3

Rhea’s POV

I shuddered in my place when the whip brutally hit the man’s back, slashing through his skin and causing another cut to form on his back among the many cuts he already had. His back was full of them now. After two hours of non stop torture, the man was still surprisingly conscious till now, which is unfortunate for him.

I was watching it all with a cold, satisfied smile on my face. To my fellow rogues, I appeared just as excited for his torture as the rest of them.

Many of them lingered around the first day to witness his pain with their own eyes.

It was day two now, and I was the only one watching him get whipped relentlessly. But still I had to keep my facial expression the same in case someone joins us.

His agonized screaming has been hacking away at my heart, tearing it into pieces. Even though he was supposed to be the enemy, I felt extremely bad for him. I felt his pain as if it was mine, I felt the whip cut me just like it was doing to him, and I had to resist to keep my game face on the entire time. He didn’t deserve such pain.

He was hanging from the thick tree branch. His hands cuffed with silver above his head to keep him in continuous suffering, he was topless, his front and back were completely covered in various bruises, cuts, and whip marks. The blood was everywhere.

It wasn’t his first torture session of the day, but it was the most painful, and longest one yet. It has been two days since this man and many of his followers attacked our camping spot.

I have no idea how he found us, I was quite surprised that he did.

He and his fighters were able to kill so many of us, even though we outnumbered them by a lot. It showed how much skills they all had. Not that it was enough to save them though. Me and my pack killed them all, leaving him alive to make him taste what it’s like to wish for death and never actually die.

He was the strongest of them all. It took ten wolves to bring him down and capture him. I had a feeling that if I fought him one on one before they caught him, I would have probably been dead like the rest of the fallen rogues. It left no doubt that he was the alpha of his pack for this kind of strength can only come from alpha blood.

Alpha Victor was way beyond angry, he was wrath itself in the form of a man.

He made the warlock cast a spell on him to block anyone from locating him.

They also made sure to force wolfs bane down his throat every once in a while to keep him from mindliking one of his pack, wolfing out, and to slow down his healing process.

We portaled into another safe spot in another forest, and have been stuck in it for the past two days.

My alpha’s rage hasn’t subsided yet and he was still trying to get the name of this alpha’s pack so he could go kill them all in revenge for killing my pack members and for the audacity he had to assume he could wipe us off, us…the biggest most vicious rogue pack in the whole states. Well, not the biggest anymore considering our numbers were now cut in half.

The alpha wasn’t giving him a thing. Despite the horrible pain he’s been going through, he wouldn’t give them anything. Each of them has been taking a turn to get the information out of him. Nothing worked so far. I admired the heck out of his pain endurance.  

I would have preferred it if this alpha’s werewolves killed them all, or at least killed my alpha and his warlock. At least then, I would have had a chance to escape the leash on my neck. But nothing comes that easily to me, it never did.

I had a plan. A stupid, dangerous plan that will probably end up getting me killed, but I wanted to take it. It was my only shot at freedom. Something I’ve been secretly wishing for from the moment I realized I couldn’t be soulless like them, but didn’t have the guts to act on it until now.

Stefan was still whipping the alpha relentlessly while the alpha screamed through his gritted teeth, cursing Stefan with a string of profanities that had Stefan whip him even harder.

“I can’t wait to have you begging me to stop, you filthy animal” Stefan hissed at him.

“That will never happen” the alpha said fiercely.

“Oh it will happen. Once I’m done with you, you’ll be ready to suck my dick if I asked you to” he said mercilessly.

I fought the urge to gag at his sick attitude.

The alpha snarled at him “I’ll do it just so I could bite it off your filthy body”

“How about I bite off yours first?” Stefan suggests coldly.

He drops the whip to the ground and starts reaching for the button of the alpha’s black jeans.

I tense up, going into panic mode. Whipping him was one thing but that? I can’t let Stefan get that far and stand by doing nothing! But what the hell can I do without exposing myself?

“Hey Stefan! Come on, I’ve been waiting for my turn forever now. You can do whatever you want with him when my turn is over” I said in a bored tone.

We were the only ones in the clearing. The others were either guarding the perimeter or sleeping. It was the middle of the night.

He looked at me for a few seconds so I added with a cold smile “Don’t worry, I’ll leave his dick intact for you”

He gave me a sick smile and said smugly “Fine, I can tell you’re itching for a pound of flesh, go ahead I’m hungry anyway”

“I’ll be back to continue where I left off” threatened Stefan sarcastically.

“I’ll be here, don’t worry” spit the alpha venomously.

Stefan left the clearing and disappeared into the dark.

The alpha’s head slumped forward and he groaned in pain as he cursed with a hiss “Fuck”

Now was the window of opportunity I had to take. But first, I had to make sure that I wasn’t being watched by Stefan.

I picked up the bloody whip from the ground and stared at him.

He was looking at me with a tired expression but underneath, his steel determination was still in full force. He’s never going to crack no matter what they do to him. There was no part of him that feared receiving more pain.

“Wouldn’t it be a lot more easier to just tell us what we want and get it over with? You do know it’s never going to stop unless you talk right? If you’re hoping to get yourself killed before that, it’s not going to happen” I said slowly.

He sneered at me and said through gritted teeth “That… is never going to happen sweetheart. Go ahead, get it out of your sick system, you won’t do anything new that hasn’t already been done to me”

“Don’t be so sure about that” I said with a smirk and threw a lash at his chest with every ounce of power I had. He groaned in pain while my wolf moaned inside my head in reaction to the pain I felt slice inside me.

I threw five more lashes and stopped when a gash opened up in the middle of his chest while he tried to breathe through the pain.

My eyes were watering at that point, My own chest was on fire.

He lifted up his head and looked at me with a murderous look, at the verge of probably cursing at me but he stopped short, noticing my tear slipping past my eyelids against my will.

I quickly wiped it off and breathed through my nose.

He was staring at me with furrowed eyebrows.

I was pretty sure at that point that if Stefan was lurking behind the thick trees to see if I was really going to torture him or not, he would have left by now. His stomach has been growling for the past hour, and knowing him, he would be halfway across the forest hunting for some animal in his wolf form to quench his hunger.

I put my forefinger on my mouth in a sign for him to remain quiet.

I lower it down and speak in a very low voice that he can barely hear so I don’t risk being overheard by the rest.

“I’m here to help you, but I still need to whip you so no one comes to see why you’re suddenly not screaming anymore. I need you to speak to me in a low voice so we don’t get caught. Can I trust you to do that?”

His light blue eyes inspected my face for a little while before he nodded tightly.

I gulped, unsure if I should trust him or not all of a sudden.

He gave me another nod, as if sensing my hesitation and fear of him selling me out and calling for them.

I could tell that he was extremely confused to know where this is going.

“Your pack, do you still have someone you can trust and enough people to come save you?” I whispered intensely. 

He looked at me with narrowed eyes and said sarcastically “Now I get it, you’re the good cop”

“What does that mean?” I ask in confusion.

He pursed his lips and whispered back “Right, I forgot you guys are savages. I meant you can’t beat it out of me so you’re trying to trick me into believing you’re on my side. Sorry to disappoint, but that’s the oldest, cheapest trick in the history”

I rolled my eyes at him.

“Look Alpha, whose name I don’t even know and don’t really care to know, I want to help you get out of here alive in exchange for you killing everyone in this pack but me. Now I’m not sure if what’s left of your pack is even enough to fight them since you already lost so many of them, but I’m trying to find something that can save us both. So tell me, do you want to die or survive?” I asked intensely.

“You’re one of them, give me one good reason why I should believe you’re not here to trick the location of my pack out of me?” he asked tightly.

“Trust me, I’m not one of them. I’m risking my ass here trying to help us both. If they even know I’m here talking to you, I’ll be in deep shit” I said in a convincing tone.

“That’s it? A trust me from a rogue? Forget it. I’ll choose death. Better luck next time” he said coldly.

I grit my teeth and throw a sharp painful lash at his chest.

He snarls in my face in fury.

I sighed and said vulnerably “Look, I’m telling the truth I swear. I’m a rogue yes, but I hate them all and don’t want to have any part of this pack and everything it involves. I want out but I can’t exactly run away because alpha Victor would hunt me down and kill me. The only way to be out is if they all die. I don’t know how else I can prove to you that you can trust me. Please… we’re each other’s only hope”

He Inspected me for a minute and then shook his head, causing my chest to tighten.

He whispered softly “Something about you feels different and you seem honest… but I just can’t get myself to trust your kind at all”