Phoenix enters first, Alina and Alexis burst through directly after. Alina goes left, Alexis goes right and Phoenix barrels down the middle, the others are only a split second behind.
There are about ten scrawny looking people standing within the building, a dull look in their eyes as they look at the intruders. They don't move as the large wolves move into the building in a synchronized fashion.
The dull eyes see the large wolves but they make no movement.
Jade is at the rear.
'Take them alive'
They have so many questions that need answering. Before the first one can be touched, a scream rings out. They all look around confused, only Jade observing, can see the whole scene clearly. It is like a domino effect, first a scream, then falling to the knees while holding hands over mouth.
Then the next one falls, on and on until the last of the ones standing falls.
Behind the hands, oozing out between the fingers is blood, it is forcefully pushed between the tightly closed fingers, dying fingers red as the thick red liquid pours to the ground.
Lucas shifts and forcefully pulls the hands away from one of their mouths, a torrent of blood comes out and then splat. It takes a moment, just a blank stare at it, Lucas is shocked, his mind can't wrap around it, the more he stares the more confused he is. This red thing was lying in a puddle of thick rich blood.
"Is that a tongue?"
One by one, hands are released and tongues falls to the ground.
Jade thought her pregnancy nausea was in check but this pushes the limits of endurance.
She swallows back hard on the saliva forming, trying to keep it down, but the action of her own tongue as she looks at the disconnected tongues lying in a pool of blood is just too much, bile rising fast.
The silence and the stares are overtaken by the sound of gurgling and gasping.
The guardians watch as one by one the people they were trying to keep alive asphyxiate on their own blood.
Alexis snaps out of her daze, shifting and trying to save one, leaning him forward. He looks up at her and smiles slightly as he looks at her with full eyes. She jumps back as he extends his claws. He doesn't go for her, instead ripping out his own throat.
Alexis screams in shock.
"What the f*ck is happening right now?"
One by one, the ten that were standing are reduced to tongueless corpses laying on a puddle of blood without the group laying a single hand on them.
The chaotic mess joins the three other corpses that are thrown randomly with dried blood and large chunks taken out of their throats.
Six wolves and two in human form, looking over the mess, they were expecting a fight, they were expecting answers, all they got was a blood bath and a lot of death without moving a muscle.
"Why every time I think that this whole thing can't get anymore f*cked up, somehow it exceeds expectations?"
They all shift. Now they have no witnesses, no hostages, no one to torture for answers, all they can do is rely on their limited knowledge of investigation.
Lucas walks up to Alexis.
"Princess, does this place remind you of something?"
"I was thinking that, it looks exactly like where you were held that time"
Lucas nods, it was exactly what he was thinking.
Phoenix and Alina walk around the far wall where the light doesn't quite hit, the deliberate darkness seems to hide so many secrets.
"What is this?"
Alina reaches out and takes a piece of paper that is pinned to one of the cages. The piece of white paper feels somewhat heavy in her fingers. Phoenix watches the paper like a hawk, making sure it is not going to attack her or affect her.
Alina opens the folded piece of paper. She eyes the words before reading then aloud, in the silent room, each word seems particularly loud, each word echoes off the thick walls.
"Guardians,
Here is a present,
I hope you like it,
Something to help you nurture and grow,
Something there for your firsts,
Something that shows you all of the love,
But in the end, I want to present
REJECTED AND ABANDONED
COLD AND ALONE"
All eyes are on Alina.
"What does that mean?"
Phoenix looks at the pile inside the cage, twisting and snapping the silver lock. His skin burns slightly but he doesn’t even flinch, before opening the door and stepping inside.
There is no heartbeat, no sound of even a faint breath, just the smell of death and blood.
He squats down and moves it around gently to get a better view.
"It is a middle aged woman"
They all look at each other confused. With all this death, why would this be a present? Wasn't ten tongues falling out a 'present'? What more could there be?
Why now a middle-aged woman's corpse?
Hunter looks over and suddenly has a really bad feeling.
His footsteps are heavy but they don't falter at all. Step by step, he walks to the cage.
He looks at the corpse.
He thought it was a possibility, but seeing her, seeing her face, her gaunt features, her protruding cheekbones, as if she hasn't eaten in a long time, her pale skin nearly gray tone, dark bags under her eyes, her once beautiful dark hair, lost its voluminous shine. Large chunks of dull lifeless hair are missing. The beautiful lady looking like she has aged twenty years in the year since he last saw her.
"Mum"
His voice is soft, but everyone hears it. It sends a shock wave through the group. As stunned silence returns, a piece of white paper descends from the ceiling, fluttering and falling in an exaggeratedly slow fashion.
Like an autumn leaf falling from a branch, slowly, slowly, spinning a circle in the slight breeze, Alina watches as it falls at her feet. She squats and picks it up.
Her brown eyes flick over the words. She doesn't want to say them, but she knows that everyone is waiting. She clears her throat, her finger slightly pale and twist as she grips the paper tightly. The words feel like lead lining her tongue, like razorblades in her throat.
"Do you all like it?
So busy playing kissey games,
So busy setting up a home,
So busy joining your little fight club,
Do you think you are special?
The chosen ones?
The protectors?
The guardians?
Nothing you have is safe; your home, your pack, your family, your love and your life
None is guaranteed and all will be taken"
All of them look at the ground, the words hanging heavily in the air.
At this moment, they feel like less than nothing. Today has been blow after blow and the hits are not decreasing in intensity.
They hurt, they hurt so much.
The blade is at full penetration as it twists and flexes, over and over again, twisting slowly but surely.
The seed of doubt has been planted, it has started to sprout and before long it is going to be in full bloom.
Sixteen fists are clenched, eighty claws are deeply embedded in palms.
The self-doubt that has been suppressed by motivational speeches twice today is growing. No one can find the words to say. The same words have again lost all meaning, on repeat, as if they never had control of the situation.
Like they weren't at the back of the pack as the race starts, the impossible position to start and almost never comes out victorious.
Hunter stares at his mother, he still hasn't made a move, can not bring himself to step in that direction.
Guilt ripping him up. It started with the death of Brodie's parents, doubled with the death of Brodie. Now looking at his mother's corpse, the guilt has grown at such an exponential rate.
His organs feel like they are no longer in his torso. He have all dropped into his feet.
He can't move he just stares at the woman that gave him life, that loved him, nurtured him.
The picture of the happy family is such a distant memory, but she did love him. She helped pack his bag and kissed him on the cheek, knowing that he didn't want to go to alpha academy, she told him that she knew that the academy was going to change his life, that something special was going to happen there.
That was the last time he saw her, he never got to tell her that something special did happen there and it did change his life.
He didn't get to tell her that she was right.
That he loved her.
Looking at her corpse, it is easy to see that she did not have a good death, it was long and drawn out. How long did she suffer?
Golden eyes glitter and shine as a sheen of water over takes them.
It truly hurts.
In the big black SUV, pale fingers grab the lid of the laptop, she snaps it shut as she leans back in the leather seat with a satisfied smile on her face.
The scar face man breathes a silent sigh of relief when she looks happy. He swallows hard. He was busy driving and she had the sound turned up.
The moment he heard screams and saw the tongues, he was so shocked that he was lucky to even keep the car in a straight line.
His tongue feels heavy and swollen in his mouth, a fine sweat appears on his handsome forehead, his dark hair slightly wetting and sticking to his skin.
He grips the steering wheel tightly.
He is scared.
An alpha wolf will never admit to being frightened.
But he knows deep down that he is terrified.