"How is everything there?" Arnold asked Talos.

"Everything is fine, master. No issues here. Mistress Nina is asleep at the moment." Talos' voice echoed through Arnold's communicator.

​​

"That's good..." Arnold mumbled before letting out a heavy sigh.

After the altercation with Nicholas and co in Rio, Arnold fled back to the alpha base in zone 4. He wanted to get the truth out of Rion but the moment Rion saw Arnold in front of him, he lost it. He began struggling with all his might to swing a punch at Arnold. And Arnold being the kind man he was, gave him a shot.

He told the automaton guards to let him go, and as soon as they did Rion lunged at Arnold like an injured leopard. Rion was desperate for Arnold's blood and flesh to feed on. Arnold just sidestepped and deliver a kick to Rion's face which ended up breaking his jaw.

Rion howled in pain. But refused to give up. Arnold's 'death' was the reason for white wolves to be treated the way they were. Everything they had, power, money, respect... Nicholas took everything away from them just because Arnold was supposedly dead. But it was all a lie. Arnold was alive. His guild was punished for something that didn't happen. The rage Rion felt was beyond his control.

He once again lunged at Arnold. This time Arnold allowed Rion to hit him, but the moment Rion's fist connected with Arnold's face, his wrist snapped like a twig. Arnold didn't even lift a finger to defend himself, the mana shield he had was enough to defend him. But even Arnold hadn't imagined that the shield would end up breaking the man's wrist.

Rion grabbed his broken arm before falling on his knees and bawling like a kid. He knew Arnold was stronger than him. He knew there was nothing he could do to avenge the people he had lost. But what else was he supposed to do? Sit quietly on the floor like a trained bitch?

Arnold signalled the automatons to get Rion treated by the base's medic. He felt sorry for the man, even after what he had done to him inside the transdimensional portal. It was a long time ago, thus he had almost forgotten about how Rion screwed him over. But even after remembering the pain he had to go through, Arnold couldn't bring himself to hate Rion. He had already been punished enough for what he did to Arnold and Arnold didn't want to punish the poor guy anymore.

Also, Arnold initially wanted to return home for the night and spend some time with Nina. But decided against it at the last moment. He was going to interrogate Rion along with Amanda, his loyal slave, and Natasha as both of them were experts in digging out well-hidden secrets from someone's mind.

That's why he called Talos to tell him he won't be coming back tonight and also to have him report if anything weird happened there. While Arnold was away, Talos was his eyes and ears inside the Black Mansion. The family was too big for Arnold to know about all of them and thus Talos was digging up everyone's information while protecting Nina. It wasn't like Arnold didn't trust the family, he would trust them with his life. But he had to be cautious as well. If his enemies got to know about his unborn child, he was certain someone would make their move against Nina.

Also, he still didn't know who helped the wolves infiltrate and attack the family. Thus, he was suspicious that this hidden enemy might make a move on them as well. That's the reason why he employed such a big force of automatons along with Talos to protect Nina.

"Alright. Keep me updated if anything happens." Arnold instructed Talos before disconnecting.

"Master, the man wants to talk with you." Natasha had been patiently waiting for Arnold to get off the call before saying anything.

"Did he say what he wants to talk about?" Arnold asked the succubus.

"He didn't." Natasha said with a sly smile, "But I peeked into his mind, either way. He wants to talk about the same thing you do."

"That's good. Saves me the trouble of torturing him for hours. Good work." Arnold patted Natasha's head, before heading towards the infirmary.

***

"I heard you wanted to have a chat with me?" Arnold asked Rion as the medic left the room.

Rion had a plaster around the arm he had punched Arnold with, while his mouth had been fixed using healing magic so that he could talk comfortably. He was also given a clean set of clothes to wear instead of the rag he had been wearing for God knows how long. His unplastered handcuffed to the bedframe. However, Arnold deemed it to be unnecessary and told the guards to remove the cuffs immediately.

Rion was a bit surprised by the way Arnold was treating him. He was about to say something about the cuffs when Arnold cut him off.

"I didn't get the cuffs removed because of your comfort. I did it as it was disrespectful to me. After all, why would I need to cuff someone weaker than me in my presence?" Arnold turned around to face the guards, "That doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"No sir!" The guard tried to sound confident but their squeaky voice revealed their hidden fears.

Arnold shook his head and turned his attention back to Rion, "So, you were saying?"

"You want to know who aided us in attacking your family, don't you?" Rion mumbled, his gaze fixed at the ceiling.

"That is the reason I brought you here from that place." Arnold hesitated for a moment before speaking again, "Look, Rion. I just want you to know whatever Nicholas did to you and the wolves were his personal decision. If I had made it out of that dungeon, then sure, I would've hunted you down, but I'd never go after your guild unless they attacked me. I'm not that kind of man. I don't kill innocents, unlike Nicholas. I only killed your teammates in the dungeon because they attacked me first. And I'm not going to apologize for something I'm not responsible for."

Rion didn't say a word but nodded as a stray tear traced the path down his face as Arnold kept talking.

"It might not seem sincere, given the circumstances, but I want to apologize to you for everything your allies suffered through. Now with that being said, you are still my prisoner." Arnold mumbled, "But I don't want to cause you any more pain than what you have already gone through. Thus, I promise that you'll be treated well if you give me want I want."

Rion looked Arnold in the face. Almost as if he was trying to figure him out. One moment Arnold turned into a ruthless beast and the next he was like a caring brother. The mood swings this man had were way too extreme. After five minutes, Rion finally gave a name to Arnold.

"Andrex."