RAVEN
Her question took me by surprise, but I simply shrugged.
"I haven’t been around for ages, Aunty."
She smirked.
"You girls do know, you and Kia." She stated. "But if you don’t want to tell me right now… That's fine, but nothing stays hidden. Besides, I have my assumptions."
Trust Aunty Red to say that. She wasn’t dumb, I had to give her that. I really didn't want to ask her what she assumed because I might give something away…
"Aww well, I hope you do get to figure it out. Aunty if you ever need this little gummy bear babysat, I will do it willingly. She is so adorable!"
I smiled at Azura who was playing with my hair, and I won’t deny I liked it. She was so cute.
"Oh, I’ll definitely hold you to that." Aunty said smiling.
"Good," I replied, thinking this place felt so much better to spend time at.
-
Night had fallen and I was in my room, my stuff hadn’t really been touched since I had gone and I was doing a clear out. I will bin what I don’t want, and what I do, I’ll pack it up. I needed to tell Mom and Dad about me moving too… But the moody look on Dad’s face had put me off, I didn’t want more drama.
I put on some Disney classic songs, singling along to ‘Colours Of The Wind’ as I began on my wardrobe. Some of this stuff was way too childish. My phone rang and I hurried over to it, smiling when I saw Kia’s name pop up on the incoming video call.
"Kiki!" I said, answering it "Ahh and my babies!"
Kiara laughed as she sat there feeding one of them. Goddess those two were gorgeous, they were about three months now and were like two little dolls.
"I thought I’d video call whilst I'm feeding. How are you?" She asked.
I plopped onto my bed and smiled.
"I'm great, I am going to start training from tomorrow. I saw Liam and Damon, both are doing great, and I asked your mom about moving to the packhouse." I ended with a whisper.
She smiled gently, but from the knowing look in her eyes, I knew she saw past my façade. Over the years, Kiara had become so much more observant. She didn’t fall for my fake smiles.
"You are brave." She said softly. "You got this."
"Thanks, hun." I whispered.
"I'm going to try to visit in a few weeks time." She said.
"Really? I can’t wait to meet these two munchkins."
I had only seen them when I visited her pack with Aunt Angela.
"I'm sure they want to see their aunty too." Kiara replied with a small laugh.
We sat there, chatting and talking like we did often enough. Although Kiara had an entire pack to run, and as queen it was more than just a pack, we still found time to talk to each other and it felt good.
After a good half hour, we said goodbye and I returned to clearing out my wardrobe. I had just finished when a panicked voice came through the link.
‘Someone’s been killed down by the west side of the river!’ The man sounded fearful, and my own heart was thudding at his words.
An influx of voices came through the link as I rushed to my window. Opening it I jumped out, not even realising I was barefoot until the stones beneath my window poked into my feet, but I was too worried to care as I rushed down towards the river.
‘It’s covered, no one panic and stay in your homes.’ Liam’s cold voice came through the link sending a rush of warmth through me.
I missed it… missed the mind link with them…
I ignored his command as I approached the spot, slowing down to see several men standing around looking at something on the ground. My heart thumped as I stepped closer, Damon was there and when I approached, he looked up, not missing the way he looked me over. It was then I realised I was only in my leggings and a crop top. My heart thudded but I tried not to focus on him as I stepped closer.
"Don’t come closer, Raven." His deep seductive voice made me stop. "It’s not pleasant."
"I can handle a lot more than you think." I said, quietly stepping forward.
But maybe not. The face of the body had been cut from ear to ear and the eyes had been removed. My stomach churned and I clamped a hand over my mouth feeling sick.
"The teeth have all been taken too." The Delta, Zack said quietly.
I knew him as he was only slightly younger than I was.
"What the fuck happened?" Liam’s voice came from behind us, I turned to see him shirtless and clearly, he had been in the middle of a shower.
He glanced at me, his frown deepening when he looked at Damon before he brushed past us both. Sparks flew through me at his touch and my breath hitched.
Fuck…
"Scour the area. Did anyone witness anything? Who found the body?" He asked, his Alpha aura whirling around him.
"Ralf… his brother." Zack said, motioning to the side with a jerk of his head.
I turned to see a boy around twelve or thirteen sitting under a tree, shaking, and rocking himself. An omega child.
Shit, why the hell was no one comforting him?!
I hurried over to him and sat down next to him, wrapping my arms around him.
"Hey, it’s ok, I got you." I whispered, seeing his hands tangled tightly into his hair.
"It’s not true. It’s not true." He muttered repeatedly.
Liam approached, looking down at him.
"When did you find him?" He asked.
The boy continued to mutter, not even hearing Liam, who frowned.
"Can’t you see it has affected him greatly and you’re asking questions?" I asked icily.
His gaze snapped to me, and his eyes flashed.
"And didn’t I say to everyone to stay inside." He growled.
"You did."
But that doesn’t mean I would listen!
I looked away from him, feeling two pairs of eyes on me, but they could look and get as mad as they wanted, because right now I was more concerned about this kid who had seen his brother in that horrifying state. I knew his face would haunt my dreams too.
"Scour the area, track any scent that lingers here, and I want anyone whose scent is here to be brought in for questioning. Maybe they saw something... This doesn’t look like a normal killing."
"What was the cause of death?"
"No fucking idea…"
"Maybe poison. Request an autopsy." Liam muttered.
"There’s no strange scent from him…"
"Wait, what is that?" Damon said suddenly making me look up sharply as he bent down and took a piece of paper from the man's hand.
The group of men fell silent, and I looked at them curiously.
"What does it say?" I asked.
No one spoke, and I frowned.
"Tell me."
Damon turned, his eyes meeting mine, and he frowned, holding it up.
"Who’s next?"
RAVEN Last night, the image of the Omega Ryan kept replaying in my mind. I couldn’t sleep or anything. The way his mouth had been cut open, his teeth ripped out and no lingering scent? It was creepy. I shuddered, unable to remove that image from my head as I got dressed for training in a sports bra, leggings and an oversized hoodie before grabbing my portable music player and jumping out the window. This had always been my way out, and although my parents hated it, if dad wasn’t so controlling I wouldn’t have to. Ok, maybe I still would. I walked to the training fields and to my dismay, Damon was standing there, dressed in baggy bottoms, a black vest and sneakers. He was leaning against the wall looking at the throng of people who were training. My heart skipped a beat as I looked him over, he really had gotten even more handsome over the years, if that was even possible… He had lost the boyish looks he once supported, his face was now more angled and rugged. His eye
LIAM I returned to my office, trying not to let her anger get to me. I don’t know what I was expecting... Seeing her again, those gorgeous eyes of hers. Was this mate bond only affecting me? Damon seemed to be doing fucking fine too. Was it just me suffering like this? Jealousy reared its ugly head at that thought. Don’t fucking let shit get to you, Liam. I sat back. With the killing that happened last night, the pack was a little restless and everyone had heard about it. Although I made sure everything carried on as usual as best as possible. The tension was clear in the air. The uneasiness of what happened the night before still lingered on everyone’s mind, it wasn’t something we were just going to forget overnight. The darkness that had settled over the pack was palpable and I could sense the unease and fear clawing its way through the pack link. I really wanted Dad and Mom to go away for a week or so. Dad needed it, and with all of
LIAM It was evening, Mom had mind-linked me to stop by only for me to realise she had tricked me. "Me alone with her?" I asked, looking at the little pumpkin. "She’s a good girl, Liam." Mom said dismissively. Dad smirked. "Yup, a real angel." He added, not sounding very convincing. "We could do this tomorrow?" "No baby, we are going." Mom said firmly. They were going to visit some lone wolves who lived near our pack territory. Considering the murder, Mom and Dad decided to check in on them, and here I was stuck with my little sister Azura - Aunty Indy’s girl that Mom carried. "Wiyam, I be good." She blinked those large blue eyes as she assured me. No, that was an alarm bell right there. No kid who says they will be good will be good… and I had seen the devil, Dante. Kids were scary… Don’t mess with them. "So, since you're visiting a few elderly wolves… you should be home by eleven?" I asked. Mom
RAVEN Staying in was suffocating, so I did what I did best: I jumped out of the window and left. I was enjoying the fresh air; it was slightly chilly, but nothing that would affect us werewolves. I wrapped my arms around myself while walking along, glad I wore my suede thigh high boots. I was just walking around the edge of the trees when I heard someone crying hysterically. A child at that. Concerned, I followed the sound only to find Liam wrestling a very upset Azura. Her face was a dark pink and she looked distraught. "Need help?" I asked without thinking. He stiffened before turning to me sharply. Goddess, he was so annoyingly handsome… Even while wrestling an angry, red-faced, little cute chibi. My stomach fluttered nervously, feeling undressed under his intense, sharp gaze that still threw me off. It was like he was a stranger I didn’t recognise. His eyes were burning into me, I saw them darken when they fell on my bare thighs. T
RAVEN The moment those sparks rushed through me; my eyes blazed as I looked at the man beneath me. "And this is an even nicer punch!" I growled quietly, before punching him square in the nose. The sickening crunch as I broke it satisfied me. How dare he! I jumped off of him, resisting the urge to kick him in the balls, and instead kicked his knee, hard! How dare he! Grabbing my boots, I turned and stormed down the stairs. My heart was thundering with a hundred emotions, but above all, I felt angry. How could he ignore me for three years and think he could just start flirting with me? Nope, not happening. I am not a pushover. I will not- "Raven!" He grabbed my arm just as I reached the front door, and I was annoyed to see he had put his nose back in place. "Don’t touch me, Liam." I hissed, yanking free. "I’m fucking sorry." He said, raising his hands in surrender. "That was out of line." He looked
Damon I said it, the reason behind the guilt that had been fucking consuming me since she returned... I needed to tell her anyway. Her porcelain doll-like face stayed in its perfect mask, yet I could feel her pain, hear her racing heart and see the way her fingers trembled ever so slightly on that donut. Her eyes, which were so fucking unique and perfect, looked at me, but there was no hatred there. Dammit I fucking hurt her… I'm fucking sorry, Raven. "Raven?" I whispered closing the gap between us, but she suddenly snapped out of it, despite her erratic heartbeat. "Thanks for telling me. Do you have anything else to say?" She asked with a blank face. I frowned, slightly concerned. Shit, I didn’t know what to say… Fuck it. I stepped closer, pulling her tightly into my arms. I didn’t care if the donut went everywhere, I just needed to tell her I'm fucking sorry. Her fresh floral scent and the beating of her heart soothed
RAVEN Shit, I was running late! Last night I hadn’t been able to sleep properly and I was paying for it now! I ran down the stairs three at a time, jumping down the final six and was about to rush to the door when Dad stepped out of the living room. "This is a house and I would appreciate you treating it like one." He said curtly. "I'm getting late, sorry!" I said hurrying to the kitchen and going to the fridge to grab a water bottle. I was about to reach for one when Dad snapped the fridge shut, missing my fingers by inches. I moved back, my heart skipping a beat as I looked at Dad, who was staring at me with a cold glare on his face. I glanced at Mom who turned her back on me and busied herself with making breakfast. "This is my house and as long as you are living under my roof, you will obey my rules and that includes letting boys into your room." "Ok." I didn’t have time for this, I needed to ask Liam or Uncle El wh
RAVEN I wasn’t expecting that. No matter if she did know, I still wasn’t expecting her to apologise to me. More than that, did that mean Damon had told her? "I just want you to know we have ended things." She said twisting one of the several delicate rings she wore on her fingers. I didn’t know what to say, our situation as a whole, was a mess. "I don’t know why you two aren’t together, but he is a really selfless, caring person. He’ll treat you great." She smiled. Come on, I was the queen of fake smiles and I could see right through hers. She was in pain thanks to that dimwit and here she was telling me that Damon was good enough for me. I felt sad for her. I know the mate bond played a part for me, but I also know that love without the bond existed. It was what I had felt for Liam for years. I was scared he’d find his mate. "One bird to another, men are idiots." I said with a crooked smile. She frowned for a second befo