[Webnovel ©Lynnifer Ice]
(Content Warning: This chapter contains strong language and violence. Reader discretion is advised.)
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So, this was definitely an awkward situation to be in. Perhaps Azariah should not have killed that beta... Then maybe she would not have gotten whipped and been left in this position. It was bad enough that her hands were tied to the chair and her back was bloodied; even her binder was ruined! Now, she had Alpha Arcadio directly in her face, demanding answers to questions that she had no intention of answering with honesty. With the close proximity of his face, she could easily headbutt him, but that might create more problems. It certainly would not get her hands untied from the chair.
Azariah needed to formulate a plan quickly; she was sure her plan of seducing the alpha had been thrown out the window. She also felt like sitting; even the floor would be more comfortable than hunched over while standing. However, that was not a viable option since only her knees would be able to sink to the floor; the chair was too tall for her to be able to sit on her rear. Either way, these ropes had to go...
This alpha looked way too amused for her comfort. Arcadio had actually smiled when he noticed how annoyed Azariah was. Oh, how she wanted to smack that smile off his face. On the bright side, he was unaware that she was a female. As far as he knew, she was transgender; although she would have instead kept that a secret for much longer, but how else could she explain the binder? Her lips twitched in irritation as Arcadio's gaze seemed to burn into her.
"How long are you going to keep staring at me?" Azariah gritted, her fingernails digging into the chair.
"I could ask you the same, Gamma Remy... If that even is your name," Arcadio huffed, not backing away.
"Remy is my name," Azariah seethed. Well, it was partial truth; her middle name was Remy.
"Your boldness might get you killed one day, you know. Do you have any idea how many werewolves have looked me in the eye without standing down and lived to tell the tale? Go ahead, guess," Arcadio prompted the gamma in front of him. There was something Remy was hiding, and Arcadio would get to the bottom of it.
"I have no idea. Ten?" Azariah boredly answered.
"None," Arcadio answered monotonously before finally straightening his back, so he was leaning in the gamma's face. He proudly crossed his arms with the faintest smirk, optimistic that this would intimidate the bold gamma. Alas, Remy's face didn't even flinch.
"Good for you?" Azariah rhetorically replied. She rolled her eyes when Arcadio looked dissatisfied, "Let me tell you a secret, Alpha... Nothing you do is going to break me. So, good fucking luck getting me to submit to you because it's never going to happen," she breathed with a sense of sass. She felt pretty satisfied seeing the alpha flustered until Arcadio flashed her a devious smirk.
"Oh, really? Do you want to test that theory? Not even the bravest werewolves can withstand every form of torture. They all break, eventually, but if you are so sure that you won't, then why don't we skip the warm-up stuff and go directly to the big boy stuff?" Arcadio darkly chuckled as he got up from the chair, his eyes searching the silver tray on the table next to them. He picked up a small knife, twirling it in his hand, glancing back at the gamma, "You seem to be barely affected by cuts so, why don't we try...," he trailed off, putting the knife down and picking up a pair of pliers, "This?"
Internally, Azariah was panicking. However, she had been trained to never reflect that emotion on the outside when an enemy was near. She took calm breaths, her eyes following his every move. He sat back down in the chair, facing her with the pliers in his hand. Forcibly removing nails was one of the worst things to experience, and she knew from experience; she had a pinky nail removed for disobedience when she was younger. She never wanted to go through that kind of pain again; she would rather be stabbed than have her nails pulled out. After all, it took more than three months for her nail to grow back.
"What are you planning to do with that?" Azariah swallowed, doing her best to maintain her composure. The tears that had been in her eyes from the whipping have thankfully gone away. So, at the very least, she knew she did not look pathetic.
"Oh? You're curious? Well, how about I show you?" Arcadio answered with a calm air about him. He grabbed the gamma's hand, uncurling his fingers. There was no way this wouldn't work; Arcadio was sure of it.
"Oh, I see. You're planning to rip my fingernails out one by one, right? Do you think I haven't been through that before? Yeah, it hurts like hell, but the nails will grow back, and I still won't tell you a damn thing. So, go ahead, Alpha," Azariah mockingly said, "Do your worst."
"Don't you worry, Remy. I very much plan to," Arcadio smiled, attaching the pliers to the gamma's thumbnail. "Last chance," Arcadio offered, for some reason hesitating, almost as if he did not want to hurt the gamma, but that was just absurd! He peered up, looking for any weakness in the gamma's eyes, but he saw not even a trace of fear.
When Azariah remained silent, her heart beating rapidly, Arcadio tightened the hold of the pliers. Then, he yanked back with his inhuman strength, ripping the nail away from its flesh home. Azariah threw her head down at her arm and screamed in anguish. There was no way she could hold back a scream for that; it hurts twenty times as worse than a whipping.
She panted, squeezing her eyes shut as Arcadio attached the pliers to her index fingernail. It was yanked away just like the first. Her toes curled as she screamed again, refusing to look up at Arcadio's face. Then, her middle fingernail was ripped off, and she shrieked bloody murder. She could not keep her breathing even, the sting from just three of her fingers already felt like too much, but she knew she had to bear it.
One by one, her fingernails were torn away from her hands. Her jaw was clenched as she quietly winced. Arcadio only had one more finger to go on her second hand, her pinky. Azariah wanted to cry, but she held it in. Her body was violently trembling, unable to keep up with the pain. The pliers squeezed down on her nail, and instead of yanking it off, Arcadio tore it off at a tortuously slow rate.
Azariah's screams would be heard outside of the room this time; her cry was shriller than had been before as her head finally whipped back. It managed to crack the glass on the windows and broke the glass of Aracdio's magnifying glass on his desk. Arcadio grunted, the banshee scream even affecting his ears. Azariah was pulled against the chair with all her strength, but Arcadio refused to let the gamma get away. With one final pull, the nail ripped away from her tender flesh.
Azariah's head fell down, her cheek pressing into her arm. She was gasping for air. Her hands felt like they were on fire; the thunderous pulse that stormed through them brought her to tears, but she refused to willingly let the alpha see that. She heard a satisfying hum followed by a small clack, signaling the pliers were placed back on the tray.
"I'm surprised. You really are a tough one to crack," Arcadio said closer to her ear. "If you want this to stop, all you have to do is tell me what I want to know." He straightened up, picking the knife up again, twirling it in his fingers. "So, why did you stab Beta Leviathan to death? I'm certain that it wasn't without cause."
"First off, go fuck yourself," Azariah snapped, still struggling to control her breathing, "Secondly, he had sleazy plans for me, and I was not about to let him touch me inappropriately. Any bastard like that deserves to die."
"Well, firstly...," Arcadio gritted before driving the knife through the back of Azariah's right palm, smiling as he listened to the gamma's pained cries. "Secondly, I knew Levi was an asshole, but a molester? I find that hard to swallow. Where's your proof?"
"I have a witness...," Azariah strained through her pain.
"Name of said witness?" Arcadio asked, sharply pulling the knife out of Remy's hand.
"Alpha....something...," Azariah groaned, trying to recall the dickhead Alpha's name.
"Another Alpha?" Arcadio asked, amused. Azariah wracked her brain, but it was increasingly difficult to sort through her thoughts while dealing with her excruciating pain.
"Fynn! Alpha Fynn!" Azariah exclaimed, happy that she remembered.
"Alpha Fynn...?" Arcadio asked skeptically.
Arcadio got up, unbolting the mithril door. He opened it and slipped out of the room. Azariah briefly brought her head up, staring at the door. She felt momentarily relieved that the alpha had left the room. Her body ached, still bleeding; she felt tired, her vision slightly hazy. She told herself that it would be okay to slip to her knees. No sooner has she thought it, her legs gave out as she fell to her knees. The chair was heavy enough to keep from moving as she leaned her head against it, barely able to grip the top. The strain from the pull of the rope on her wrists hurt from this position, but she was finding it hard to just keep her focus.
How much blood had she lost, or was it the shock her body had received that was making her feel weak? She hadn't thought she had lost much blood, but then again, she couldn't exactly inspect her current injuries. Her breathing was getting shaky. Her eyes traveled over to the door, her ears straining to focus on hearing anything outside the door; she could just barely pick up the conversation. While she listened, she focused the rest of her strength on gnawing on the ropes that bound her wrists to the chair.
"Alpha Fynn, the gamma claims Beta Leviathan was going to take advantage of him. Do you know anything about this?" Arcadio gruffly asked, hoping that the gamma had been lying.
"Alpha Arcadio, my brother-in-law, I did not see Beta Leviathan make such advances on the gamma. However, when I caught him on the forest path, he held the gamma by the throat against a tree. I heard him mentioning things that would seem like he was planning to, but he did not flat out say what he would do. When I arrived at his cabin, I noticed his belt was unbuckled. In addition, the gamma told me the exact same thing. I didn't believe him at the time because of his attitude on the forest path, but now that I think about it... It is possible. Levi's cabin was trashed as if a hurricane had gone through it, or in this case, a very well-fought struggle. If this is the case, the gamma may be telling the truth. I heard his screams from all the way out here... I won't ask what you have done, but I will ask this. Now that you have this information, what are you planning to do?" Alpha Fynn crossed his arms, taking in Arcadio's thinking stance.
"I'm not sure, but I am sure that the gamma is hiding something. Remy's old wounds healed in a matter of hours, but none of his new injuries showed any sign of healing. How was he able to recover in such a short time? Something doesn't add up. There's something else... The gamma, he doesn't smell like us. His scent almost smells as if it's artificial. Did you notice that?" Arcadio shared his thoughts, his eyebrows creased in deep thought.
"Well, other than his wrists feeling somewhat fragile for a male. No, I don't think so. He has muscle, but for a male, he's petite. It's usually an omega trait, but I would have known if he was an omega. Omegas don't typically defy authority, and if they do, they learn quickly not to," Fynn concurred, nodding his head.
After that, the alphas were quiet for a long while before sharing a few glances and then nodding at each other before Alpha Arcadio went back inside the room. He closed the mithril door again, turning the bolt to lock it again. However, once Arcadio turned around, he froze in his tracks. The gamma was not where he had left it. He stalked toward the chair and around it to find the gamma lying on his side on the floor. Blood was pooled around the body, and Azariah's breathing had turned ragged.
"Well, this is unexpected," Arcadio muttered, squatting down by the gamma. "All bloodied and beat up, but you still managed to get rid of your restraints. Now, you're lying here, dirtying my marble floor. Your bleeding wounds tell me that someone or something healed you before. Are you going to tell me yet?"
"Hell no," Azariah groaned, unable to get her body to move anymore. This frustrated her; she should not be this weak!
"Well, that is unfortunate," Arcadio stated without remorse before grabbing her hair bun. When he yanked her up by the hair, Azariah screeched, tears involuntarily pooling in the corner of her eyes. "Come on, Gamma. Get on your feet," Arcadio growled, hoisting the gamma up even higher.
"I- I can't!" Azariah cried out, her tears shedding for the first time in front of the alpha to see. Her body was limp, and all she could do was scream and cry. She had been through many forms of torture before in her life, but it had never been this bad.
"Tch. Weak," Arcadio growled, pulling harder until he dragged the gamma around the chair and tossed him in the chair.
The moment Azariah's raw back collided with the back of the chair, she howled. She wanted to move her skin away from the rough wood, but she couldn't will her muscles to work. Arcadio was still holding onto her hair, staring at her with a hardened expression. She felt disgusted that she had shown weakness in front of an enemy. When she watched Arcadio's gaze fall on her dagger, pure fear shot through her; the handle was made of steel instead of silver so he would be able to touch it. If he even knicked her with the blade, she would be done for. A mere papercut from the edge was enough to poison a person or beast.
"What if I used your own weapon against you? I bet it would hurt more than just your pride," Arcadio commented, keeping hold of the gamma's hair while he unsheathed the dagger. He turned it in his hand, inspecting the blade in the dim light before waving it in Remy's face. "I want to know what you are hiding from me, Gamma Remy. I've reached the limit of my patience with you so, I'll give you one last chance. If you refuse, I'll kill you this time with your own weapon. That sounds like a fitting end, doesn't it?"
"If you ask me," Azariah exhaled shakily, "That sounds like the coward's way out. If you want to kill me, fine, but using a man's own weapon against him is wrong in so many ways."
"So, in other words, you're still not going to talk. Very well then, if death is what you wish, then death I shall grant," Arcadio dropped Remy's dagger on the floor and reached for his own. Without another moment of hesitation, he drew back his blade and plunged it into the gamma's chest; it was precisely where a heart should be. Remy hollered and cursed, but the light stayed in his eyes. Arcadio was stunned. The gamma should be dead, but instead, he was grinning back at him like some satisfied demon. Arcadio let go of his dagger and the gamma's hair, staggering back. "What the hell are you? You should be dead!"
"Surprised?" Azariah smiled, coughing up a bit of blood. "I'm a mammal, just like you, but there is a difference between us. A difference that I am not going to share with you because where would be the fun in that? I told you... You can't break me."
- End of Chapter Ten -