Viola’s eyes widened as she was dragged along with Laila into the room Javier had opened, and she wasn’t the only one stunned in terror by the sight. Laila also looked taken aback and terrified at the same time as she took in the room before them.

"Wh-what is the meaning of this, Javier?" Laila asked, staring at the pool in the middle of the dark room where the only light was coming from the water that sparkled with electric wires running through it. It looked like a torture device straight from hell. Was this man insane? What exactly did he plan to do by bringing them here? And where was the special treatment she had anticipated a Luna would receive?

"Take me back to the cell! I don’t want to be a part of this craziness!" Laila began to turn away, but she was immediately grabbed, pulled back, and held still by two gammas.

Viola swallowed hard at the sight of the water, something she had been desperately trying to avoid. However, this time it wasn’t just any water but water charged with electricity.

Just great!

Javier had finally found a way to put his psychopathic nature to use and torture them until the truth was forced out of them.

Javier opened his arms wide as if in welcoming his special guests to his den.

"Welcome to the number one punishment center of the first-level dungeon. Tie them up," he ordered the men, smiling to himself before addressing the two women. "I don’t want to do this, but you two are leaving me with no choice except to go down this path."

He spoke with a sigh and a shake of his head, as though he were the victim in all of this.

Though as much as Javier was doing this because of Ember’s death, he now had another reason for wanting the truth from them. Every test Ember’s body had undergone had pointed toward the involvement of a sea creature, something they had long believed to be extinct. More than anything, Javier wanted one of those creatures.

Who didn’t want more power?

All the elders had been in an uproar over the news and the clear signs that there might still be more of those creatures hiding among them. It seemed one of these two women, though his best bet remained the wolfless bitch, had some connection to them.

His mother had told him not to act rashly and not to take the punishment into his own hands, but Javier wasn’t about to let any woman tell him what to do when he was closer than ever to obtaining everything he had wanted. Ember was dead, and there was nothing he could do to change that, but her death had opened another possibility, one involving something far greater than he had ever imagined.

"All I need is for you to tell me how you drained Ember. What sort of power was that? How did you contact the sea creature?" he asked, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Viola pressed her lips together as ropes were wrapped around her body, binding her hands and legs while Javier stared directly at her.

"We didn’t contact any sea creature," she told him.

He smiled harmlessly.

"Prepare to pull up the rope. She’s not ready to speak." He ordered without looking away from her blue eyes. "And just so you know, we have cameras all around this room, and everyone in Silver is currently watching what is about to happen here. You will be electrocuted until you confess, and if you don’t..." He glanced toward the pool. "Well, that will become your sentence."

He grabbed a chair and sat down to make himself comfortable as the ropes continued to be secured, while the people of Silver watched anxiously from their screens. Though some watched with a certain amount of excitement, as it wasn’t every day that they heard of a case involving the sea creatures who had once been the reason their Alpha’s bloodline was cursed and the reason the werewolves had nearly lost their world.

Stories about those creatures had been passed down through generations, carrying fear, hatred, and warnings, and now it seemed one of those stories might be unfolding right before their eyes.

When it came to sea creatures, many werewolves became blinded to everything else. Logic, sympathy, and reason often took a back seat to old fears and old grudges. Many of them had spent their entire lives hearing stories about the creatures of the sea but had never actually seen one or eaten one, and secretly wanted to know what they looked and taste like.

And right now, many wanted to hear how the wolfless woman and the former princess of Silver had supposedly contacted one to gain the power to drain Ember, because in their minds that was the only explanation. Sea creatures could not simply walk onto land and harm someone without exposing themselves, which meant there had to be an intermediary involved.

At least, that was what many of the viewers had convinced themselves of as they waited for the truth to be dragged out of the two prisoners before them.

"Javier, you know this is crazy!" Laila yelled in panic. "You and I have known each other since we were little. Do you remember when I gave you my candy while we were playing in the pack as pups after you got bullied by some older pups from another pack?"

Laila tried to talk him out of it by reminding him of their so-called friendship, one that hadn’t lasted very long because Javier had been a little devil she wanted nothing to do with and liked to pull on little girl’s hair to make them cry and fear him.

The man only laughed before replying,

"Are you reminding me of that so I can repay the favor of getting a candy from you?"

He tilted his head to the side before turning toward one of his men.

"Get Miss Serrano a candy so I can repay the favor. It seems she didn’t give me that candy for free and was expecting something in return all these years later. What a greedy she-wolf you have turned out to be. I am ashamed of who you have become. I recall you used to be a nice little girl."