ARTEMISIA
I gasp as it hits me like Lisa took out a knife to stab me right into my stomach. Clasping my clothes, I fight to keep standing upright, forcing my brain to stop making my surroundings spin.
“Bella donna?” Ramona asks, scrunching up her nose. “Are you tripping? This isn’t the moment to flirt!”
“No, Ramona, he didn’t mean a beautiful woman, but the plant Belladonna. It’s often used as a medicine, for example as a sedative or a fever remedy. It’s also abused as a drug as it induces hallucinations. But it’s regarded as highly unsafe as the entire plant is toxic and the berries as well as the leaves can be deadly even when consumed in small amounts,” I explain without taking my eyes off Hendrick while I feel my mouth going dry.
Lisa groans and I can see the eye roll without even looking at her. “Agh, now you are acting all intelligent again. You were on the trip for weeks and not once did you sense something. Idiot.”
I can sense her about to move and speak again, but she doesn’t even get to open her mouth as I slap her as hard as I can, causing her to stumble back to the floor. “How could you?”
Hendrick moves fast, wrapping his hands around my waist to hold me back as I keep fighting against his grip to rip her fucking throat. “I’ll kill you. How could you endanger my baby? I thought you were my friend! I trusted you!”
“Friend?” she snarls, Cayden stepping next to her to grab her arm and drag her onto her feet. “You stole my life! How can you think I was your friend?! You stupid bitch!”
“Let me go! I’ll rip her throat,” I growl, fighting to get out of Hendrick’s grip, but there is no avail.
“You are so stupid,” Lisa laughs, causing me to stop thrashing. “A doctor that doesn’t even notice she is getting poisoned! It’s just a bummer that your stupid friend had to intervene.”
Cayden clenches his jaw as he lets her talk, her gaze getting a crazy edge as she rolls her eyes. “And who would have thought that the boys would fall for such a basic bitch? As I got to know where you came from, we all thought they would just discard you after having had their fun, but duh… Of course, the idiots had to fall for someone acting as naive and needy as you.”
Her voice reaches a high-pitched tone as she giggles insanely. “I should have been his Beta. I am the one who should work with the Luna, and Goddess, if you were to compare levels with Rachel, you wouldn’t even reach her ankle.”
I feel the rage rolling off Cayden even without feeling it through the mate bond. My heart stops in my chest as I see him shift his arm, about to rip her apart.
“Cayden! No!” Hendrick shouts, and I feel his hands let go of me as he has already disappeared from behind me to get between Cayden and Lisa. “We need her! We need to know how big this thing is! Don’t fuck it up.”
Standing there paralysed, I watch him keep my mate from killing who was supposed to be my friend. “She is too stupid to act on her own plan. Just like the Omega you killed. They are not acting alone! We need her to get the bigger picture.”
Ramona has her hands thrown in front of her face as she repeats over and over in a feeble whisper. “This is crazy. Is everyone in this pack out of their mind?”
“She is mine anyway!” I grow with clenched fists, making Hendrick and Cayden look at me. Freeing myself from my frozen state, I charge forward, pushing Lisa, causing her to stumble over. I block out Hendrick’s shouts and Cayden’s grin as I kick into her stomach and grab her by her hair.
“Let’s see how fucking strong you are when you are face to face with the basic and idiotic bitch,” I shout, dragging her out of the meeting room by her hair.
She screams at the top of her lungs but doesn’t defend herself as I drag her along the hallway and to the entrance to the dungeons.
I ignore the curious and shocked looks of the Omegas and Warriors standing around as I open the door to the lower ground.
Pushing her, I get her to tumble down the stairs, making her land right at the feet of the warrior, who is guarding the dungeons.
“She is checking in,” I say as he looks at me dumbfounded.
He leans down, grabbing her arm as she is already trying to get back onto her feet and lifts her up, making her look like a doll made out of hay.
I walk in after him, Cayden, Ramona and Hendrick following close, and I stop him as he is about to open a cell. “Oh, no. Let’s not tear apart the lovely couple. Put her next to his!”
He turns, throwing her right into the cell next to Logan’s who got up to look at us confused.
“What is happening?” Fynn asks, standing up.
Matthew is still sitting on the floor in front of his brother’s cell, and I scrunch up my nose. “She was poisoning me. How is it going here?”
The men look at Lisa, who just stumbled into her cell, and back at me.
“What?” Logan barks, apparently talking for the three of them.
“Don’t ‘what’ me! You were the one who wanted her as close as possible to me, even if I had told you that I was feeling uncomfortable! How dare you ask me this now!” I say, rolling back my shoulders as his eyes widen.
He lifts his hand, his desperation showing in his eyes as he justifies himself. “I didn’t know that she was poisoning you?! I just felt sorry for her because she kept crying about being left alone to me repeatedly! I felt pity for her, damn, never would I have wanted her close to you if I knew that. I was convinced that keeping her around wouldn’t hurt.”
“Are you kidding me? You smuggled your sad, heartbroken and sacked ex into my entourage and thought it wouldn’t hurt? You have lost your mind, Logan?” I put my hands on my sides as I shake my head while he drives his hands through his hair.
“Trust me, babe. I was just sorry for her. She already had to fight with the bad news that we weren’t mates, but I made sure that she knew that I wouldn’t stick to her if my fated mate came along:”
“Wow, just wow, Logan,” I scoff, Fynn turning his head to look at him.
“You are a fucking moron,” he mumbles while Matthew looks up at him with a pitiful expression.
Logan takes a deep breath, letting his arms slump. “Oh, come on, guys. As if you would have acted differently. I was in love with her! I- I didn’t know that Missy would actually happen to me.”
I lower my head, him saying that he loved her piercing through my chest painfully.
“I waited for my mate,” Matthew mumbles, tilting his head pensively.
Logan glares down to him before he catches himself and licks his lips. Sighing exhaustively, he takes a step closer to the bars, “Missy! I swear that I never thought I would get someone so wholesome as you! I just had my present emotions for her that ruled my mind.”
I close my eyes, inhaling deeply before facing him again. “Why did you attack me then?”
“I wasn’t in my right mind,” he breathes out as he shrugs. “I know that no one is believing me, but I can’t even remember attacking you. Goddess, I would never do anything that would hurt you.”
Fynn scoffs, putting his hands into his pockets. “It’s not that we don’t believe you, it’s just that the excuse is getting old, Logan. First, you wanted to force her to move in with you, then you marked her against her will, and after that, you hurt her, and who knows what would have happened if Hendrick hadn’t been there to stop you.”
“You removed my mark, didn’t you?” Logan’s eyes flare up with hate as he charges against the bars, making me flinch back. “Why are you still bringing that up against me?”
I stare at him shocked as Cayden comes to stand next to me, holding my arms. “Because you did it! It doesn’t matter if we removed it already.”
“What is wrong with you?” Matthew asks concerned, making Logan sigh as he turns away.
“He is just tired of your bullshit,” Lisa giggles, making Logan yell at her as he takes a few steps toward her cell.
“You shut the fuck up!”
Hendrick clicks his tongue, as he steps into the feeble light of the spots affixed in the ceiling. “There is no way we can bring him to court like this.”
“No! No!” Logan shouts, walking towards us, his gaze making it look as if he has lost his sanity. He beats his chest repeatedly with his hand as he swears, “I can do it! I can do it! There is no way they can take her from us.”
“Logan!” Cayden groans, shaking his head. “What if you have one of your episodes again?”
“No, Listen!” Logan shouts, making me flinch as he gets dangerously close to the silver bars. “I want to be completely honest with you.”
“What kind soul you are,” Fynn mocks, earning a reprimand from Cayden.
“Stop it, Fynn.”
Logan inhales sharply, shaking himself. “I kept having certain episodes. Lost entire hours in my day and never managed to remember what had happened during those. I kept having hallucinations and sometimes my heart just started racing without any reason, making me break out in cold sweat.”
“Could that be Belladonna as well?” Ramona whispers, and I answer her without taking my eyes off Logan.
“Sounds like it…”
Matthew stands up as well, his worry still prominent in his expression. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I don’t know!” he shouts desperately. “I thought I would lose my place as Beta when Cayden would discover it.”
“Well, it was dangerous not to tell us. What if something happened? You risked killing Missy,” Cayden says with a cold expression, making Logan nod repeatedly.
“I know! And I will never forgive myself for this! But I’m feeling ready! I’m feeling better!”
The men look at each other while my gaze is set on my mate who is looking so incredibly lost in his small cell, and even if he has hurt me immensely and even repeatedly, my heart squeezes for him.
“Please, I can do this. We can’t risk losing her.”
I hug myself as everyone’s gaze falls on Cayden, who passes his hands over his face before he turns to Hendrick with a questioning expression.
“What do you think?”
Hendrick hums before he pushes out a deep breath.
“There is no other way. We need him to be present or we will lose the trial before it even begins. Let’s risk it.”