Mr Perri's Ambush

Selene's POV

I froze when I saw Alpha Romano and his beta on the balcony. The look on his face made my stomach twist.

"Come with me," he said, already turning away.

Nigel stood behind me and gestured for me to walk. I couldn't refuse. We moved through a hallway I knew, then a door I'd never noticed. The staircase beyond seemed to steep downwards.

As I stepped in, I was immediately greeted by the stench of blood.... and fear.

I shivered. 

Blood pooled at my feet, welcoming us at the entrance.

My heart dropped to my stomach the moment I looked up.

A man was tied up, looking battered and bruised.

I slowly turned to Alpha Romano. "Wh...what is this?" He looked unfazed, bored in fact.

"You tell me, what is this?" the pitch of my voice increased.

"You have that man tied up and beaten. He's bleeding out! What's going on?" I screamed, repulsed.

"Look again Selene," he said and I did.

The man's eyes were blindfolded and he looked like he had passed out. There was blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth, and bruises staining his face purple. Through the blood and the bruises, I noticed that the rest of his face looked oddly familiar.

"Mr Perri!" 

I gasped in horror, with shaky fingers approaching my lips as the horrible realisation dawned on me.

"How do you know this man?" Alpha Romano asked.

No! No! No! No! I stumbled back until the cool wall pressed against my bare arms.

"I...he...he's..." I stammered.

Alpha Romano slammed a hand on the wall behind me, and I flinched. "Answer me!" he bellowed.

"He's a man in the town square. I.... I visited his shop to get something mended."

His eyes were flashing again, and this time, the amber glowed for a few seconds before disappearing. "What did you discuss when you were there?"

I turned to Nigel but he was looking straight ahead, avoiding my eyes. I said nothing. Tears brimmed the edges of my eyes threatening to fall.

This was about Ombra Nera. He found out from Nigel. For the first time since we entered, I looked around the place we were in.

It was some sort of dungeon with archaic walls. Cells scattered around. Some occupied, some not. I couldn't really tell.

Alpha Romano gestured to Silas and he pulled on a rope, suddenly, water was tipped over Mr Perri's head from above, jolting him awake.

The water mixed with the blood on the floor, and it splashed in my direction.

His breath was hard and heavy. He looked scared, and rightly so. He had been taken, tied up and beaten till he passed out.

"Do you know why you're here?" Silas asked him.

Mr Perri shook his head vigorously. 

Guilt gnawed at me. They were hurting him because of me. I couldn't mind my business. I asked questions I shouldn't have

"Please stop," I whispered, barely hearing my own voice.

A tear rolled down my cheeks, followed closely by another but I couldn't take my eyes off the scene in front of me.

"You really should be mindful of what you say to strangers," Silas said to him in a deep, dangerous voice. I never imagined Silas like this. 

Mr Perri went silent and I could almost see his brain working overtime to figure out what it could be.

It was as if a lightbulb went off in his head and his jaw went slack. His lips started trembling. 

"Please, please don't kill me. I have a family that relies on me. I promise, I won't mention any of this. I didn't even see any of your faces. Please," he begged, sniffling as snot mixed with the tears on his face.

Silas nodded and for a split second, I thought they were going to let him go. I thought they were going to have mercy on him but boy, was I wrong.

That thought disappeared when Silas walked closer to him. I heard the crunching sound of bone restructuring and when I looked for the source of the sound, I saw that Sila's right hand had shifted to his wolf form.

My mouth dropped open in horror. Mytriasis. 

Ancient folklore had it that one in five thousand werewolves could shift only one or more parts of their body at will through a process called mytriasis. Silas was one of them.

I saw him raise his hand slightly and when I made sense of what he was about to do, I shut my eyes tightly.

"Open your eyes," Alpha Romano ordered me but I couldn't. 

"Look at what you caused," he said in a low voice. I could feel the heat emanating from his body beside mine.

I heard the unmistakable sound of claws tearing into flesh, and a piercing scream tore out through the place.

My eyes flew open and I caught sight of the torn up body of Mr Perri on the floor. Alpha Romano's cold hand gripped my upper arm. It was at that moment I realized the scream had been coming from me.

"You do this again and it would be your body in pieces," he whispered in my ears.

I couldn't remember how I got to my room, but somehow, I did. 

I sat in the bathtub, fully clothed, and allowed the cold shower to drench me completely. I watched the light red water from my legs flow down the drain until it became clear again. 

My tears mixed with the water, I was shaking, more from what I had just seen than from the cold.

I had just witnessed murder in cold blood. The image of Mr Perri's face with his mouth hung open in fear refused to leave my mind.

"It's all my fault," I whispered, rocking in the tub. The words became a chant.

Strange arms wrapped around me and I stiffened.