Severin kept walking, stepping over bodies until he reached a metal door. He placed his palm against a pad and walked into a long hallway as soon as the door opened. “Do you really think we’d milk you like these poor alpha cows? No, you will not be cast amongst the ranks of drained alpha soldiers. Fortunately, providing Ruby with three darling children was more than enough to please me.”
Killian couldn’t take hearing his smug voice anymore. Now that they were moving, he lunged forward and forced Severin against the wall. Slowly, he lifted the aging man’s body by his puny neck. Desperate cries of strangulation bubbled from his closed air pipe, and the way his legs shook made Killian all the more apt to follow through with the killing.
Vash stepped in and lightly took his arm. Killian shook his head and squeezed harder. “He took our children. He doesn’t deserve fairness.”
“Fine. Go ahead and kill the moron,” Vash acquiesced. “But, once he’s dead, good luck getting us out of this place.”
“I’ve seen those eyes. They’re familiar. We are walking into a trap,” Killian argued.
He turned to see the door behind his counterparts. It had closed and bolted. If they wanted to escape, they would have to use Severin’s hand. And then, of course, they would have to walk into that spiral of hell and torture again. Unfortunately, Vash was right. They had to follow the demon.
He let go and watched Severin clasp his neck. He coughed and gasped for air, tears rolling down the wrinkles that formed his face. Falling to the floor, his body trembled like a dying insect, neck swelling up with each breath.
Killian pressed his boot heel against the man’s chest. How easy it would be to crack his ribcage. “Know this.” Killian leaned against him. “I could have ended you with pleasure.”
Lucas flicked the toothpick at Severin’s face. “In the future, if you decide to act against us, I want you to remember this moment. We’re letting you breathe, maggot.”
Vash lifted him and slapped his cheek, smearing his lips together before eyeing him and growling like a wild beast. “My pack is far too lenient these days,” he said, grabbing Severin’s scrotum and twisting. “Imagine all the things we could do to you…”
Vash let go. Face red and full of shame, Severin adjusted the collar of his suit and stood, wobbling as he balanced. “Settle your energies, brutes, for I offer you gifts no one else would have thought to pass your way.”
“We’re waiting,” Killian muttered.
“If you want to see her, you must follow me,” he said. “But there is more waiting for you than her.”
The door opened in a flash to the darkness of a massive garage. Inside, a prisoner transport bus waited, engine rumbling. It was one of the designs from the old world, back when they enjoyed power. Guards appeared from each side of the doorway fell to the knees. “Sir. We are ready to leave when you are.”
Severin nodded and held his hand out. One of the guards handed him three dark hoods. He turned around and tossed them at the alphas. “Put these masks on,” he said. “And give me your rifles. Where we’re going, you won’t be allowed any weapons.”
Killian released the safety and tightened a heavy finger against the delicate trigger. “Like hell—”
But Severin held his hand in the air to stop him from speaking. “I know you don’t trust me, but you have no choice. If you come with me, you will know exactly what she has been through. You will get to see her again. Isn’t that what you want?”
“We want our family back, you son of a bitch,” Killian growled.
The commander traced the red palm prints around his throat with unsteady fingers. “It’s your choice.”
With no other options to choose from, Killian erratically removed the rifle from his shoulder and threw it at the guards next to Severin. Picking up the black hood, he put it on and immediately felt like a prisoner again. Was this the man’s plan? To fuck with them and leave them empty-handed? No matter the case, he felt obligated to follow the bastard’s lead…
Because Rae was waiting for them, and surely, she was going through much worse.
Chapter Five
Ruby watched politely as Rae walked through the marble tower’s front doors. Lining the walkway through the courtyard, the guards knelt and offered words of praise to the new queen. She acted delighted. Too delighted for Ruby’s taste, no doubt, but that was the point.
“When am I supposed to address the people?” she asked.
Ruby smiled and seemed to weigh her thoughts heavily. She stepped over the last of the marble steps and turned to peer at Severin’s office. On days like this, Rae wondered if she would stare longingly at him as he worked, hunched over his desk like the goblin he surely was. She wondered if there was any love between them at all.
Rae knew the answer. Severin was missing, and it was no coincidence that she was being taken on a foolish trip to ease her fears.
“Your speech has been postponed until things stabilize in the cities,” Ruby said, chuckling. “You know Severin. Everything has to be perfect-perfect.”
“I suppose that’s decent,” Rae muttered. “I’ve been through enough as it is.”
“I’m very aware that you’ve been through hell and back, sister. But I want to make it up to you. I want to show you that this life is much nicer than the one you were building with those… those thugs.”
Ruby spat on the green front lawn of the two large buildings, known as the marble towers. She used the spike of her heel to drive it into the dirt.