"I'm so glad we found out who it was that was telling them everything" Trish says, surprisingly with food in her mouth. Alice and I share a look at the manners of the Queen and she actually sticks her tongue out when she catches us doing it.
"We just need to ask him what he knows about them" Clyde says, frowning at Alice when she giggles loudly.
"Rick, Ryan and I are going in half an hour to interrogate him" Austin announces, putting a forkful of food into his mouth.
"Can I come too?" I ask, drinking from my glass of water. Rick looks at me funny.
"I'm sure you'd find your way there even if he said no." He points out and I nod. "So it's not really much a question; she's coming"
"I won't say anything but I can get him to react" I tell them, meeting Austin's thoughtful eyes.
"Surely that means you'll have to say something." He points out and I flip him off. "I don't really have a choice, do I?" I shake my head at him and he sighs. "Looks like the four of us are going" I feel myself grinning at how easy it is now to change his mind. He knows me better now so he knows not to try and argue with me.
"What are you planning to do to get him to talk?" I pretend not to be paying attention to Clive's question or their answer but I listen in to what their saying.
"Just an old tactic of ours" Ryan says and I catch the three of them sharing a look. "Triple Strike" the thing with fighters is that we have code names for pretty much every tactic we have. I have 'Cat and Mouse' and 'Chase and Tackle'. The boys clearly have this as theirs. It's now dinner and we've left Hudson in the dungeons since twelve. Eight hours in the dungeons should have softened him up a little by now.
"What if it doesn't work?" Alice asks, biting her lip. The three of them look to her in mock horror.
"I'm hurt at your lack of confidence in us" Rick puts a dramatic hand to his chest. I chuckle at him but open the link between me and Alice.
If their tactic doesn't work, I've got my own little trick up my sleeve. I tell her and she puts on a good poker face as she tunes out of the conversation happening at the table.
Spill. She says and I hide my smile as I continue to eat like nothing's happening.
Do you have a perfume bottle that's nearly empty? I ask her. She cracks a small smirk.
****
Austin leads us to the dungeons which are on the far side of the pack house from the Manor. The entrance is hidden between two boulders and a fence. It seems a little too nice for a dungeon; the one at Silverstone was through the basement of the pack house which isn't the most ideal place to hold rogues and dangers to the pack but it is the only place suitable.
"Welcome to your dungeons, Luna" Rick nudges me playfully with his elbow as Austin and Ryan walk ahead slightly. The inside of the dungeons aren't as nice as the outside. The concrete walls make the whole thing seem cold, at the occasional steel door with a single window there is someone sitting inside. At least our dungeons were nicer than some.
"Has he spoken much?" Austin is asking his Beta. Ryan shakes his head, leading all of us to the door on the very end.
"Not a damn thing. He just stares at the floor" Ryan answers, stopping by the door. "Cory and Jordan tried to play the friend approach but after two hours with him they gave up"
"We might have to up our game a little bit" Rick suggests, as the door opens and he steps aside for me to go in. I step in before any of the three boys but it's a mistake. An arm swings out from behind the door, a metal plate coming with it. I duck, making Hudson stumble into view. I shoot up as the boys come in but Hudson is already attacking me again. The back of his hand hits my cheek, slicing my lip open. He kicks out at me but I step backwards before sliding towards his side, chopping his side with the side of my palm. My elbow lifts to his chin, making his head snap backwards. He falls away from me as I step backwards.
"You missed, sweetheart. I'm not that tall" I comment, stepping into Austin's chest. Austin turns my head to look at him, his thumb lightly running on the cut. Rick and Ryan haul Hudson to his knees, not caring about his bloody nose and lip.
"Are you alright?" Austin whispers, inspecting the burst on my lip.
"I'm fine" I wince when he touches it. "Jeez, know your own strength, Alpha" I whisper and smile when his eyes darken.
"I'll keep in mind how tall you are for next time, Princess" Hudson mocks using Austin's favourite nickname for me. I pull away from Austin when he touches the cut again, making me wince. "You're wasting your time, Alpha. You can't get anything out of me"
"We'll see about that" Austin growls, crouching in front of Hudson. Ryan and Rick tighten their holds on him when he begins to struggle. "Now, what should we do? Chain his wrists to the wall behind him like they did to Cecily or to the ceiling?" Austin looks to his Beta and Delta, who both grin.
"Ceiling" Ryan offers and Austin nods with approval. I watch with slight amusement as the three boys talk naturally to each other. They may as well be brothers they are so familiar with each other. Soon Hudson's wrists are chained to the ceiling with his wrists above his head and feet flat on the floor. His angry eyes look to Austin as he stands in front of him, arms crossed. I'm sat in the corner, back wedged between two walls as I watch with my legs folded in front of me. I'm doing as promised and not saying a word towards him, only observing and here to make Hudson react.
"What should we do first?" Rick asks, standing side on to Hudson, who meets Austin's eyes front on.
"Well, he betrayed the Alpha by pretending to be part of Black Shadow and giving away information to his enemy. He insulted the Luna and then assaulted her in his dungeon cell as well as in a meeting after being banished" Ryan lists using his fingers as he talks to Rick. Their tactic is a little different to what I thought they would do. I was expecting fists and blood.
"Three in one or separately?" Austin asks, lifting an eyebrow towards Hudson who scoffs.
"Either way, I'm not talking" Hudson says, scowling. Austin's back flexes as his muscles tense in anger. Austin turns to me, almost as though he's just remembered I'm here. His eyes are black; he's close to shifting and letting Caleb get free. There are two stages in losing control of your wolf. Gold is when they are near the surface and seeking control. Black is when they are doing it out of anger that blinds them; when they are about to go berserk.
"You might want to look away, Princess; this might get ugly and I don't want to scar you." He smirks when I laugh loudly.
"I'm already scarred from seeing his face now. It can't get any uglier than that" I point to Hudson, who growls at me fiercely. "And I've met his Alpha" that gains another savage growl. That's when the punches and blood starts flowing. Their interrogation methods are probably what have given Black Shadow their fearsome reputation. It's hard to actually watch as the three boys each have their turn on Hudson, bringing their punches to his face, side and chest. The chains rattle with every contact made between fist and flesh. I almost feel sorry for Hudson. I get bored half way through and twirl my hair around my finger, ignoring the sounds of fists hitting skin. Questions are asked but no answers are given.
I've got it, C, Alice informs me thought the mind-link. I begin to smile. Perfect.
Thanks, Al. I'll call you in in a sec, my eyes move back to the centre on the room where a barely conscious Hudson is dangling from the ceiling and three annoyed boys stand around him.
"We're not getting anything out of him. It seems Red Blood taught him well" Austin says, turning back to me, eyes still black. "Leave him where he is, we'll pick up tomorrow"
"Hate to say it but Alice was right to doubt the Triple Strike" Rick says, accepting the cloth I give him for his fists. The three of them have blood on their knuckles so I brought a cloth to wash them.
"Are you done?" I ask, looking up as he stands next to me and the door. Hudson is smirking.
"For now at least" Ryan answers as Austin hauls me to my feet.
"Does that mean it's my turn?" I ask, unable to hide the smile from my face. The boys look to each other. "What? You've had your go with him, why I can't some fun with him?" Rick and Ryan both earn a slap on the back of the head from Austin when they laugh. "That came out wrong; I didn't mean it like that" I explain to Austin's look.
"Luna's aren't meant to do interrogations." He says, but doesn't seem to stand by it. We've been down this road before and he lost the battle with me. It was when he tried to say that Luna's don't fight; he was bound to lose that argument. He's obviously expecting the same outcome. "Or get their hands dirty"
"Speaking of which, you will be cleaning those before coming anywhere near our bedroom" I point to his bloody hands, which are covered to the wrist in blood. He sighs. "And I'm doing this as a fighter; I'm used to getting my hands dirty, especially when I comes to Red Blood bastards" Austin finally gives in, waving me forward. I perk up instantly. Hudson watches with a creepy smile as I stand in front of him.
"If you think I'm going to tell you anything, Cecily, you're mistaken." He starts and I stop in front of him. "There's nothing you can do to me that will get me to speak. If your Alpha can't punch the answer out of me, what makes you think you can?"
"I'm not going to punch you; I've done it enough already, Hudson, it's beginning to bore me" I step a little closer, leaning in close to his face. "There's a glaring difference between an interrogation by a male and one done by a female. Males tend to go for a physical perspective, trying to beat the answer of you" I deliberately press my fingers into a deep burn on Hudson's side where I guess he's got Red Blood's pack brand. The Red Blood members I've seen as humans all have the brand on their right where as mine is on the left and slightly different. He sucks in a breath as I apply some pressure to his side. I can still feel the heat coming out of it. "Or burning a brand into you and yours is recent" the Red Blood brand on his side is a flaming red when I uncover it from beneath his shirt. "About a week right?"
"Two days." He says, through gritted teeth. I bring my fist back from his burn and he lets out a breath.
"Alice" I look over my shoulder and see her face at the window of the door. Austin, Rick and Ryan turn as she steps in; holding out a small bottle to me which holds exactly what I know will get the answer out of him.
"Here you go, C. It stinks by the way" she says, making me smile. "Dwayne says not to inhale too much of it or you'll get sick" I wink at her.
"Thank you" she retreats the room and I turn back to Hudson. "Females go for something a little deeper than physical pain, Hudson. You know what this is, right?" the smirk is gone as I hold the small bottle between two fingers.
"Black Shadow doesn't have any of that stuff. Where did you get it?" his eyes are fearful and Rita growls happily.
"Seems you didn't check Doctor Dwayne's office" I step closer to Hudson, smiling when he tenses. "I've never been very good at knowing how much to use and where the line between killing you and keeping you alive is. So unless you want to hear your wolf howling in agony as it starts to die, you might want to tell us what we want to know"
"And if I don't?" the challenge is half hearted. I respond by taking the lid off and waving it in front of his face. It's the worse smelling thing in the world.
"My hand might just tip that little too much, crossing the line between leaving you alive and human and killing you and your wolf. If you tell us everything, you can keep him and the cell until the Moon Goddess decides when to kill you. But if you lie or refuse, I'll strip him away from you, slowly and painfully" I put the lid back on the bottle, already nauseous of the smell. Hudson looks at me fearfully and I see it dawn on him that he was wrong to underestimate women. "It seems that females are the better ones at bringing pain, isn't that right?" Hudson nods like an eager child.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know, just please don't use that stuff on me" Hudson actually looks afraid as he stutters.
"That's what I thought" I step back again, tightening my hand on the bottle. "And look at that, my hands aren't even dirty" I turn to a gaping Austin. "He's all yours" they launch straight into an interrogation. After another two hours of Hudson spilling his guts to us, Austin decides to leave Rick and Ryan to un-cuff him and I follow Austin out the room. Alice is waiting for us as we leave the dungeons and I have a smile plastered on my face. I carelessly toss the bottle between both hands.
"You scared the life out of him" Alice states as we reach the outside again.
"How did you find this stuff? I didn't think Black Shadow had any" Austin takes the bottle from my grasp and inspects it. We wait for Rick and Ryan before locking the large metal door. When they appear, the three of them close the door.
"That's because we don't" I take the bottle back from him.
"So you were bluffing the whole time?" Austin asks, mouth hanging open in amazement as I laugh.
"You learn how to bluff when it comes to interrogating Red Blood wolves and rogues. It was apparently my mom's tactic" I tell the three of them. "Alice got me a perfume bottle from her room and I asked Dwayne to fill it with something that stinks really bad" I walk away from the three of them, leaving them gawking after me. It's now pitch black outside and I'm tired. "Remember to wash your hands before coming to bed"
"I think I've said this before but you're scary sometimes" Rick calls to my back.
"This is what happens when you get on my bad side. Hudson betrayed the pack and pissed Rita off. She wanted to scare the shit out of him and that's what we did" I explain, catching the bottle after tossing it in the air. I'm careful not open the lid. I put it in my pocket before turning back around the right direction and linking arms with Alice.
"I thought you were awesome" she tells me. "Oh by the way, you've got a bruise on your collar bone" she points it and I look down at her phone when she holds it up for me. There's a small splodge of purplish skin there and I know it's no bruise.
"Austin, you bastard. You gave me a hickey!" I spin around to my mate and he stills. "I've had a fucking hickey on my neck all day and you didn't tell me"
"Well I had to improvise." He offers innocently and I step towards him. "I should have told you, I'm sorry"
"Nah uh. That isn't going to cut it, Your Highness" and with that, I'm chasing Austin back to the pack house.