Chapter 119: Beanie's Struggle

Beanie

I yawned when Elena and I walked out of our bedroom at a little past 7 AM. Osprey had wanted to start early with the wolves today, and my mate had made sure we were awake an hour before we had to actually get ready. She was so excited to be part of the wolves’ deaths. It had terrified me yesterday, but the minute I got her alone in our room, she melted into me with the most intense sigh I had ever heard come from her. She had wanted to be held all night, and the trembles in her body made it clear that partaking in all the deaths was harder on her than she wanted anybody to know.

I took her hand when sadness crossed her face, raising it to my mouth to press a kiss to the back of it. She smiled at me before leaning against my side. I knew she wanted to appear like she was the tough Beta Sow to everyone, but I was glad that she trusted me enough to let me in. My badass mate was a big ol’ softie at heart. I love both sides of her. I loved that she was loyal to our future Alpha Sow. I loved that nothing was off limits in her desire to protect Scarlett. I loved that she lived for our sleuth.

But I loved even more that she knew when to turn it off. As soon as we walked out of the butcher area under the city hall, she relaxed, joking about how badly she couldn’t wait to get me alone so much so that her fathers had been left glaring at me, silently threatening me, only for her to fall asleep in my arms after our shower. When we were the first ones to the front door, I took her in my arms.

“I still can’t believe you’re mine,” I murmured in her ear.

She smiled at me as she ran her fingers through my hair. “Believe it, buster, because if you try to run away, I will use every bit of the Beta I am to hunt you down and drag you back to live in my closet!” She threatened playfully, making me chuckle.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, baby.”

“Alright, you two, get your heads in the game!” Osprey snapped as he leaped the last four steps to land in front of us as Alphas Timothy, Lee, and Sebastian came jogging down the stairs behind him.

I let Elena go while she beamed at her family. “Are we ready now?”

Osprey nodded. “Aunt Mona got the supplies we need for today.”

We walked out as Osprey enlightened Elena about the day’s activities. Just listening to them speak so callously about killing people made my stomach turn. It made me realize just how different we were. I knew that if I was asked, I would kill every single one of the bastards that had hurt Scarlett. I was glad that Elena was content being the physical punisher. I was more adept at the business and mental sides of being a Beta. I could do the physical stuff, but I was glad that I didn’t have to.

When we arrived at the clearing, a fresh set of sleuth members stood guard over the wolves in the cages. In the clearing, three large metal tubs had been set up. Next to two of them, several gallon bottles had been placed beside them. Next to the third, a generator had been placed a foot from it, along with several gallons of what looked like water. Standing on the edge of the clearing, a large glass tank had been placed, and a wire top was leaning against it. Next to the tank, several dozen rats crawled over each other in bins. Laying on the ground in an organized pile were several ropes, and my stomach rolled when I realized what they were for. I just knew that I would be called in to assist with pulling Q’s limbs off. Fuck!

Lee pulled S out of his cage while Sebastian removed Nico from his. Further down the row of cages, Timothy was dragging Ellis out of his kicking and screaming for mercy. S’s and Nico’s hands were tied behind their backs with ropes, while Ellis’s were hooked together by a chain. All three boys were placed inside separate metal tubs. Timothy smirked at Ellis as he began to dump the water into the tub. Elena hurried to Lee, who handed her a gallon of whatever chemical he was working with.

Elena opened the jug before leaning away from it to gag. She took the large dropper from Lee and immediately plunged it into the bottle to fill it. While Lee dumped the other gallons into the tub, Elena squeezed droplets onto S’s face. I watched in horror as his skin literally melted off his face while he screamed in agony. I wanted to turn away from the scene in front of me as S and Nico melted right in front of me. I jumped when Timothy started the generator before tossing several plugged-in things into the tub that held Ellis.

Burning skin and hair filled the air, and my stomach rolled again. I clenched my jaw to keep from vomiting. I couldn’t appear weak. Not in front of the sleuth, especially when my mate was so strong. I focused my attention on her face, using it as my rock to maintain my sanity. When she stood between S and Nico, watching with awe as they slowly dissolved, I turned back into the trees. Osprey came over to pat my back.

“Are you alright, Beanie?” I nodded. “I know this is hard for you. If you want, you may be dismissed to go back to the house.”

I shook my head. “As long as Elena is here, so am I.”

“Alright, Beanie. Just take deep breaths.”

‘Yeah, deep breaths,’ I thought to myself. ‘As if that would help.’

I slowly turned back, shocked to see that Timothy had already started disconnecting the plugs from the generator and that the other two were almost fully dissolved. Their tubs were covered in a thick layer of bloody foam. The air reeked of death and the scent of mixed poisons. When Elena and her fathers stepped away from the tubs, several sleuth members rushed forward in protective gear to remove and dispose of the tubs while Lee walked to Interim’s cage and Sebastian got Usurp out of his.

I went to help Lee tie Interim’s arms behind his back before we dropped him into the large tank. I began to open some of the rat bins to dump them in while Lee opened others. After placing all of the rats inside the tank, I helped him secure the lid onto it. I watched as the rats bit him as he thrashed around inside the tank. I wanted to look at what Timothy, Sebastian, and Elena were doing to Usurp, but his screams were too hysterical to allow me to summon up the courage. About an hour later, Usurp’s screams stopped, and I was finally able to look over to them. His intestines lay neatly on the ground beside his corpse. Elena was covered in blood, with a smile on her face and a gleeful look in her eyes.

“Let’s do the last one. I want to pull a leg off,” Elena announced.

I groaned as she eagerly picked up a rope while Osprey went to retrieve Q from his cage. I sighed when Elena approached me with another rope.

“Do you want to do it with me?” She asked quietly.

I nodded as I tucked her hair behind her ear. “Of course.”

Q was thrown into the middle of our group. The Alphas all descended on Q instantly, tying ropes around his arms and one leg before shifting to let Osprey tie the other end of the ropes around their necks. I followed Elena to Q’s other leg, where she tied both ropes to it before tying it around our neck after I shifted. She shifted at my side, standing still so that Osprey could tie her rope around her neck.

“Ready! Set! Go!” Osprey yelled after stepping back.

All five of us started walking in four different directions. I did my best to ignore Q’s screams of agony, but it was too loud to tune out entirely as his bones and tissue gave way to our pulling. We kept pulling, slowly inching our way forward, until we were sent flying forward as Q’s leg broke off from his body. We immediately bounced to our feet to turn around. Elena and I had gotten our limb off, and I quickly shifted back to take the rope off of our neck. I untied the rope from around Elena’s bear’s neck while she hungrily chewed on Q’s leg. I gagged loudly as I strolled into the trees for some clothes, earning a quick glare from her. When the others finally got their limbs off, Q’s body hit the ground with a thud.

They all shifted back, threw the ropes off their necks, and went to get dressed. When they came back, Osprey looked around at the chaos left in the clearing. Pools of blood were everywhere, coupled with random body pieces and scraps of tissue. Osprey looked down at the watch on his wrist.

“It’s 6 PM. Arie, please watch Interim. Don’t let him escape from his tank. We’re going to go home. We should have a human popsicle by now. We need to remove him from the freezer before he infects all of our meat,” Osprey said.

Arie nodded her head. “Yes, Alpha Osprey.”

I gratefully scooped up a newly dressed Elena as I began to head back to town. I looked down at her.

“Promise that when this is all over, you won’t have enjoyed killing the wolves so much that you develop a need to kill people,” I murmured softly so that only Elena could hear me.

She leaned against my chest as her arm wrapped around my neck. “I promise.”