Chapter 4 - Malachi

“There have been fourteen sightings today alone,” Alec said as he looked over his notes.

         I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I was getting a headache.  No matter what I did, I was always losing. It was almost one o’clock, and every time I felt like it was quiet, I would get another notification that a wolf was trespassing. “What were they doing?”

         “Nothing really,” Joe said as he looked through his surveillance. He strategically put up cameras around the pack territory to watch anyone who would come in. We had a big pack, but it was too much to ask the guards to constantly be covering every square inch of our border. “Just looking into different buildings and then moving on to the next. Like our little friend downstairs, I think they are scouting.”

         “Why now?” That was the question that constantly went through my brain today. Why now? We haven’t done anything; we haven’t trespassed into their lands. We have kept to ourselves and were trying to thrive. If I were to trust the intruder that I tortured yesterday, Roan wanted to grow his pack for some reason. What was up with these dictator types wanting to take over the world? Just be happy with what you have. There was nothing wrong with that.

         “Not sure, Mal. But it seems that as the days go by, more and more are coming over. And we are just letting it happen.” Alec said as he continued to filter through his notes.

         “I’m not letting anything happen.” Anger surged through my body. It was almost as if Alec said that I was letting bad things happen to my pack, showing he thought I was weak. I gripped the edge of my desk. There was only so much that we could do to prevent that; eventually, we would have to wage war, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I couldn’t be the Alpha that did that and sacrificed his pack’s lives just because of a few intruders. But if this continued, I was going to have to. I was between a rock and a hard place.

         Alec looked up from his notes. “Sorry, Alpha. That’s not what I meant.” He set his notes on his knees. “What I meant was, we aren’t retaliating. We need to show the Night Bane Pack that we mean business and won’t roll over when someone trespasses.”

         I stared at him. I knew my Beta only had the best of intentions. “What do you suggest? Take the prisoner, chop off his head, and put it on a stake near the Night Bane Border?”

         Joe scoffed, “It would send a message.”

         More killing. I wasn’t built for this bullshit. I hated unnecessary killing. I hated the torture portion of my job. I hated having blood on my hands that never seemed to wash off. I wanted to have a happy pack, where the only issues I had to deal with were two pack males going after one pack female. That was something I could deal with. But war…that’s something no pack Alpha wanted to be a part of. Unless you were the egotistical maniac known as Roan Whitmore.

         “And what do you think?” I looked at Alec, who was sitting quietly in front of me.

         He shrugged. “I think that’s our only option. We have one of theirs, and the only way we can send that message. We don’t necessarily have to put his head on a stake, but kill him in a way that is violent enough to show that we mean business.”

         I stood up quickly. “Fuck.” I yelled as I paced behind my desk. “Fuck.” I said again for good measure. I ground my teeth together, it caused more tension in my jaw that radiated up to my head, it made my headache worse. “So, what do we do? Crucify him? Chop his head off? Dissect him and pull out his guts on a rock? What?” I looked from Alec to Joe.

         “All good options,” Alec said.

         “Hmmm,” Joe said as he thought. 

         I looked at him, waited for him to stop the silence. “What?”

         He grimaced. “I might have a way that wouldn’t necessarily put blood on your hands but will for fucking sure prove a point. And possibly scare the shit out of anyone who trespasses.”

         Anything that helped me avoid killing anyone was a good suggestion. “What is it?”

         Joe breathed in. “Hear me out. Back in ancient times, you know that they had a shit ton of ways to torture someone. Well, this way made it possible for the torturers not to be around when the victim died.”

         Alec and I leaned forward.

         “Back in the day, the torturer would get a long pole, sharpen it, and grease it. They would bound the victim and insert the end in their ass. They would erect the pole and walk away. Gravity would take hold and slowly pull the victim down the pole, eventually killing them in the process. It would take hours and sometimes days for the victim to die. A lot of leaders would use this to keep their subordinates in check.”

         “Oh god,” Alec said and winced.

         “What you are saying is, you want me to instate a medieval torture practice?”

         “More or less. I mean, we could make it a metal pole.” Joe shrugged his broad shoulders. “But what I am saying is it would prove a point. And possibly stop this bullshit from happening every day.”

         I ran a hand over my face. There was no way around it. And this would make the best option. And I wouldn’t have to physically do anything to the prisoner. “Ok. Let’s do it. I don’t want many people to know about this. We have to do it in a place where not a lot of people go, and the pack doesn’t need to know about this.” This was a difficult decision, but it needed to be made.

         “Oh shit,” Alec said under his breath.

         Joe laughed.

         “What?” I looked at him warily.

         He tried to contain a smile. “You’ll be known as Malachi the Impaler.” He laughed again.

         I let out a long sigh.

         Alec snorted.

         “You both are terrible.”

         “Sorry, Alpha. Just trying to make a shitty situation lighter with some humor.” Joe shrugged.

         “Just remember, this was your idea. I’m just going along with it.” I pointed a finger at him.

         “I understand. It’s what I do.”

         I knew that had to be true. When it came to violence, he was turned off by it. It was almost as if he were immune. That it didn’t bother him. That he had seen it so many times that it didn’t affect him anymore. One of these days, I would ask him about where he went when he was gone. But today was not that day. We were dealing with so much shit that any more violent information was going to go above what I would be able to deal with.

         An incessant dinging went off. I looked around at Alec and Joe. Joe jumped up and pulled out his phone. His face dropped.

         “Oh shit!” He tapped on his phone. “She’s going to kill them.”

         “Who? What’s going on?”

         “We gotta go. Come on, I’ll explain on the way.” He pulled his jacket from the back of his chair and ran out of the office with Alec and me in tow.

         He jumped into his truck, I jumped into the passenger seat, and Alec sat in the back. Joe revved the truck and careened through the driveway.

         I grabbed onto the dashboard. “What’s happening?”

         Joe let out a sigh. “She was part of my previous life…before I came back.” He paused. “I’m not sure how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. We are highly trained and skilled assassins for a government-backed organization.” He stopped and glanced at me.

         “Oh shit,” Alec said in the backseat, he held on for dear life as Joe maneuvered through the streets.

         “Long story short, an old colleague of mine is in one of their safe houses in the area, and she’s at my gym right now. And some wolves from the Night Bane Pack have broken in. And let’s just say, she’s kicking their asses, and since she’s trained to kill, she won’t stop.”

         I took his words and worked on digesting them as fast as he was driving. But I was coming up short. “This colleague of yours, who, like you, has been trained to kill people?”

         “That’s the simplified version of it.” Joe said as he took a turn, he screeched the tires.

         “I’m going to have more questions about this organization later.”

         Joe nodded.

“Is she human?” I couldn’t think of anything worse than a human going against werewolves. We were stronger, faster, and built to take a hit.

Joe laughed. “Species, yes. Killing capabilities, no.”

“What does that mean?” Alec chimed in from the back.

Joe looked in the rearview mirror. “She’s an all-around badass, that when given an assignment, she gets it done. She is the first and only female in our organization, and she’s the best. Even better than I was and I’m a werewolf.”

“She should be fine until we get there?” I asked. I didn’t want any innocent lives to be taken due to my pack’s issues.

         Joe chuckled. “I’m not worried about her. I’m worried about those poor bastards having to fight against her.”

         Joe pulled up to his gym. Through the windows, I could see a woman fighting against two men. There was broken glass everywhere, and the two front doors were ajar. Before Joe could cut the engine, I jumped out and ran to the open door. The woman had a man on the floor, her bare foot stomping down on his throat, and a gun pointed to the head of a man kneeling in front of her; he bled from multiple wounds.

         I stepped forward, my shoes crunching against glass. With the noise, she turned. My heart started to pound, as if it were about to jump out of my chest. Goosebumps covered my skin and my dick instantly hardened. My wolf started to scream, “MATE!”