115

115
MAGNUS

When he heard that, he started to beg. He was begging so loud his pleas echoed down the hall as we returned to the room and when the doors of the torture room finally opened, he was screaming on top of his voice. He was no longer the confident, insulting fellow back there. His eyes were darting wildly from the chains a naked Mira was chained to, towards the blood-stained floor. 

Once inside, they knew the drill. He was shocked into a chair and his hands shook as he gripped the edges. The guards started to tie his body around the seat with thick ropes so he wouldn't be able to move. 

"Alpha...  please... I was only delivering a message..." 

I ignored him, circling slowly like a predator studying its prey and waiting for the perfect time to attack. 

"What's your job?" I finally asked to ease some of the tension. 

But he was skeptical. His mouth opened at first, but no words came out. He stammered, looking around as his chest heaved. "W- what is this about?" 

The question was answered when the crack of slap thundered across the room. One of the guards had struck him hard across the face. His head snapped to the side and he burst out in tears. 

The guard who'd struck him growled. "When the Alpha asks you a question, you answer it correctly, and don't answer his question with another question." 

He was sobbing profusely already, clutching his red cheek. "I'm... I'm just a messenger." 

I crouched low and stared him dead in the eye. "Do you understand where you are standing right now?" 

His lips were shaking as he shook his head. 

I nodded. "Good. This is my Pack," I said slowly. "This land belongs to me, every part of it is mine. And in my Pack, I do whatever the hell I want. To anyone. But I'm not an evil Alpha. I don't just do anything to anybody who doesn't deserve it. I do it to those who think they are bigger than me, to those who think the law doesn't apply to them. Do you understand me?" 

A fresh set of tears rolled down his eyes as he gave a frantic nod. 

I stood up, rolling my shoulders back and then I gave a small signal with my hand. A guard stepped forward, holding a blade that I had asked them to start heating the moment the man was dragged inside. It was now giving off a faint, red-hot glow from the fire. And it smelled like scorched iron. 

The man's eyes widened in horror even though he still had no idea what I was about to do to him for his insolence. 

"No... Please!" 

He begged. But it was too late for that already. I took the knife, feeling its heat pulse into my palm. 

Then I turned it slowly, brandishing it, watching the light flicker across its edge. 

It was... beautiful. 

Then I started walking towards him. 

He started to shake violently, but the restraints around him and the guards holding him down as he thrashed made him stay in place, unable to move now. I smiled again as that feeling of satisfaction creeped up my spine. Fear suited him better than arrogance. 

"Your mistake," I said in a soft, almost gentle voice. "Was yelling at me. You thought your words carried weight here. They don't. You have made your point, but you have to be punished for it. Maybe after this, you will think twice before speaking to people anyhow you want." 

He started to shake violently, sobbing even more. "I was just delivering a message!" He said in a breath. 

I tilted my head. "If you had waited a few more minutes... this wouldn't have to happen." 

The whole time, I made sure that my smile never left and I sounded so calm as if we were discussing the weather. He screamed as I grabbed his jaw and forced his mouth wide open. 

"Not so sharp-tongued anymore, are you?" 

I gestured to one of the guards behind him, and he stepped forward immediately to pry the man's jaw wide. His terrified eyes met mine as the knife gleamed in the firelight. I grabbed his tongue and lifted it to see where it ended, then with one swift motion, I drove the blade into his tongue and cut it off. His scream rang through the dungeon again. It was raw and chilling, exactly what I wanted to hear from him when he'd yelled at me to make a point. Blood sprayed across the floor as his tongue fell to the floor. 

The scream turned to gurgling and then suddenly, his body seized and slumped as he went unconscious. 

The red, wet tongue was mostly covered in a bloody mess now, and so was the man's shirt. The guards stepped back, breathing hard because of what they had just witnessed. The boy who was still chained with Mira was shaking again. 

That's when Rob looked up at me, carrying that enraged look still. 

"This..." He sobbed. "This is why you deserve to die. You're a monster. You've got no heart at all. All you want is to see people suffer, to see people in pain" 

I turned towards Rob slowly, locking my eyes on him and for a moment I was silent. Then I gave a small flick of hand, ordering the guards to have his mouth wrapped. They shoved clothed clothed his lips tight away, tying it around his head. 

While that was happening, I wiped the blade on the man's clothes and then slipped it back to the guard who had held his jaw while I took out his tongue. 

"Take this messenger to the hospital. Find out which Alpha sent him to deliver the message to me. And when you do, deliver the tongue to him. In a parcel. Tell him he needs to teach his messengers about manners." 

They nodded as they untied the man before carrying his unconscious body away. The chest of his shirt was filled with the blood dripping from his mouth and his head was lolled to the side. I turned back to Rob, and instructed the four men that had brought him in. 

"Lock him up. Beat the truth out of him. Do whatever you want to get the truth out of him, but make sure he doesn't die. I don't want him dead yet." 

They nodded and picked him up again before they started to drag him out of the room as he continued to curse and growl at me. 

I straightened my jacket and spoke to the three dungeon wardens that had been here with me the whole time. "I've got a little meeting to catch up to, watch after them and make sure nobody but me comes in here."