Chapter 102

Thorne’s POV

I glare at Anders, nearly ready to snap. He stands in the doorway, blocking me from leaving.

“My vision is fine,” I snarl, shoving his chest. He’s a brick wall. One that I’m about to knock down if he doesn’t move the fuck out of my way. “I’ve waited three days for my vision to heal. I won’t wait any longer.”

It’s been three days since the rogue attack… since Aurora was taken. Three days too long.

“You’re not fully healed,” Anders growls again, forcing me back. He and Jace have been taking turns watching over me through the healing process, and I’m grateful, but I’m done.

Jace steps closer, laying a hand on my shoulder, “You nearly died, Thorne. You shouldn’t—”

“I shouldn’t what?!” I scream, whirling on my Beta. He jumps back as I turn my glare on him. “I shouldn’t go look for my mate?! She could be dying as we speak!”

I’ve tried not to think about it, but it’s all I can think about. They could be doing so many awful things to Aurora while I’ve been laying in bed. Logically, I know I couldn’t have gone after her, but the pain in my chest tells me I should’ve found her already.

“She needs me, and I’ve left her in danger!”

Both Anders and Jace shrink back from the pure rage that drips from my voice.

“You’re in no condition to run into another fight,” Jace says, squaring his shoulders. “You may have your sight back, but you’re still healing from the wolfsbane poisoning and other injuries.”

“Besides, we still don’t know where Aurora was taken. The rogues aren’t cracking,” Anders tells me, making me look his way. When he and Jace aren’t with me, they’ve been interrogating the rogues, trying to find out who sent them.

I narrow my eyes at my best friends, “Then I’ll make them talk, even if I have to break every bone in their bodies.”

“Thorne—”

“I have to find her.” My friends stare at me silently, and I growl again. “Either go with me or get the fuck out of my way so I can find my mate.”

This time, when I shove Anders, he moves. I stalk past him, one destination in my mind. My father tries to stop me in the hallway, but I don’t have time for him. When he tries to grab me, I swing first.

My fist collides with his jaw, sending him to the floor with a thud. Several gasps sound in the hallway, but I ignore them. The sooner I question the rogues, the sooner I can get my mate back. And Goddess help whoever took her, because if she’s not breathing when I find her, they won’t be alive long enough to plead for death.

Jace and Anders act as a buffer on our way to the cells, and the moment I enter, everything goes quiet. It’s so quiet, I can hear the heartbeats of everyone in the vicinity. A few of my gammas greet me as they pass the cell keys to Anders.

Without a word, Anders leads me to the last cell on the block where two men are tied and hanging from the ceiling. They look up at the sound of the door opening, and they both pale instantly.

“A-Alpha Thorne,” the dark-haired man on the right stutters. He bows his head, already showing more fear than his friend. When I stop in front of them, the other rogue merely glares through his swollen eye and spits on the ground at my feet.

At least I know who might be more helpful.

“You know why I’m here,” I start, crossing the room to the table at the other side. Several tools span the length of the table. Electric tools, knives, hammers, baseball bats, and many other things that would easily get these men talking.

I’d told Anders not to go easy on them before, but he also held back so he wouldn’t kill them. However, there’s two of them, and if they haven’t cracked yet, we need more… interesting methods.

Grabbing a hammer and nails, I turn toward the two rogues.

“Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”

“Fuck you!” The light-haired man who spit at me snarls. I glance at his partner, noticing the hesitant and fearful look on his face. Regular torture might break some people, but psychological torture will break almost everyone.

I move to the man on the right, taking one nail and placing it against his outer knee.

“Where is my mate?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the dark-haired man watching me with wide eyes.

“I’m not telling you shit!”

Swinging the hammer, I slam it down on the nail, driving it into the light-haired man’s knee. He howls, thrashing against his restraints. The man beside him cries out as well as I prepare another nail.

“Where is my mate? Who has her?”

When both men don’t answer again, I take another nail and press it against the light-haired man’s other knee.

“Ask him! Why aren’t you asking him?!” The light-haired man screeches, motioning to his partner.

“I’ll ask him in a minute. He’ll get his turn soon,” I say, and the dark-haired man gasps.

“Tell me where my mate is, and I’ll end your life quickly,” I demand, lifting the hammer into the air again. I don’t give him enough time to answer this time before I drive the nail into his other leg.

He screams, his legs giving out and putting his entire body weight on his wrists.

“You will die either way,” I muse, lifting another nail into the air. “It’s your choice whether you have a long, painful death or a quick one.”

“I’ll tell you what you want to know!” The dark-haired man shouts. “I’ll talk!”

Glancing at the man, I move in front of him while twirling the long nail between my fingers. His eyes follow the movement, and he visibly stiffens.

“I can tell you what you want to know,” he says again. “Y-You don’t have to h-hammer the nails in-in me.”

Nodding, I pass my tools to Anders, before turning back to the rogue. “Talk.”

“O-Our leader was contacted by a third party to kidnap the woman… y-your mate. Aurora Roberts,” he says, and I nod for him to continue. “We were paid to infiltrate your pack, attack, and do as much damage to you and your men before grabbing the woman and taking her away.”

“Why? Who paid you? Your group seems different than other rogues who have attacked our pack,” I say, narrowing my eyes on him.

He nods, “From what I know, the Alpha of the Dark Knight Pack wants your mate. Our leader said that the Dark Knight Pack’s Alpha has always been the Lycan King’s enemy. You should know that they were at war years ago, and now he is going to use your mate as leverage against the Lycan King.”