Chapter 81 After War Punishments

After War Punishments

Nikolai

"...you miserable piece of leering vermin." I heard Nat hiss as I entered the dungeon.

The view that met my eyes was a pleasant one. Max and Nat were having their turn playing with Gonzalez. He was not bleeding from the lashes Dimitri and I had laid on him yesterday anymore but his body was now beautifully tattooed with dozens of welts and wounds in angry red, brown and black color. There was also an addition to his collection of bruises, cuts, and broken bones that delighted me.

Currently, Natalia had her sharp heel pressing down on his balls as he wept in pain and begged and apologized to her for looking at her the wrong way in the club and at their house. Nat didn't seem impressed with his meager begging though.

Max, who was taking out various dildos from the bag looked up at me and grinned, "we've been waiting for you. I thought you should have the honor of taking his virginity."

Somewhere in the background, Gonzalez's screams intensified and both of us laughed at that.

"Pick your poison, brother." He motioned to the various dildos in front of us. All of them were abnormally huge. The difference was in the texture. Some were ribbed, some were torturously curved, some were vibrators. And I, of course, chose the one with spikes on the head.

"Good choice." He grinned when I picked it up. "Talia." Max's word was enough for her to stop her ministrations.

"On your hands and knees, Vermin." She snapped, taking her heel off of him. And when it took him a minute, she used the thin, birchwood cane in her hand to stroke his ass hard.

His hoarse scream echoed in the dungeon and he jumped to his hands and knees. His eyes were respectfully lowered and his head bowed down.

"His new name is Vermin, by the way," Nat announced and Max nodded in approval. "That's the only name he will reply to. And I've already trained him, as you can see."

"Very well," I smirked. It had been a long time since I hadn't seen the real Natalia Volkov. And now since the charade of her being a slave was over, I was sure I would be seeing a lot of badass Nat. "Bend over on the table, Vermin," I snapped.

Like an obedient slave, he crawled to the table before standing up and he bent over it and Nat did a quick job of tying him down so he couldn't move. His body was trembling, he knew what was to come. But he hadn't seen the monstrous thing in my hand. It was the size of three fourth of my forearm. I placed it on the table, right in front of his face, his eyes widened and tears quickly filled up. "No...p-please...I -I'm so-sorry, S-sir." He begged pathetically.

I started unbuckling my pants, "let's lube this up, shall we."

A diabolical grin lit up Max's face too and he too unbuttoned his pants.

"No!" Vermin tried to squirm and shake his head but courtesy of Nat and her handy cane, his back met blow after blow till he was lying on the table again.

"The only word coming out of your fucking mouth should be, 'yes, Sir' or 'yes, Ma'am." She snarled. "You won't like what I will do if you disobey me again, slave."

"Yes, Ma'am." He whimpered, his eyes squeezing shut. Nat whacked him again, "eyes on the prize." He forced his eyes to stay on the dildo in front of him. The fear in them was almost tangible.

And then, Max and I pissed on it. And we may have missed the mark a couple of times and the piss might have landed on Vermin's face too. His face twisted and he gagged multiple times but to no avail. He was tied down tightly.

Once it was done I wore my leather gloves and then picked them up and walked to his backside.

"P-please...d-don't...no..please..." he was sobbing before I even started. And every time he said those words, all I could hear was Ava's begging. And then it made me more furious than I already was.

Without a warning, I pushed the spiky head against his ass. His high-pitched, pain-filled scream filled the dungeon as I worked it in, twisting and pushing. He was bleeding and clenching and squirming away. "How does it feel, huh? Having someone shove something inside you when you don't want it?" I snarled.

He kept screaming and sobbing and apologizing but I hardly heard it. Adrenaline was pumping throughout my body and I could hear the gushing of my blood to my heart in my ears.

And then once the head was in, in a single thrust, I pushed the entire thing inside him, drawing another loud, gut-wrenching scream. "How does it feel to be helpless against a force more powerful than you?" I snarled as I began pumping it in and out, slowly at first, stretching him out thoroughly and letting him feel the entirety of it. "How does it feel to be useless? To be able to do nothing but lie down and take it all?"

The heat in my body grew and then so did the speed of my hand. A thin veil of red anger covered my eyes as my hand moved faster and faster, pushing the dildo in and then out with a speed faster than what even I could see. My blood hummed louder and by wolf rejoiced as we reciprocated what Gonzalez had done to our mate.

Emilio screamed and begged and cursed and sobbed. It was all music to my ears. I had awaited this day. I had awaited the day I would be able to destroy his body as he had tried with Avalyn. My sweet little Ava. Mine. All mine.

Imagines flashed in front of my eyes.

Laughing Ava. Smiling Ava. Shy Ava. Sad Ava. Crying, Ava. Ava having a nightmare. Terrified Ava. And then, most heartbreaking of all, Ava with no hope in her eyes.

He is the reason she doesn't wholeheartedly love herself. He is the reason she isn't truly happy. He is the reason she isn't fully herself.

A growl escaped from somewhere deep within me.

"Nikolai..." The voice snapped me out of it and the veil of anger instantly disappeared. And I saw that both Max and Nat were facing me instead of Gonzales and kneeling, their heads bowed down. Why are they kneeling?

My eyes met Dimitri's who was at the door, looking at me in shock. When did he enter?

Involuntary, I took a step back. And then my eyes laid on Gonzalez. He had passed out and his backside was a bloody mess. But I could see that I had ripped him open a good couple of inches.

My hands clenched into a fist. I didn't care that Gonzalez was in this state. But I cared that I had lost control. If I had continued further, he would've been dead. And he can't die. Not yet. Not so easily.

Max and Nat stood up, seeming a little confused but said nothing.

"What is it?" I asked Dimitri, my voice coming out sharper than I intended it to. I busied myself with removing the gloves on my hand,

Dimitri ignored my tone. "Andrei is back. With... guests. You are needed."

"Tell him to meet me near the stage at the training field in ten." I gritted. So now he comes back. After we've cremated the dead. Anyhow, he knows what's coming.

"I don't think—" I glared at him and that shut him up.

"Yes, Alpha." He replied.

I turned to a guard. "Patch him up. I'll be back later." He nodded hastily.

I wasn't bloody today, thankfully, so I directly ran to the training field with Max, Nat, and Dimitri behind me.

It was still ten in the morning and a lot of wolves were training. I caught the sight of Andrei standing below the stage, talking to Avalyn and Mikhail.

"Alpha." Andrei greeted me when he saw me approach. I saw that he was holding a chain that held a man and a woman whom I recognized as one of our pack members— Naomi if I'm not mistaken.

"Where were you?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I went to find the reason behind the failure of Phase Two." He motioned towards the pair.

"Explain, Andrei. I'm already fucking pissed." I glared at him.

He had the decency to flinch. He knew what was coming.

"As you may recognize, this is Naomi, a warrior of our pack."  I looked at the female and her eyes immediately lowered. The guy next to her kept glaring at Andrei and then at me.

I nodded.

"According to the plan, she was positioned in the house. But Nelson, who is her mate, walked into that house. Naomi didn't want to kill her mate and decided to betray us, she told him he had to get out of here, that we knew we were coming. Nelson's mind- linked his group and alerted everyone else. And then both of them ran away." Andrei informed us.

I glared at her. If she had silently run away with her mate and managed to not spoil our plan, I would have let this slide. I know how important mates are. But she betrayed our pack by revealing our plan. And his dick of a mate, instead of thinking of his future with his mate, snitched.

I climbed up the stage and looked at Ava. Silently, she too climbed up and stood next to me. Dimitri and Mikhail too took their places.

Max, Nat, and Andrei along with Naomi and Nelson stood in front of us. By this time, the curious pack members had already gathered around us. Most of them had finished their training for the day anyways.

And after seeing the commotion, everyone started gathering around. Good. I didn't have to announce the gathering and wait for them.

"Twenty-eight people from our side were killed. Out of which twenty-one were our pack members." I stated the facts. "This happened because of these two people." I nodded towards the pair that were chained up.

"Naomi was hiding in the house, to protect it from the enemy— Nelson, who was going to kill the sleeping family by killing him. But she found out that she was his mate," I told everyone. "I did not expect you to kill your mate, but I also did not expect you to betray our pack by telling him that we knew they were going to attack." Naomi shrank under everyone's glares. "Nelson, the loyal pack member that he is, told his group and it was because of that, that the plan backfired and so today many of our friends and family are dead. All of this would have been avoided if you would have either just ran away with him, or simply not told him till the rest of his group members were dead."

She clutched her mate's hand in her own. She knew what was coming.

"I, Nikolai Volkov, Alpha of The Rogue Pack and the King of Mozog, sentence Naomi and Nelson to death," I announced.

The crowd murmured in agreement. I guess Naomi didn't have any friends or family.

"Along with that, Andrei, Naomi was in your team." I started and I felt Ava grab my hand and squeeze, motioning me to not do whatever I was going to do. I ignored it. "She was your responsibility along with the rest of the team. Regardless of the problem, you were unable to complete your Phase successfully, which resulted in the death of eight of our wolves before they even made it to Phase Four." It fucking angered me that so many wolves lost their lives because of such a silly mistake. Death is common in war and that isn't anyone's mistake, but this...this is simple negligence of consideration all aspects before selecting a team. And that is unacceptable.

"Half of Mikhail's team, who were coming from the southern borders crossed paths with Andrei and his team on the way and had to stop to help them out, leaving Dimitri and his team of only fifty weak in front of an enemy of seventy-five, causing a death of five wolves before Avalyn and I could arrive and help them out." I focused on Andrei who had his eyes lowered.

"Did I or did I not ask you if you could do this? Did I not ask you to choose your team? And tell me what was your reply." I asked, keeping my voice devoid of all emotion. Just because Andrei is my brother, I'm not going to show favoritism and not give him the punishment all wolves have received when they have made this mistake.

"Yes, Alpha." His voice was firm. "You asked me if I could do it and I had replied affirmatively."

"Thirteen wolves died on your watch, directly or indirectly, Andrei. Considering all aspects, including your position in the pack as the trainer, you are an extremely valuable pack member. We cannot afford for you to be collared. Hence, your punishment will be thirteen silver-tipped lashes instead." I said and Ava gasped and I just knew that she was in tears. The entire pack was in shock. "But since you took the initiative to find the two main people responsible for it, and succeeded, I will wave off two lashes, which totals to eleven lashes. Does anyone object to the change in the delivery of justice?"

I waited for anyone to utter a word. Tension rolled off of Andrei. He knew that lots of families had lost their loved ones. And anyone would want to see the reason for the loss of their loved one to be punished properly. If anyone did, I would have no option but to collar him. It was the law. It was what we have been following for centuries.

No one uttered a word and Andrei's shoulder relaxed. It was unnoticeable by everyone else but I knew my brother well. He wouldn't have argued with the punishment. Justice is served when a crime has been committed. And he believed in our system. The only reason no one complained was that Andrei was loved dearly by all. And it was an honest mistake, a grave one, but a mistake nonetheless. And it had to be paid for.

"Bring Naomi and Nelson to the posts," I ordered and Andrei tied the chain in his hand around the post. "Kneel," I commanded.

Both Naomi and Nelson kneeled, their hands still holding each other as they squeezed their eyes shut. I nodded at Andrei who then took out a dagger and made a quick, clean cut across their throats. In the next few seconds, both of them gagged, bled, and then died. It was quick and simple.

"Take your position," I ordered Andrei who walked towards the other post. Trepidation rose in the air.

"Please don't do this." Ava squeezed my hand. I had noticed how her hands had been trembling ever since I had begun talking. But she knew better than to speak in between. I kept my eyes on Andrei, "kneel."

He kneeled and held on to the post for the support like he knew he would need it. The tension was palpable in the air. Seeing him like this was not be easy for anyone present here. It sure wasn't easy for me. But I do not discriminate. The same fate would have fallen upon anyone else, had they been in his position.

I nodded at Dimitri who picked up the silver-tipped whip and walked off the stage.

"Count," Dimitri said as he spun the whip in the air before snapping it on Andrei's back.

"One." He grunted after a beat.

Dimitri snapped the whip again. And again. But Andrei's voice did not rise higher than a grunt or a grit. I could feel Ava's heartache in my own heart but she needed to know. She needs to understand how everything works. One day, she might even have to hand out these punishments herself.

The entire pack watched with bated breath as Andrei look lash after lash bravely and then gritted out number after number.

"Nine." His voice rose. His black was a mass of tattered skin and blood. There were places where the insides of his muscles could be seen.

"Ten," Andrei grunted loudly when the silvertip nicked another piece of flesh off his back.

The whip snapped in the air one last time before it landed on Andrei's back. "Eleven." He growled before he slumped on the post.

Andrei looked me in the eye and we both nodded. We're good.

He knows, he understands. Whatever happens, we are brothers. Brothers for life.

"Take him to the hospital," I said and four wolves came forward with a stretcher and took Andrei with them. Mikhail and Dimitri left with them. Ava made a move but I caught her hand. I shook my head when her tear-filled eyes met mine.

"Leave me!" She gritted, "I can heal him."

I tightened my hold on her and pulled her against me. "He will heal just like every other wolf has healed when they were given this punishment."

"Every other wolf? How many people have you whipped with silver-tipped whips?" She seemed hysterical.

"Those who did not follow through with their responsibility," I replied.

Her face twisted in pain. "Sometimes, Nikolai, you shock me with just how cruel you can be."

She tried to twist her arm out of my hold. Her eyes snapped to mine in anger and my hold loosened because of its intensity. I've don't think I've ever seen her this mad. Using that opportunity, she snatched her hand away.

"I'm going to see Andrei because unlike you, I consider him my brother and love him like one. And don't worry, I won't heal him, I wouldn't want to allow you to whip me too." And with that, she whirled around and ran away.