien takes a choked breath. I hear his lungs start to work and his throat hiss when he tugs on the silver restraints. He glances up with his bloodshot eyes.
“Fucking bastard,” he heaves, blood dribbling down his chin.
I don’t waste my energy talking. I’ll only wind myself up further. I stand back as he attempts to steady himself in his uncomfortable position. My head twists towards Damon, who is still asleep in his magic-induced state. I don’t hesitate to meet him with the same fate.
The sound of bones crunching meets my ears, and I already know I’ve broken his jaw beneath my knuckles. Blood coats his face, and he releases a groan of pure agony. My nose twitches in disgust as his lifeless eyes find mine.
“Do your worst,” he grits, blood smearing his deteriorating teeth.
I push my sleeves up further and compose myself. Kayden moves to my side, and I spare him a quick glance. “Hand me the knife.”
The corner of Kayden’s lip tips an inch. He steps back to the tray of objects, weapons, and tools. The sound of the sharp edge brushing the metal table rings in the cellar until he places it in my hand.
I take one step towards Damon, whose eyes flare at me with anger. I raise my knife in my right hand and bring it towards his face. He flinches, and I tut at his attempt to delay his doom. “Hold him still,” I command Kayden.
My Beta uses his strength to stop his body from wriggling against the silver chains. The edge of the knife presses to his forehead as I begin to carve out a four-letter word. Damon curses as blood drips over his eyebrows and into his eyes. I tell myself not to dig in too deep. If I kill him now, I’ll never forgive myself.
I step back and smile wickedly at my handiwork. Kayden releases him and takes a look for himself. “Branded like the cunt he is,” he laughs.
My attention turns towards Lucien, who is watching us intently. Kayden holds him back as I bring the knife to his forehead and begin spelling out my next word–BITCH. Each letter releases endorphins in my brain, but it doesn’t make what they did any better. I can only make them suffer and bring Ava justice.
Lucien growls but grits his teeth when I finish. Kayden stands beside me once more and smirks at the word. “Yeah, our bitch,” he snickers. “You belong to us, and you’re going to beg for mercy.”
“All this over a girl?” Damon bellows and tugs on his chains.
I shake my head and stroll towards him, letting the edge of the knife trail carelessly across his jaw. He freezes when he notices I barely have a grip on the handle, and a trickle of sweat rolls down his temple.
“A girl?” I repeat ominously. “Do you mean my Luna?”
Lucien glances at me, but I don’t take my eyes off Damon. The knife nips at his skin, bringing beads of blood to the surface. “Women are nothing,” he bites shakily. “Women make men weaker.”
“No.” I release a chuckle that’s void of any humour. “In fact, they make us stronger. It’s you that is pathetic and weak. To abuse women for your own sick, twisted fantasies—I think that proves a lot about your bruised masculinity.”
Damon’s eyes glow with rage, but when he jolts forward, the knife slices into his face. He howls in agony as he tugs back, a flap of skin now dangling over his stubbled jaw. “You motherfucker.”
I fake a yawn. “I’m tired of hearing your bullshit.”
Kayden moves past me, and I meet him at the metal table. I grab onto the mouth clamp and position it between Damon’s lips. He attempts to struggle, but his strength has nothing on mine. Once his lips are spread, all his muffled words are inaudible.
I release a breath. “That’s better. Be prepared for when I cut it out later.”
Damon attempts to spit at me, and I shake my head in disgust.
Kayden grabs a set of pliers and craftily twirls them in his hands. “I think it’s my turn.”
I stand back and let him have his fun. Damon shakes his head in protest as Kayden latches the pliers onto his bottom teeth. His tongue attempts to push him off, but Kayden tuts and stares up at him. “You’re only making this worse, cunt.”
Kayden’s forearm tenses, and he grabs Damon’s face for leverage before pulling out one of his teeth. A deafening scream erupts into the cellar around us. “Oh, quit whining,” Kayden grumbles with an eye-roll. “Fucking baby.”
My eyes take in the sight of Damon’s tooth falling to the floor beside his feet and more blood trailing off his chin onto his bare chest. “Ahh,” Kayden grimaces as he inspects his mouth. “You really need to floss better. Your teeth are nasty.”
He wastes no time in latching onto another tooth and ripping it from his gums. He screams louder than the first time.
As Kayden takes care of Damon, I walk towards Lucien with a screwdriver. He stalks my every move with his dark eyes as screams of desperation echo around us. I suck in a breath and study the word on his forehead, thinking how happy I am that his body will not be able to heal, thanks to the silver wrapping around his body.
My fist pulls back, and I slam it into his ribs. He attempts to fold himself in half, but he can’t. A groan erupts instead, and he curses quietly. “The more I look at you,” I say through clenched teeth. “The deadlier my imagination becomes.”
Lucien takes a moment to recover before coughing. “I-I didn’t feel anything for her.”
“I know you didn’t, you son of a bitch.”
I stab the screwdriver through his shoulder without a second thought. “Ahhhh,” he bellows as I rip it from his flesh. “Fuck you.”
“Did you think you would get away with every vile action you committed?”
“Yes,” he hisses. “That’s why we did it.”
My head shakes once. “Not anymore,” I mumble before replicating the same puncture but through the opposite shoulder. “You’ll never hurt her again. She was meant to be your mate. How could you treat someone like that?”
Something waivers in his expression, and I pull the screwdriver from his arm. His head throws back as blood trickles down his skin. “W-when I saw her,” he groans. “I didn’t feel anything.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Damon’s screams heighten as I hear Kayden’s morbid laugh.
Lucien’s wrists tug against the chains. “The bond, it–”
“It what?”
“It was pathetic,” he spits.
I suppress a growl and the desperation of my wolf to shred him to pieces. Instead, I lean up to grab his wrists and stab the head of the screwdriver against his index fingernail. It cracks and chips off within seconds. His finger is practically split in two, and he yells out curse words. The sight of his tendons pouring out of his ripped skin is something I’ll never get out of my head.
Like Kayden, I don’t wait. I hit the next nail and the next.
Lucien’s head hunches over, and I step back when yellow, mushy liquid escapes his throat. My nose retracts quickly, and my stomach clenches at the foul stench.
“Goddess,” I grumble. “You’re fucking pathetic.”
He continues to whine from his mutilated fingers.
“We haven’t even got to the best bit yet,” I say, using the screwdriver to tilt his chin. “Wait till I chop off your non-existent cock and make you fucking eat it.”
I throw the screwdriver to the floor and glance over at Damon, who is missing half his teeth and crying thick tears. Kayden hooks his pliers into the belt hole of his jeans. “You got a new idea?”
“A part of me wants to slit their Achilles heel and watch them attempt to crawl their way out of here. Now, that would be entertaining.”
Kayden flashes me a crazed smile. “I think I’ve seen that in a movie before, sick bastard. Let’s do it.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“A little too much,” he agrees.
I walk across the cell and pull on a lever, which tightens the chains a couple of inches. Lucien groans at the new strain on his arms. Damon’s moans aren’t even human. Their feet barely graze the floor, and they begin to twist from side to side, all their weight hanging off their wrists.
Kayden steps forward, and I grab his shoulder to tug him back. “Leave them for now,” I state. “We keep on like this, and they won’t last the next hour. We leave them for a couple more minutes and resume.”
“Alright,” he sighs. “I think it’s time to get more creative.”
I nod once. “I’m open to all ideas.”
My blood thrums in my veins like a shot of adrenaline. I flick my eyes between the two monsters and smirk at our devious work. It’s only the beginning. I don’t want a single regret from this situation, so I’m going to take it in my stride.
This is for Ava. This is for my future Luna.