Chapter Twenty-nine

“So, have you gone down to the other packs like I asked you to?” Hayden asked Ace who was reporting his activities.

“For the last time, Hayden,” groaned Ace, “I did. They said they’ll send it to your email.”

“You didn’t tell me about the email, you only said you went. Where has your head been lately?” Hayden bristled.

“My head is right where it belongs, thank you,” Ace rolled his eyes, and Hayden chuckled.

“Okay. I…I intend to see that one rogue today. I want you to accompany me,” said Hayden.

Ace’s eyes were unfocused and he was lost in thought. He didn’t hear his friend talk.

“Get out of your head, I’m talking to you,” Hayden suddenly mindlinked him.

Ace jumped, startled.
“Ayyy, don’t do that again,” he yelped.

“You were not paying attention again. What is wrong with you, Foster?”

“I said nothing. Drop it bro,” he snapped.

“If you say so. We’re going to the prison now, so on your feet,” Hayden said and stood up.

His brown hair flopped into his face, and he brushed it back with his hand, “I really need a haircut,” he thought to himself.

He and his Beta left the packhouse for the prison which was located very near the perimeter of the clan, away from civilization.

It was located as remotely as possible from all three packs that made up the Werewolf Clan.

The White Flame prison was where all three werewolf packs detained their worst inmates and prisoners. It had a smooth, high-rising fence which was topped by high-voltage electric wires.

It had a series of entrances, each one more daunting and heavily protected. The very first gate could be accessed by an identity card which verified that you were part of the clan’s security detail.

The second entrance, which was a pair of heavy steel doors, required the ID card, and a special password that was sent to all members of the security detail every week.
The internal environment was a white, cold and sterile space with individual inmate cells on both sides of hallways which extended on all sides. Each individual inmate cell had two entrances.

The first entrance required the ID card, password and a DNA scanner. It opened into an open area with a two-way mirror which could see into the inmate’s actual cell without having to be in direct contact with the inmate.

In order to open the final door to reach the inmate, a combination of the previous requirements is needed, along with a retina scanner. The inmates’ cells were also white and sterile, with a bed, a reading table and chair, a toilet, a water fountain, and a chute for clean laundry, dirty laundry and food. The inmates’ cells were also built foundationally with silver, and everything was laced with wolfsbane. There were also a number of cells with UV lights and silver instead of wolfsbane.

Depending on the offence of the inmate, certain items are missing from their cells, and they are tortured using psychological methods.

After going through all the security checks, Hayden was finally in contact with the one rogue. He was a small man with shaggy black hair, and an unkempt beard. His blue eyes were wild and flitted from Ace to Hayden. He was restrained with handcuffs on his wrist and shackles on his ankles.

“I think you know me by now, but in the eventuality that you don’t, let me introduce myself. I am Hayden Lockwood, Alpha of the White Flame pack, and leader of the entirety of the—”

The man interrupted with a thin, shaky voice, “Oh, Alpha. I know who you are, you don’t need to tell me. I know everything there is to know about you, Alpha.”

Hayden exchanged a bewildered look with Ace. Then he pasted a fake smile on his face. The man shuffled backwards, shaking his head.

“No. no, no. I want none of that fake, persuasive nonsense. Talk to me normally.”

Hayden let the smile drop and a sterner expression covered his face, “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to talk about you.”

The man laughed in a childish, psychotic manner. Hayden’s instinct was telling him that this man was more dangerous than they had initially thought.

“Au contraire, Alpha. We’re here to talk about you. Did you know you and your mate were born on Half-Moon nights? Not on the same day though, cos, because obviously, you’re exactly 3 years and 3 days older than she is. Do you think that is a coincidence? If you do, you’re not as smart as I thought,” the man said.

Hayden’s head reeled. “You’re kidding. Shut up this instant!” he yelled. The man laughed in his psychotic manner again.

“I’m not done talking, Alpha. Did you know that your first mate died on a Half-Moon night,” he paused, raising his hands to his lips and widening his eyes dramatically, “Or did she?”

Ace glanced at Hayden, shocked. However, Hayden did not share the glance with him. His eyes which had darkened were solely riveted on the man, and his eyes were balled into fists.

Ace gulped. He recognized this mood, and it was not good at all.

“What did you say?” he enunciated softly and slowly. The man giggled again.

“I said your first mate, Helena—is it? But she is not dead. At first, he was killed by—”

The rest of the words died off in his throat as he suddenly struggled to breathe. Hayden had his hand on his throat and clamped down, cutting off the man’s air supply. His eyes flashed gold and his canines elongated.

“DON’T YOU EVER SPEAK OF HELENA! YOU DID NOT KNOW HER, AND YOU CERTAINLY DO NOT KNOW ME!” he thundered.

Ace tapped his arm but he turned his head and levelled him with a deadly glare. He retreated immediately.

Hayden continued to choke the man until he turned blue. Then suddenly, the prisoner snapped his fingers and disappeared. Hayden roared. The intensity of the sound shook the prison to its foundations.


***

Ace knocked frantically on the door of Hayden’s room.

“Who’s there?” Alexia called out.

“It’s me, Ace. Open up, it’s urgent.”

On hearing those words, Alexia flew from the bed to the door and opened it.

“What is the problem? Is Hayden injured? Are we under attack? Did Vanessa injure Cole like she threatened to?” she rushed out.

Ace was flabbergasted. “No, Hayden is not injured, no we are not under attack…and no, Vanessa did not…why would she want to injure Cole?” he asked, confused.

Alexia sighed in relief, “Cole put semi-permanent black hair dye in her shampoo, and her conditioner, and she had to go to the hairdressers to repair the damage.”

“So that’s why her hair is now gradient,” he wondered aloud.

Alexia snapped him out of his daze, “Hey Ace!” his gaze snapped back to her, “What was so urgent that you wanted to tell me?”

“I…uh…Hayden and I were questioning this very weird prisoner, and then he said some things about you and him and his first mate that kind of tripped him off. He’s…in the basement…in the gym,” Ace explained.

“In the basement, doing what?” Alexia asked in trepidation.

“He…uh…he’s using the punching bag. I believe he has broken 3 and is currently on the 4th one.”

“Oh damn,” she swore and placed a hand on her forehead, “And what do you want me to do now?”

“You’re his mate. You are the only one that can get through to him now. He won’t injure you. He threw his water bottle at me when I tried to talk to him. It hit the back of my head,” Ace said, massaging the bump on his head.

“Gosh. Let’s go then,” Alexia said and came out of the room. She and Ace rushed down the stairs and they paused in front of the gym door.

“Quick note of warning, his eyes are completely gold.”
She whipped her head around to face him, “Completely gold as in the entirety of his irises is gold? No hint of blue?”

“Yup. His pupils are so narrowed, they’re almost non-existent. He is really mad,” affirmed Ace.

Alexia sighed, exasperated, “You do realize that you’re sending me into the lion’s den, right?”

Ace shrugged, “It’s not a lion’s den per say…it’s just the den of a really angry Alpha wolf. Besides, better you than me.”

Alexia punched his arm and he yelped.

“Ow! That is definitely going to leave a bruise. You’re so mean!”

She smiled sweetly, “I know.”

“Good luck,” Ace said and ruffled her hair before strolling away.

She scowled at his retreating back before she pushed the door of the basement open and went down to the gym.

Hayden was pounding furiously at the punching bag. The destroyed bags lay at his feet, along with their sand contents.

He started to talk, “Whoever it is, go away. I don’t want to see anybody.”

“Not even me?” Alexia said softly, coming around to face him.

“Leave me alone, Alex,” he grunted.

“Fine. I wasn’t interested in you anyways,” she said nonchalantly.

Alexia took off her cardigan, wrapped her knuckles in tape and started to hit the punching bag.