Chapter 114: The easy way or the hard way

Melinda watched with wide, terrified eyes as Dorian moved toward her. Everything that had transpired since that afternoon still felt unreal.

She had been in the middle of a heated argument with Fabian at his cottage when two fearsome guards had smashed through the door, grabbing her by her arms and dragging her away without a single word of explanation.

Fabian had hurried after them, but the second the guards revealed that the Alpha King himself had commanded her immediate arrest, an icy wave of terror had seized her. Why did the King want her?

Now, as she looked toward him for protection, a sickening realization washed over her; Fabian was utterly terrified of Dorian, perhaps even more than she was.

"Alpha Dorian, whatever it is Melinda may have done, I am certain she didn’t mean it," Fabian began in a trembling voice as Dorian lowered himself into the chair at the head of the table. "She can apologize, and she will make amends..."

"Jake!" Dorian snapped, his icy gaze slicing toward his beta. "Remove Fabian from this room, and ensure he remains outside."

A fresh spike of panic seized Melinda. She turned her desperate eyes toward Fabian, silently pleading for him to resist, to fight for her. But Fabian simply froze, allowing Jake to clamp a hand onto his shoulder and drag him out.

"Fabian! You can’t leave me here!" she shrieked. "You can’t leave me here alone with him!"

For all his bravado, Fabian knew better than to cross his cousin, the supreme Alpha King. He didn’t dare utter another word of protest as Jake dragged him out of the Conclave, the doors slamming shut behind them.

Now, Melinda was left alone in the same space with Dorian.

"I haven’t done anything!" she yelled. "Whatever lie Alyssa fed you about me, I didn’t do it!"

Dorian let out a sudden laugh, a cold, sharp bark of amusement that was utterly devoid of humor.

"Bold of you to assume Alyssa has anything to do with your arrest. Typical, even. You have spent your entire life abusing her that you immediately leap to accuse her the second you find yourself cornered."

The door clicked open, and Jake re-entered the room carrying a metal box in his hand. He placed the box down onto the table before Dorian and stepped back.

Melinda stared at the box, her heart hammering against her ribs. She thrashed helplessly against the cuffs locking her wrists, but her efforts were futile.

"Look, if it’s an apology she wants, I’ll give it to her!" she rambled desperately. "I’ll do whatever she demands! I am in mourning! If this is some kind of sick, twisted act of revenge..."

Dorian rose suddenly, cutting her off. She shrank backward as far as the cuffs permitted.

His movements were slow; the silent, fluid precision of an apex predator closing in on its prey. He came around the table, advancing on her slowly. There was not a single trace of warmth in his golden eyes, only a deep resentment and disgust.

"Speak one more insolent word about your Luna, and I will tear your tongue from your mouth and feed it to you," he growled. "Put some fucking respect on her name."

Melinda’s chest heaved in ragged gasps as she caught the violent glint of raw fury flashing across his irises. She shut her eyes, completely broken and intimidated by his proximity.

Dorian glared down at her with pure malice. The only thing stopping him from tearing her limb from limb in this very room was Alyssa. He knew his gentle wife would never want her stepsister’s blood on his hands, regardless of the abuse she had suffered.

Straightening his spine, he allowed Shadow to surge to the surface for a fleeting second, letting his eyes bleed into pitch-black voids.

"Now, we can do this interrogation the easy way, or the hard way," he began. "Answer my questions truthfully, and my beta will not have to inflict pain on you. Defy me, lie, or prove rebellious, and you will enter a realm of pain you cannot fathom."

He snapped his fingers, and Jake moved. He stepped forward and unlatched the metal box.

When Melinda caught sight of what lay inside, the blood drained from her face, leaving her completely pale.

She had heard the chilling legends of the Alpha King’s ruthless cruelty toward his enemies. Never in her terrifying nightmares had she imagined she would be the one bound to a wall, experiencing that brutality firsthand.

Inside the chest lay an assortment of strange, refined torture instruments forged entirely of pure silver.

Her heart pounded in sheer terror as Jake reached in, lifting a spiked silver shock collar. The raw silver did not burn the beta’s skin, a reminder that Lycans were immune to silver compared to Werewolves.

Her terrified eyes flew to Dorian as Jake took a slow step toward her with the collar.

"I’m sorry! I... I’ll do anything! I won’t disrespect Alyssa ever again, and I’ll answer every question! Please... please don’t put the collar on me..."

"Of course you’ll do anything," Dorian muttered with cold, cruel indifference. "First question. How did Alyssa come to live with you and your mother?"

Melinda didn’t dare hesitate. She opened her mouth and blurted the words out in a desperate rush. "My mother married her father! I was only eight years old at the time. I was told that Alyssa’s biological mother died during childbirth..."

"Who told you that?" Dorian cut in sharply.

"My mother did!" Melinda cried out. "She said that was the exact reason Alyssa’s father needed a new wife, so she could care for his young daughter."

"So she could care for his daughter," Dorian repeated, his tone laced with venomous sarcasm. "Yet, the moment that man died, you and your mother turned around and abused a helpless, innocent child."

"I was only following my mother’s orders," Melinda rushed to defend herself, shaking her head frantically. "I was just a child! My mind was poisoned..."

"Were you a child up until several months ago?" Dorian snarled, leaning down until his face was inches from hers. "When you intentionally fabricated a lie claiming she attacked you? Were you a helpless child when your mother sold her off to a fucking pervert?"

Melinda dropped her gaze, rendered utterly speechless. She had witnessed anger before in her life. She had seen real rage. But what burned within the black voids of Dorian’s eyes was something far darker, and more dangerous.

Dorian reined in his surging wrath with practiced precision and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Next question," he stated flatly. "Why is she unable to recall her childhood memories?"

Melinda’s eyes darted frantically around the shadows of the room. She stole a sharp glance at Dorian’s terrifying face before quickly jerking her eyes away.

"I... I don’t know," she stammered.

Dorian’s lips curled into a cruel smile. If the girl wanted to play foolish games, he was more than happy to show her just how masterfully he played.

"Jake," he called coldly. "Put the collar around her neck."