Death Lottery

Death Lottery
As we drew closer to the pack’s land, the sound of wolves whimpering, coupled with the smell of singed flesh, reached us. Elena glanced at me.
“What in the hell is that?”
“I’m not sure. Silver was in charge of keeping the wolves together while we were waiting to hear from Laura,” I said.
When we got to the clearing, I was just as stunned as my small party to see that my aunts had set up 19 small dog crates in the clearing, and there was a shifted wolf inside of each one of them. The metal glistened as if it were wet, while the smell of wolfsbane hung heavily in the air. My aunts and other sleuth members stood beside the crates with small daggers in their hands, while a very pale and sickly Silver was on the other side of the clearing, farthest from the cages. I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at the wolves in the cages.
“Whose idea was this?” I asked.
“It was Silver’s. He said the cages would contain them and the wolfsbane would weaken them so they didn’t escape while we waited for you. How’s Laura?”
“Devastated. I sent Stu to be with her.”
“Good. She’s such a sweet girl. Scarlett adores her.”
“I know. I wish it hadn’t been true,” I said, grimacing before turning my head to glare at the wolves in question. “I hope you have had a miserable few days. All of you deserve worse than what you are going to get.”
I walked over to the closest cage before opening it. “Get out!”
He walked out before collapsing on the ground, panting. I looked around at my sleuth members.
“I need them strong enough to be able to fight to survive. Remove the crates, but stand behind them so they can’t run.”
In less than five minutes, every wolf had been set free, and the cages had been removed from the clearing. I squatted in front of Intrim, studying his pale face.
“Do you think you deserve to be pardoned?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because we only attacked Scarlett because Silver told us to. He should suffer for all of our crimes.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I saw you on the recording, Intrim. You didn’t seem to want to fight to stop the attack. You wanted it. You hurt my mate with no regard for her at all. You deserve to suffer just as much as Silver does. And believe me, not even Silver is being pardoned. He made his bed, and he has accepted his fate to lie in it. Even though he is no longer your Beta Wolf, you should still learn from him. Be a man and own your mistakes.”
He narrowed his eyes on me. “Since you know so much about what happened that day, did Scarlett tell you that she orgasmed? She must have enjoyed it. Where’s her punishment?”
Elena growled from behind, and I held my hand to silence her as I looked around at the other wolves.
“Do all of you feel this way?”
Four of them shook their heads. “No. Scarlett begged us the whole time to stop. She did not enjoy any of what we did to her,” Larry said.
I got up to move over to him before touching the four’s shoulders while I met Aunt Tara’s eyes. “Please remove them from the festivities right now.”
Raul stepped forward, growling loudly. “NO!”
I turned toward him, frowning. “If Scarlett were here, she would want us to show them mercy for their remorse.”
He shook his head. “Scarlett is not here, Osprey!”
I tapped my head. “But she is. You also agreed to do this my way, and this is what I want to do.”
He sighed before nodding. “Fine!”
I pulled the bag out of my pocket, filling it with air, before shaking it up. When I reopened it, I held it out to Larry.
“Take one.”
He reached inside with a shaking hand to take a folded piece of paper out. He went to unfold it, but I shook my head.
“Wait to read it,” I ordered as I moved to stand in front of Klaus, who quickly took a paper from the bag.
I repeated the actions with Nathan and Ninja before walking back to stand beside Elena, who was almost vibrating with excitement. I met Larry’s eyes.
“Go ahead and open yours. Read it aloud so everybody can hear what it is,” I demanded.
He slowly unfolded it before smoothing it out. He raised it to eye level before sighing.
“Death by drowning.”
“Oohhh, that’s a good one,” Elena said.
I rolled my eyes. I sent a quick prayer up to the Goddess, begging her to stop Elena from commenting on every paper. I waited for a few moments to let the knowledge of what was on the papers sink in. I slowly turned my head toward Klaus. “Your turn.”
He took a deep breath before opening his paper. “Death by hanging.”
“I hope your neck doesn’t break right away,” Elena muttered gleefully, making me roll my eyes again.
So much for her not commenting on every death sentence. “Nathan.”
Everybody watched as he unfolded his paper. The bears were eager and excited, while the wolves were anxious and terrified.
“Death by a thousand cuts,” Nathan read, his voice trembling.
“Oh, I want to do that one, Osprey. I want to feel his blood running over my hands,” Elena said, making Nathan grow ever paler, if it was even possible.
I smiled at Ninja. “You’re up.”
“Death by stoning.”
“We need a lot of rocks!”
“Elena!” I snapped, exasperated.
Raul chuckled. “Let her have her fun, Osprey.”
I groaned. I just wanted to get this over with so I could get back to my mate. I hated these assholes. If it were up to me, I would just rip their throats out and be done, but Godric wanted them to suffer. I understood why he wanted them to suffer, but I just wanted Scarlett to finally feel safe again. I nodded my head at Aunt Tara and Uncle Adam.
“Remove them. Not watching the others die will be the only mercy I offer any of them,” I said irritatedly, regretting the need to be able to go back to Scarlett with my head held high, knowing that I had honored her.
I waited impatiently for Yasmin, Uncle Adam, Justin, and Ramona to lead the four wolves away before shaking the bag again so the other 15 wolves could draw their deaths. I walked up to Intrim, holding out the bag to him. He narrowed his eyes on me before aggressively shoving his hand into the bag and tossing the papers around before pulling one out.
“Death by being eaten alive by rats.” He looked up at me. “Are you serious?”
“Oh, that’s going to be painful,” Elena sang. “And it’s going to take days. I can’t wait. I hope they save your eyeballs for last. Oh my Goddess, I hope one crawls up your ass to eat you from the inside out.”
I grimaced. “I can assure you, we are very serious.”
I took a step to the right to stand in front of Ellis with the bag out. He immediately reached in to take out a piece of paper.
“Death by electrocution.”
“That’s the grossest one. Fried hair stinks,” Elena gagged.
I turned my head to stare at her in disbelief. This was the one she wasn’t excited for? What in the hell was wrong with my sister? I stepped in front of Harley, who wasted no time to snag a piece of paper.
“Death by burning with fire.”
“I take it back. That one is pretty gnarly, too,” Elena sang.
Next was Carlos, who leaned forward when he read what was on his paper.
“Please, Osprey, let me choose again.”
“No!” I snarled. “You only get one draw. What is it?”
He held it out with a shaking hand. I took a step back, refusing to take the paper from him. Realizing I wasn’t going to read it for him, he clenched it tightly in his fist, crumpling it up.
“Death by being skinned alive.”
“Oh, I want to do that one, too, Os. Please, can I?” Elena begged.
“We’ll see. Draw,” I snapped at Oliver.
“Death by beheading.”
I glanced at Elena, frowning. “That’s fast.”
She shook her head. “I have been working on the perfect tool for that one.”
“What is it?”
“A rusty spoon.”
“A spoon? How is a spoon going to behead someone?”
“It’s a sawing motion, Osprey. You have to go back and forth until you get to the bone. After you cut away all the flesh, breaking the bone will be easy,” she told me smugly.
Beanie stared at her in shock. “Goddess, Elena, you are scary.”
She smiled sweetly at him. “Just remember that information for when you want to fight with me.”
Aunt Mona laughed. “Be nice to your mate, Elena.”
“Anyway,” I said, moving on to Nico. “Pick one.”
“Death by sulfuric acid.”
“Oh, that one is going to be fun. Gonna melt you like a wax statue.”
“You know this would move a lot faster without your comments,” I told her.
She grinned at me. “I know, but the looks on their faces are so worth it.”
“Tarjan.”
“Death by starvation.”
“I’m going to eat in front of you every day until you die,” Elena taunted, making me actually chuckle this time.
“Usurp.”
He reached inside the bag, mixing it again before pulling out a scrap of paper. “Death by disembowelment.”
I grinned at him. “That’s going to hurt.”
Elena clapped her hands behind me. “We can let the little woodland creatures pick at him while he waits to die!”
Usurp paled. “Osprey, please have mercy on me. I only followed my Beta.”
I shook my head as I moved onto the six letters. “I have no mercy left.”
“S.”
“Wolfsbane bath.”
The air was sucked out of the clearing as the wolves all drew in a shocked breath. Everybody watched S as he gagged. I didn’t think that I could be any more shocked by anything that she had written on the papers. My head snapped around to stare at her once again. She stood there, beaming at S.
“That one is my favorite. I can’t wait to see your body literally dissolve. I hope it takes a long time and leaves your blood on the top like that film soup gets if you leave it sitting too long.”
“Goddess, Elena. That’s a vivid image that I didn’t need,” Mona lectured as she leaned over to retch onto the ground.
“Sorry, Auntie.”
I held the bag out to Q, who hesitantly pulled a paper out.
“Death by pulling limbs off. What does this mean?”
Elena thrust her hand into the air. “Pick me, pick me, Professor Osprey. I know the answer.”
I groaned. “Go ahead, Elena.”
“We are going to tie you to bears and have them walk in opposite directions until your legs and arms snap off, and then we are going to let you bleed out.”
Q lowered his head. “Okay.”
I moved to the left to stand directly in front of the twins, M and N, so they could choose their deaths.
“Death by castration,” M said.
“I don’t want that one. Osprey, you can have that one,” Elena giggled.
“Thanks, sis; I appreciate it,” I grumbled before shaking the bag aggressively at N.
“Death by organ removal.”
“I call the liver. Mom would enjoy the brain. Scarlett gets his heart. Auntie Mona, do you want the kidneys?”
“I wouldn’t mind having fresh organs. Can we do him first? I’m starving,” she answered with her stomach growling loudly, backing her statement up.
“We’ll see, Auntie. It’s going to be up to my fathers who we do first, but I promise if it’s safe for you to eat the organs on the first kill, we will let you.”
“Thanks, Osprey.”
“R?”
“Death by my brain being eaten.”
“Mom should be here for that one. Maybe we can do him on the last day so Mom can join us and eat his brains straight from his head.”
“Sure, Elena,” I say, getting even more frustrated with her constant interruptions.
“X? Your turn.”
“Death by blood loss.”
Elena clapped her hands together. “That’s going to be so messy.”
“But fun,” I finished for her impatiently. “It’s all going to be fun. Can we please finish now?”
“D-fense.”
“Death by freezing to death.”
I frowned at Elena. “How are we going to do that one? It’s not cold enough in the woods.”
“We can use the meat locker,” Raul suggested.
“See, Osprey? I thought about everything,” Elena said.
I rolled my eyes again before stepping in front of Offense. “Choose wisely.”
“Death by suffocation.”
“Plastic for the win.”
I glanced at my sister. “That was lame.”
She shrugged. “There were a lot of deaths. I ran out of things to say.”
“Pity,” I said as I walked over to Silver.
I pulled the last paper out before handing it to him. He quickly unfolded it, relaxing when he read it. He looked behind me at Elena before meeting my eyes.
“Torture.” He folded the paper back up before putting it in his pocket. “Thank you.”
I sighed as I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Done with great sorrow, brother.”
“I know.”