Tyson and Lucy came out, this time fully dressed, and Lucy hesitated to look at Ace standing a few meters away from me. He opened his arms to her, but she turned her head away from him. She seemed calmer. Whatever Tyson did obviously calmed her enough to be rational.
“Why are you here? If it is to get your sister back, that isn’t happening. Hopefully, my father strings her up.”
“He caught her?” I couldn’t help but ask. Ace growled, and I held my hands up.
“No, not like that. Did he catch her or not?”
“Yes, she is in the cells.” I gasped. This was terrible.
“What?” Ace asked, recognizing my alarm, and Lucy’s eyes flicked to him.
“If Josie was caught, that means she let you catch her.”
“No, patrols found her,” Tyson said, and I shook my head.
“What, they found her wandering around? If your brother has her, I am telling you it’s because she wanted to be caught. You need to get hold of your brother and tell him to check wherever he is holding her. NOW!” I told them.
Chapter seventy-three
Josie
They thought they beat me, that this was the end and all their problems were solved, but little did they know I was exactly where I needed to be. This was precisely what I intended. I fooled them all. Mitchell, so severely wanting to redeem himself, I knew he would toss me to them. I knew his loyalty lay with Lucy, and he was only a willing participant in Jamie’s plans out of fear for his mate.
I knew nothing would come between him and Lucy once he found out what Jamie had planned; not even his mate would make him cross her. Their friendship was built on love, respect, and a deep understanding. Yet I managed to fool him, fool the King, fool everyone.
“Not long now, my love, and you will be back with me where you belong.” I smiled, thinking of my mate. We would soon be together and free. This was the only way, and I didn’t care what I needed to do to get my mate back.
Lucy stupidly thought she could take him from me, and I wouldn’t retaliate, wouldn’t get even. How wrong she was, and I planned on taking everything from her. Jamie was just the start of my plans. I would make her pay. She got us banished, got my mate taken from me, and now turned my own sister against me; she would pay for all she had done.
I listened to the sounds coming from above, waiting them out. I only had one person to fear, Avery, but my task should be done by then. Reika and Ryker were arguing as he tried to reason with her; I was a minor and a student, untouchable. They touch me, and the King would be breaking the laws he’d put in place to protect us hybrid mutations.
He enforced rules, and the only person reliable for my punishment was Avery, as she was my legal guardian. Nothing could be done without her input, but I didn’t plan to be here when she got here. I clicked my tongue.Tsk, tsk, tsk.
“Should have listened to the wifey, Ryker. Should have let her kill me when you had the chance. You won’t get another.” I chuckled at my words before hearing him talk to Jacob; I couldn’t stand him. He was a pet to Ryker, a minion. I knew they would be standing guard at the basement entry, expected it, yet I had a plan to get rid of him too.
“Reika, if you kill her, it will start a war. I cannot go against the laws I made. King or not, I am not exempt from the penalties, and neither are you. Until I speak with Avery and she gets here, she remains in the cell. The mutations are protected for a reason. We pleaded that their behaviors weren’t entirely their fault. If I kill her, I am going against the laws we placed around them for their protection.” I listened as they argued before he talked to Jacob.
“Don’t let her down there. Reika, upstairs, now. You stay off the bottom floor and remain on the second floor until I return.”
I felt the command from down here; he thought he was protecting his mate. How very wrong he was, but that made everything easier for me.They were too predictable. Ryker was a reformed man doing everything by the book and trying to redeem himself for god knows what, not that I cared. Reika was still just as unhinged but now without a wolf, quickly put in place by her mate and holding no actual authority anymore. Everyone only obeyed her out of respect. Respect won’t help her now.
“I am leaving to head to Avalon City to meet with Aamon. Avery is visiting her father, and he will try to contact her. But he needs someone to watch over their bodies while they navigate the underworld. It should only be a few hours. Just keep an eye on Rayan. Ryden is upstairs asleep. Do you need me to send anyone else over to help keep watch?”
“No, she is a teenage girl, and she is passed out. We will be fine,” Jacob told him, and I tried not to laugh. I heard Ryker give a few instructions before listening to his footsteps leaving the house. The door shut before I heard a car’s engine and the tires on gravel indicating he was going.Good riddance, now back to my plan.
My arms were tied behind my back, the cuffs burning my skin, and I reached around and gripped my thumb before gritting my teeth as I broke it to stop from screaming out. I knew them thinking I was passed out would be an advantage. Fewer restraints and fewer guards. No one would suspect the small innocent-looking girl was putting up a fight.
My fake tears and begging when they found me clearly worked before dosing me. No one suspected a thing. Pain rippled through my palm as I was forced to break it and dislocate it to squeeze my hand through the cuff of my restraint. I rubbed my wrist, trying to get the blood flowing freely again. The burns from the wolfsbane started to heal, the sedative having no effects on me whatsoever.
“Idiots,” I muttered, pulling my bobby pins from my hair. With a bit of fiddling, the ankle cuffs released. Burned rings wrapped around my ankles where the flesh melted off, but they were already healing. They fed me concentrated levels of wolfsbane and a sedative, enough to even take out a hybrid.
Beryl, Jamie’s witch, made me an antidote, and I had been drinking the crap for weeks. My toxicity levels from the mysterious substance were through the roof; they could have fed me the entire damn plant, and it would not have affected me.
Thank the Moon Goddess that I took drama at school. A bit of fake illness, and Ryker believed I was down for hours; it helped a little that the initial effects did make me woozy until Beryl’s concoction stabilized it in my system.
Getting up, I walked over to Ryker’s torture table. Not that they left any instruments in here, they were in the next cell over. Washing my hands in the sink and drinking straight from the tap, I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand before zeroing in on the cell door. Piece of cake.
Jamming my fingers down my throat, I continued to heave until I emptied my stomach of its contents—the purple balloon full of Belladonna was thrown up and landed in the sink. The second balloon contained wolfsbane in a lethal dose. Pocketing them, I moved to the door of the cell.