~Kade~
I was sitting on the wooden chair pressed up against the wall. My arms rested on my knees, and I hung my head as my eyes pierced through the bars directly at the stranger who’d walked onto our pack.
His fingers circled the metal bars; my eyes were fixated on where his flesh pressed against the metal, the metal which had wolfsbane seeping through it and should cause acidic burns. His hands were unbothered, the same pink complexion, and no smoke was steaming from his skin.
Leaning against the bars he raised his head and looked at his hands.
“We’re not affected by wolfsbane,” Justin said.
“That’s going to make torturing you much trickier,”
Justin scoffed and nodded his head, but I saw the anger seeping through.
“You could always try asking me.”
I leaned back against the chair and crossed my arms.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
His nostrils were widening, and his chest was rising; he was getting angry, good.
The steel door creaked open beside me, the sound of the heavy metal scraping against the concrete floors made your ears contract in pain, but what was worse was the sound that followed.
“Where the hell is she?!” Anna screeched when she, with heavy steps and her hands on her waist, came stomping over to the cell.
I heard the groans coming from the other cells. Sebastian was sitting close to the bars; his eyes followed Anna, and he looked with a burning hatred at his former pack member.
“WHERE IS SHE?” Her screeching turned to growls, her nostrils flared, and her face heated up. Her wolf was front and center taking the lead on the interrogation, but she got little reaction from the man she was questioning.
“You know where she is,” He said without an ounce of fear. Anna was a strong she-wolf; she could do damage to another wolf, even a male, but Justin knew that he was stronger than her, he was stronger than any wolf here…me included.
“Bring her back,” She seethed and stepped closer.
“I cannot do that,” He said and straightened up.
She leaped in; her fingers circled the bars, and her flesh started burning from the acid. I flew up from the chair and cursed her out before moving towards her. Justin’s eyes widened; he moved quickly and grabbed her fingers, prying them off the bars and pushing her back.
“Why did you do that?” She seethed and looked up at him with sweat dripping down her face. “You’re not allowed to get hurt.” He sounded out of breath, and his eyes flickered to her hands. “Why?” I asked and felt my brows hunching together in tension so much so that I knew a migraine was waiting for me in a couple of hours.
“Layla said so,” he said and grabbed onto the bars. He cast his head down and released a breath; his shoulders slumped, and he spat on the ground.
“Layla,” she breathed, her voice growing softer as her hands began to heal.
I walked over and grabbed a chair, placing it beside mine. I looked at Anna and flicked my head to the chair, wanting her to sit so we could get started. I wanted her to listen in on what Justin had to say, I felt like she had the right to know but she was all up in her emotions and couldn’t focus.
“No, I’m standing.” She crossed her arms over her chest and flicked her head like a defiant child.
I groaned; the frustration was doubling, the anger was tripling, and I was this close to ripping someone’s head off and using it as a football. I couldn’t kill Anna because she was Layla’s best friend, and I couldn’t kill Justin because he had answers we needed. The other prisoners served me no use anymore, so I could dispose of them and get an outlet for my anger.
“Sit.” I grabbed her arm and pulled her down on the chair. She raised a brow and snarled at me.
“I’m not a dog.”
“No, but if you don’t stay still and shut it, I will put you on a leash,” I said as I sat back down.
She scoffed in disbelief; her eyes turned two shades darker, and her fingers rolled into her palms.
“You’re just like Layla described,” Justin exclaimed, receiving all the attention.
My whole body tensed, and my jaw clicked as I turned to Justin. “How much has Layla told you exactly?” I asked and leaned forward.
“Yes, and why has she told you?” Anna added.
Justin smiled and stood back. He started taking small steps around the cell and rubbed his hands together before he started to talk.
“Layla talked about all of you. She told me about her fiery friend who meant the world to her. The one who didn’t follow rules she didn’t believe in and who always did everything in her power to be a good person, even if it meant beating someone up to protect someone weaker.
She also told me about your sister, Alpha…Cara?” He asked with a raised brow. I didn’t give him a reaction but he knew he was right.
“Yes, Cara. The soldier whose strength could be measured with your own. The girl who was mated with a boy she hated,” it was true, Cara and Max hated each other all through high school, of course it was only because Cara would date his friends but never him, and Max would sit idly by and watch it happen. He hid his crush for years until they turned eighteen and found out they were mates. I remember he laughed and grabbed her, declaring his undying love and rejoicing in the fact that she was his. She loved him too; it was later exposed how she dated his friends because she wanted him to see her.
“That’s cute that you’ve gotten a recap on my family, But let’s not lose sight of the main issue, what’s the point of your little visit?”
His whole demeanor changed, his eyes fell and his jaw relaxed.
“Layla’s in danger.”
The chair was suddenly pieces on the floor; the legs were in puddles by the wall from a broken pipe we never bothered to fix, and my hand was bleeding from having punched a hole in the concrete wall. “NOW YOU TELL US?” I shout. Anna was standing. She was too preoccupied worrying about what I was going to do to get mad at herself.
“How is she in danger? Your Alpha needs her; he wouldn’t hurt her.” Anna said as she took a stance between me and Justin even though he had the bars protecting him as well.
I glared at her; my eyes burning with a newfound hatred on a level I didn’t know existed.
“Why are you protecting him?” I asked and stepped closer to her. My chest brushed up against her, and she scoffed.
“I’m protecting you, you dumbass. He’s an Emberclaw; you go in there, you die.” Justin winced, and Dimitri chuckled from inside his cell.
Anna stepped back, knowing she just said something real stupid.
You should never talk down your Alpha in front of others.
’She’s right though, we’d die’
Doesn’t matter
“Let him have it,” Dimitri’s voice was low and broken.
I walked over to the rope hanging in the ceiling and pulled down the controller. I pressed the button that sent his cell into a cloud of wolfsbane.
“Kade!” Anna screamed at the top of her lungs and ran over to grab the controller.
“Give me that.” Time seemed to slow down; my head moved in slow motion as I watched through the fog at Dimitri, who was pale as a corpse on the cellar floor. His eyes were open in fear, his lips were parted as though he tried to speak, and his hands were lifelessly laying on his chest. Small movements came from his core from Dimitri attempting to draw a breath, but with every try, he could feel the crippling pain of the wolfsbane being breathed into his lungs; like razor blades cutting you all the way down.
Then it stopped.
The clouds went away; the ventilation was turned on, and he was still alive, barely.
I looked at Anna, who was petrified, her eyes grazed over Dimitri’s still body before she slowly turned to look at me. There were moments where I saw past the hard exterior that she had built for herself. Moments where the girl who never got to be weak would peek through; her eyes would get round and glossy, her lip would tremble, and her hands would shake.
In those moments, I felt like an ass.
“We have no use for them anymore; their lives are none of my concern.”
“That doesn’t mean we kill them,” She whispered.
I grabbed the controller and put it back. I rested my hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin with my other.
“It does, just not today.” I walked over to Justin, ready to hear what else he had to say. Anna stood still for a few moments, taking in the shock of what she’d witnessed. But for me, that wasn’t even close to the worst thing I had done to someone. The rumors were there for a reason; they weren’t lies, they were memories of people who had witnessed me and my family and then spread the words. They’re all true, I am evil; I don’t hide that. But only when necessary do I take it out on others, or when I feel that they no longer serve a purpose and will do more damage alive then dead.
“Let’s continue.”
Justin nodded his head and pulled his gaze away from Dimitri’s cell.
“Layla has powers beyond the ones of a normal Emberclaw,”
oh no…
“I told her to hide her powers, the ones I knew about. I told her not to show Nathaniel that she was learning because if she wasn’t useful to him, then she wouldn’t be in danger. A few days ago he pulled me aside and told me about these powers. Layla can apparently place information in other people’s minds. He wanted to access these powers and for her to learn how to control them in the manner of his choosing. Once she learns this, he will have what he needs to move forward.”
“She already knows,” I said and bit down.
“What do you mean?” He straightened his back, and a shadow of fear glinted in his eyes.
“Layla’s parents told me a story about when she was a child… instead of telling them what she wanted, she would place pictures in their heads. They said that once the pictures were there, it was near impossible not to do what she asked.” The tremble in his voice that followed had my core tensing. “She was a child then. If she were to place an image in your mind today, you would have no other choice but to oblige.”
“But wait, so if she projects these thoughts or images into the head of an Alpha, telling him to hurt someone…” Anna said with fear seeping into her shaky voice.
“She could have him kill his entire pack.” Justin said and raised his head.
“Does she know that?” My voice was dark and low because I was afraid I already knew the answer to the question I asked.
“No, and Nathaniel will never allow her to. Her powers will grow stronger in mere days, and then he will use them, use her, to wreak havoc upon the supernatural world.”
“It’s fine, though, I mean Layla would never trust him, you told her not to,” Anna said. I watched how his face contorted in pain and guilt.
“You said you told her not to trust him.” I growled.
“There’s more to the story,” he said as his eyes flickered.
