Chapter 100

3(rd) Person POV

They watch as the girl sleeps on the stone-cold floor of the cell. She has been unconscious since they brought her here, and it is grating on the Dark Knight Pack Alpha’s nerves. Capturing her was supposed to give them an advantage, but they can’t use her as leverage unless they confirm her identity.

Blood tests are going to take time, which leaves him with one other option.

He smiles at the computer monitor and then turns to his Beta, “Go prepare her for interrogation. I’ll be along soon.”

“Of course, Alpha. She’ll be ready when you arrive,” his Beta says, bows, then exits the room.

For years, he’s been searching for a way to take down the Lycan King, and now, he has found the King’s daughter. Or so he assumes. The rumor going around is that this girl, Aurora Roberts, is the Lycan King’s long-lost daughter, and the Dark Knight Pack’s Alpha could see the resemblance.

She has the signature silver Ashford hair, she’s the right age as his lost daughter, and she is just as beautiful as her mother.

One look at the young woman, and he knew she was the daughter of Elizabeth Ashford. There was no doubt, but he still called for blood tests to be done. He wants to be absolutely certain before he moves forward with his plans to use her against her father.

Standing, the Alpha leaves his office and heads toward the prison cells. He has a little Lycan Princess to interrogate.

Aurora’s POV

My head throbs as I open my eyes, and I wish that was the only worry I had to think of. My hands are tied down to the arms of a chair, and when I try to wiggle, the ropes cut into my skin. Red burn marks are already forming on my wrists from the tightness, making me gasp at the burning pain.

Thorne is the next thing on my mind. The last time I saw Thorne, he was losing a fight against the rogues that were attacking. He looked severely injured, too, which wouldn’t be good.

Is he okay?

“Miss Roberts. It’s nice of you to join us.”

A tall man steps into the light from the shadows, grinning. He’s thin and pale, like he doesn’t eat much or like he doesn’t get any time in the sun. Honestly, he looks almost skeletal. There’s someone behind him, but his form is larger and broader, like Anders. However, instead of being my kind doctor, this man gives off a menacing air as he hides in the shadows.

The creepy thin man moves closer to me. He spins a scalpel blade in his hand, waving it in front of my face. My heart skips a beat, and my stomach sinks at his toothy grin. Red flags and warning bells set off in my mind, telling me to run and run far away.

Fear slides down my spine, chilling me to the bone.

“My Alpha has some questions for you, and you will answer them. If you don’t, well…” the thin man smirks, flicking the blade across my arm. Blood seeps out of the cut, and pain burns across my skin as he watches me. “I get to have fun.”

“Who are you?” I whimper, looking between him and the man in the shadows. Is that the Alpha he means? Or is he another creepy doctor?

The thin man looks behind him for a moment before turning back to me, “Every question you ask, or every question you don’t answer will mean more fun for me, little princess.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

I cry out when his hand darts out and slices another cut in my arm.

“Do you know who your parents are?” The thin man asks, leaning in close to my face. I try to pull back, but I can’t move. “Where your blood comes from?”

Afraid of being cut again, I shake my head. “I don’t know. I never found out.”

A dark chuckle comes from the man in the shadows, but I don’t dare look at him. With just one word, he could tell the crazy doctor man to kill me. Or worse.

“What do you know about the Lycan King?” He questions, resting the tip of his blade against my shoulder. My stomach churns as I glance at it.

“I don’t know anything about hi—STOP!” I scream as fire tears through my shoulder. The scalpel sinks into my skin, and I bite down on my tongue. The tang of blood fills my mouth as it also spills from my shoulder.

The air in my lungs catches, and I gasp, trying to breathe through the pain.

“We’ve heard rumors that you’re the long-lost daughter of the Lycan King,” the man in the shadows says. His deep voice sends another shiver down my spine. “I believe those rumors to be true. Do you?”

“I-I don’t know,” I whimper. “The Ashford family is testing my blood to see if there’s a connection, but I swear, I haven’t heard the results yet.”

The creepy thin man hums and moves his scalpel to my other arm, slicing into my forearm. I cry out again, “I answered you!”

Another cut, this time to my upper arm.

“I p-promise I don’t know anything!” I cry, leaning as far back as possible. “I don’t even know what the Lycan King looks like! I only ever talked to Luna Ashford and a witch. They didn’t tell me anything!”

The man in the shadows moves forward and into the light. Cold blue eyes glare down at me. The scar across his face is puckered and old, but it’s rough and jagged, making him look even scarier as he walks toward me.

“I know your father and mother well, and there’s no doubt in my mind that you are the daughter of the Lycan King,” he whispers, pinching my chin between his fingers. He forces my head up, his eyes moving over me as if he’s studying every inch of my face. “You look so much like her.”

Surprisingly, there’s almost a tenderness in his tone, and that scares me even more.

“Like who?” I ask quietly, my voice trembling.

“Elizabeth Ashford.”

I’m almost scared to ask, but my curiosity also pushes me to speak, “Who is Elizabeth Ashford?”

Suddenly, the man drops his hold on my chin and steps back. “It doesn’t matter. She chose to betray me, so I will never feel any tenderness toward her again.”

He waves a hand to the thin man, and my fear spikes again. My heart pounds against my ribs, fighting to be set free; my lungs constrict, like they’re holding their breath; and my stomach flips, making me feel nauseous.

I’m trapped here with these men, and I don’t have any way to get free.

The glint of metal under the light makes me tighten my grip on the chair’s arms. The thin man slides the dull side of the blade across my cheek, chuckling. “Did you say goodbye to your Alpha?”

I look up, “What?”

Slice.

The image of Thorne’s wolf laying still and bloody on the grass comes to mind, and ice fills my veins.

“That’s right,” the thin man taunts, flicking the blade across my skin again. This time, the pain is dull, fading away quickly with the reality of what he’s implying.

“Your Alpha is dead.”