"Bonfire," I told him, and he reached for the lighter fluid again. Passing him the lighter, he looked at me and then back up at his mother.
"Light it up," I told him, smiling. He shook his head and took a step away from me. His heart rate intensified, beating rapidly with his panic.
"My mother is trapped up there. She can't leave," Rayan stuttered out.
"Exactly," I told him, and he stepped back, shaking his head like he was about to make a run for it.
"You will do it, or—" My fingers twitched on the needle, and I pressed it closer to Ryden's neck.
"Do it. Just do as she says," Reika called to him, but he shook his head.
"Now, Rayan. I will be fine. I will find a way. Keep your brother safe," Reika called to him.
"But mom," Rayan called out, his voice a choked garble. Tears brimmed in his eyes, and his lip quivered as he looked down at the lighter in his hand.
"Look after your brother. Your father will find you. He will find you," Reika told him, her eyes on my hand by her baby's neck.
"Now!" I told him, and he jumped before moving to the living room drapes. He flicked the zippo, and the flame ignited before he held it under the drapes before moving to the steps and stopping.
"Please?" Rayan begged me, tears streaking his face and dripping off his chin.
"Go on, or I will make you watch as she burns," I told him. Tears trekked down his cheeks as he tossed the lighter on the stairs before looking at his mother, who nodded to him.
"I will be fine. Look after your brother for me," Reika told him. Blue flames ran across the stairs before it set completely alight.
Rayan stared horrified at his mother, who was glaring at me.
"Say goodbye to mommy, little prince. You are now coming with me. You have a date with your future mate," I told him while pushing him toward the back of the house and away from the flames.
Chapter seventy-five
Lucy
I hated having to get in the car with my mate’s ex and the woman responsible for all the drama caused, but when Ace couldn’t get a hold of Ryker through the link, we figured he was too far away.
Melana sat in the back with me, staring out the window and pressing against the door and as far away from me as possible. She seemed increasingly nervous, and she began to fidget the further into my stepfather’s territory we got.
Was she worried for her sister? I couldn’t see how her sister could escape or how she planned to. She was in the cells. There was no escape from them. She was under guard, yet something about her nervousness made me worry.
It wasn’t until we were halfway to the packhouse that we were alerted that something was wrong when Ryker’s voice boomed across the mind link, not only to his pack members but also to get to the packhouse immediately, screaming that my mother was in trouble.
I pressed my fingers to my temple as voices suddenly flooded my head, and Ace nearly veered off the road before jerking the steering wheel and pulling us back on the road. For Ryker to be mind linking, he had to be on his way back from wherever he went.
My heart jolted in my chest when he said the packhouse was on fire and my mother was trapped inside. I tried to mindlink Rayan before forgetting I wasn’t a part of my family’s pack anymore but Ace and Tyson’s. We were no longer linked unless they opened it to me, and I glanced at Ace and Tyson.
“Mindlink Rayan,” I told Tyson, knowing he could link anyone being a hybrid and not a mutation like me, knowing he could get in anyone’s head. I watched as his eyes glazed over before they returned to their sparkling fluorescent silver color before he tried again, but it was the same result.
“Well?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“It’s like he is too far away. I can’t reach him or he is knocked out,” Tyson offered, and I turned to look at Melana sitting beside me. She glanced at me, and her entire body tensed, and a whimper escaped her.
“What was Josie asked to do? What was she supposed to do for Alpha Jamie?” I asked her, realizing it was one question we had all forgotten to ask.
We were too busy trying to get a hold of Ryker. We never thought to get a hold of mom, and mom has had trouble mind linking anyone besides Ryker. The longer she went with Amanda suppressed, the more she turned vampire, and the fewer traits she had from her wolf side.
Her vampire side became more dominant, and I never realized what a disadvantage that was when she only had a direct link to her pack and mate now.
“He wanted to use Rayan for a blood bond to Emily, Jamie’s daughter. It was a backup plan he had on the side. I didn’t know until I disagreed with it, and he locked me up, but Josie didn’t care. She wanted her mate, and she will do anything to get her mate back.”