“Mom said the same thing,” Mitchell laughed. Tyson pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a breath.
“My brother caught Josie,” Tyson said, and Mitchell’s shoulders sagged with relief.
“Good, at least something came out of all this,” Mitchell said when his eyes glazed over suddenly. He started shaking before he stopped, his eyes coming back into focus.
“Your parents want me to hand myself in,” Mitchell said.
“I will come with you.”
“It’s fine, Lucy. One of them can take me,” Mitchell said, and Tyson nodded.
“No, I’m coming with you,” I told him, walking inside to grab my shoes and put on some clothes.
Chapter sixty-six
Melana
I was taken to new cells and dumped on the cold concrete floor. I groaned, rolling on my back. I could barely move, and everything hurt. The cell door slammed, and I succumbed to the urge to pass out, sweating beading on every inch of my body. I shuddered, letting the darkness eat me up and offer the relief of feeling nothing.
Cold hands were what kept me awake though not letting me rest, gently tapping my face, and I blinked up at the ceiling. The fluorescent light made me squint as I tried to regain some form of focus when I felt blood trickle into my mouth. I swallowed, welcoming the taste.Oh gosh, how I was starving. I could feel the blood working through my system, awakening the hunger within me, and I gripped the wrist of the person feeding me and sank my teeth into them…
“That’s it, Melana,’ said a soft feminine voice. I thought I was dreaming; it had to be a dream. I hadn’t heard that voice for years. I let her arm go, turning my head, and my eyes widened at the sight of her. Hollow cheeks, and sad eyes were peering at me. She had lost a lot of weight, but there was no doubt it was her.
“Aliza?” I whispered before rolling and propping myself up on an elbow to look at her. I reached out to touch her, and she was indeed real. She was really here. She was a good woman, too good for Alpha Jamie. I had always wondered what had happened to her. Rumors said he’d killed her, but I knew that couldn’t be true because he was crazy but not batshit crazy, like a severed-mate-bond kind of crazy.
“How? Why are you here? How long have you been here?” I asked, confused. Aliza had always been nice to Josie and me, and it was shocking to see her in this state, so malnourished and looking so weak. We all knew he beat her, knew she feared him, and I thought she ran, escaped him. I didn’t think even Jamie was cruel enough to lock up his own mate.
“How is Emily? Did you see her?” Aliza said, gripping my arms with frail hands. I tried to shake off the shock of seeing her.
“She is fine. I have seen her a few times. She looks healthy,” I told her.
“He was always a good father, unfortunately, not a good mate,” she said, and I saw relief flood her as she leaned back against the cell wall. I sat up before sniffing the air, and my heart beat erratically when I picked his scent up, making my head whip from side to side, looking for him. I was in a room with four cells. Each cell had someone in it.
“Hey, baby,” Nathanial’s voice said, barely a murmur before he started coughing, and I ran at the bars flinging my arms through, the bars burning my skin. He looked terrible. His blond hair was longer now; it sat past his shoulders limply and drenched in sweat. His hazel eyes looked sad and bloodshot.
“I’m sorry, I am so sorry,” I whispered to him, tears falling down my cheeks. He reached his hand out through the bars, trying to reach across to me and my heart broke at the sight of him and what he had endured. He was just as skinny as Aliza. I didn’t deserve him but seeing him had sent the bond into a frenzy. Even though I rejected him, I could still feel it come to life with him this close, though it was incredibly weak and barely existent.
His fingers reached mine before his hand dropped to the floor. But that fleeting touch was enough to make my fingertips burn. “Nathaniel?” I sobbed.I ruined everything. I ruined him.
“Don’t cry. I am alive,” he said before coughing again.
“You didn’t deserve this. I should never have rejected you,” I told him, hating myself.
“We can fix it when we get out of here. If we get out of here. I know you had your reasons, Mel.” I let out a shaky breath, looking around at the other cells; it was all the same. People in each one, all looking on the verge of death.
“Carla?” I asked, looking at her.
“Hey, Melana,” she said, also coughing and rasping for breath.
“Does your father know you’re here?” She nodded. I knew her father was a janitor from high school. Now making me realize who put the photos up of Lucy. I shook my head before hanging it when I heard another voice, a softer one, making me turn my head to the cell beside me.
“Is Mitchell okay? He was from the other pack, the Alpha King’s pack,” the girl said.
“Mitchell?”
“I don’t know his last name,” she said sadly, but I could tell by her scent that she was from Alpha Jamie’s pack.
“He is our age, though,” she said, looking at Carla.