The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 146

Madison POV

Feeling good after chatting with Ezekiel and hearing Zane and dad’s voices, I headed down to the cells to see what was happening down there. They should have managed to question the first man by now.

The screams of a man in pain, echoed down the hallway and made me quicken my step. I thought we were doing soft questioning and then slit their throats, not hurting them, though they deserved to be hurt for what they had put Ezekiel and Zane through.

‘I was not the only one.’ Screamed the man’s voice as he was burned again on the stomach by a heated metal device.

‘Who else was it?’ Mitch asked in a cold, calm voice.

‘All of us.’ Stammered the man’s back as he lost consciousness of the pain he endured.

‘What is going on?’ I asked as I entered the room and saw three other dead bodies in a pool of b***d on the floor and the smell of b***d and urine filled the room.

‘The whole dam royal warrior’s group are all traitors.’ Spat Mitch venomously.

‘I know.’ I replied softly as I looked at the hurt face of Mitch. He trained these guys, thought he was their friend. Now he must feel like the king did when he found out about the level of traitors he had in his midst.

‘You knew?’ Mitch looked at me incredulously.

‘I thought they were all in it, when I rescued you and Graham, the way they sat around the fire acting innocent, and no sign of any of the Blue River warriors, and I have just finished talking to Ezekiel and he advised me that the all seventy of them are traitors, and to deal with them as you so desired, he does not want them to return to the pack house.’

‘We will still question them one by one, maybe one of them knows where Emery is and give us some clue about his intensions, now most of his traitor friends are gone.’ Graham said in a voice that told me not to argue with him over this.

‘I think there is still another pack working with them and I am yet to work out which one. While you are questioning them, ask if they know and maybe get some names, I have some clues, but one piece is still missing.’ I pushed them to ask more direct questions and they seemed surprised I was not there to stop them for the torture side of it.

One by one, as the warriors woke up, they were brought in here and tortured, and each had almost the same answer. They knew very little beyond their little group. One of them has to know more.

‘I am going to head back and research Alpha’s office and bedroom to see if I missed a hidden place. I don’t need to be here and listen, unless you get one who knows more, then call me back to hear what he has to say.’ I get a nod from Mitch and Graham and a frown from Zakary.

The office showed nothing new. I had hunted under his desk for hidden secret compartments that could be part of the drawers, I knocked on walls for hidden cavities, and pulled cupboards away from walls, lifted the carpet, the room seemed clean.

In his bedroom, I pulled his bed apart and looked in his closet, pulling clothes off the hangers and knocking on the walls and nothing. Every cupboard and drawer was now scattered on the floor. I had turned the room upside down. Now I was heading to what should have been Luna’s bedroom, though it did not look like she slept in that room and I wondered why, did he not want his Luna so close by, which made me wonder which room was hers and I would go look after I had finished with that room.

I had just finished pulling the bed apart, when I saw out of the corner of my eye a movement in the forest.

Looking out of the window, I stood still and waited for that movement to begin again.

There in the forest was a man, crawling low among the bushes, trying to stay hidden.

‘Mitch!’ I called through the link.

‘What!’ he yelled back at me through the link in rage that was not aimed at men, but I got it anyway.

‘What is your tone with me.’

‘Sorry, you need something.’ He toned down his rage and spoke kindly to me.

‘We have a visitor, moving near the cell’s entrance, a man is crawling towards your door, but I don’t think you are his intended mission. Might want to bring him in out of the cold.’ I say with humour.

‘On it, maybe that is the man who holds the answers to the missing Emery at last.’

‘Where are you? I will let you know as he passes the door, so you can get him from behind.’ I suggested as I watched the man crawl closer to the cell door.

A few moments later, ‘I am at the door, let me know when.’

I watched the man crawl on hands and knees past the cell’s entrance.

‘He is on his hands and knees just passing the door, maybe wolfbane would be advisable so he can’t inform his master.’ I suggested.

The door flew open behind the man and a net made from wolfbane fell on him and trapped the man from fleeing.

Then Mitch saluted towards the packhouse, knowing I would be waiting, and dragged the man back through the doorway and down towards the cells.

I continued to search through the room looking for something unknown, call it a hunch. It was full of men’s clothing, instead of women’s. I pulled all the drawers out and turned the bed over, looked behind the curtains and out on the balcony, inside the bathroom, which had a man’s razor and cologne and the closet full of men’s belongings. So far, nothing showed up, but something was gnawing at me, whatever it was, had to be in this room, and I was determined to replace it.

I stood between the closet door and the door to leave the room and hit the wall in frustration and I heard a loud click and I turned to look at the picture on the wall and it had moved away from the wall slightly to one side.

A secret panel had popped open, and I eagerly pulled it completely open and removed the contents.

There was a photo album and other paperwork. Instead of trying to decipher what it was, I placed them in a bag and took them to my room. I would take it with me and give the contents to Ezekiel to work out when I returned.

Happy my hunt was over and that gnawing feeling was gone.

My next destination would be the cells to see how they are going, and then replace someone to prepare the dinner. If there were no cooks around, then I would have to do it myself, but I hoped to spend time in the cells and replace out what that guy snooping around was after.

Making my way to the cells, I smelt something off. I quickly linked Mitch to make him aware that an unexpected smell was coming from the forest. Instead of entering the cells, I headed back to the packhouse and went upstairs to my bedroom, which was a great spot where I could see into the forest with ease. I locked the door and hid near the window, watching and waiting, trying to see what it was that I smelt, hoping for some kind of movement to reveal its self.

Mitch said to keep him in the loop, they had just finished with another royal warrior, and he was waiting for the potion to work on the snooping man. He pulled the last eight into the room, and tied them to the walls, where they could see the torture they could do on the snoop. He had given the eight the potion and hoped as they questioned this man, the others would have the question in their heads and be more susceptible to questioning, something Zakary had asked them to try.

I suggested he inform Zakary and maybe his men could go look.