Page 5 of Home: Posy 5

"Her father's heart. That was the price."

Silence. Dead, absolute silence.

Yuri Hashimoto was Alpha Jay Carson's beta. Jayden's dad's beta. Last winter, Yuri died of what we thought was a rogue attack while patrolling the border, and we grieved for the man who was like an uncle to us. A strong, stern, kind man we all looked up to. He was also the last link we had to Jay. As a way to honor his dad, Jayden wanted Yuri to stay on as his beta until the dude was ready to retire.

But Nia killed that dream, I thought to myself, remembering that Jayden had installed Crew as his beta shortly before the whole thing went down with Nia and Landry.

Too bad she already dead, Gran huffed.

Yeah, I agreed. She-wolf or not, I would have liked to rip her throat out myself.

"Is that all?" Mase's voice and face were as blank as always, and I had no idea how he wasn't as enraged as the rest of us.

He is, Gran told me. He super, super mad!

Really? I raised my eyebrows doubtfully.

Really! my wolf insisted. Garnet say Masey want to burn the world down.

And not one crack in the ice to even hint at the bonfire inside. I shook my head in admiration. Damn! I want to be Mase when I grow up!

"That's all," King Julian confirmed. "So Ash will take Ezra Ikhlassi, Mase has the witch, and Cole wants Aeneas Gage. That leaves Calvin Briggs for you, Wy."

"Fine by me," I smirked. "And now, your majesty, it's time to throw their cell doors open and stand back."

He snorted, then motioned for the guards to open the door.

2: And a Whole Lot of Torture

Wyatt

We followed the king inside, not bothering to look around. We'd all been here before and knew the general layout of the place. The door opened into a foyer with offices and meeting rooms off it and a short hallway that led to an elevator and a set of stairs.

The elevator took exactly one hundred seconds to go down, which was ninety-nine too many for someone who hated small, crowded spaces. I was the first one off when the doors whisked open. From there, we went down a long corridor with steel doors set in the wall every few feet on either side. Cameras in black bubbles dotted the ceiling, and the only light came from the glaring overhead fluorescents. They were motion-activated, but the guards in the monitor room upstairs had a manual override.

There were only twenty-four cells down here. Werewolf law was harsh and the penalties steep, but there was rarely a need for long-term imprisonment. A shifter was punished and released or killed, and not much in between.

As we walked down the hallway, our shoes were the loudest noise in the place since all of the cells were sound-proofed. Those unfortunate enough to merit a cell rotted in darkness and silence, and the only reason anyone came down here was to feed and water them.

Or kill them.

"All right, Wyatt." The king stopped next to cell number two and unlocked it. "You're up first."

I jerked my head in a nod and stepped inside, careful to make sure the door stayed open. I wasn't worried about Briggs, but I sure as hell didn't want to get trapped inside. As it was, my skin was already crawling from being underground.

When my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I saw a middle-aged man standing up from where he'd been huddled in the corner. The smell of his fear clogged my nostrils, and my lip curled up in disgust.

He had no right to be afraid. He'd brought this all on himself.

"Who are you?" Briggs raised his chin, but couldn't meet my eyes.

"Alpha Wyatt Black of Five Fangs."

"Five Fangs?" He swallowed hard. "Now, listen, there's no way I could have known that Posy was your mate. If I had, I would have intervened, I swear!"

"You should have intervened no matter who the girl was!" I snapped.

"As if you're any different." The sniveling paper-pusher at least had the guts to roll his eyes at me. "You'd do anything to protect your brothers, too."

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