Chapter 19 - Harlow

“Each in their own cell, bound to a chair.” Joe rattled off. He knew what I needed; he knew how I operated in these types of situations.

         “Any way we can bind them to a table?”

         “Anything for you, Luna,” Joe said, turning his head to look at me over his shoulder. He gave me a wink. “I see you are going to bring out the big guns.”

         “I’ll do what I have to.” I looked to my right, where Malachi was walking next to me. He was keeping the same speed as me since I was walking slower than the others. Alec stood behind us. “What information do you need?”

         Malachi took a breath. “We just need to figure out what the plan is. The others we got told us that they are just scouting out to see how much power we have, but we need more information than that. Anything you can get will be a big help.”

         “Did you need any locations? Numbers? Tactics?”

         “All of it.” Joe cut in before Malachi could respond. “You know what you need to do, and we need to protect our pack.”

         “Roger.”

         We made it down two flights of stairs to the basement. There were no windows, only concrete walls with metal doors keeping the prisoners in. At the far end, there was a window that looked into a room where a man was being pushed from a chair to a table. It was the asshat who stabbed me. It was a two-way mirror; they could watch me work. I was going to take pleasure in having Malachi see how I operated. Maybe it would ease his concerns or scare him away.

         Looking through the window, I could see a table where there were already weapons splayed out. Different than the ones I brought, more rudimentary. I could see pliers, a knife, needles, and brass knuckles. That was one thing I didn’t have but loved to use. When I wore brass knuckles and hit an opponent, it packed a punch. Leaving little to no damage to my hand.

         I watched as the two men strapped the prisoner down. He was yelling and spitting at them, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I loved it when they started out feisty. Those were the ones that gave up the most information.

         “Are you sure you want to do this?” Malachi was not looking at the man strapped to the table, but at me. He was probably thinking me watching the man was a hesitation on my part. But in actuality, I was trying to figure out the best way to make him talk.

         “Positive. You have nothing to worry about.” I watched as the two men who strapped the prisoner down left the room. The prisoner moved against the straps, trying to free himself. “You said you have other prisoners?” I looked at Malachi.

         “Yeah, we have a total of four,” Alec said before Malachi could answer.

         “Can we put one in the chair?”

         Joe chuckled and looked down at me. “You really want to play, don’t you?”

         Malachi’s eyebrows shot up. “Play?”

         “It’s been proven that if you torture two people from the same group in the same room. One will talk, seeing someone go through pain and suffering pushes them to reveal the information that we need.”

         “Just listen to her. I’ve seen her work.” Joe clapped a hand on his shoulder and walked to a different cell. “Let’s get this fucker.” He talked to the two men who were moving the prisoner to the table.

         “Let’s go over here,” Malachi said, walking toward a different door. He opened it to reveal what could only be described as a command center. There was another two-way mirror here. There was a desk that had a device on it that had switches. No doubt a speaker system. “Stay out here,” Malachi said to Alec before closing the door behind him.

         Malachi set down the bag on the table behind the chairs that were facing the torture room. Joe came back with the other prisoner, and the three men strapped him down to the chair.

         Malachi walked up behind me and put his arms around my waist as I watched the men work. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

         I turned my body around in his arms and leaned my back against the table, so I could look at him clearly. “Malachi.” I could feel him shiver at his name. “This is in my wheelhouse. Please know that I can handle everything that I’m about to do to these fuckers. And after it’s all said and done, you will see that I’m okay. I’m so good at this that the other members of the faction would place bets on how fast I could get someone to talk.” I put my hands on his waist. “I’m going to be fine,” I said more seriously.

         He nodded. “Okay.” He leaned down and kissed me, hard. Almost as if he were saying goodbye.

         I pulled away. “I’m only going to be right over there. If anything is amiss, you can hop in.”

         He nodded again, without saying a word.

         When the men had the second prisoner secured, they left the room. The man on the table was talking, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Malachi leaned over and flipped a switch.

         “Don’t you say a fucking word. You hear me, not a fucking word.” The man on the table yelled at the man in the chair. The one in the chair was looking worried. When I fought them both, they both looked determined to kill or resist. But now, that façade was breaking, and the gravity of the situation was weighing on the prisoner in the chair.

         “Bingo.” I smiled at the prisoners.

         “I think she has her target,” Joe said as he walked into the control room. “They are ready when you are.”

         “Put this in. You can hear us if you have any questions.” Malachi handed me a small earpiece that I plugged into my ear. He leaned forward to the microphone on the desk. “Test, test.”

         I nodded. I could hear his voice loud and clear. I grabbed the bag on the desk, but Malachi made to take it off my shoulder. “I got it. Let me do this.”

         Malachi stepped away, allowing me to walk past him. I exited the control room and nodded at Alec, who was standing across the hall.

         “You got this?” Alec asked, concern lacing his voice.

         “I got this.” I smiled at him, trying to reassure them that I was more than capable of torturing a couple of idiots.

         “Okay.”

         I walked to the door that led to the torture room, and one of the two men guarding the door opened it and pushed it open for me. I stepped over the threshold. The man on the table craned his neck to see who entered.

         “You fucking bitch. I’ll fucking kill you.” He screamed at me.

         I pouted. “Is that any way to talk to your host?” I set the bag down on the floor. It was too big to lay out on the table, and I wanted to see what Malachi was working with before. There were old pliers and hedge clippers. But all the rest were just typical tools that you would find in any toolbox.

         I picked up the brass knuckles and put one on each hand.

         “Those were dipped in wolf’s bane.” I heard Malachi through my earpiece.

         I nodded and responded in Russian. “What’s wolf’s bane?”

         Even though Malachi didn’t speak Russian, he responded. Joe probably translated for him. “It’s a poison to werewolves.”

         I nodded.

         “What did you just fucking say?” The table prisoner screamed at me.

         “You’ll find out.” I turned to the man who was sitting in the chair. His eyes were wide as he stared at me. I limped closer to him and gently brushed his shoulder as I came to be behind him, I leaned over his shoulder. “How are you doing? Comfortable?” I tried to sound sweet.

         His breath quickened, but he didn’t answer.