The Alpha and His Deadly Beauty

The Punishment

Scarlett’s expression stayed neutral as the fireplace poker touched her forearm skin. She was breathing calmly. Both of her arms were chained to the ceiling, while both of her feet were chained to the floor. She was in one of the punishment cells in the basement of the guild’s ‘secret’ building.

They called it ‘secret’ because no one had been able to find it for years. They were proud of its secrecy. Only invited assassins and thieves who were given a few clues were able to find it. And when they do, it was either surviving against their test to become a member of the guild or die.

Scarlett found the place without an invitation. And she survived the test. It was a simple decision for the guild to recruit her then.

Smoke arose from the spot where the poker touched her skin. A mark was formed. A crow with two daggers. The mark of the guild.

As soon as he finished branding Scarlett’s forearm, Fig smiled broadly. The dwarf looked at Scarlett expectantly. He was hoping to see some reactions. Maybe a scream or a look of fear. Yet Scarlett gave him none. And that made him frustrated.

“Hmph!” he harrumphed and turned his back to Scarlett. He was picking his new tool. The mark was the beginning of her punishment so he still had hope that Scarlett would beg for forgiveness on the second phase.

He tried giving lashes to Scarlett. Using whips, barbs, even a cane. Soon, Scarlett’s white shirt was drenched in blood. It was torn on the back where lashing scars were formed. Her trousers were also drenched in sweat.

It was painful. And she screamed now and then.

But honestly, Scarlett was also bored. She had tried so hard to avoid the punishment but it turned out that the punishment… did not feel like a punishment. Or perhaps because Scarlett had a different standard of what ‘punishment’ felt like.

Her mind shifted to one memory while she was still serving in Tollyria. Whenever she failed a mission, she would experience a lot worse than whatever this Fig guy could imagine. A. Lot. Worse.

It was not that the punishment in Tollyria was more painful. The degree of pain was more or less the same, and Scarlett had managed to get her way around the pain. But what was different was that she was used to sick and twisted punishments. The kind of punishment that would make your stomach churned for days. The kind of punishment that made you have to sever your body from your moral code.

The kind of punishment that made you want to kill yourself.

One memory of one of her punishments in Tollyria that was still vivid was her being raped in a banquet full of people. The King of Tollyria humiliated her on his very own dining table because she would not ravage a small village as he ordered to.

No. It was not that man who raped her. Instead, that man ordered a demon wolf to do the deed.

It was a punishment full of mockery. Because Scarlett was from a dire wolf clan. A clan that humans called the Demon Wolves.

That kind of punishment made Scarlett could not speak for days. It was also the day she finally realized that the man who had once saved her from a brothel house, the King of Tollyria, was not the same person anymore. It felt more like he became an entirely different person.

Scarlett never knew what truly happened to him. Her stepsister, Sania, would not tell a soul. And now, it was already too late to ask Sania. Because that same king killed Sania in front of Scarlett’s eyes.

So, the guild’s punishment felt much more acceptable. Especially because Fig was not allowed to truly damage the guild’s members. He was not allowed to cut off any body parts, rape, and murder. And there were a lot of restrictions, such as how many beatings and lashes were acceptable and so on. Though he was allowed to make members gone senile. The guild had no use for people with weak mentalities.

“Twenty-three,” Scarlett shouted.

“Huh?”

“You’ve lashed me twenty-three times. The maximum is twenty,” she said to Fig, “Guild’s rule number 7 under the clause punishment.” It was Scarlett’s turn to smile at Fig.

The dwarf harrumphed again and went to pick up another object.

“Only one type of punishment shall be done to the members who failed their missions,” Scarlett said again, “The type of punishment includes lashing, beating, waterboarding, electrocution–“

“You think I care about the guild’s stupid rule??” Fig bellowed to Scarlett.

Oh, he is pissed.

“You should. If you want to live with the guild’s protection.”

“f**k those rules!” Fig shouted. “I will make that pretty face of yours hideous, to the point that none could recognize you!“ He took a knife in one hand and started walking near Scarlett.

“You can’t do that also,” Scarlett said again, “My face is an asset to the guild.”

It was true. The guild considered Scarlett’s face as one of their secret weapons. So they cautioned all members, including Fig not to sully her face. For her angelic face lured so many targets to their deaths.

“Fig.” A commanding voice filled the entire room in an instant. At the top of the stairs of the basement was a man in a red robe. A crow’s mask covered his entire face. But judging from his voice, he must have been around forty years old.

Still looking straight at Scarlett’s emerald eyes, Fig clenched his fist around the knife.

“Let me destroy her, Master,” Fig begged, “There is no learning without pain. And she –she obviously had not learned her less–“

The man called Master raised his palm to Fig as a sign the dwarf should stop talking. Which Fig obliged almost instantly.

It was cute, truly, to see this pain-addicted dwarf acted like a puppy to the Guild’s Master.

“The punishment is done,” said the crow-masked man.

“B– but–“ Fig tried to protest but was immediately met with a wave from the man’s hand. It was a clear sign that Fig was dismissed.

The dwarf looked at Scarlett for one last time. His gaze brought a promise that the next time he would make Scarlett beg. Then the dwarf climbed the stairs. Scarlett was left, along with the guild’s master.

“Hello, Master.”

The man looked at Scarlett as if he was studying her. Before finally, he unlocked the chains on Scarlett’s hands and feet. Scarlett slumped to the floor, as her body was no longer supported by the chains. She grunted in pain.

“You have another mission,” he said flatly.

“Uhm hello to you too, Scarlett. Are you okay?” Scarlett talked to herself in a fake cheerful tone. “Yes, I am fine. Thank you for your concern, Master.” She forced her feet to withhold her weight. In a few tries, she was standing again. Her emerald eyes looked to the black orbs behind the crow mask.

Seeing that the crow mask had no response to Scarlett’s joke, she asked, “Can I reject this mission?”

“No.”

“Why? You said every member can reject missions anytime. There are plenty of members that can replace me.”

“Not this one.”

“Why?”

Scarlett tried to find answers from his black orbs. But from the day of her first arrival in the guild, he knew that the man was very similar to her stepsister, Sania. The type of person who would not reveal anything. Until now, she never knew what this person looked like or who he truly was.

“Because the client specifically asked for you,” he said. “It’s the same client that asked us to kill Trey Moonchaser.”

With the name being mentioned, he had Scarlett’s full attention.

“The client wants you dead for failing the mission,” he said again.

“That’s not the first time a client wanting a member of the guild dead because of a mission failure.” Scarlett gently rubbed her wrists, which had red marks from the chain.

“No, it’s not,” he said, “But it’s the first time that we cannot refuse. The client is very powerful.”

Scarlett stopped her movement. “Are you going to kill me now?” There was no fear when she asked the question. Because she had her shapeshifting ability as a secret weapon. Yes, the guild did not know of her ability. She only knew of her skills in daggers, combat, and seduction. They thought that was all there was to Scarlett.

The funny thing was, it was a split decision made by Scarlett on the night she barged into the guild’s secret base. She decided right then that she needed a card under her sleeve against this guild.

And perhaps, she was finally right.

“No,” Master said, “I managed to convince him to give you another mission. One that you will not fail this time.” Scarlett was sure that his eyes shone a little at that exact moment. It was then that his smell hit her.

Mud and rain.

Just like Scarlett who hid about her shapeshifting ability, the Master hid his werewolf nature. On the very first night, Scarlett did not realize the smell. After several weeks, she started to pick up the subtle smell hidden underneath another smell. She knew he had used a spell to cover the werewolf smell.

Oh well, not really my business.

“What’s the mission?” Scarlett asked.