Page 3 of Home: Posy 5

"Speaking of doors, what happened to that one?" I asked as I gawked through the windshield.

From my shotgun seat, I could clearly see the reinforced steel door that sealed the dungeon off from the rest of the world. Something had created a huge dent in the dead center of it and I was all agog to know what.

"That was supposed to be werewolf-proof," King Julian muttered grumpily.

"Well, it obviously ain't Quartz-proof," I smirked.

"Uh, that wasn't Quartz." Ash scratched the back of his neck. "So, um, last night, Q called Sid that name he hates and he half-shifted and charged him, but Quartz dodged and Sid hit the door."

We all stared at him with wide eyes.

"Hey, blame Q for riling him up, not me!" Ash held his hands up and swiveled in his seat to look at the others. "I was asleep!"

"Why didn't you send him back?" Cole snapped. "Mase told you to!"

"I tried, but he wanted to finish his popcorn first."

"Popcorn." I pointed to the door. "Connect how popcorn equates to that happening."

"Pumice found Sid first, so he got Sid to shift and change into clothes. Sid said he was starving, so Pumice took him to the closest food pantry and the clerk gave him a bag of popcorn. Then Sid said he needed one for his friend, so the clerk popped another bag."

As Ash rambled on, I felt like I'd been dropped into an episode of Riverdale. I stopped watching that messed-up shit halfway through the second season and for the same reason I rolled my eyes now: Trying to follow the plot used more brain cells than the story was worth.

"Pumice told him to go home, so I thought everything was hunky dory and passed out." And Ash was still talking! "I didn't know Sid would follow Pumice here instead, or that Q would antagonize him until he went into full combat mode."

"All right, we'll deal with that later." Shaking his head, Mase pinched the bridge of his nose. "King Julian, who are these accomplices?"

"Can we get out first?" I whined. "I'm getting seasick."

Overly energetic as always, Ash was jogging his leg, which made the whole vehicle rock violently, and my lunch sloshed around in my stomach in a nauseating way.

Once we'd all jumped out, the king began to tell us about the other prisoners as we walked.

"First up, Aeneas Gage. Thirty-six. Machinist. Ikhlassi paid him to craft several articles, one of which was the silver brand of Briggs' initials. He also provided mercury to dip it in."

"He knew its intended purpose?" Mase asked. "He knew it was for use on another shifter?"

"He did." King Julian jerked his head in a curt nod. "Even without his confession to that, though, dealing in silver weapons and supplying mercury are crimes enough."

"He's mine," Cole rumbled, his hands clenching into white-knuckled fists at his sides. "I want to end that mutt myself."

Mase, Ash, and I traded glances, then nodded in agreement. Cole hated that brand burned in our girl's back. If killing the dude gave him some sort of resolution, so be it.

"Next up, we have Calvin Briggs, brother of Kendall Briggs and royal staffer for the last twenty-one years," the king continued. "He hid or destroyed every report ever filed against Kendall, including statements and complaints from your fathers. Worst of all, Calvin discovered Logan and Naomi's address and gave it to Kendall, and we all knew what happened next."

"So he's indirectly responsible for Logan Everleigh's death," I muttered. "Posy could have had a real dad if it wasn't for this piece of shit?"

King Julian nodded while Mase muttered, "Language."

"After talking with Briggs' and Gage's wolves," the king went on, "I dismissed them and they've already faded back to the Goddess. I figured innocent wolves didn't need to suffer. Both men are yours to do with what you wish."

"What about Ikhlassi?" Ash asked.

"He has quite a laundry list, but only one other crime is tied to Five Fangs. He sold wolfsbane to two more shifters. I'm sending an agent to investigate the one, but Mase recently dealt with the other."

"No." Mase got it before the rest of us, as usual. "Not Alpha Bellamy Jones."

"Unfortunately, yes."

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