Richard and Jon stood at the bottom of the steps, shocked. The smell of death in this room was almost unbearable for them, but still they did not move.
Before them, lay a scene that would churn even the stoutest of stomachs. The entirety of one wall was covered in blood. The men could only assume that it belonged to the corpse that lay crumpled in a corner, charred beyond recognition. To their left, a young woman was hanging from silver chains from the ceiling.
For a moment, they feared that she too was dead. But as they listened, they could hear her faintly breathing. Working quickly, Jon broke the chains and caught her as she fell into his arms. A look of pure joy washed over his face, only to be instantly replaced by fury. Richard knew exactly what happened.
"She's your mate." The statement was whispered softly, Jon only nodding towards his alpha. "Take her out of her and get her settled. I'll find Laretta and be right behind you." Jon didn't need to be told twice as he hurried from the room, holding the woman close to his chest.
Richard began to walk around the room slowly, his eyes scanning every inch of it. She was here, he could sense it. The smell of death and that leech masked her scent, but he could sense their bond. Finally, he was rewarded with the faintest of sounds coming from the cell towards the back of the room.
Rushing towards it, Richard found his mate curled up in a tight ball, unconscious. Laretta's back was riddled with slowly healing wounds that looked as if they had come from a whip. Anger flooded through Richard's body as he slowly knelt beside her, lifting her into his arms.
Without a glance behind him, he carried the woman he loved out of the room and out of the cabin. Ordering his men to burn it to the ground, he walked towards the pack house. Once Laretta was well enough to travel, he would take her back to his territory. And then he would never let her out of sight again, that he swore to the moon above.
The room was silent, except for the slow, steady beep of the heart monitor. Though it annoyed him to no end, it was the only thing that told him that his mate was safe, healing and alive. His eyes scanned her face again, noting that a little bit of color had returned.
A soft knock on the door had Richard's head jerking up. He watched as Jon slipped into the room, taking a seat on the other side of the bed. "Everything in the cabin and the cabin itself has been completely burned down, Richard."
"That's good. How is the other girl?" Jon's face lit up at the question as he leaned forward a bit. "She's healing a bit faster than Laretta. The doctor took her DNA and ran it through the wolf system." He let out a deep sigh. "There was a match. Her father is Alpha Thane."
Richard nodded. "Has he been called?"
"Yeah, he should be here tomorrow." Jon let his gaze drift to his friend that was still out cold on the bed. "How is she doing?" He asked softly. Richard rubbed his face, feeling just how tired he was. "The doctor said that she's healing fine, though slower than she should be. It's his opinion that her wounds were caused by a silver laced whip."
Jon didn't stop the soft growl that left his chest. "He tested her blood and found something strange. The markers aren't that of a human. She has some traits common with that of a werewolf, but not fully. He wasn't sure what the other half was, though. He was certain that he had never seen it before in his life."
Silence filled the room as the two men stared at the woman who had been their friend for so many years. "The body that was found with them ... it was the leech who took her." Richard's eyes snapped up and locked with Jon's. "He was dead when we found them ... "
"Yes, he was." Jon rubbed his jaw as he struggled to find the words. "My wolf wanted justice for what had been done to our mate at his hands. So, I burnt his body and dumped the ashes in the river. I don't know who killed him, or why that person didn't take the girls to safety when the deed was done. But at least he's dead and can no longer harm them."
Suddenly, a soft groan spilled from Laretta's lips as her head slowly turned towards Richard. "Richard ... you came." Her voice was barely a whisper as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Instantly, his body relaxed as he slowly took her hand into his, sparks running up and down his arms. "I will always come for you Laretta."
The promise in his words came from his heart as he watched her blink away tears. "I-I killed him ... I killed Rhett." The words were softly mumbled as Laretta felt her eyes closing again.
Things had happened in that dungeon of a room that Richard did not know about yet, things that had taken a lot of strength from Laretta. Placing a kiss on her brow, he quietly left the room in search of food and a hot shower before he planned on returning back to her side.
Elizabetta let out a soft growl as she sniffed the air, causing Laretta to do the same. Her hand flew over to cover her nose, the scent burning it. With a flick of his wrist, Rhett tossed out a long, silver-tipped whip as his eyes lit up with promises of pain and suffering.
The whip slammed into the bar closest to Laretta's head, causing her to flinch away. Her movement caused Rhett to laugh hard as he slowly curled the whip up, laying it on a hook. He walked over to Elizabetta's cell, opening it. He roughly grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the cell towards the chains that hung down from the ceiling beams.
With each whimper from Elizabetta, the anger and fire within Laretta's veins flared hotter. She watched as Rhett strung her look alike in the chain, pulling them until her feet were almost six feet off the floor. Laretta could smell the burning flesh as the silver chaffed against Elizabetta's skin, her cries of pain filling the room. The cries only grew louder as Rhett took a hold of the whip and brought it down hard.
The girl's eyes met and with each tear that slid down Elizabetta's face, Laretta felt as if it branded her heart. Suddenly, she couldn't take it any longer as a fierce growl rumbled throughout the room, stopping Rhett instantly.
His eyes darted towards the cell, shocked and surprised. But then a smirk played across his lips. He could sense the power he knew that was in her, coursing heavily through her veins. Soon, he would be the most unstoppable creature alive.
Before he could blink, Laretta shifted. A large silvery gray wolf stood locked in the cage, her eyes narrowed in on him. The hatred and anger he could plainly feel rolling off of her caused him to blanch for a moment. Rhett thought that he could handle her. After all, he had managed to keep her for several years when she was younger. But Rhett made the mistake of underestimating Laretta.
Every memory of her life had been returned to her, every spell that her mother had taught her. A howl tore from her mouth as Rhett began to scream, stumbling backward as fire began to consume his body. His fingers tore at his body, trying to rid itself of the flames that ate away at him. But Rhett only succeeded in helping the flames as he tore deep gashes into his skin, his blood covering the wall behind him.
Laretta's eyes were solely focused on Rhett's body as she growled louder. Rhett's screams seemed to intensify before he dropped suddenly, not moving. With a huff, Laretta turned her gaze to a shocked Elizabetta. Before either of them could do anything, Laretta collapsed, her body shifting back as she fainted.