Cruel Alpha

Chapter 37

Lucien was furious, he came home without his bride today. He was angry at every small creature in the pack. The whole drive back, he was holding the steering wheel too tight and Robin took it as a sign to not start conversations. He was glad about it. At least Robin was by his side. Though Lucien also knew that she wasn’t fully by his side. She was still doubtful. All this time, all those nights of talking with her and she is still doubtful of him. By now, Robin was supposed to be in his pocket. He did everything as planned and today, finally, he fully cut her ties with River Banes. She was supposed to be on his team now, ready to please her Alpha. 

But Lucien saw the look on Robin’s face when she looked at that weak error of the alpha family. He was bested by a Gamma; his family should be glad that Lucien was ridding them of weakness. He was the one she fought against the Goddess for, she was supposed to hate him, be the first in line to harm him. Why wasn’t she as furious with Wilder as she was with Lucien when they were little? Why was Wilder getting the softer treatment while Lucien had to fight for Robin’s respect?

He growled and dismissed all of these thoughts and turned to the multiple teams of fighters. Some were barely standing up. Derek was grinning at him like an i***t, still boastful over securing at least one member of the Alpha family. Robin stood next to him with indifference written on her face. Their prisoner coughed and Robin’s face had a momentary display of emotion. 

Lucien clapped his hands together and everyone’s attention snapped to him. “Robin take care of this. Derek take the prisoner to the cells.” Robin nodded but as Lucien spoke of the prisoner her heartbeat wavered. Derek strolled along, 2 fighters carrying the prisoner behind him. Robin stepped forward to take charge of the fighters, sending half to the hospital the other half to the armoury to do a restock of their weapons and fighter available. 

Lucien stepped forward and took Robin’s elbow, Robin’s attention snapped to him and her eyes were full of fury, upon seeing that it was him, she calmed down. Good, at least she is not fighting. Lucien thought. “Come to my office, At 12, tomorrow.” Robin nodded. “Yes, Alpha.” She replied and looked towards the fighters, she was eager to get back to her task. Eager to get rid of me. “You are distracted. Tell me, why?” Lucien used the tone, it was too easy to use it now, it was always on the tip of his tongue and stirred the conversation in the right direction. 

Robin cleared her throat and looked down. “I have failed the mission, Alpha. We have a lot of injured soldiers, as well.” Robin spoke with kindness and even regret. Lucien chuckled and pulled Robin closer to himself, resting his head on hers. “It’s unfortunate. Don’t stress about it.” Robin nodded to his chest. His tone must be working, Robin was never this easy to calm down. He pulled away and looked at her and resisted a knowing smile. Robin was stubborn and angry and always ready for a fight. But, she wasn’t a good liar. Not as good as Lucien, who weaved lies left and right. He saw the cracks in her façade, saw that she wasn’t really calm, she never was calm. It would be overly uncharacteristic of her to be calm. Lucien tilted her head up towards him and saw the spark of anger and in her grey eyes. There she is. “We will talk about all of it tomorrow. Tonight, take a break.” He ordered, sometimes even the kindness had to be said as an order, any other way and Robin wouldn’t accept it. 

Lucien took his own advice and took a break as well. He washed up and relaxed with a glass of whiskey, though his head was still fixating over his new prisoner. The first thing tomorrow, he promised himself. 

The next morning, Lucien made his way to the armoury and checked over the reports Robin left for him. Then he took the elevator 3 floors down, towards the cells. Lucien liked to keep his weapons and prisoners in the same location, it made them feel threatened by his weapons and strength. The soldiers on duty bowed as they saw their Alpha and Lucien felt calm. They were his soldiers, ready to obey all of his commands. 

He signalled for the soldier to open the black steel door leading to the cells. He progressed along with the empty cells until he reached the only one that had an occupant. He nodded to the other guard and he unlocked the cell doors with a glove. The silver was deadly for them, but, for Lucien, it was just more pain to endure. 

The prisoner was chained to a wall with both of his hands and was seating down on the hard ground. The weak link of the family looked up at the noise and came face to face with Lucien. “Wilder? Was it?” Lucien taunted and Wilder yawned and nodded. “Forgive my sleepiness, it is too early for interrogation. Can we try in an hour or two?” Wilder spoke and Lucien chuckled with a shake of the head. Sarcasm, the weapon of the weak. “I am Alpha Lucien and you are currently the prisoner of the Oak Tails Pack.” Wilder nodded with a snort, “Kind of figured that much.” Lucien leaned down and grabbed a hold of Wilder’s face, nails digging into his already injured face. “I would advise you to keep your strength until the official interrogation,” Wilder kept his smug expression as he asked. “What is this, then? A friendly chit chat?” Lucien let go of his face harshly, making his head hit the wall. 

Lucien turned around to leave, “I will be back with my Beta. I suppose, you have met her?” he turned around to look at him and Wilder’s head jerked up he was way more alive than he was seconds ago. Lucien chuckled at the fear in his eyes, “Looks like she already has power over you.” Lucien said as the guards locked the door behind him. “Leaving this early? You aren’t very good at this!” Wilder called behind him, attempting to stall the departure. Lucien only kept going, leaving Wilder without a reaction would be the fastest way to break his demeanour. 

Lucien made his way to his office, to find Robin already waiting for him there. “Went to pay a visit to our prisoner,” Lucien stated as he took his seat, Robin looked at him expecting more. “Did he pass out already?” she asked and Lucien chuckled, “I haven’t even done anything yet. He is quite a character. Why haven’t you bought him to my attention before?” he asked, that boy couldn’t even defend himself, he would have been the easiest target for Robin to take down and use as a pawn to get Wren. Yet he still remained alive and uninjured until Derek decided to get involved. Robin scoffed and leaned back on her seat. “Please, he is not worth it. He is uninterested in the pack matters and even his brother leaves him out of most of the pack business. He is useless.” Lucien nodded, “yes, but he is part of the family and seems to be the one that helped the girl get away. You underestimated him.” Robin looked down, “I admit, expected him to sprint out of the field as soon as he got the chance.” 

Lucien chuckled and leaned back on his seat. “We will interrogate him today, might be more of him that you underestimated.” Robin’s eyes snapped to Lucien’s. “We?” Lucien nodded, “Yes, I want him to know who you are, know your true strength. This will make him speak.” Robin nodded though it didn’t look as nonchalant as it did seconds ago. He noted the change in her, the eyes were jumpy, legs were tapping. 

Robin was scared, Lucien realized. It clearly wasn’t him or else he would have felt it. Her fear felt different to all the others. He craved to feel it, but Robin wasn’t always generous with her emotions. She couldn’t be afraid of that weak prisoner, she was stronger than him many times over. Lucien spoke of the armoury statistics and asked Robin about all the things she found out in the River Banes. She spoke, but his mind was still looking for the cause of her fear. 

She is not afraid of something, she is afraid for someone. Lucien realized as he recalled the fear Wilder had on his face. He wasn’t scared of Robin. He was scared for her. Lucien nodded to whatever Robin has said, it didn’t matter, they were starting a war in a week and nothing but their preparations mattered.

Apart from making Robin more obedient to his orders, of course. She is a wild card; a time bomb Lucien can never fully trust. “When are we interrogating him?” Robin asked, giving Lucien a key to maybe everything he ever wanted. Respect is earned through fear. Bend it to your will and you will have power. And to bend it to your will, you need to be the source of the fear. Lucien wasn’t the source for Robin’s fear, but he could control the source of it. Maybe, Wilder wasn’t useless after all.