Chapter 132: WHITE WOLF
ROWAN
We found the board in the corner where it was always kept, old wood stained dark, and we set it at an angle against the wall while Ryker grabbed a cloth from the supply cabinet and I filled a bucket from the dripping pipe in the corner with ice cold water that was probably fed from underground.
Ryker untied Jason from the wall and Jason immediately tried fighting but he was too weak and too beaten already. Ryker just dragged him to the board like he weighed nothing.
We strapped him down with leather straps, hands above his head secured to the top and feet strapped at the bottom with his head positioned lower than his body.
I placed the cloth over his face and picked up the heavy bucket while water sloshed inside.
"Last chance, where is Victor hiding?" I looked down at him through the cloth.
"Fuck you." His voice came out muffled.
I poured the water slowly and steadily over the cloth covering his face.
Jason immediately started choking and gasping while his whole body thrashed violently against the leather straps, the cloth made it impossible to breathe properly and made his brain think he was drowning even though he wasn’t.
I counted to thirty in my head then stopped and set the bucket down.
"Where is Victor?" I pulled the cloth back slightly.
Jason coughed up water hard and violently but didn’t answer, just gasped desperately for air.
I put the cloth back and poured again longer this time while counting to forty-five.
Jason made desperate sounds underneath like drowning and like dying while his body thrashed harder.
I stopped and set the bucket down and pulled the cloth back. "Talk and make this stop."
Jason shook his head still defiant somehow and coughed violently while water poured from his mouth and nose.
We did it again and I counted to sixty this time.
And again at seventy-five seconds.
And again at ninety.
Jason kept gasping between rounds and kept choking but wouldn’t give up his father’s location and wouldn’t betray him even through this.
A familiar discomfort that pulled at me while I watched someone suffer like this and heard the desperate sounds they made.
I pushed it down and buried it because we needed answers and Victor was planning something and we had to know what.
"He’s not breaking from this either, we need to escalate." Ryker paced beside the board looking frustrated and angry.
I watched Jason gasping for air and coughing. "Break his fingers one at a time and make it slow."
Ryker grabbed Jason’s right hand and Jason tried pulling away but couldn’t because he was strapped down too tight.
Ryker grabbed his index finger and positioned it then bent it backwards hard and fast.
The crack was loud in the quiet dungeon, and the screamed echoed the pain he was feeling.
"Where is Victor?" Ryker still held the broken finger and squeezed it.
Jason just breathed hard and fast in obvious pain with eyes watering but didn’t answer.
Ryker let go and grabbed the second finger, same process and same crack and same scream.
Then the third finger and Jason was crying now with tears mixed with the water still on his face and snot running from his nose.
Still wouldn’t talk and wouldn’t give us anything.
That uncomfortable feeling got stronger and harder to push down while I watched someone break like this piece by piece and heard them scream and saw them cry.
But I kept pushing it down because Victor was targeting Amaris specifically for some reason and we needed to know why and what he was planning.
"Forget about Victor’s location for now, tell us why he’s targeting Amaris and what does he want with her specifically?" I changed tactics completely and leaned closer to Jason’s face.
Jason laughed through the pain and tears, broken and bitter. "You don’t even know and you have no fucking idea."
"Know what?" I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me. "Talk now."
"Why he wants her dead so badly and why he’s willing to risk everything."
Ryker grabbed Jason’s throat and squeezed hard to cut off his air. "Talk right now or I will break every single bone in your body starting with the small ones and working up to the big ones."
Jason’s face turned red then purple and he tried to speak but couldn’t.
Ryker released him.
Jason gasped and coughed. "Fine I’ll talk, just stop please."
We waited.
Jason gasped for air. "She’s not just any wolf, the Stormshadow pack females that comes from the Alpha gene carry white wolf bloodline in their DNA."
"What the fuck is a white wolf?" Ryker stepped closer and leaned over him.
"The most powerful wolf that exists with ancient powers lost to time, first one in centuries." Jason was still gasping and struggling to breathe.
My stomach dropped and everything shifted.
"So Amaris might be a white wolf?" I asked and my voice sounded distant.
"Yes, that’s why her father kept her hidden her whole life and kept her from shifting and locked away because white wolves have ancient powers especially when it comes to their heirs." Jason nodded weakly.
Everything started clicking into place like pieces of a puzzle I didn’t know I was solving.
That’s why her father sent her here, not just for a political alliance but because she was in real danger at Stormshadow.
"What kind of powers?" I let go of his chin and stood up straight.
"Ancient ones that haven’t been seen in centuries since the old wars, and their heirs inherit those powers amplified and stronger than the parent generation." Jason coughed and blood came up.
My mind raced while connections formed.
Amaris was a white wolf with the most powerful bloodline in existence.
And father was mating her in two days.
That’s why he was rushing and that’s why it didn’t matter that he just found out Freya was alive.
"Does our father know about this?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
Jason laughed bitterly with blood on his teeth and dripping from his mouth. "Of course he fucking knows, why do you think he wants to mate her so badly, to have a white wolf heir and to have the most powerful heir in existence and to secure his bloodline’s dominance for generations."
I felt sick and actually nauseous.
Father knew and he’d known all along what Amaris was and what she could give him, and he was using her and using her bloodline and her power and her potential.
That’s why he was rushing to mate her even though Freya was alive, because Amaris could give him something Freya never could, which was a white wolf heir.
It wasn’t about love or fated mates or politics.
It was about power.
"How do you know all this and how does Victor know?" Ryker grabbed Jason’s shirt and pulled him forward against the restraints.
"My father has spies everywhere even in your pack, people you trust every single day and people you’d never suspect." Jason smiled through the blood with his teeth red.
Jason’s head dropped forward and his eyes rolled back as he passed out from the pain and the blood loss and the broken fingers and the waterboarding, everything finally catching up.
Ryker and I just stood there in the cold dungeon silent.
Amaris was a white wolf with ancient powers who could produce unstoppable heirs.
Father knew and that’s why he was rushing to mate her and why it didn’t matter that Freya was alive and coming back.
He wanted a white wolf heir more than he wanted his fated mate.
Everything made sense now.
But also nothing made sense.
