Lola (Completed)

35 Just One Little Kill

Ryker

"Joshua, when, exactly, did you offer twenty-thousand dollars for my Mackenzie's kidnapping?"

Joshua looks generally startled. "What? That was... no one answered that call."

"When?" I stress.

"Two weeks ago, maybe more," he answers dully. "When can I see my daughter, Ryker?"

I punch him in the face. "Alpha, to you. And she's not your daughter, she's my mate."

I settle down in the hard plastic chair, making sure to scrap the metal legs loudly against the rough concrete floor. I grin when Joshua winces, wiping at his bleeding nose. His wolf is on edge and it's quite possible his eardrums are damaged from the beating and shrill noise he's been exposed to in the cells.

"Now, Joshua, why don't you tell us all about Gamma Nicolai?"

Cornflower-blue eyes so like my Mac's flicker towards the angry, brooding male in the corner. Bastian's standing back, way back, to keep from going for Joshua's jugular. The male's a little unstable lately. Not surprising, but what is surprising is how well Bastian seems to be holding it together.

"The DarkFur Gamma?" Joshua mumbles. I stare at him. He's confused.

"Do you know him?" Bastian's voice grates out from the corner. His words are thick from the protruding canines he can't seem to slip back into his gums.

"I've met him a few times," Joshua says warily.

"He asked some of his dumber packmates to kidnap Lola," I say pleasantly, ignoring the snarl of rage and sound of fists meeting metal from behind me.

"W-what?" Joshua shrinks back a little from the corner that holds Bastian. "W-what does that have to do with me?"

He sounds too bewildered to know about Gamma Nicolai's plans.

"He claimed that your money was for Lola, not my Mackenzie."

"Why would he say that?" Joshua rasps out.

Bastian is on him a second later. "Because he's a sick fuck, Joshua!" he bellows right in Joshua's delicate ears. Joshua's head slams into the concrete floor. Once. Twice. When Bastian picks him up again I step in.

"Bast. That's enough."

Bastian freezes with Joshua's hair in his grasp, held just inches from the floor. Joshua is whimpering through the agony of his crushed eye socket. Part of his cheekbone is caved in. Blood soaks his face, running down his neck under his shirt.

"How're you holding up, Joshua?" I ask him.

A groan is my answer. "P-please," he chokes out, spitting flecks of blood with every exhale. "I don't know anything about Nicolai." His words are slurred through his misshapen jaw, but I get the general idea of what he's trying to say.

"He hurt my mate," Bastian howls, his grip tightening on Joshua's scalp until the claws on his fingertips puncture skin.

Joshua is babbling, noises of pain and fear. Snot, tears, and blood mix together in a goddess-awful mess on his face. It's interesting, how far the mighty Beta of the Harbor pack has fallen.

"Bastian, let him go."

Bastian drops his head. With a heavy thunk and another whimper Joshua's broken face hits the floor.

Breathing heavily, fists clenched at his sides, Bastian backs away. Back to his corner.

I kneel down next to Joshua. "So, here's the deal. As Bastian said, Gamma Nicolai is a sick fuck. We are going to destroy him and most likely the majority of the DarkFur. I'm cleaning this territory, Joshua, so listen very carefully."