Chapter 53
LUCIUS
A few weeks ago
“Who the fuck are you?” a terrified motherfucker asked. His eyes bulged. His body was tremored. Face ashed. He was clutching his chest which had just been burned. He was lucky he didn’t burn to ashes if you could even call it luck.
“Who ordered you to attack the woman?” I stalked him inside the abandoned warehouse until his back hit the wall. “What kind of sick fuck are you attacking a defenseless woman, huh?” I looked right into his terrified eyes. He might have just seen death in mine as he started screaming, squeezing his eyes shut. “Talk!”
He jumped at my voice.
I turned to Drak and Eann, shaking my head in annoyance and dismay.
“We’ll take care of him. He can’t say a shit anymore.”
“Wait,” said the asshole with trembling lips.
Eann shrugged. “His mouth is still intact.”
Narrowing my eyes, I turned around and faced the motherfucker. My nose flared as I dragged himself down the ground.
“I don’t think he will tell us something useful,” Drak said. Sometimes, people said the truth when their lives were on the line, or sometimes lied to save their asses. I didn’t know which one was this low-life dog.
“One,” I started counting, “You have five seconds.”
“S-some— someone—”
“Sa-sa-sa. Talk straight or I will cut your tongue.” I wasn’t kidding about it. He was a grown werewolf and attacked Amelia. He could have killed her if she didn’t have the fire wolf in her. So he shouldn’t be given a second chance. No fucking way.
“Someone approached me and paid me to—” He looked at me.
“To what?” With my wolf stirring inside me, I towered at him, looked right into his eyes, and gripped his neck. His eyes popped out as I dragged him up and pressed him against the wall. “You hurt her for money?”
“Boss, maybe you should put him down. He can’t talk if you broke his neck,” Eann said calmly, his arms crossing his massive chest.
I snapped my head at him. My eyes glowed. My body vibrated in anger. “Don’t ducking tell me what to do!”
He shrugged again, stepping back.
“The man is already blue,” Drak sang as he shrugged at Eann.
When I looked back at the motherfucker, Preston Novic, his face was red. His eyes started to roll behind his head, and his legs began to wiggle. I dropped him on the ground. His body thudded, dust flying around him.
Sucking for air, he gasped and coughed furiously.
“Talk or you won’t only have a broken neck next time.”
“All right. All right.” He raised his hand, crawling on the ground, still holding his neck, coughing. I didn’t even feel bad for his struggle. Next time, he shouldn’t take someone’s life for money. If there would be a next time.
“Is it worth it?” Eann asked. “Her life for money?”
Before he could answer, Drak came and sat before him. “You attacked the wrong woman, dude. Let me guess, you have no idea who she is. Now you do. She’s priceless, asshole. Your life, my life, the man’s life behind me, and the life of the people in your pack mean nothing if you harm that woman, and you just did, and you just pissed off the alpha king.” He shook in disappointment. “And for how many bucks? If you came to us instead, he could give you more to protect her. Do you know who he is?”
He nodded, holding himself tightly. For a grown-up man, he crumpled, wanting to sink to the ground.
“Now tell us. He might give you some mercy,” Drak tried to bait him.
“It’s a man in his thirties. I knew him somewhere, but I didn’t know his name. He just showed me the woman’s picture on his phone and her name. He told me where to find her.” He angled his body at me, avoiding eye contact.
“What did he ask you to do?”
“He told me to attack her. He will give me another cash if—” He swallowed hard.
“If what?” Drak asked.
I didn’t talk anymore. I knew what he would say next. I told Eann. “Show him some pictures.”
Eann grabbed his phone and showed him the pictures so he could identify who paid her to attack Amelia.
He barely scrolled down, the dick just pointed at the image.
“Son of a bitch.” Eann showed me the man behind the attack on Amelia. “Ray Douglas. You’re right, boss. They’re surrounded by a nest of liars and traitors.”
My jaw clenched as I stared at Novic. “Let him go.”
Eann and Drak stared at me before I stepped away. I pulled out my phone and called the guy I trusted. He picked up right away. He must be out of his job if he could answer the phone.
I watched Eann and Drak help the son of a bitch on his feet and walked him towards the door. “Find me a way to frame Ray Douglas or where I can find him. I’ll kill him myself.”
“You didn’t just—”
I cut him off. I was too pissed off to explain. “I just did. Just do as I say and send me some info.” I hung up the call and picked up my knife from my boot. “Where is he?”
“Like you said.” Drak tipped his head outside.
I walked towards the door, and the boys followed.
“One shot, I’ll get a front seat on the baseball game,” Eann said.
Drak looked at my hand. “I’ll take your bike and bring me six packs every day for a week.”
I glared at him and searched for Novic. He was running away and way faster than I expected. “He wasn’t even trying. He’s fast and could have killed Amelia.”
I ran fast in his direction, and he must have sensed someone was following him. Halfway towards him, I stopped and threw the knife, aiming at the back of his neck. He fell to the ground.
As soon as Drak and Eann joined me, I ordered them, “Take my knife. Threw him near Braxton’s territory, make sure the cops will find him first.”
“Why? Are you trying to set her up?”
I glared at Drak. “I have a plan. Don’t worry, she won’t get hurt.”
Two weeks earlier
“Where did you get this knife?” Drak asked me as he stared at the werewolf possessed by legions, who just died after he stabbed him.
“From my father-in-law.”
“Wow. Can I keep this?” Eann just kicked the other dead werewolf, also possessed, to make sure he was already dead.
“This escalated fast,” I mumbled at them.
“Yeah, And it gets closer to her. Are you sure she’s safe?” Drak looked at me. “I’m not worried about her mate, but Amelia and her friends.”
I walked away as my wolf keened in pain.
Amelia had already married Ryden Braxton, and they completed the mating ritual. Even if I knew and let this happen, it still felt like she stabbed me in the chest over and over again.
Maybe I deserved it, after what I did to her. And maybe there was no going back from this misery.
“Can you identify these werewolves?”
Drak scanned through the app on his phone where our guy gave him access to the werewolf database. “Yeah. They’re members of the Crescent Pack.”