The Alpha and The Red Wolf

Caleb I wiped the pliers with the bloodied cloth, waiting for the man to stop screaming at the top of his lungs. I had only removed his fingernails and cut off his right earlobe until now, and he was already panting like a filthy mutt. I had plans to inject every pain that could be inflicted on his body, but he turned out to be a p***y. “Just give me the f*****g name, Nico, and then I might spare your tongue as a gesture.” “Please, Alpha…I swear…ah!” His pathetic plea was cut short by my brother’s fist smashing against his jaw. He started to froth out blood, staining the floor and my expensive shoes. I snickered, looking at Hunter. “Patience, please.” Younger to me by three years, Hunter was the Beta of the Stormbringer Pack. We controlled the entire eastern lands, from the mountains to the sea and as far as eyes could stretch. The area was enormous for a werewolf pack, which was the reason Hunter and I were always on our toes. And as much as I hated disloyal people, I loathed f*****g snitches. I’d rather take on a strong enemy than a f*****g imbecile trying to stab my back. And this bastard, tied to the chair, breathing the same air as me, was a f*****g snitch for the rogues. “Alpha…please…” he tried again, wheezing. “Can’t we just give him the wolfsbane and make him talk?” Hunter groaned from beside him. It was not like he hated torturing snitches, in fact, he loved blood as much as I did, but given his impatience, he was dying to dip his d**k into a female. And he was getting late. “No, Hunter, I’d rather have some use of these instruments…” I pointed at the tray of knives, pliers and knuckledusters, “…than have him passed out in pain and then dying.” I looked at Nico and sneered. “But now, I am also running out of patience.” I picked up a small, curved knife from the lot and approached him. “Here’s what will happen, Nico. I will rip open your skin, top to bottom, and then I will have you stitched up, only to do it all over again. And I can do it a hundred times before you start begging for your death.” He looked up, gazing at me with one good eye as Hunter had already gashed the second eye. “Alpha…I did not mean to betray you…” “But then you did.” I cut him off. “You gave the pack’s sensitive information for the shipment to the bloody rogues, and they robbed us.” Thieves and robbers and rogues, I get it. But traitor? No. If anyone thinks that they grew the pair to betray my pack, they would better make sure to run far, far away from me. “Give me a chance, please. I swear on the Moon Goddess…I’ll prove my loyalty to you,” he begged. As if loyalty was a coin you could flip anytime. The knife in my hand slashed high up against his thigh, eliciting a piercing wail out of his larynx. Somehow it was music to my ears. “You see my knife? It’s close,” I warned, pressing the sharp tip to his precious balls. “One s***h, and your balls will be history. And even after that, if you do not open your cunt of a mouth, I'll cut off your d**k and stuff it inside your mouth. Would you like that, Nico?” He was still groaning and whimpering as blood streamed down his legs. Hunter yanked at his hair and pulled his head back. “Your Alpha asked you something.” Nico was silent. Perhaps, I have not given him the best incentive. So I raised my knife to plunge into his balls when he finally screamed. “No, no, no, please! I will tell you, I will tell you!” A smile akin to a Cheshire cat broke out on Hunter’s face. “Ah! It’s always the balls that work, I tell you.” I straightened my stance, stepping on his bloodied toenails. “Oslo. His name is… Oslo,” he gasped. “What did you tell him?” I demanded. “He had heard about the shipment. He has a large pack…rogues. They hunt.” Hunter slapped his head. “Duh! We know that, i***t. Where do we get this imbecile…Oslo?” Nico’s gaze jumped between us. “I don’t know. They never stay in one place.” I sighed. “I had almost believed you, Nico,” I told him. “But then again, you are…you. I need the coordinates of their territory.” “Alpha…believe me…I don’t know.” My Beta and I exchanged a knowing look. “Whenever someone tells me to believe him, in all probability, I should not.” This time, I gave him no quarter and skewered the knife into his other thigh as his splitting wail echoed around the walls. “I will not ask again. The territory?” “Zephyrus forests…” he panted. The life was slowly draining out of his body. “They have been hiding there for some time.” “For your sake, I hope you are not lying and we find them there.” I dropped the knife into the tray and then strode out of the dark cell with Hunter on my heels. “Get a doctor and fix him. Make sure doesn’t die,” I ordered one of my guards before heading out to my office. “You believe him?” Hunter asked, closing the large wooden door behind him. I walked over to the table, picking up two glasses and filling them up with whiskey. As soon as the amber liquid passed down my throat, I felt good. I passed the second glass to Hunter and settled down on the chair. “Zephyrus forest lies right outside our territory,” I said. “It’s dense and damp and devoid of population, so yeah, it makes sense.” Hunter took a swig and nodded solemnly. “Then, I will have our sniffers and hunters gather and brief them, Alpha.” “We attack tonight,” I decided. The rim of his glass paused over his lips. “Tonight? Don’t be hasty, brother,” he requested. “As you said, the forest is damp and dense and all we know is that a bunch of rogues are settled over there.” “The daylight will give them an advantage and I don’t want that.” Rogues lacked discipline, mostly because they survived for themselves and not for the pack. “I want my hands on this Oslo and get it over with.” I have lost too many good pack mates and too much money to be careful at this point. Hunter thought for a moment and I could read the hesitation in his eyes. Truth was, he was more reckless than I was. But when it came to our pack—the Stormbringer—he would often opt for a calculative decision. But he was also my Beta. Hunter respected the ranks. “Okay,” he acquiesced. “But we double our strength then. We do not know the strength there and we can only hope to outnumber them. Besides, we need men to procure the robbed shipments too.” I nodded my assent. “We are game tonight.” XXX It was darker and denser than I had imagined the Zephyrus forest to be. The thick canopy above our heads almost made it impossible for the moonlight to penetrate through the leaves, but somehow it added to our advantage. As shifters, we were born with enhanced visions. Our eyesight was in tandem with our inner wolves even in our human form and thus, we were hunters even in the dark. “How many?” I asked Hunter who moved stealthily beside me. “Around thirty rogues,” he informed. “I will have the pack hunters take out the rogue guards and we can storm into the house then.” I nodded. “The shipment goods?” “The trucks are still parked a little inside the forest and they haven’t yet moved the goods, at least that’s what the sniffers found out.” “Let our Gammas look into the safety of the goods while we attack.” “You and I will go after Oslo,” Hunter suggested. There was a giddy in his voice. “It has been long since we hunted, brother. What do you say?” I smirked, knowing how bloodthirsty my brother could get. “What better than a rogue commander?” “Hell yeah!” He exclaimed. “Don’t kill him, though,” I warned. “I want to have a field day with him too.” I heard him scoff into the darkness. “Says the wolf with a knife.” But the time we reached deeper into the Zephyrus forest, we located the fire lamps. As expected, the sniffers and hunters took care of the guards. But by the time the rogues realised that they were under attack, it was too late. Hunter shot every one of them approaching us while I stabbed through my way. Somehow, the thrill of the ground combat had always pushed my adrenaline rush to another level as violence sang in my veins. The rogues were ruthless, too, but chaotic. They lack unity in every sense, and it was a common notion that lone wolf never survived. Once we had cleared the area, Hunter and I approached the main house to look for our prey. There were only a couple of guards and before another word got out, Hunter shot one of them in the throat while I killed the other two. A rain of bullets aimed at us. We couched behind a wall, tracing the source and when we did, it only took us a few seconds before storming into the room and locating our main target. Oslo was stupid enough to corner us, only to have us return the favour. And only a fool would try to jump out of a window when you have an Alpha and Beta on your tail. “You can run, Oslo, I won’t mind,” I said, spearing a knife into his calf as he fell back. “But my Beta here would love to shoot those kneecaps.” Every wolf knew what destroying the kneecaps meant. You can’t turn, you can’t hunt and your wolf would be forever injured and in worst cases, dead. “Who…who are you?” Oslo stammered. His eyes flickered between us and his escape window. “You know who I am.” I smiled, marching closer. “So let’s get to the point.” “What do you want?” He hissed, wincing as pain shot through the veins where Hunter shot his forearm. “Oh, I have already taken it,” I assured him. “What I need right now is the location for the rest of the rogues.” He grinned dirtily. “You think rogues are easy to catch? You are a fool, Alpha Caleb!” Hunter shot his other forearm, bringing him down to the floor. “Next one goes through your knees,” Hunter warned. “I can give you an easy death or a tough one,” I said. “It will be your choice. As for your rogues, I will hunt each of them down like filthy dogs and slaughter them anyway. Half of your rogues are already dead meat. You have no territory, no money, no people. How long do you think you will survive?” “I will compensate you! Whatever we have stolen, we can double them.” I rolled my eyes. “And what else can you give me?” He paused as I watched the desperation warring in his gaze in order to save his sorry ass. “There.” He pointed to a door to another room. “I can give her.” “What?” “In that room.” Hunter tilted his head and gestured him to follow. I fell behind, covering for him. You can never trust these rogues when it comes to deception. Oslo unlocked the door and limped inside, followed by us. He, then, pointed to a cage, rusted and dirty towards the corner of the room. “You can take her, use her, do whatever you want and she would not say a word. I promise you, Alpha Caleb, she has the best cunt I have ever had. She is a prized female, I tell you.” It took me a long moment to realize what he was saying. And then I saw her. A naked figure curled inside the barely decent-sized cage. Her matted red hair strewn around her face as she hugged herself tighter. Her back was flayed with whip marks, her hands and legs bruised and she was lying there almost like a dead body. If it wasn’t for the subtle tremor of her jagged spine, I would not have even considered her to be alive. “Hunter, take him back,” I ordered. I approached the cage, slowly, unlocking it.