VIKTOR
For a good minute, I stare down at the wolf.
He is of average build, with enough muscles to hold his own in a fight, a defiant gaze that is common amongst his pack.
He is also very bruised.
With a burst lip, two black eyes, a few scrapes on his chest and arms, and judging from the way it is hanging, I am pretty sure his shoulder is dislocated.
“What is your name?” I ask him.
“Fuck you!” He spits.
Classy.
“Tommy,” Rowan says and I see the wolf jerk in surprise at that.
“What?” I ask, turning to her.
“His name is Tommy,” she repeats. “He is the usual buffed up, dumb brute. More brawn, less brain. Lives by every word that comes out of Dominic’s mouth and breathes by the air that comes from his ass and is unnecessarily cruel. You can’t break him. To him, Dominic is the beginning and the end. Which is good,” she finishes.
“Why is it good?” I ask
“It is good because he is loyal and Dominic recognizes that. From what I remember, he is one of Dominic’s trusted people, part of his inner circle. His death will be a savage blow to him.”
“You!” The wolf snarls at her as recognition creeps into his eyes. “You are dead! We threw you off the cliff. You are dead!”
At his words, a cold calm settles over me.
The kind of calm that I am starting to recognize when anyone who has hurt or is about to hurt my mate comes before me.
“He was there?” I ask her with deathly calm.
“Mm,” she says. “I distinctly remember him kicking me in my face. Intentionally. He enjoyed it.”
“Did he now?” I ask as I gaze back at him.
“How are you still alive?” the mutt demands.
“Apparently, you couldn’t kill me. You failed, like everything you and your pack do. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise to you,” she says.
“Shut up!” He snarls. “How dare you talk to me like that, you wolfless scum.”
Wolfless?
Rowan smirks at his words.
“Why can’t I talk to you like that? Are you, not everything I just described? Are you nor currently in chains at my mercy and about that wolfeless part… it seems you are not as current as you would like to believe.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” He demands
“Hmm, forget it. You are too dumb to think it through, so don’t stress yourself. Why were you chasing after Alpha Donald?”
“Why would I answer you?!”
“Did Dominic know about it?”
“That is Alpha Dominic to you?!”
“Or is he unaware of it? What do you think he would do to you now that you have not just lost him but also lost him to his nemesis?”
“Shit up!” He roars and tries to lunge at her, forgetting that he is in silver chains.
Hmm, he really is dumb.
He falls back heavily as he winces at the stinging pain, while the smell of singed flesh increases in the room and mixes with aerosolized silver fragments.
Thankfully, the mask we are wearing keeps it at bay.
“Let me go!” He snarls.
“No,” two replies with a smirk.
I think she is actually enjoying this.
It is amusing.
“When the alpha finds out about this, he is going to rip you all apart” he continues.
“I doubt that,” I say as I walk right to his face. “The last time he tried his foolishness, I threw him out of the window and he had to return home, disgraced and his tail behind his legs.”
“Lies!”
“Oh, it is true. Surely you must be aware of his desire for war and you must also be aware of the werewolf council that was had. Aren’t you curious about the lack of preparation for war? Are you that daft?!’
“Shut up!” He snaps. “Aloha was right, you are a fool. How can you take the side of this pathetic embarrassment? And you,” he says, glancing at Rowan. “You should be ashamed of yourself for betraying your alpha!”
“What alpha?” she demands. “The one that reaped me, had me beat up, and then threw me off a cliff. I mean, I was his mate and he did all that, why would I be ashamed of anything?”
“He is your mate!”
“Not anymore, he isn’t.”
“You consummated your bond-”
“I was raped!”
“Irrelevant!”
“What?!”
Oh, this fucker.
“Rowan,” I call quietly.
“Yes?”
“Can you give me and this asshole a moment? Five minutes should do the trick.”
“Viktor…”
“Just five minutes,” I plead. “It won’t be more than that.”
“What are you?” The wretch asks. “Some little child? Why would you be asking permission from this- ugh!”
“Viktor!”
I watch in satisfaction as he coughs out blood.
So much for being a tough, strong man.
I send another blow straight into his gut, the same place I had punched him before.
It is enough to send one to their knees and gasping for breath.
But as he is hanging by his wrist, and can’t fall, I watch in delight as his eyes literally roll back before coming into focus.
I don’t let him take a break… I send another blow across his face, making sure to at least cause some damage to his head before I let my calls pull out and raise it to slap him once more.
“Viktor!” Rowan screams, grabbing at my wrist. “Stop!”
“Why?!” I snarl as I pull it away. “Why?!”
“You can’t kill him?”
“I beg to differ,” I say. “It will be ety easy to. All you need to do is step away and let me slit his throat.”
“That is not what I mean and you know it!* Ahs snaps.
I turn away from her before heading to a wall and punching it several times.
“Enlighten me,” I growl at her.
“We need him alive.”
“Again, I ask, why?”
“By now, Dominic should be aware that we have his wolf, he must be planning on a cause of action. If we kill him, he will have some sort of weapon against us. Right now, everything is in our favor. We have aloha Donald and the wild who tried to kidnap him. We can’t afford to mess it up.”
Damn it.
She is right.
Killing him would cause us to lose key evidence and since everyone seems to be aware of Alpha Donald’s… character, Dominic can just accuse us of threatening him to say what we want.
Damn it.
“Fine,” I tell her in a growl. “We will do it your way,” I snap before I walk over to the wolf.
“What do you-”
Before he can finish that sentence, I send one more blow to his head, knocking him out before I turn and walk away
It doesn’t matter what happens.
He will die here.
I swear it.