7

Chapter 7

King Lucas POV

The next morning, I woke up well-rested and I didn’t feel dirty for once. But I did get up to take a shower; the dream I had was crazy. I'm a freaking lycan, and in the dream, I was running with a few wolves. We were after something. I was the one that stopped running when a woman stood in front of me. My lycan was going crazy insane; he was wanting her, needing her. Then, I jumped into another crazy dream. It was just a wild night full of them. After I took a shower, dried off, I got dressed in jeans, a pullover black shirt, and then my shoes. I hated wearing them, but I'm a king, so I have to wear them. I just can’t go around walking barefoot, can I?

Heading into my office, I knew I had some emails to read and paperwork to look through. I was hoping I could be by myself and let the others train on their own today, but no such luck. My second-in-command decided he had a wild hair up his ass and demanded that I come outside to train. He knew damn well enough never to do this when I want to be left alone. I raised an eyebrow at him, "Corey, you have five seconds and five seconds only to tell me why you have a wild hair up your ass, before I get up and beat your ass until you're bloody." The jackass smirked.

Corey and I have been best friends since we were kids; well, we are cousins. He has already found his mate; my mother calls him Duke, that's his royal name. His mate is a Duchess, and they have been together for over thirty years now. When they found each other, it was at one of my many birthdays. I hated those things; my mother would set it up where I had to meet every single female. She wanted me to find my mate, but I never did. I was okay with that. I wasn't ready to find my mate; maybe one day I will, but not right now. Right now, I'm trying to find out the cause of the rogue problem. They never bothered trying to come into the kingdom before. Now, they're coming in, killing who they want, stealing what they want, and trying to escape the kingdom before they get caught. And they always do; some get away, others get their heads snapped off or placed in a cell for questioning. I have to literally use my King's Authority in my voice for them to talk. They get so angry when I do this; they try to fight it, but they end up getting a headache from it. They have to tell the truth when I use my Authority; they can’t mindlink because I use chains that have a special little poison that keeps them from mindlinking. If they try it, it lets me know what they are saying and who they are trying to talk to. There's no scent to it, but it does burn the skin just a little.

Currently, there is a rogue in the chambers, chained with the special chains that I ordered them to put him into. He's just one of the many rogues I didn’t kill. There are a few locked up in different chapters. I decided to wait to question him until I decide that he has had enough of the blaring lights and not having any food or water. Besides, it's only been two days; three more days will do it. They get really hungry and angry, then they go on a rampage wanting and needing food and water. This one can’t do that; he can’t even stand with the chains around him. Now it's time for me to head outside; I need to train. I know I said I wanted to be on my own today, but I really need to train hard with my cousin. So when we went behind the castle where we train, there were mats on the ground. Each lycan had a team member to train with. They train in human form and in lycan form. Some of the females still try to get Corey’s attention, but he doesn't pay any mind to them. He has the love of his life.

When the training was over, I still had a lot of energy left. So, I decided that I was going to question the rogue; I want my answers. I want to know who is in charge and what his or her name is. I want to know all of this, so I get to the bottom of this. I'm fed up with rogues coming into my kingdom, trying to destroy everything that I have built over the years. I'm fed up with it. We walked into the chambers; the guards were guarding the door. When they saw us open the door, we walked inside; I was a little shocked by what I saw. The rogue had long, dirty brown hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in over a year or two; he had dark brown eyes. He looked to be about twenty years old. When he saw us walk into his sleeping chambers, I saw him smirk at us. He knew we would be there sooner or later. Grabbing a chair from a nearby table, I set in front of him. He growled at me. In return, I punched him in the face, breaking his nose. Yes, it will heal, but it will not heal the right way since he couldn't set it the right way.

'Now, since you know that we are here to question you, you have one chance to tell me the truth. I want answers, and I will get them regardless of what I need to do to you. Do not make me use my authority; it's not going to be fun for you. This will be very painful. If you know what's good for you, you will tell me who your boss is." He sat there with the chains around his hands and feet. I could smell his flesh burning from his wrist. His eyes were full of pain, but he was trying to stay strong through the pain that the chains were causing him. I swear, if he cut his hair, he would look younger. "How old are you? And what is your name?" He looked me in the eyes as if pleading for me to take the chains off his feet and wrist. I won't do that; there is no telling what he might do if I take those chains off of him.

"My name is Gunther, and I’m nineteen years old. Why do you care? You are wanting to kill all of us off?" What did he mean by that? Who says I want to kill all of them off? If it wasn't for them coming into my kingdom trying to steal and kill everyone, I wouldn't even mess with them. This is my kingdom; I am the king. I will not let anyone harm my people. "Who is your boss? Why do you keep coming into my kingdom? I wouldn’t have to kill you if you didn’t come into my land trying to steal and kill everyone. Why are you not in a pack? Did you get thrown out?" He smirked and then chuckled at me in a strange way. His eyes were turning red and then back to their normal color. I knew he was trying to shift, but the chains wouldn’t let him shift into his wolf. "Stop trying to shift, rogue. The chains on your hands and feet will not allow you to shift. So stop trying to." He growled at me, and again, I punched him in the jaw. I heard a loud crunch, knowing I broke his jaw. It will heal, but not fast enough.

"I see that you still do not want to talk. You just want to sit there spitting out lies and trying to kill my people. Maybe three more days here without food or water will get you talking." He started laughing again. "Guards, I want you to cut off the air and make it real hot in this chamber. No food, no water. Tie his hands up and have him dangling from the chains, give him twenty lashes each day until he wants to talk." I was getting up from the chair when he looked at me with those pleading eyes.

"Sir, please don’t. I don't know who my boss is. I hear his voice on the phone or by mindlink; that is all. He tells me what to do, and I do it. I get paid, but not that much. I do not have a pack; I was born a rogue. But my parents were killed many years ago. I live in the woods, but a corporation contacted me by phone and told me I would get paid each time I killed someone. They had people come to train me; they trained me to be a killer. That's all I know how to do is kill. I was told that you will kill all of us if I do not kill all of you first." Is this guy for real? He cannot be the only one killing my people. It takes a lot more rogues to kill the people that he killed; I know this because I have killed many of them that come onto my land. So, I knew he was lying. I'm not stupid. Now I'm going to get serious. I'm going to enjoy doing this to him. If he's going to lie to me, this is going to be so much fun. Grabbing a hammer off the table, I slammed it down on his knee, breaking his kneecap.

"Now I know that you're full of shit. I have killed other rogues that have come into my land killing people for no reason. Stealing their food, trying to get to their kids, taking their food and running off. You are not the only rogue. So, I'm going to ask you one more time. You will not like what I do next if you lie to me again."

"Alright, alright. Just don’t hit me again with that hammer. My parents did die; they killed them. They told me that if I do not do what they tell me to do, they will kill me as well. But I do not know who he is. From time to time, a woman calls me. You might check into that because she lives here. You have a traitor in your kingdom. They might have tried to call me since I've been locked up here. They tell me no mindlinks because then you will know how to get the information from me." The kid was smart, too smart for his age. So, I have a traitor in my kingdom. I know how to find that traitor. I think I know who she is, but I need to make sure of it first. I can't just blame someone for being a traitor to the kingdom and to their king just for the hell of it. I smashed his other kneecap, hearing him scream in pain, pleading for me to stop. I could only smirk at him while he screamed in pain. "Guards, I want you to hang him by his hands for four days, no food, no water. Until he tells me everything, he will be hanging by his hands. And one more thing, instead of twenty lashes, give him twenty-five lashes every other day." I walked out of that chamber hearing him screaming that he will kill me if it's the last thing he will do. He will kill me.’