I can’t tear my eyes away from Juan as he sits helpless in his binds on the dirty floor. All eyes around the room on him, except Colton’s. He’s turned away and seems unable to bring himself to look. A sense of desolation swirling around him like a dense fog. I sense Sierra and Radar entering the room from the main door, followed by more pack wolves, and realize we now have an attentive audience to our ex-alpha’s fate. It feels like we are hitting some sort of crescendo in a power struggle that began long ago in this very house.
“You think you’ve won just because you have me here?” Juan sneers my way, eyes amber and full of hatred, yet he stays in human form, and I wonder why. He’s stronger as a wolf and more likely to make a break for it that way, so I don’t get why he’s sitting human and even seems strangely calm and submissive. I ignore his attempts to bait me and keep my expression blank as though I couldn’t care less about his predicament. To me, this is already over.
“I think you misunderstand the meaning of winning, my dearest fellow.” Varro snorts and walks to him confidently. Tall and straight and exuding confidence. Swaggering as his dark robes trail behind him, he suddenly strikes me as an Asian warrior of old. Long dark hair, tailored clothes, under a thick opulent cloak. Like some historical Joseon drama villain, all that’s missing is a sword. He’s so different from Darrius, with his modern tailoring and short, clean-shaven style. He has an old-world vibe about him, yet it somehow suits a Lord of the vampires to be this way.
“Pahh…. Look around. I may not be their alpha anymore, but I’ve left them cowering forever to remember who I am. The greatest power of Lycan in a long time. I will go down in the history books.” Juan smirks, shrugging his large shoulders, and seems oblivious to reality. Completely unaffected by the fact he is a prisoner and about to face a fate worse than death from here on in. I balk at the fact that maybe Juan was always this mentally unstable and yet somehow only got worse as the power went to his head.
“We call that delusion. A tale of what not to be.” Colton chips in, low and almost unheard, and finally turns this way. His eyes slowly trace a route to his father’s figure, and he looks away again the second they land on him. The pain etched for a moment on that handsome face. My heart constricts for him, knowing how much of a war must be going on his mind over this.
“Is it? I’ll go down in history for …….”
“Destroying your pack, ruining your own home, losing the trust and loyalty of many? Which part of that is admirable? You’ll be remembered as insane.” Colton barks right back, cutting him off and finding strength in his anger. Unveiled hatred begins to show once more as his father’s arrogant words fade out his guilt.
“I’m the king of these people. I say they do. I growl, and they cower. That’s power!” Juan can’t let go. So lost in his insanity and blinded by what he thought he had. I can only sigh at how far gone is the mind of a man that the Santo pack once respected.
“Enough, this is boring. I came here to settle a debt, and you don’t need to be able to talk to do that.” Varro halts all illuminate his cheeks with a red tint. His fierce on show as he nods to Darrius, and the black figure instantly disappears from my left side. A flash, a flick of wind, so speedy I almost miss it, and he’s holding Juan’s head back in a powerful grip as he forces open his jaw and cuts out his tongue with a glinting dagger.
It’s instant; blink, and you miss it, fast. And yet so overwhelmingly gruesome as Juan screams and gargles and Darrius makes quick work of the task he was ordered to do. I gasp inwardly so fast I start to choke yet can’t pull myself away from seeing what’s being done.
Blood is pouring down Juan’s face as he’s released to wriggle and squirm on the floor, with muffled wails and gasps of agony. Tears stream down his face, and I feel the wolves around me reel back in shock at what was just done without any hesitation or verbal command. Silence is heavy, emotions chaotic, and I cannot tear my gaze away from this gruesome sight.
Darrius throws the dismembered flesh to Varro in a casual toss as though it’s nothing but a caught fish. Varro catches it between sharp talon fingernails and holds it aloft mockingly, giving it a triumphant shake in Juan’s direction. A smile spreads on that face and changes softer features into something terrifying and cruel, instilling a sense of fear in me for the first time. He’s completely immune to Juan’s pain and bellowing and seems to take pleasure from it. The shock around me is unified. No one moves an inch, yet silence is deafening from all my subs and mate. No Lycan would ever do something like this, but I guess our species are far apart.
“Life will be quieter from here on in, I think. Don’t you agree, Darrius?” Varro scoffs, his tone jocular, and he tosses the tongue in his hand aside as though discarding the trash, wiping his blood-dipped nails on his leg, and brushes his hands against the fabric to wipe them clean. He tosses his hair back with a head flick and returns to that commanding stance again.
“Are you going to kill him or torture him slowly?” Sierra appears by my side, her voice shaky and her emotions taut. She seems detached on the surface, but I can feel her pain and fear from within. As much as she hates Juan, she has never had the stomach to watch suffering. She’s as rattled by what we witnessed as I am, despite the years of battles and deaths of hybrids around us.
“Oh, he’ll live for now. In pain and torment. Why don’t you come along and play a little, seeing as you carry as much despisal for him as I do? You are the former Luna, are you not? This worthless scum’s mate?”
“I have no desire to watch him suffer like that. I’m not him. He’s no longer my mate and has nothing to do with me anymore.” Sierra’s eyes glaze over, and she turns away from the pitiful sight. Radar comes to comfort her and understands that she has no stomach for this.