“Son, what are you doing?” He asks when I twist the doorknob. It was locked, backing up. I ran at it, dropping my shoulder and barreling straight through it. My shoulder sears with pain as the door bursts open and I manage to grip the railing before falling completely down the stairs. I could hear crying making adrenaline pump through me, hear her screams making me run down the stairs.
All I could smell was blood, urine, and wolfsbane making me gag at the pungent smell. I see the far cell door open and race toward it. Freezing at the sight of her chained, hanging limply drenched in her own blood. My brother twirled a knife between his fingers. Rage hits me and Terian, my wolf forces the shift. My brother spins around with shock on his face.
“Tyson, you shouldn't be here,” he says, and I lunge at him. Our teeth ripped into him and knocked him backward. He growls, shaking his head as it knocks on the table leg. I get up, my entire body trembling in rage. I move to Reika trying to lift her down but her wrists are padlocked, I pull the gag from her mouth. My fingers burn from the wolfsbane it is doused in.
“Tyson,” she murmurs. My eyes follow the chain and I see it tied to the wall. I walk over ripping it off and Ryker jumps to his feet. I turn quickly, catching her before she hits the hard cement floor.
“What are you doing?’ He screams enraged. She whimpers as I place her on the ground, her skin burning mine and I could smell the wolfsbane covering every inch of her flesh. I hiss at my sizzling skin. Ryker grips my shoulder and I spin growling at him, my wolf eyes peering back at him and I feel my canines elongate.
“You fucking monster, she is your mate,” I tell him, tears brimming in my eyes at the state of her.
“She knew the consequences of attacking you,” He bellows back.
“She didn’t fucking attack us, she fucking saved us,” I scream back at him. Her hands were clutching me, shaking violently as she tried to remain upright as I held her against me. Ryker’s face falls, the color draining from it completely and I hear his heart palpitate in his chest erratically.
“What are you talking about, there were no other scents in that forest Tyson, you must be confused.”
“It wasn’t her, he snuck up on us, we didn't pick up his scent either, not till it was too late. He attacked Ace, he didn't even have time to shift to fight back. I shifted attacking him and he ripped us to pieces, Reika saved us, we would be dead if she didn't come back, we were chasing each other through the fucking woods Ryker. She ran ahead and the man came at us from the side, we didn’t see him till he walked out from amongst the trees, if she didn’t hear us and come back we would be dead,” I tell him. My brother looks like he is about to throw up and my father rushes over to me helping me to sit her up, her naked body shaking violently.
“Shh it's okay Reika, I won't let him hurt you no more,” I tell her before scooping her broken body up with my father’s help. Her skin burning me and my father.
Turning I see Ryker frozen on the spot, his eyes on his mate and what he did to her. “I hope she fucking rejects you,” I spit at him.
“I thought, I saw her standing over your body Tyson, how was I supposed to know?” He says.
“You could have fucking asked her,” I tell him walking out of the cell.
“Help me get her to the bathroom, we need to get the wolfsbane off her,” I tell my father, he grabs her and she screams. I glare at my father did he partake in her torture. I grabbed her off him, she wasn’t very heavy being underweight and I felt my wolf lend me his strength, forcing me to heal quicker as her skin burns mine.
“Wait, I don’t understand. If it wasn’t her, who was it then, we found no one else, Tyson,” My brother asks, I turn to face him.
“Some man with one fucking eye,” I tell him before walking up the steps. I hear him gasp but ignore him walking up the steps with Reika. I walk to the downstairs bathroom, my father opening the door and I hear my mother racing down the steps to see what is going on. I placed her in the bottom of the shower stall. Grabbing the showerhead, I turn it on, adjusting the shower temperature as she leans heavily on the tiled wall before passing out.
Chapter 29
Reika
Waking when the water touched me, I could feel Tyson's hands gliding over my skin as he washed the wolfsbane off my skin kneeling next to me. My eyes opened to his blistered hands washing my face.
“Stop, you’re hurting yourself,” I whisper but he ignores me. Looking up, I see Ryker looking down at me. A petrified scream leaves me and my body shakes as I fight the urge to throw up. I shuffle away from the shower door. Tyson reached for me, gripping my hand.
“Shh it’s okay,” he says. His hands blistered from the wolfsbane but he doesn’t seem to care. He looks over his shoulder at his brother. “Get out, you’re scaring her,” he tells him, the venom behind his words shocked me. Tyson and Ace were usually calm and funny, and normal teenage kids but right now he was angry and his anger matched that of his brothers.
“I didn’t know,” Ryker says, reaching into the shower, his hand moving toward me. I slap his hand trying to melt into the tiles away from him. He pulls his hand back and Tyson growls at him.
“I said get out,” Ryker glares at him and looks like he was going to say something when his eyes fall back on me. He presses his lips together and his eyes flicker and for a second I thought I saw them tear up but he blinked before stepping away.
“She needs blood, mutations don’t heal well,” Ryker says looking at his brother, his normal cold facade slipping in place.
“She can have mine now get out,” Tyson tells him and Ryker looks at him shocked.
“Ryker please just hop out, let your brother look after her,” I heard a feminine voice say from the doorway where I couldn't see her.
“She is my mate,” Ryker says.
“Yes, she is, and look what you did to her,” Tyson spits at him over his shoulder while reaching his hand out to me. He squeezes my fingers gently. Ryker's scent leaves the room and I know he is gone and I relax slightly. Tyson steps into the shower becoming drenched along with me and pulls his clothes off, sitting on the floor next to me.
A woman walks in kneeling beside us, she reminds me of Lana, her scent is similar and I know she must be the Lycan Queen. She reaches her hand out brushing my hair back. Her amber eyes watched me, so dazzling. She was beautiful with her long dark hair and soft features.