2 And a Whole Lot of Torture

Wyatt

We followed the king inside, not bothering to look around. We"d all been here before and knew the general layout of the place. The door opened into a foyer with offices and meeting rooms off it and a short hallway that led to an elevator and a set of stairs.

The elevator took exactly one hundred seconds to go down, which was ninety-nine too many for someone who hated small, crowded spaces. I was the first one off when the doors whisked open. From there, we went down a long corridor with steel doors set in the wall every few feet on either side. Cameras in black bubbles dotted the ceiling, and the only light came from the glaring overhead fluorescents. They were motion-activated, but the guards in the monitor room upstairs had a manual override.

There were only twenty-four cells down here. Werewolf law was harsh and the penalties steep, but there was rarely a need for long-term imprisonment. A shifter was punished and released or killed, and not much in between.

As we walked down the hallway, our shoes were the loudest noise in the place since all of the cells were sound-proofed. Those unfortunate enough to merit a cell rotted in darkness and silence, and the only reason anyone came down here was to feed and water them.

Or kill them.

"All right, Wyatt." The king stopped next to cell number two and unlocked it. "You"re up first."

I jerked my head in a nod and stepped inside, careful to make sure the door stayed open. I wasn"t worried about Briggs, but I sure as hell didn"t want to get trapped inside. As it was, my skin was already crawling from being underground.

When my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I saw a middle-aged man standing up from where he"d been huddled in the corner. The smell of his fear clogged my nostrils, and my lip curled up in disgust.

He had no right to be afraid. He"d brought this all on himself.

"Who are you?" Briggs raised his chin, but couldn"t meet my eyes.

"Alpha Wyatt Black of Five Fangs."

"Five Fangs?" He swallowed hard. "Now, listen, there"s no way I could have known that Posy was your mate. If I had, I would have intervened, I swear!"

"You should have intervened no matter who the girl was!" I snapped.

"As if you"re any different." The sniveling paper-pusher at least had the guts to roll his eyes at me. "You"d do anything to protect your brothers, too."

"If one of my brothers deliberately and repeatedly caused an innocent girl to suffer, I"d kill him myself," I said with dead certainty, "and he"d want me to. That"s how we"re different, you stupid mutt. I know right from wrong."

Then I grabbed him by the throat, wanting this to be over so we could return to our girl.

Plus, I was really getting the heebie-jeebies now, although I"d never admit that to anyone but myself.

"I want you to know something very important before you die." I leaned in closer and let Gran ascend enough to make my eyes glow. "Are you listening?"

Briggs" mouth dropped open, but all that came out was a squeak.

"I said, are you listening?" I growled and let Gran out a little more, his claws extending from my fingertips and jabbing into Briggs" skin.

Shaking hard, he nodded frantically. Sweat rolled down his face and his eyes bugged out.

"While you and your brother are roasting your balls in hell, Posy is going to be enjoying a happy life with her mates, who love her with all our hearts," I whispered in his ear. "And I can think of no finer revenge than that."

Then I tore out his throat.

And some of his spinal cord.

Oh, and a few cervical vertebrae, too.

Of course, blood spurted everywhere, and red coated my whole front in seconds.

"Dammit!" I groused, looking down at myself. "I liked this shirt. Posy picked it out."

Wyatt look like Q after fight, Gran tittered.

"Oh, hush, wolf!"

#

Cole

For once, I didn"t have to leave a prisoner capable of answering questions. We weren"t there to get any information, so I had no need to hold myself back. I could beat him senseless, then beat him some more.

As I walked into the cell, I was glad to discover that Aeneas Gage was a big, muscular guy. Even better, I could smell his delta blood. Hopefully, that meant he could at least put up a fight, although I"d enjoy killing him either way.

"You the executioner?" Gage eyes ran up and down me, then looked past me to see if I"d come alone. "Thought you"d have an ax at least."

"Don"t need an ax." Clenching my hands into tight fists, I loaded my next words with power. "Fight me. Fight me for your life."

Instantly, his claws came out and, with a bellow, he charged.

Expecting this, I used his momentum to toss him across the room. He quickly scrambled to his feet, and we circled each other before we both started swinging. He got in a few solid shots to my stomach and chest, and I slammed him with heavy hits of my own.

We traded blows for Goddess knew how long, neither of us caring about the blood and sweat pouring down our bodies. While his punches slowly lost speed and intensity, mine only got stronger and faster. I didn"t even draw on any power. My fury was enough to fuel me, and my fists flew too fast for any eye to track.

At last, Gage flopped limply to the floor, his face a bloody, misshapen lump that looked more like a potato than anything human, and I knew he had more bones that were broken than not. His ribs especially had to be pulverized by now.

I almost regretted that the king dismissed his wolf now. I wanted him healed so I could beat him unconscious again.

But the king did dismiss him. And I wanted to get back to Posy. And my hands hurt.

I held them out in front of me and surveyed my swollen, bloody knuckles. At least three were broken and beginning to throb, as were several other parts of my body. Dude packed a punch, I had to admit.

Paz, wake up and heal me so I can finish some business.

Sure, boss, he murmured on a yawn and sent a jolt of healing through me.

Thanking him, I hunkered down next to Gage as he wheezed and choked on his own blood. Grabbing his chin in one hand and the back of his head in the other, I gave his neck a violent twist, then waited until his breathing and heart beat slowed down to a stop.

"Told you I didn"t need an ax."

Getting to my feet, I spat on his corpse before I turned and walked away.

#

Ash

"Afternoon, Ezra!" I chirped as I sat my bag on the floor of his cell. "Let"s have some fun!"

"Not you!" he groaned. "I thought I merited the deathbringer, or at least the iceman. Even the hot head would have been preferable. But no, the final insult is to die at the hands of the idiot. Ah, well, at least I"m spared the indignity of the clown."

I rolled my eyes at his sad attempt to be witty and pulled a bundle of zip ties out of my bag.

"Let"s get you more comfortable, Ez."

He put up a struggle, but this "idiot" had him down on his belly and hog-tied in less than a minute.

Fingers or toes? I debated. Hmm. Fingers are more sensitive, but toes would freak him out. Such a hard choice.

Once my mind was made up, I pulled off his shoes and socks and tossed them aside.

"Was it from losing your wolf, Ezzy?" Taking a box out of my bag, I slid the paper drawer out and took my time selecting a match. "Is that why you went a little cray-cray? I"ve been wondering all this time."

I scraped the match head along the black strip and watched the spark turn into a flame. Cupping my free hand around it, I held it to his foot and watched the skin darken. Ignoring his yells, I waited until the flame ate down the wooden stick and scorched my own fingers, then shook it out.

I didn"t wake Sid to heal me. For one, it was only a tiny sting. For another, he didn"t need to see any of this.

And it wasn"t like I had any moon magic to worry about. Before he"d unlocked this cell, King Julian explained that he"d drained Ikhlassi of all his magic and stored it in a special container, which he said we could take home for Konstantin"s dragon.

"You son of a bitch!" Ikhlassi squalled. "I never pegged a moron like you as a sadist! If you"re here to kill me, just kill me!"

"So, was it?" Ignoring his tirade, I dropped the matches, reached into my bag, and took out a bottle of nail polish remover I"d stolen from Posy and a barbecue lighter. "You know, the whole going bat-shit crazy thing. Was it from losing your wolf so young?"

Instead of answering, he cussed me out.

"It"s a simple question, asshole. No need for profanity."

Ignoring his sputtering, I drizzled the remover over his toes and soles. Goddess, that stuff stank! Then I flicked the lighter and set him ablaze. While he shrieked, I waited impatiently, rocking back and forth on my heels. Finally, the fire - and his screeching - died down.

"Come on, Ez! You can tell me. Did losing your wolf make you twist, or were you just born a psychopath?"

"I didn"t lose him!" he howled. "I sold him!"

I froze for a second.

Definitely was not expecting that.

"To whom?" I asked, tilting my head as I blinked twice.

When he didn"t answer, I poured the remover on his hair, then held up the lighter so he could see it. When he didn"t open his mouth, I clicked the trigger on, and he caved.

"A witch! Alecto Sanderson!"

"The same witch you"ve been working with ever since?"

"Yes! Yes!" he admitted.

"You were only thirteen. What could you possibly have wanted so badly that you sold your wolf for it?"

"You didn"t think I was born with so much moon magic, did you?" he scoffed.

"And that was worth your wolf? A little extra dollop of power?"

"You have no idea." He chuckled darkly. "I didn"t need a wolf, anyway. Not with the kind of power Alecto was offering."

I couldn"t wrap my brain around it. I couldn"t even think of "selling" Sid, no matter what someone was offering. Not even Jay, who had the most difficult wolf on the planet, would do that.

"What was his name?" I asked after a minute.

"What does it matter?" He shrugged as best he could while trussed up. "He"s long gone, consumed or used in some dark ritual, I"m sure."

"It matters." I moved the lighter"s flame closer to his face. "Tell me his name."

"Bruno, okay?" he rushed out, panicked by the fire flickering an inch from his eye. "He was useless and weak."

Bruno. I etched the name in my memory. It was the only honor I could give him.

"He was a pup!" Anger colored my voice now. "Be glad Sid is asleep. He"d rip you to pieces for sacrificing an innocent pup to satisfy your greed."

"Look, I told you what you wanted to know, so just end this before you give your idiot self nightmares."

"Don"t fear death, huh?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Not in the slightest."

"Well, Ezzy boy, death must be earned, and you ain"t paid nearly enough." Shaking my head, I lowered the lighter and sank back on my haunches. "I am curious, though. What do you fear if not death?"

"Nothing," he spat. "Now get it over with, Ash."

"Oh, I see! Pain! Pain is what you fear!" I patted myself on the back as a shudder rippled through him and he swallowed hard. "You know what they say, right? The best way to conquer a fear is to face it."

I dropped the lighter, took the mini blowtorch out of my bag, and turned it on.

"No, no, no!" he screamed as blue fire rocketed out of the steel nozzle with a roar. "Just kill me! Don"t burn me anymore!"

"Are you sorry?" I adjusted the flame to the length I wanted. "Like, at all? For any of it?"

"What?"

"Ez, I didn"t even touch your ears yet, so don"t act like you"re deaf. Are. You. Sorry?"

"No," he snapped. "Not for one damn thing."

"Well, my dude, it"s your lucky day. I am here to help you. First to face your fear, then to make you feel sorry. Fortunately, we can kill two birds with one stone."

Then I burned off his little toe.

He shrieked and thrashed around, and I grinned at the smell of roasting flesh.

"Well? Did that do the trick? Are you sorry yet? Are you still scared of pain?"

He made a strangled noise, but his jaw stayed clenched.

"You"re almost impressing me, Ez." I grinned in appreciation. "Let"s find out how many toes it"s gonna take before we achieve our goals."

Three.

Three more toes before he gave up.

"Well, Ezzy? Whatcha got to say?"

"Please," he panted.

"Please what?"

"Please stop," he gasped, tears and sweat mingling in lines down his dirty face. "Hurts. It hurts."

"Well, well, well. I can see how that extra dollop of power is doing you a world of good right now. So much more useful than a wolf with healing powers... Aw, dude! What am I talking about?"

I smacked my forehead with the hand not holding the torch.

"The king sucked all the moon power out of you, didn"t he? But don"t you worry, Ezzy. Chime Karma will gobble that shit right up, so some good will come out of poor Bruno"s sacrifice."

I patted his shoulder, then set down the blow torch and reached into my bag one last time. Pulling out the lighter fluid, I dumped it all over him until the bottle was empty. Then I poured the rest of the nail polish remover on top of that. The entire time, he squirmed around like a wiggle worm and screamed about it burning his eyes.

"All of you is going to burn in a second," I told him with a shrug.

"I"m sorry! I"m sorry for everything!" he screeched.

"Wonderful!" I clapped enthusiastically. "You"re on fire now! Well, not literally, but let"s fix that."

"No!" he howled. "No more! Just kill me! JUSTKILL ME!"

"Okay, sure."

With a careless shrug, I grabbed the blow torch and held it to his frizzy curls until they caught on fire. In no time, the flames spread to engulf his flailing body and his screams spiraled into glass-breaking range.

Lark, are you awake?

Yes. Posy and me played a prank on Jayden!

You did? You"ll have to show me that later.

It was so funny! Her angelic giggle squeezed my heart.

I"m glad you"re having a good time. Listen, my little doll, Burnt Oil Man is gone now. I took care of it, okay? You don"t have to be afraid of him anymore.

Thank you. He was a bad man.

He was, I agreed as I started to put all my supplies back in my bag. We"ll be back soon, all right? Then you can show me how you pranked Jay.

Okay. We miss you.

Aw. I miss you, too, little doll.

Whistling my favorite OneRepublic song, I stood up, slung my bag on my shoulder, and left the cell, eager to get back to our mate.

#

Mason

King Julian led me to cell twenty-four, the last one at the end of the hallway, then looked at me with one raised eyebrow.

I gave him a nod to let him know I was ready.

While he was unlocking doors for my brothers, I"d been linking Angelo, and he"d told me the witch would die like any human so long as she wore the witch catcher.

I"m jealous as hell. I"ve been looking for that creatura malvagia (evil creature) for years, he"d scowled. You can kill her however you want. Just remember to burn whatever is left.

The king returned my nod, then unlocked the door and stood back.

"Have at it."

Whatever I expected Alecto Sanderson to look like, it wasn"t beautiful. No, more than beautiful. More like knock-down, drop-dead gorgeous. Long black hair that curled at the ends in big waves, a heart-shaped face with high cheekbones, a Cupid"s bow mouth, and big brown eyes that looked as innocent and harmless as a teddy bear"s.

And all that stirred in me as I looked at her was contempt.

She stood in the center of the cell wearing the witch catcher Angelo had made. It consisted of an iron collar that was lined with tiny spikes on the inside. Seven thick loops were positioned equidistant around the outside. To transport her, seven poles could be hooked into the loops, but now that she was in a cell, chains took the place of the poles. Anchored to the wall, they were pulled taut so that she had no choice but to stand in place.

Thin rivulets of blood ran down her throat to join the growing black stain on her gray top. The spikes inside the collar were wicked sharp, and the more she struggled against them, the deeper they would dig into her slender neck.

Her hands were free, but Angelo had explained that part of the trap was the inability of the wearer to open it.

When she saw me, the witch gave me a sultry smile and her dark eyes lit up.

"Well, well, well, aren"t you a big boy?" she purred.

I didn"t reply as I stared at her

"Come closer, alpha wolf. I like to play with puppies."

I still didn"t respond. I was too busy wondering just what had happened to send her down this path.

Angelo had told us a bit about dark witches during our lessons with him and Five Fangs" newly established coven. They were like any other witch, only they made a deliberate choice to corrupt their power with demonic influences and unholy alliances.

Did she have a bad childhood? I wondered as I studied her unearthly beauty. Did she endure a trauma that turned her heart cold? Was she abandoned by one who"d professed to love her forever?

Or maybe she"s just a bitch, Garnet snarled. Not everyone turns anything. Some people are just born bad. Now kill her!

I didn"t know if I could agree with that. How could a newborn baby be bad? I wasn"t going to argue with my wolf about it, though, and certainly not here and now.

"Aren"t you here to play with me?" She smoothed her hands up and down her sides and over her hips. "You need to get a whole lot closer for that."

I continued to stare at her and my thoughts went to our girl, as they so frequently did.

How? How could Posy be so sweet and gentle and just plain good after what she"d endured? Why didn"t she turn bad like this wretched wreck before me?

Can you pause the introspection for now, Garnet rumbled, and just kill this witch?

I moved closer, which made the witch"s eyes widen. I sincerely hoped she didn"t take it as acceptance of her invitation; judging by the way her smirk grew, however, she did.

Le sigh.

"Ah. Silence is your preferred weapon, I see." Her smirk turned as sharp as a knife. "It"s a powerful one, to be sure, but a bit unfair, don"t you think, when I"ve been so thoroughly disarmed?"

When I remained silent, she stomped her foot.

"What"s wrong, alpha? Is my soul too dark for a good boy like you?" she taunted, then said the dumbest thing she ever could have said. "Or is it because of that sweet little mate mark on your neck? She won"t ever find out."

As knowledgeable as she seemed to be about werewolves, she was just plain dumb to think that I would betray my mate. Even if I didn"t love Posy body, mind, and soul, our girl"s mate mark bound me to her and only her for eternity. I couldn"t break it even if I wanted to - which I didn"t and never would.

"Why, you are no fun at all!" The witch"s lovely features twisted into a sulky moue. "You won"t talk and you won"t play, so what are you here for, dog?"

So much for alpha, Garnet rolled his eyes.

Wearing my best poker face, I ignored him and finally spoke.

"This."

Quick as lightning, I lunged forward and drove the heel of my palm into the iron collar where it sat over her Adam"s apple. She didn"t even have time to scream before the spikes tore into her windpipe, but what finished her was me driving the collar all the way through until it exploded out of the back of her neck.

No werewolf needed a sharp object to cut off someone"s head. With enough strength behind it, any object would do.

Her severed head hit the stone floor with a dull clunk and, without the collar and chains to hold it up, her twitching body soon followed.

Conveniently near the drain, too, Garnet smirked as we watched her blood swirl down it.

"Speaking of blood," I muttered and glanced down at my shirt, then I smiled when I saw I didn"t have a drop on me.

Only my hand and forearm were soaked, and I could wash that up easily and be good to go back to our girl.

"I bet the others weren"t as tidy, though."

We both know they"re all going to need to go to the guest house and change, Garnet snickered. Want to bet on who"s the bloodiest?

"What would be the point?" I sighed. "We both know it will be Wyatt."

It wasn"t that he was into torture - quite the opposite, in fact - but he was messy and he didn"t think things through before he did them.

As my wolf chuckled, I exited the cell and found Wyatt lounging outside the door, one shoulder propped against the wall and his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at his shoes.

"You were fast," I said as I took in his blood-drenched clothing, face, and arms. "All good?"

"Yeah. You?" He lifted his head and met my eyes.

"Of course, except for that awful smell." Waving a hand in front of my nose, I grimaced.

"Yeah, it"s getting worse, too."

Cole joined us then, a few patches of blood on his skin and clothes, and asked where the stink and screeches were coming from.

Wyatt pointed to Ikhlassi"s cell, where the king stood across from the partially opened door and the dark coils of smoke swirling out of it. The shrieks increased in volume as the smoke grew thicker until big black clouds billowed out along with one endless, shrill scream.

"I don"t think Ash listened when you said no fire, Mase," Wyatt smirked.

"Obviously." I rolled my eyes.

I shouldn"t have been surprised. Despite me telling him not to, there was no stopping him once he went to that tiny dark corner of his otherwise happy heart.

Then the cell door flew all the way open and Ash strolled out. He was whistling - freaking whistling! - and stopped to fist-bump the king before the two of them walked toward us.

True to form, Wyatt thought it"d be a great idea to join in with Ash"s merry little tune and sang at the top of his lungs.

"I ain"t worried "bout it, I ain"t worried "bout it, Hey! I ain"t worried—" He was interrupted by a wet hiss and a squealing klaxon as the sprinklers went off, but didn"t let it deter him. "—oh no, no, I ain"t worried "bout it right now."

The horrid stench, Ash"s whistling, Wyatt"s caterwauling, Cole"s growling, Ikhlassi"s dying shrieks, the piercing alarm, the intolerable onslaught of ice-cold water...

How much chaos could a man take before he snapped?

Apparently, exactly that much.

"WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK, ASH?" I boomed out over the chaos. "I SAID NO FIRE!"

"A-yo, Ash!" Wyatt stopped his warbling to high-five him. "You got Mase to curse and yell at you! Let"s go!"

King Julian covered his grin with his hand as Cole bent double with laughter.

"Wyatt, for once in your ever-loving life, shut the hell up!" I bellowed.

Ignoring me, he suddenly started to jump up and down, his eyes bright with excitement.

"Ash! Dude! You won the betting pool!"

"Yes!" Now Ash was jumping up and down, too, and a big grin split his face in half.

"What"s the payout?" King Julian asked.

And I had to turn away before I said or did something I"d regret.

Or be executed for, Garnet chimed in with a smirk. At least, I"m pretty sure that"s still the penalty for regicide.

Shut it, I grunted, which only made him chuckle.

"Oh my Goddess!" Wyatt held up his phone, heedless of the water pouring down on us and plastering his blond fluff to his head. "That"s fifteen thousand dollars!"

"Yes!" Ash roared and his fists shot into the air.

Rein it back in. They"re just excited pups, I told myself over and over.

Finally, my face schooled back into its usual blankness, I turned back to the king.

"Do you want help cleaning up the mess before we leave?" I was pleased to hear that my voice had returned to what Wyatt called my "business" one - a bland monotone that revealed nothing.

"Nah." King Julian waved one hand. "The sprinklers will wash the blood down the drains, and I have another prisoner who needs something to occupy his time. He can drag the bodies to the incinerator for us."

"Good. I want to have time to get into new clothes before we rejoin our ladies."

"Huh. My fourth outfit today, not to mention shoes," he chuckled. "I think that might be a new record for me, and the day"s not over yet."

With a curt nod to acknowledge I heard him, I stalked toward the elevator and jabbed the call button. Behind me, Wyatt still prattled on and on about that damn betting pool, and I clenched my teeth.

"Dude! I should totally get half of that money. I helped!"

"How did you help?" Ash sneered.

"The singing, man!" Wyatt insisted. "It sent him right over the edge! Plus he yelled and swore at me, too!"

"He yelled and swore at me first! And that was the bet! Who could get him to do that first!"

The elevator doors opened with a ding, and I stepped inside and cut my eyes to the king.

"With your permission, your majesty?"

"Go. Enjoy two minutes of silence," he said, biting back a grin.

"Happily," I deadpanned and pushed the "Close Door" button.

Sorry, Cole, I linked him.

Don"t blame you, brother.

Somehow, the doors closing caught the pups" attention.

"Mase!" Ash shouted. "Hold the door!"

"Hey! Wait for us!" Wyatt yelled at the same time.

"Absolutely not," I said, and had the supreme pleasure of watching their jaws drop as the doors slid shut.