The Rejected Luna’s Prince By Aurora Archer
Chapter 39 – Silent a*s*sa*s*sin
(Caspien)
“Not her,” Holden breathed.
“Don’t worry, we won’t let her hurt you,” Griffen said to him, “This time,” he added with a smile.
“The brand,” I held out my hand, and Holden gave it to me.
It was the only thing glowing in the room now that the lights were off.
Cali made a flick of her wrist, and Griffen grabbed a knife. I needed to figure out how he got her down here but I had to admit the show was perfect.
“A drop of your blood near the heart,” The man inhaled when Griffen slit him, “Bring her in.”
“No,” Holden repeated.
“We can bring it out to her if you’re scared, it won’t take long,” Griffen reached for the brand.
“No,” This time it wasn’t Holden who protested.
I turned around and looked at our prisoner, “Is that your final answer? She doesn’t like being disturbed and if we have to call her back down here again things get ugly.”
“Not for us of course,” Griffen added, “But she can make it so they actually get the physical bruises, not just the pain.”
“You lose an eye, they lose an eye,” Holden added, seeming to calm down knowing that his mate wasn’t coming into the room.
I handed the brand to Griffen who had a vial of his blood in one hand.
Nice touch
Nora always thought I should be an actor
Don’t push it
“I’ll talk, I swear.”
We all studied him, saying nothing. I tilted my head.
“But where is the fun in that? I do love hearing the screams of family.”
“You really never know who is related, do you?” Holden asked.
“I mean, we might have a business here. Forget all those genetic testing sites, all you need is a dark witch and t.orture.”
“A foolproof method for establishing bloodline.” Griffen nodded.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think many people would pay for that.” I sighed.
“We could still have some fun,” Griffen framed it as a question,
“No please, I swear, just get her to leave. I’ll talk. Please.”
“Do you think he’s telling the truth?” I asked my Beta and Gamma.
“I guess we’re going to find out.” Griffen turned around and shrugged to the witch, who stamped out, her cape trailing behind her.
The lights were re-adjusted in our room.
I took the hot brand from Griffen and walked up to him, “I’m going to say it again, today is your lucky day. Sometimes she refuses to leave.”
He swallowed.
“What did he want with my son?”
“It was a contract, I told you, I don’t know. This is a job.”
“Who contracted The Blade?” I stepped closer.
“I swear, I don’t know who wanted him or why. I don’t talk to him; we’re not f*uc*king pen pals. I’ve only ever seen him once.”
“Feisty for someone about to die,” Holden crossed his arms, coming up next to me.
“Where did you last see him?” I asked.
“In the woods somewhere, I was taken there blindfolded. I don’t know.”
“There was a-a,” He stopped when I moved the brand to his face, the heat scorching his neck, “A man.”
“Spit it out,”
“I was working with a man. Creepy, dark clothes, didn’t talk.” He shuddered, “He called himself a summoner, I don’t know what he was, some kind of f*uc*ked up hybrid. I only met him for the job.”
“What the f*uc*k is a summoner?” Holden asked the same thing I was thinking. I never even heard of that.
“I- I don’t know. He told me he could find things, locate them and people.”
“How?” I asked.
“The guy barely said two words to me. Do you think he told me how his f*uc*king magic worked?”
“How did you get in?”
“He opened a portal.”
“B.ullshit,” Griffen said.
“I don’t know how it happened. That’s how he went to get the other things, apparently. We were contracted by The Blade, but we aren’t working together. I have never seen him before, and I have no idea where he went after he pushed me through the portal to where the boy was.”
“After you grabbed the kid, then what?” Holden grabbed the guy by the back of the head and pulled his face up to look at him, “What would have happened to the people he was with?”
“I didn’t-”
Holden punched him in the face, and blood spurted from his nose.
“You thought a f*uc*king four-year-old-”
“He’s five now,” I corrected.
“Apologies,” He shrugged at me before turning back to his victim, “You thought a f*uc*king five-year-old would be left alone?”
“My job was to extract the boy, nothing else.”
“What would have happened to them-” His voice broke, and he coughed, trying to reign in his anger.
“I would have left with him.”
“Through another portal?” I asked.
“He was gone by then.”
“Who?” Holden got close to him again.
“The summoner,” he almost shouted.
“Where were you supposed to deliver him?” I asked.
“When I reached outside the city limits, I would get a text with the coordinates.”
Go now – I commanded Griffen, and he was out in a second.
I didn’t have to tell him what to do. I knew he would bring a team and this guy’s phone. We were probably too late. Even the extra hour would have tipped them off; something went wrong, but we could get lucky.
“Then what?”
“Then I drop the kid, get a paycheck and f**k off. This really wasn’t personal. It’s a job.” He pleaded with me.
“I don’t care what the f**k you do for a living, but you made it personal.” I got in his face. Atlas pushed through and growled loudly, shaking the room.
The only thing I could think of was Emmett terrified and alone, given to Goddess knew who. What if we couldn’t find him? The fear of that overcame me. I tried to push it away, but the thought lingered.
“What else do we need to know?” I grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him toward me.
Atlas wanted blood almost as much as I did.
“Nothing, I swear,” He was whimpering now, trying to get as far away from me as possible, “I just got the job yesterday. It was all coordinated by him. I didn’t know my target-”
“You knew it was a child.”
“I didn’t know who the child was.” He pleaded.
“He’s yours,” I said to Holden.
I turned on my heel, the guard let me out before I could knock. I was pissed, but I would give Holden this one. I needed to see Willa and Emmett. That would be the only thing to calm me down. His death at my hands wouldn’t help these nervous feelings, only seeing them would.
I called Griffen on the way up, “I need to know when The Silent a*s*sasin came back around here and for how long, any jobs we think he might have done and who he has been working with.”
The Silent a*s*sasin was a wanderer. He had posts, but Goddess only knows how many. It was a stupid name, but the one we knew him by, at least. He was the head of his a*s*sa*s*sins, as far as I knew him, or of him, he didn’t get his hands dirty. I haven’t seen him since we took the pact. We kept our eye on him even though the pact stopped him from.. holy s*hi*t. Willa and Emmett aren’t technically a part of this pack.
“He’s been back for a month now,” Griffen pulled me from my thoughts, “Nothing new, adding to his silent pack,” he said with disdain.
His pack of orphans he so lovingly took in and trained. There were only a few when I took over, but it seemed to grow, and they were all maturing now, or past that point where they got their wolfs. We weren’t exactly sure the reason for them, but trained a*s*sa*s*sins in exchange for a roof seemed like a pretty good bet.
“We need to find him. I need to know who took the hit out.”
“We know that,” Griffen said.
“We need proof that it was Alpha Jasper. We don’t know who he told.” I was trying to convince myself more than him.
Alpha Jasper wasn’t in our territory, I didn’t know what would happen if I challenged him. I could get out of it eventually, but I didn’t want to be that Alpha, that person, that thought without consequences. It wasn’t just about me anymore. I wanted to be a good leader for Emmett. No matter how hard it was not to spill the blood of him and his entire pack, I had to think this through and get answers as much as it pained me.
“We need a meeting with the Silent a*s*sa*s*sin,”
“He doesn’t take meetings; you know that, Cas.”
You don’t go to him; he comes to you. I was well aware of that, but I was done playing on his terms.
“Take a hit out on him and all his known aliases.”
“Alpha, are you sure?” They only called me Alpha when they needed to know I was speaking from a leader perspective and not from my own emotions, or if we were fighting others.
“Yes, any price.”
I needed to find out where the Silent a*s*sa*s*sin was hiding, and I wouldn’t let him leave this time.
I would bring him to us.