*Maddox*
I am growing leery of interrogating prisoners in the dungeon, but I have no choice since I don’t trust anyone else to speak to Austin. He’s still bleeding from the injuries he sustained when he ran from me. All he has on is a pair of ratty old shorts, and he’s sitting on the dirty dungeon floor, both arms chained to the wall behind him so that he can’t even lower his arms.
I stare at him for a moment. He’s breathing heavily, and I’m not exactly sure why. I don’t see any new injuries, so I can’t imagine he’s been beaten by my guards, though if they did lay their paws upon him, I’m certain it would be for good reason. So… why is he so out of breath?
“Austin,” I begin, “explain to me why you began the uprising during the executions.” I use my Alpha voice and command him to answer me. It doesn’t always work. Some people are so disloyal, so criminal in nature, they can simply ignore me when I compel them to do something.
I can see that he is struggling with it, though. He wants to tell me to fuck off again, but at the same time, he feels the need to answer me because I am his Alpha King.
“I already told you,” he finally gets out between pants for air. “Zabrina was my mate.”
“I don’t believe you,” I tell him, straight up. “Alpha Jordan tried to tell me the same thing, but it didn’t make any sense to me then, and it doesn’t make any sense to me now. Your packs are nowhere near one another, and she had already rejected her mate long ago. So if she’d rejected you, then, you wouldn’t still be longing for her.”
“How would you have any idea about the pangs of rejection, Your Majesty?” His chin is thrust into the air in defiance as he stares at me. “You were blessed to have your mate as your wife, your queen, your Luna. Most of us are not as blessed as you are.”
I think that his second statement has nothing to do with my mate; he is just making a general statement.
I shrug. “Perhaps you are right and all counts. I am blessed to have had my true mate as my wife, and perhaps many people are not as blessed as I am, and though I’ve never suffered the pain of rejection, I do know the pain of losing my mate. I know it quite well.” Even thinking about Rebecca now has my heart feeling heavy in my chest like a stone at the bottom of the sea. “So… what is it, then? What is it that would drive a man with as much to gain as you have to declare war on the Alpha King?”
“I didn’t declare war on you.” He’s breathing more easily now, and his eyes drop to the floor for the first time since I’ve entered his cell. Could it be that he is feeling a bit upset about the way that he has acted?
Somehow, I doubt it.
“Didn’t you, though? You attacked my troops in my courtyard of my castle during a ceremony I was leading. How is that not an attack on me? How is that not a declaration of war?” I lift a hand to stroke my chin, and he raises his eyes to my face again.
“If I had wanted to wage war, Sir, I would’ve brought all of my warriors, but I brought only a handful. And honestly… it wasn’t our intention to attack, but then, when I saw Zabrina hanging there… I had no choice.”
“What you are saying is all lies!” Seth shouts from behind me, stepping forward and banging his hand into his fist. “First of all, Zabrina wasn’t hanging until after you shouted ‘Now!’ as I recall. Secondly, the fact that you even had a signal to declare to your waiting men lets us all know that this was planned. Finally, of course, you had a choice! You could have simply chosen to not attack!”
I put a hand out to try and silence Seth, but it’s clear he’s worked up now. When I turn to look at him, his face is red, and he is sweating. I almost find something comical in it, but I say nothing, choosing instead to return my attention to the traitor before me.
“She’s not your mate,” I tell him. “She never was your mate. So… what else could be your motivation?”
“I loved her,” he says, and his voice sounds solemn enough that I almost believe it for a moment.
“You’ve never even met her,” Seth barks. “The only way anyone could ever think they loved Zabrina would be if they’d never even met the horrific bitch!”
Again, I move to silence him, though I am biting back a chuckle at the truth of his statement.
I have to think over the possibilities of why Austin might’ve moved against us. He had an organized attack ready to go in the courtyard during an execution, which he had to have thought would fail. He knew I would recognize his wolf, and he had to think his chances of getting out of here were slim to none.
Beyond that, I had to find out who Zabrina’s true mate had been. Jordan wouldn’t be helpful with that, and I still wasn’t precisely sure how reliable her mother would be. I didn’t want to drag her back to the castle when she was innocent and had lost so much, but I might need to.
But then, another thought occurred to me.
Zabrina had killed her own maid for implementing her in the scheme to drug me. What if I were able to find one of Zabrina’s former maids? Would she be able to tell me who Zabrina’s mate was?
Not that finding out who he was would necessarily help with all of this, but it was worth a try to see if maybe it could point me in the right direction.
Austin looked pathetic, sitting there on the floor with his arms hung up over his head. “What does your father think of all of this?” I asked him. “Does he know the son he’s raised?”
Austin grumbles at me, but he doesn’t tell me where I can go, and I wonder if he regrets his actions at all. He is a large man, with a strong, powerful wolf, and a capable warrior. Why would he put himself into a situation where I could capture him? Especially when any outside forces were so far away?
All of these questions need answers, but I won’t be getting them from him. “It’s a pity you didn’t approach me and ask if I was in need of the services of someone like you,” I tell him. “I know you think that you’re a badass and that you should remain on the dark side of the law, but I think I might’ve been able to find a place for you as an advisor. Now, well, the only ones you’ll be advising are the rats.”
He smirks at me, and for a moment a bit of that cocky attitude he’d taken with me back before I had him under arrest, when we were in the woods, is back. “You’d be surprised to see how a man like me can get by in a place like this.” He looks around like he’s checking out the accommodations on a luxury retreat.
“I guess you’d better get used to concrete, mildew, feces, and rodents,” I tell him. “We all know that your pack has its fair share of miscreants, but even that place isn’t as dirty as this hovel.”
He only grins at me in response, and I see a hint of lunacy in his eyes.
I’ve grown weary of talking to him and not getting any answers. “When you’re ready to speak to me, to tell me the truth about all of this, you know where to find me.”
“Yes, I do,” he says with a devilish twinkle in his eye. “All I need to do is go up to the breeder’s room to find you. I’ll find you buried up to your hilt in her pussy, and then I can kill you both.”
I want to step over and kick him in the groin for insulting my Isla that way, but that’s what he wants from me. He wants to upset me, to throw me off my game, to make me lash out irrationally.
“Why you son of a bitch–” Seth is already flying toward him before he even finishes his insult, but I put out a hand.
“Stop, Seth. He won’t be able to get out of here to do anything of that nature,” I remind him.
“Are you sure about that?” Austin taunts. “I’ve heard you’ve had a few escapees recently.”
I shake my head. “I’m afraid you’ve heard wrong. You simply don’t know the details of the situation.”
A low groan escapes his throat, and I’m pretty sure he knows I’m lying.
I’m done with this conversation, though. I need to check on the wounded, and then I will head up to speak to Isla. I need to make sure that she, and our baby, are doing well.
I bid Austin goodbye, and he shouts at me to fuck off again, which seems about right, and then I go to the infirmary, but all along the path, I can’t help but think about what Austin is really up to. Anything that seems simple, cut and dry, is usually worth looking further into because life is rarely as uncomplicated as he is trying to make it, which really only means one thing.
He’s lying. He has to be.