Chapter 33: The Lost Shepard

Damien swirled the liquid gently and continued, “It will kill you slowly from inside out, making you bleed internally. At one point, the bond with your wolf will start weakening, until you can barely feel its presence in your mind. It will keep you conscious while your body and mind rot away, you will feel your bones soften and will hear the screams of your wolf as it is skinned alive.”

The rogue’s breath turned erratic. Fear marring his features, contorting it.

Damien stared at him and grinned deviously, “You will beg for death before it even comes.”

When Damien crouched down and gripped his chin with the vial in his other hand, the rogue finally gave in due to his fear.

His face was pale with terror and his lips trembled as he glanced at the vial from the corner of his eyes.

If he got a physical wound, it would still heal. But with his wolf gone, his life was really worth nothing. That kind of life when you are treated worse than a piece of trash was not something the rogue wanted to experience.

To people like him, their wolf side was everything and with it gone, they were nothing.

“Wait, I will talk! I will talk! Take it away, I will tell you all I know!” The rogue shouted hoarsely, struggling and the chains holding him made loud rattling noises in turn.

The scar-faced man scowled, “Son of a bitch. If you say anything, I will have your tongue cut off and your body fed to the beasts in the wilderness.”

However, in comparison to the threat of the vial in Damien’s hold, the rogue did not even hear what the scar-faced man had said.

His entire life flashed right before his eyes and he went stiff.

He didn’t want to die, not even now.

Damien’s gaze was as cold as ice and seeing that the man was ready to speak, he jerked his head to the side harshly and retreated with a step. But he still held the vial gently.

“Good. Then, start talking. You have just one once, misuse it and you are gone.” Damien said calmly.

The rogue gulped, sweat and blood dripping down his face and he began talking without bothering about the scar-faced man who was glaring at him, “W…we were just following orders.”

“Orders from who? Your leaders?”

“No. Our old leaders died a month ago.”

Damien frowned, “How?”

“They were killed by our new leader, the one who gave us the order to attack your pack, especially the market square.” The rogue explained quickly.

“Who is this new leader?” Damien asked, his frown deepening.

The rogues changing authority was definitely not good news.

“I don’t know. We’ve never seen him before.” The rogue replied with a shake of his head and Damien sneered.

“It seems you are really looking forward to die afteral.” He said, approaching the rogue with the vial.

The rogue’s visage paled even further as he struggled to retreat backward, screaming.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know! please spare me. We never saw his face, he sends messages through intermediaries and always wears masks. He always changes routes too, his location is not usually stable.”

Damien’s brows knitted.

“Just him? Is he the only leader you have now?”

The rogue nodded frantically. “Yes, he calls himself the lost shepherd. He claims the packs were sheep and it was time to kill some so the others could follow his lead.”

The stone room fell into an odd silence when the rogue finished, even Damien’s face was dark.

He suppressed his anger and asked again, “Then what about the attack on the market square? What was your aim?”

“We already said it. He wanted to test your defense and draw you out, if possible, injured. But obviously, the plan failed. But I have no doubt that he must be somewhere watching. He is very cunning and mentally strong.”

Damien nodded.

The lost Shepherd’s mental capacity might be because of his wolf. Damien had heard a lot about men whose wolves give them high mental strength, it wasn’t rare and it was not common either.

Damien knew that this was no ordinary rogue.

Rogues were disorganized, wild, unrestrained and careless. They don’t care to devise plans before they attack their targets.

But this lost shepherd was cunning and extremely callous.

He even knew to test the waters, sacrificing a group of rogues just to carry out this plan.

Having gotten all that was needed from the rogue, Damien could be sure that he knew nothing more and turned to the guards.

“Lock them up and keep this one alive.” Damien ordered before turning to the scar-faced man. “As for this one, break his limbs slowly, slice his flesh and feed it to him to eat, feed him the lucid venom and then, behead him. His head should be displayed at the market square for two days before thrown into the wilderness with the rest of his body to be fed to the vultures. As for the rest, lock them up. Kill anyone who tries to resist.”

The scar-faced man finally had a drastic change in his expression. He finally remembered what fear was and that the rumors about Damien’s ruthlessness were true, but it was too late.

“Bastard! You won’t get away with this! The lost shepherd will kill each and everyone of you, leaving none alive. You all don’t know who you are dealing with, you won’t even know how you died!” The scar-faced man screamed, but nobody listened to him.

Damien had also already left the stone room as though he had not heard anyone speaking.

As they exited the stone room, the heavy doors slammed shut behind them with a low rumble.

Damien quickly went to his private study and began to deal with the parchment that needed his attention.

That was when he remembered something and called for a guard.

“My lord.”

“Bring Hazel here.”

“Right away, Alpha.”