Her Last Request

**MAX**
Frank and Talbot are seated across from me in my private office on the first floor of the packhouse. I've simply been watching them for the last five minutes, trying to keep my anger in check. Thanks to the mattress that Gamma Corlys provided for Blanca - taken from her very own cell - I now have a good idea who her *lovers* are.
*Excuse me. I mean, were.*
Because, they will not be touching her again. I'm almost afraid to speak, I'm so angry. Of course, I can't let them see that. Blanca is no one special. She is just a slave. Just a... killer. *A whore, really.* Two lovers? *Two??*
I clamp my eyes shut for a moment, my control almost snapping like a twig as I picture her perfect body riding these bastards one after another. Them *touching* her, *kissing* her, *enjoying* her! Fuck!
*I have never* had the pleasure of seeing her naked and *I never will*! But *they* have. These pricks. I want to tear them limb from limb right in front of her and feed them into a roaring fire, one tiny inch at a time. Piece by fucking piece. Starting with their tiny little balls.
And weren't they the two that escorted her to the guillotine last night? Standing idly by while an angry mob tried to stone her to death? What kind of man lets something like that happen to his woman?
*Um, you do, idiot.*
*No! No, no. She's not...*
A rumble fires across my chest and I growl before I can stop myself. *Eleven lashes for the pair of them. Am I seriously going to whip her?*
Well, it can't be somebody else. I refuse to allow anyone else to lay eyes on her bare back. *Why did I threaten to whip her?*
"Alpha Max, sir," Talbot prompts softly. "Are you alright?"
I tilt my chair back, smiling as I chuckle darkly. "No," I reply honestly. It's the truth. Why lie about that part? Clearing my throat, I fix my eyes on Frank, who for some reason has the nerve to look bored. "Sit the fuck up Frank. Don't ever slouch in my presence again."
Frank is instantly at attention. Even Talbot is sitting up straighter.
"So tell me, boys? How did it feel last night, putting your girlfriend under the blade?"
"I beg your pardon, sir?" Talbot, asks, thoroughly confused. "Are you speaking of the prisoner? The Shiftless Blanca?"
I sigh. "Unless there is a different girl that the pair of you have been fucking, then yes I am."
Talbot's face flushes so red I think he might pass out and Frank's jaw clenches tight, his hands closing into fists as he finally meets my eyes.
"And don't bother denying it," I warn them. "she refuses to give either of you up. But I *know* you've been with her. Your stench was all over her."
"She refuses?" Frank asks, almost confused. "Really? But-"
"I-I'm so sorry, Alpha! It was F-Frank-"
"Shut the fuck up, Talbot!" Frank growls at him. "Don't you dare try and blame this on me!"
"Both of you can shut the fuck up," I snarl. "Because I am hardly done talking." My body is trembling. I can feel my claws trying to tear from my hands. I already *knew* it was them, but their confirmation of it has lit a fire so fierce in my blood that when I speak next, my voice is garbled with the threat of a shift. I'm going to punish them. I *have* to! I just have to think of a good reason why. "Do you realize what you've done?"
"Broken the rules, Alpha Max," Frank answers, but there's something almost smug about his tone that I don't like. "My apologies, sir, but who am I to deny sweet Blanca her last request before execution?"
*Sweet Blanca? I’ll fucking kill him.*
"Her last request?" I snarl. *She requested it? Is he saying last night was the first time?*
Pretending not to notice Talbot's incredulous stare, I keep my eyes locked on Frank. Talbot looks astonished, almost as if he can't believe Frank's nerve.
"Yes Alpha Max," Frank goes on. "She wanted to be a woman when she left this world. She said she didn't want to die a virgin."
"So, you granted her wish?" I snap, my anger leaking from every pore on my body and my fangs spiking out so fast, they hiss. "And what next? She enjoyed you so much that she thought to have a go at Talbot, too?"
"Exactly, Alpha," Frank replies without so much as twitching. "Being as it was supposed to be her last day on earth, neither of us saw any harm in her request."
I laugh cruelly, my muscles tensing as I crack my neck. "So, she was a virgin last night and you stole-" I shake myself, grasping for something, *anything* I can say to turn *their* fucking her into a personal slight to *me*. When the idea comes to me, it turns my stomach. But it's too good to pass up. "Do either of you have any idea what you have done?"
"Yes, Alpha," Frank answers. "We made a dying girl’s wish come true."
"Seriously, Frank?" Talbot hisses, looking ashamed and sick. "You-"
"It's what she *wanted*, Tal! How were we supposed to know she wasn't going to *actually* die?" Frank asks pointedly and Talbot simply stares at him in awe. "She's only a slave Talbot," Frank reminds him. "It's not like she's a real person or anything. She's Shiftless."
My chest tightens with fury and the longer I look at Frank, the more I want to reach over and rip his face off. *Not as if she's a real person? She's my mate! Of course she's a real person you little fucking thief.*
"Well Frank, I hope you are aware that you've just cost me millions of dollars," I growl and both he and Talbot snap to attention.
"Alpha? I'm sorry, what?" Talbot asks.
I reach across my desk and snatch Frank by his throat, crushing his windpipe as I do. "How am I to sell a virgin slave now, Frank? She *should* have come out of the prison the same fucking way she went in it! A virgin! Untouched and Pure!"
Frank is turning blue, and since he's a shifter and I know he will heal, I don't let it bother me.
"Alpha! Blanca is incredibly beautiful! I'm sure she would still sell! Even though..." he sighs, his face falling guilty as he looks away from his gurgling friend.
"Even though, what, Talbot? Do you have something to say? Spit it out if you do, because as far as I'm concerned, you're next," I growl, throwing Frank into the opposite wall hard enough to crack it. His windpipe isn't going to heal for at least a few more minutes, so he remains blue even though I've released him. Meh.
"No Alpha," Talbot denies, but I can see it flitting there on the surface. The truth. It sits about his face like an unwanted wart. Or a deadly secret...
"Are you sure?" I hiss, giving him one last chance to come clean with whatever is on his tiny little mind.
He meets Frank's eyes for a long moment then says, "I'm sure Alpha."
I laugh, preparing to head back upstairs and punish my little slave. "Alright. For your sake I hope you're both telling the truth, because should I find out something different from the other guards? It'll be you two who are under the blade next."
Talbot swallows noisily and stands to leave, "Yes Alpha."
"Not so fast," I say, coming around my desk. "The two of you have lost your post at the prison. Report to Gamma Corlys tomorrow morning for reassignment." I glare at Frank on the ground. "Get the fuck out Frank. Now."
They scramble out fast enough to make a few heads spin and I step out behind them, locking up and intent on taking the main stairs. The moment I step into the common room, I come face to face with Corlys.
"Alpha Max," Corlys greets me, saluting like the fanatic he is. His thinning red hair is slicked back along the gray as usual and his beady blue eyes are bright with excitement, although I don't know what for.
"Yes, Corlys? I hope whatever you want is important. I'm running extremely late."
Corlys nods, getting straight to the point. "The slave girl. The Shiftless. She has yet to report and I thought you ought to know."
"Hmm," I hum thoughtfully, making my way toward the stairs and heading up because I know without asking that he will follow. "That's because I haven't sent her to you yet. I had some things to take care of first. She's not late, I am."
"Oh. That is a pity, I had hoped to make a proper example of her today. The boys are even a bit excited. They're all gathered in the courtyard practically dancing around the stake."
*The boys are excited? What?* I freeze in my steps as we hit the second floor, then turn to face Corlys. Reaching for his shoulder, I give it a not so nice squeeze. Taking pleasure in the barely perceptible grimace of pain that he's working to hide from me, I smile. "Listen Corlys, I will be the *only one* in charge of *my* slave's punishments. There will be no example made, not unless *I* make it. All I asked you to do was juggle a few things and assign her a few jobs indoors and a few jobs outdoors. I didn't bring her here so that *you* could make her suffer. I brought her here so that *I could.* Am I clear?"
Corlys nods, but his eyes narrow almost defiantly. "Of course Alpha."
"Good. Now go and fetch another bed. A new one please. One that isn't covered in blood and semen." Then I turn back around and continue toward my suite.
And that's when I realize... the blood on Blanca's mattress *isn't* fresh. It didn't come from *last night.* It couldn't have.
The scent of that blood was old... More than a year at least.
*Fuck. Those little bastards DID lie to me.*