Ally almost smiled as both Misha and Andrei tensed.
Nick continued. “The torturers would do it over and over, only stopping when the captive was full. Like that’s not bad enough, the torturers would then use a stick to hit the captive’s stomach until he vomited. Worse, the torturers would then do it again. And again. And again.”
Andrei’s mouth twisted. His exasperation was replaced by apprehension. His eyes momentarily slid to Misha as he said—still speaking in Russian, “I must admit, I have not heard of that.”
Nick smiled at the polar bears. “Merciless, right? But then—as I’m sure you’ve heard—so am I, especially when my pack’s safety is threatened. You shot my sister and my Beta. For that alone, you will die here today. It can happen in two ways. You can tell us what we want to know, and I’ll hand your punishment over to one of my enforcers. As you can see, he’s raring to fucking destroy you since you shot his mate. He’ll make it quick.”
Andrei and Misha cast Marcus a wary glance.
“But if you don’t answer our questions, I’ll deal with your punishment. And I will keep hurting you over and over again. Don’t doubt that for a second. And in the end, you’d eventually tell me what I want to know anyway. In my opinion, it makes sense to just get it out of the way and die quickly. But, of course, the choice is yours. To tell you the truth, I’m more eager to make you suffer than to get answers straightaway.”
Andrei looked at Misha. “Do you think he’s bluffing?”
“I think he’d do it and enjoy it.” Misha didn’t look nervous, but his unease chafed Ally’s skin.
“I suppose the question you have to ask yourselves is this,” began Nick. “Is the person who put out the hit on us worth the torture?”
Misha stiffened. “He knows about the hit.”
Andrei eyed Nick warily. “Not so stupid after all. How unfortunate.”
Nick danced his gaze from one to the other. “All we want is his name.”
“Sadly for the Alpha,” said Misha, “we plan to escape and kill them all. Do you still have the knife in your boot?”
“No, the rabid-looking one took it.” Andrei shot a glare at Marcus, who did in fact look a little rabid at that moment.
Misha didn’t seem fazed. “No matter, Andrei. We have other ways.”
After a long moment of silence, when it was clear that the bears intended to keep up the “we don’t understand English” pretense, Nick inclined his head. “All right. If that’s how you want to play it. Can’t say I’m all that disappointed.”
“Maybe they really don’t understand English,” suggested Eli, though Ally was pretty sure he didn’t believe that.
Bracken nodded. “Only someone amazingly dense would choose the water cure over a swift death.”
Derren sidled up to Nick. “You know, we could always contact Maxim Barinov and ask if he’s heard of these guys.” Maxim was a Russian polar bear they’d met in juvie.
Misha’s eyes widened. “They know The Sniper.”
Derren continued speaking to Nick. “I talked to him a few days ago. He said he’d try to find out who sent out the hit. Bet he’ll be pissed when he finds out two of his own kind tried to cash in on it.” As Derren had hoped, the Russians looked suitably afraid. Maxim’s reputation as a professional sniper and all-around unforgiving bastard was well known.
“Yeah,” agreed Nick. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he came here to join in on the fun.”
Wincing, Derren said, “He can be a sick bastard when it comes to torture.”
“Maybe we should give them what they want,” Andrei quickly proposed to his friend. “I would rather die at their hands than face Maxim Barinov. He would threaten to go after our families. And, truth be told, I would rather avoid The Water Cure. Something tells me that if the Alpha gets started, he will not stop whether we give him a name or not. Look at the bloodlust in his eyes.”
“But if we give them a name, they will find a way to cancel out the hit,” Misha pointed out. “Then no one will avenge our deaths.”
“That is true. We could give them a false name,” suggested Andrei. “A masculine name. Maybe someone who we’d like to see dead. These wolves would easily buy the lie, as they would never imagine a woman is responsible. I was surprised myself—until I heard it was a Seer. They can be vengeful creatures. We’ll tell them it was the Russian polar who—”
That was all Ally needed to hear. “It’s a woman. She’s a Seer.”
Roni blinked. “A Seer?”
Ally nodded. “They didn’t say her name; they intended to give you a false name—pin it all on some guy they hate.”
Andrei and Misha gaped at Ally, who shrugged at them and said, “What, you think you’re the only ones who speak other languages?”