Chapter 39 THE CHALLENGE
Vance's POV
As soon as Sianna fell into a deep slumber, I slowly rolled her off me without waking her. I figured that she would be washed with fatigue from the traveling of yesterday. I took one of my shirts and rested it above her head so that the scent of me would imply that I was there with her, comforting both her and her wolf.
Containing my wrath was impossible. My wolf was hell-bent on killing Curtis. I wanted to rip his throat out the minute Sianna revealed his traitorous actions. He obviously did not intercept the message that I had visibly sent that Sianna was MINE!
It was now my prerogative to make him suffer, to make him wish his mother had locked her legs and refused to push him out for him to be born.
Blayne had gotten Curtis in the dungeon when I commanded him through the mind-link. I put on black jeans and a tight-fitting black t-shirt and headed there. Black clothes handled blood better. I started my jeep and drove the short ride.
No time was wasted greeting anyone. My vaporizing aura spoke volumes that I was on a death mission as I walked fiercely. I entered the basement and headed directly to the cell by following Curtis' scent to the one that contained him.
Curtis was in silver chains by the wrists and ankles, pinned to the wall with bruises. Blayne roughed him up. He was shirtless but had on shorts because he was taken out of his sleep from his bed.
I instructed all the guards there that Sianna was prohibited from entering as a precaution, in case she should awaken and think of finding me here. Her wolf would be able to sense how near or far I was from her, and track me within the pack if she had that determination.
I opened the cell door and nodded to Blayne. I knew he wasn't going anywhere due to his sadistic nature. To the left of Curtis was a long slim wooden table filled with sharp tools coated in silver that was used during the torturing.
I went to see which one I would prefer to use on him but thought that my best choice was to do everything with my bare hands. He should feel my mighty power when I dealt with him without the tools.
The mate bond should be respected. I am an Alpha, so why won't he fucking leave her alone? She's even pregnant and he still tried to force her to be with him. No, this guy was a special case.
My wolf had surfaced by the time I was already in the dark underground prison. As an elite, he was not going to speak unless spoken to. We trained them to resist hours of torture so I knew he would not easily break before me, unlike the pathetic rogue chief. I pulled the chair from the table and sat right in front of him. "Do you know why you are here?"
"No," He replied in fear, his eyes half opened.
"Where did you and Sianna go on the night of the Luna ceremony?" My voice was cool but in my wolf's tone.
"We didn't go anywhere?" Beginning with that lie fueled my anger. I induced my mind penetration to make him aware that I would mentally disintegrate his mind if he told another fib. Unable to lie, and with his head swerving with the impact of Vance's mind penetration, Curtis gave his recount. "I was going to take her away from you and your pack."
"Is that so?" I said sarcastically. The other elites that were positioned in the bunker gave their account of what they observed from Curtis' actions that night. I held his eyes under my Alpha's command. This would steadily break his will until he was putty in my hands. Just having this little conversation would allow my wolf to telepathically connect with his wolf to smash the will and strength that he was fighting so hard to keep.
"Why did you leave your post and went to the bunker that night?" The displeasure painted my face, my thick black brows rose and my eyes were obsidian black.
"I-I......" Curtis fought to hold his words back by biting down on his bottom lips, and blood flowed as he whimpered. "I w-went home to get some c-c-chloroform."
"What was the chloroform for?" I pushed harder into his mind so that he would feel like his head was about to explode. My wolf was seething with rage and demanding his blood.
"To make S-Sianna unconscious while I s-sneak with her out of the p-pack."
"I am not a man of foolishness, but a man who cannot defend his family is no man at all. You seem to think that my Luna is still your woman, and why is that?" My voice boomed with waves of vibration that had the dungeon shaking.
His chest rose and fell with short quick breaths. The fear stank and he was trembling. "Alpha, I am s-sorry."
"Why don't we settle this like men?" He raised his head with the understanding of my intentions. "You can have Sianna if you win me in a challenge. We can fight right here! At least you would die with some honor."
This dip shit had already found his mate. He hadn't rejected her, but yet he remains a pest in my life. I had no other issue with him except that he needed to move on with his mate and leave mine alone. Overall, he wasn't a bad kid, and his family was well- known to me.
"I had her first. She was mine to mark. We loved each other until you forced her to be with you." He sneered. "You can manipulate the minds of your subordinates. I know that's what you did to her. You tricked her into accepting you."
"A natural mate bond is between Sianna and me. What reason would I have to force her to be with me?" I threw the question his way with a snicker. I turned to my Gamma, "Didn't he go to the mating ceremony to hunt for his mate, and even now he hasn't severed the bond?"
"Don't forget, Alpha, that he also went to visit his mate at your brother's pack before he came back for the Luna ceremony," Blayne mentioned with a hint of cavalier. "They spent three days together."
"Is that so?" I mocked again. "So you want both women?"
"It's not like that." His voice came out as a whisper, "She's not Sianna. I love only Sianna. I would rather die than live without Sianna."
I smiled at his last statement. "I like that thought." Blayne chuckled too. "I am not going to hurt you in this helpless state that you are in." I beckoned to Blayne, "Unchain him, we will handle this like grown men."
Blayne unlocked the chains one by one. Curtis fell to the ground and gradually stood before me. He made no move to charge at me or to try to escape. That would be a deadly mistake. "By the laws instated by the ancient pack ordinances, I hereby issue towards Curtis Black the challenge to a duel of the mates."
"Sianna and I were childhood friends. We grew to love each other. She will hate you if you kill me," he pointed out, as if that mattered. The probability of the truth in his words was something that I already considered. My mind was made up. This ends today.
"Really? The pity card? That's what you are using to get out of this?" I rasped, shaking my head in disgust and rage. My jaw tightened. "Come on, let's get this over."
With the first move, my fist hit his temple. He staggered backward to hit the wall and fell on his knees. I waited for him to stand up, and he struggled to his feet. He launched at me but I launched the second hit to connect in his ribs, knocking the breath out of his lungs.
I gripped his blond hair with a twist of my wrist. I dug my nails into his head and threw him onto the floor again. I waited for him to pull himself to his feet.
He stood with his back bent, hands on his knees to support his injured frame. His nose was bloody and his blond headtop showed signs of bleeding. The rest of him had bruises in several places.
"I am going to break every bone in your body." I scowled. I went in front of him and heisted my knee up to welt his chin as his body rose upwards off the ground, flipping backward onto the floor. He lay there for a few minutes before he could get up. "You could make this interesting by giving this fight your all."
Unaffected by his wounds, I continued my assaults until parts of the floor were covered with his blood, immobile and broken bones in all the pivotal points of his body. I stood over him booming with the rage of him trying to kidnap Sianna. How dare this son of a bitch? Curtis' cream skin, now black and blue, lay vegetated. I'll do just one final blow to end him of his last breath.
After that, I went next to Hank's cell to unleash my anger. I had a sanguinary cup that was yet to be filled. It was time I dealt with this criminal rogue. "Your verdict is out. The investigations reveal that you might not have harmed that poor girl but you instigated it. You have the knack of using others to do the dirty work while you hide in the dark playing innocent. Much like a puppet master." He cringed with his eyes on the ground. "There is no redemption for you, and you will never steal from me again."
"Your mate was tried as your accomplice and is now wolfless, living in the human world. And it's time for you to die." I sanctioned myself to shift in his cell and retreated to the back as my wolf took full command.
And just like that, Hank was massacred. His screams echoed throughout the dungeon. The scent of blood satiated my vengeful lust.
"Clean up the mess," I ordered Blayne. He nodded and I went to my room on the fifth floor of the pack house to shower and change, then headed to the office to plunge into some work. The first order of the day was to deal with the mountain rogues and the pack transference documents.
Later, I would face my enraged mate. Would she stay or leave me for what I have done?