“You didn’t think to mention that detail back at the house?” I growled at her. Fur started spreading across my arms, and my canines slipped from my gums as my wolf became just as enraged. Lucille wanted to tear her to pieces and watch her die slowly.
“Lucy!” Tyson snapped, turning in his seat to look at me as I fought Lucille for control. He reached over, gripping my hand and squeezing it.
“Lucy, get a grip of yourself. If you shift, you will hurt yourself while in the car. Kill her after we get your mother,” Tyson said before he turned and looked at Melana.
“I suggest you shut up. I won’t stop her if she kills you,” Tyson snapped at her, and I gritted my teeth when Ace suddenly gasped. My eyes looked to the windshield to see the packhouse set ablaze.
I knew it was on fire but didn’t expect the carnage before our eyes. Plumes of smoke filled the air, and warriors tossed water onto the burning building, trying to extinguish the inferno.
“My family!” I gasped, clutching my mouth with my hands in horror. Melana’s eyes widened in horror as she leaned forward. The entire thing was engulfed except for two bedrooms on this side, and pack members stood outside trying to extinguish the fire. Ace skidded to a stop, dust and dirt spraying everywhere, and I was out the door before the car entirely stopped.
“Mom! Rayan!” I screamed when suddenly there was an explosion, and I was tossed backward. The gas cylinders at the side of the house exploded under the heat. The loud bang made my ears ring, and the ground shook.
I was slammed against Ace’s car from the blast, and I dented the door as I crashed against it, but adrenaline was pumping as fear flooded me. Were my brothers still in there? A huge gaping hole was now where the gas cylinders were, flames were licking up the side of the packhouse, and a tree close to the house had now caught fire.
I felt blood trickle down my face, and I pulled a piece of metal from my cheek. I barely felt anything when I noticed my mother standing at one of the second-floor windows, warriors trying to climb up to her as she screamed at them to stop.
“Jump!” I screamed to her when one of the warriors looked at me in horror before rushing over. He was around Ace and Tyson’s age, gangly looking and had a dark mop of hair, his face covered in soot. I noticed he had burns that were healing up one arm like he had tried to break in already to get to my mother.
“Mom, jump! Where are Rayan and Ryden?” I asked her, and she looked over at me.
“She can’t. She was commanded to remain on the second floor.”
“What?” I gasped in horror. The man shrugged, using the garden hose to try and extinguish the flames, but it was of no use. There was no putting out the fire as it burned my childhood, burned our home, a home that had stood for generations.
Papa Reid was raised in this house, and he raised his own children here before Ryker took over and raised me. It was all going to perish, and so was my mother if we couldn’t get her out.
“Your brothers aren’t in there. Josie took them. Your mother has been mindlinking. She sent warriors to find them, but no trace of them. It is like they just vanished.”
“Please, tell me you can do something. Can you override your brother’s command?” I asked desperately, and Tyson swallowed, looking back toward the window where my mother stared off blankly. I could see she was mindlinking and no doubt was either trying to contact Rayan or my stepfather.
“How far out is Ryker?” I asked, turning back to the man. The warrior from before glanced over at us, holding the hose through the burst living-room window.
“Twenty minutes. Same as the fire brigade. He said, when he gets closer, he will shift and run to get here quicker. It’s also peak hour traffic in the city, and the bridge is still closed on the other side,” the man answered. Warriors were running around everywhere. I could barely hear the sirens, but even I knew they would be just as far out coming from the city, and I could only faintly make them out if it was even them.
“She doesn’t have twenty minutes,” I murmured to no one.
Chapter seventy-six
“It’sokay,Lucy,”mymother called out before choking on the smoke billowing out the windows. I shook my head, staring up at her. We bring her out, she would just run in, and if we held her down, it could kill her. The only option was hope for Ryker to get back in time but time was not on our side as the fire zeroed in, and I knew it would only be a matter of time before the floor she was on became engulfed in flames and collapsed.
“Tell Avery the witch’s name is Beryl. Josie said her name was Beryl,” my mother screamed down to us.
“We need to do something. We need to get her out of there,” I told them.
“Maybe both of us can try to command her at the same time?” Ace suggested.
“Worth a try, but we will have to be close to her. She is under a King’s command,” Tyson said, looking around before pointing to the porch.
“Reika, get to Rayan’s room,” Tyson called up to her before he ran toward the shed with Ace following closely behind them. I watched them climb the side, and I chased them before climbing up after them.
“Lucy, no!” Ace snapped at me, but I ignored him, and he continued pulling himself up.
“Bloody stubborn woman,” he growled before offering me his hand when he was safely on top of the garage roof.
“Watch your step and try to stay off the main roof in case it collapses. Use the sides. I can feel the heat from here,” Tyson said before using the stonework to walk along the front of the packhouse to the porch roof. My mother pushed Rayan’s window open and moved back, allowing Tyson to climb in the window before helping me through while Ace shoved me from behind. The room she was in before was now engulfed in flames.
I coughed the moment I stepped through the window. The smoke was horrendous, yet this room wasn’t on fire, and she had closed the door to the room, stuffing whatever she could under the gap of the door.