AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Stone
When we arrived backat the pack, Teresa was waiting for us. The sun was just rising, and she looked tired as I felt, but her eyes were bright. “Glad you two came back alive.”
“Hello to you too,” Shaw said. “God, you look tired. Been real worried about me, huh?”
“Only because if you died, I’d have to say nice things about you, and that would be a stretch.”
Teresa and Shaw wrestled the prisoner into the jail. It felt strange to do the interrogation here, when we’ve always been at Louisa’s rock before. But there was no point in going to Louisa’s rock. I didn't want to go back there. It reminded me I'd failed to protect the witch after convincing her she would be safe in my pack.
We asked the prisoner about his involvement with the Longroad pack.
"I don't have any alliance with the Longroad pack. They're weak now. What do they have to offer me?"
"That was going to be my next question."
He shook his head, though there was no hiding his fear; it soaked the air. "Don't start a new alpha war, Stone. We've all had enough of war."
"Have you? But murdering my brother and kidnapping the woman I love seemed like a good idea to you?"
For a second, he seemed frozen with shock, as if he hadn't known how much Amelia meant to me.
"But you weren't planning on leaving any survivors, were you?" My voice had gone quiet.
His lips pressed together tightly.
He knew what was coming even before I broke his arm.
"Nathan offered us money!" he finally managed. "A lot of money! Our pack isn't wealthy like yours."
"Money for arms? Or money for a school?"
Sweat rolled down his face, and he was grimacing in pain, but even so, I could tell the question perplexed him.
Liam walked into the room and stopped dead. His gaze fixed on the tortured man, whose arms were at odd angles, blood dripping from his face.
“Liam,” I said, taking a step forward to block his view. But Liam’s eyes had gone glassy, so I didn’t think he was quite seeing the scene in front of him anymore.
“Don’t let me stop you,” Liam said. “I’ve been on the receiving end of quite a bit of torture. I can offer suggestions.”
“Get out of here,” I said.
Just like when Louisa wove the interrogation spell, I felt like I had the responsibility of conducting the interrogation myself. But this was worse, up close and bloody.
“Why?” His grey eyes met mine for once, and even though I hated when people judged him for not making eye contact, I hated this too. “Aren’t you proud of what you’re doing?”
“I don’t like it,” I said evenly. “But what he did to Amelia made it easy. What hetriedto do to Amelia.”
Cole finally tried to drag Liam out—though no one could really drag Liam’s massive body anywhere until he gave in—but I was too keenly aware of him right outside. When Cole returned, he touched my shoulder, his gaze sympathetic.
The broken alpha in front of us groaned weakly. He was close to death.
“So what do you want to do with him now?” Tee asked.
“I’m done with leaving enemies on the table that could come back on us.” Shaw was right. If I hadn’t gotten tangled in my feelings, I could have just killed Nathan at the very beginning when I first ran into him. Instead, I had wanted to take bloody revenge out of his body, thinking that would itself heal some of the wounds about losing Brennan. I’d created yet more pain for all of us.
I made sure we had all the information we needed, then broke his neck. “Stick him in the freezer. It’ll be a gift to the pack to let them know never to mess with mine again.”
When I finally made my way out, Liam fell in walking with me. My shirt was soaked with blood and I’d busted open two knuckles on the alpha’s worthless face. I needed to get into the shower before Amelia or, god forbid, Dylan saw me.
