Runt's Revenge

Question the Questioner

Lydia stepped forward into the cell. Her hands, which had been behind her back, now dropped to her sides. Nea could see the whip that Lydia held in her right hand. Lydia held onto the handle and moved a few fingers to allow the long, braided leather uncoil, revealing a silver tip on the end. She flicked just enough to make the length of it ripple. She smiled when she saw the runt notice the shiny barb.

“Why are you doing this,” gasped Athena.

“You want to know why?” breathed Lydia her nose inches away from Nea’s nose. Lydia gently brought the leather handle up to her prisoner’s face, tracing her jaw line as she repositioned herself to be directly behind her. Then she put her lips up to Athena’s ear and whispered. “I tried to get money and power the old-fashioned way… by mating to it.” She pulled back and spat out, “but that didn’t work out for me.” She laughed, “And now the only thing standing between me and the wealth I deserve is… you.”

As Lydia said “you,” she gave a first tentative lash of the whip on the naked back splayed out in front of her. Nea grit her teeth as she heard Lydia winding up for the next one. The second lash was at full force and split the skin on Nea’s back open, the leather and silver biting into her flesh. The sight of blood set Lydia into a lustful, wicked frenzy She lashed out at the runt again and again, giddy with how powerful she felt.

Athena kept her lips closed, determined not to make a sound. But she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. She could bare this, she could withstand almost anything, if only she could have Angel with her to help her through it. The silence in her mind was the worse than the pain from the whip.

Nathan and Zayden arrived at the door to the cell area. “We are here to see the prisoner in cell four,” Nathan told Kev, the Warrior guarding the entrance.

“Ah, yes,” said the warrior nodding, “Gamma Lydia is already down there questioning her.”

“What the F**k?” The Alpha and Beta gave each other a look and then Zayden pushed his way past Kev, taking the steps down at double time. He and Nathan could hear a whip cracking over and over as they reached the bottom stair. The door to the cell was ajar and they burst in. Lydia’s eyes were wild and she had a strange smile on her face as she wound up yet again.

“STOP!” Zayden commanded in his strongest Alpha tone, making Lydia drop to her knees in submission, her hand still raised in the air, griping the whip. Even Nathan had a hard time remaining on his feet, though the command had not been aimed at him. Zayden ripped the whip from her hands, tossing it away. And then he turned to look at his mate.

“Oh Goddess, Nathan, help…” Zayden said weakly, looking at the bleeding and damaged woman before him, dangling from the silver chains.

Nathan was already on it. Turning the crank and lowering the chains from the ceiling. “Kev,” he linked, “bring the keys to the silver handcuffs, NOW!” And then he linked his mate, a nurse in the pack hospital, “Annie, we have an injured wolf and are on our way to the hospital wing. Prepare a private room. Have Dr. Janna and a guard waiting for us.”  

“Who is it?” She asked.

“Zayden’s mate… and Cassie’s kidnapper… long story. See you up there,” he answered.

Zayden was guiding the runt gently to the floor as Nathan finished turning the crank. Taking the keys from Kev, Zayden started unlocking the cuffs himself, not even bothering to put on gloves to keep from burning himself on the silver.

“What the hell were you thinking, Gamma?” he growled at Lydia as she stood up from the floor, brushing at the blood that stained the knees of her pants.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and innocent, “I was getting the information we needed, Alpha, or trying to. She wouldn’t answer a single question. She is devious and dangerous. I-I don’t think you should be releasing her from the cuffs.”

The minute the cuffs were off of her, Zayden gasped as the mate bond snapped back into place. He could feel the burning pain in her back and shoulder and the weak feeling running through her as the silver poisoned her system. “Damn you, Lydia,” The runt was now limp in his arms, drifting in and out of consciousness, as he lifted her slight frame off of the floor.

“Alpha,” Lydia fired back, “I felt that my position was being compromised. I was trying to help so you would see my value to… to the pack!”

“Lydia, you are officially relieved of your Gamma title. I want you in my office, NOW. You will sit there until I am ready to speak with you!” he ordered.

Zayden took off for the hospital wing with Nathan right behind him. “Alpha, room six has been prepared for her and Dr. Janna is waiting for us.”

The girl moaned in his arms and Zayden felt Derrek groan in response. “Hurry, Zayden, my Angel is hurt so badly.”

Dave met them at the door to the hospital wing. He addressed the Beta, “I am the assigned guard that has been assigned to this wing.” He narrowed his eyes as he saw the runt in such bad shape, and in the Alpha’s arms. Dave was obviously confused by the sudden turn of events, but he quickly snapped back into an all-business mode. “What are my orders?”

“Just make sure no one comes in or out of the hospital wing without us knowing,” Nathan told him.

“Yes, Beta.”

Zayden was laying Athena on her side in the hospital bed as gently as he could. She drew in a ragged breath as her part of her back made contact with the sheets.

“Oh Goddess, Athena,” he said, “why didn’t you just answer her questions?”

Nea looked up into his eyes, he felt like she was looking straight into his soul as she replied through gritted teeth, “She didn’t ask me any questions.”

Zayden felt Derrek go wild. He wanted to shift and hunt down the b*tch that had done this to his mate. Zayden fought his wolf to remain calm and in charge. He looked up at Nathan, linking, “There is more to this than we know! Find out what’s going on.”

“I’m on it, Alpha!” Nathan turned and left the room. Annie was waiting patiently for him just outside the door. He pulled her aside, lovingly, but brisk. “Annie, I need you to let me know everything you see and hear up here, no matter how trivial it seems.” He didn’t need to wait for an answer. They understood each other and he trusted that she would take care of things on her end.

 Dr. Janna took one look at the poor girl and asked just one question. “Silver?”

“Yes,” Zayden grimaced in response.

The doctor administered a shot of pain medication and brought Annie into the room to start cleaning the wounds.

Nea could feel Zayden’s presence. He was holding her hand, and brushing the tendrils of hair back from her face as the nurse tended to her back. Nea could feel the buzz of the mate bond wherever he touched her.

“Where’s Fun-Size?” She asked him, slurring as the drugs took effect.

“What? He asked, confused.

She gripped his hand tightly, “Fun-Size! “Fun-Size!” She couldn’t get the words out right.

“Fun-Size?” She tried to link… but there was no answer.

“Angel?” Nea tried, prodding gently.

“I’m here,” answered her wolf weakly.

Nea sighed. “We need to find Fun-Size.”

“We will,” said Angel. “But we need to sleep first.”  

Pain became a distant memory. The only thing that Athena could fell was the energy passing between her and her mate. There was no past, no future, just this fuzzy place of comfort as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Nathan stepped into the Alpha’s office ready to tear Lydia a new one. The office was completely empty, in fact there was no scent to indicated that Lydia had ever even been here.

“Lydia!” He called out through the link. He pushed his wolf to feel for her, her presence was completely absent.