Scared of Spiders

Chapter Four

Brandon stood with his arms crossed over chest in front of the rogue when Clint returned to the warehouse. “I see you left one alive,” Clint stated with flinty eyes.

“Not for long,” growled Brandon with clear menace. He’d found the unconscious rogue during cleanup and held off killing him in the hopes they could get some answers.

The rogue wolf stared at the ceiling with a half-smile and didn’t utter a sound. Brandon didn’t like it. A normal person-especially a shifter-would attempt to struggle, plead, or even try to strike a deal. The eerie stillness the pup displayed while Brandon manhandled and trussed his ass to a chair was unnatural.

“Has he said anything?” Clint asked.

“Actually, I was just about to start the questioning. I wanted to make sure the pack had the cleanup under control.” That and Brandon didn’t trust himself not to kill the rogue for daring to have threatened Josie. When it came to his little mouse, his protective side knew no bounds. With Clint here, he’d have someone to rein him in if the greasy pup said the wrong thing.

Clint gripped the pup’s chin and forced him to face him. “What’s your name?”

The rogue’s eyes came into focus, and the smile on his face deepened. “Lucky me, if it isn’t the alpha himself. The name is Joe.”

“Who do you answer to?”

Joe rolled his eyes and smirked. “Wrong question.”

Clint frowned at him, a scowl that had made more than one shifter roll over and bare his belly, but Joe just laughed. Brandon didn’t like the sound and showed his displeasure by swinging a fist and cracking it against Joe’s jaw.

“Answer him,” he growled.

But Joe, flexing his jaw, just laughed louder, a strident sound that irritated the ears like nails on a chalkboard.

Abruptly the mirth cut off and the rogue’s face turned serious. More disturbing though was the way his eyes bled from brown to pure black. Joe spoke, but Brandon shivered at the words, for it became evident, Joe was no longer home.

“Stupid dogs. It’s not who I am that matters, but what I want. Have you figured it out yet?”

Clint bent down until his face was inches from Joe’s. “Since we’re so dumb, why don’t you explain it to us?”

Laughter erupted again, a chilling sound that Brandon gritted his teeth against. “He’s fucking with us. Let’s just kill him.”

“Please do,” begged Joe. “I shan’t miss this one or his incompetent brothers. And besides, there’s plenty more dogs for the taking. Perhaps you’d like to offer yourselves up in their place.”

Clint growled. “Never. And I promise, whatever and whoever you are, I will kill you.”

“But first you have to find me.” Chilling laughter erupted, and Brandon wanted to clap his hands over his ears at the madness in the sound. Joe’s body trembled in its bonds, and his eyes rolled up in his head. Harder and harder he shook, the insane laughter bubbling forth along with gouts of blood.

Brandon could only watch horrified as the rogue with blood pouring from his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears convulsed to death.

Clint looked at the corpse dispassionately. “Well, that was a waste of time.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Brandon, more shaken by the display than he would admit.

“Burn the body.”

“I meant about whomever was mind-controlling the rogues?”

Clint’s eyes glinted with steel, and his low answer echoed with menace. “Exactly what I said. Find him and kill him of course.”

Back in his subterranean dwelling, the Master of the rogues snapped out of his trance. The loss of the dogs was regrettable but in the long run not important. He’d never truly expected them to beat the alpha, but he did enjoy the tendrils of wariness and fear the attack spun. But forget the web of entrapment he wove, of more interest and excitement was the discovery of the very thing he’d searched so long for. I’ve found her. The prize that had slipped his grasp so long ago, but that, as the portents promised, had reappeared. Albeit in a different shape for him to claim.

She is here. His eager side, the impatient part of himself, wanted to order his minions to snatch her up right now. However, that simple solution skipped the fun and havoc that could instead pave the way to his ultimate victory. He’d seen the reaction of the head mongrel and his sidekick. She’s their mate. How much more entertaining it will be to tear her away from them, after waging a campaign of fear first of course.

He did so enjoy watching the chaos he caused. The tendrils of dread he spun, binding his victims up in a web of fear until they became ripe for him to pluck.

Yes, if I orchestrate the next steps correctly, not only will I acquire her, but the head dogs will topple, giving me control of this city.

And to think he owed it all to the magical tome he’d discovered so long ago. Years it had taken him to master the art of mind control painstakingly laid out step by step in the magical book. The power eventually became his, a fabulous ability that had evolved to the point he could now force someone in his power to die, simply because he commanded it. His favorite pastime was the invasion of dreams, where he rooted out the sleeper’s fears and then exploded them into a nightmare of entertaining proportions-for him at least.

What a pity a strong mind like the alpha’s wouldn’t succumb to his will. Perhaps in time, he’d cultivate his abilities to overcome even the mightiest, turning them into his puppets. But if they refused to serve, then they could just bleed. I will own this city.

And with this as my base, I can spread the threads of my wicked web until none dare stand against me.