Malachi took James aside as soon as he saw him. They spoke in hushed tones since there were still other people in the waiting room. James nodded his head a few times and they continued speaking. When Malachi was satisfied, he patted James on the back, and they walked back toward us. “I’ll take James to the station to give his official statement. You should all go home,” Malachi said and I knew better than to argue with him. James gave me the keys to my Jeep and apologized for the mess in the back. I found some wipes and cleaned up as best as I could. Karani sat in front, next to me and Adara sat in the back. She’d been quiet since we left the morgue and I was really worried about her. She had been raped by Ramos and with this happening to Shoran, I knew it had to bring back all those horrific memories. She wiped a tear from her cheek and looked out of the window. As the lights brightened the driveway, I saw that the garage door was still open, as was the door leading into the house.
“Morning,” I said to them and kissed Karani on her cheek. I got a cup of coffee for myself and made one for Adara as well. Karani looked at me through narrowed eyes.“Nothing happened, Mom,” I said with a smile.“Kiran Montgomery Sinclair! I swear to you–” I started to laugh and Malachi grinned.“She was afraid to sleep in her room alone. I promise. Nothing happened,” I said again.“I know, son,” Malachi answered.Malachi always knew things and I had stopped trying to figure it out, because Karani always said that Malachi didn’t have the same kind of powers that we had, but I wasn’t so sure.Adara came downstairs dressed in black jeans and a black hoodie. Her skin was pale against the black of her clothes. Her hair was in a ponytail and she looked like she’d slept ten hours. She couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes and her cheeks were flaming red as she sat down opposite me. Malachi burst out laughing and she looked up, like a deer caught in headlights.“It’s not what you think!” she said quic
I tried phoning James again and he answered the third time. “How is she?” I asked him, knowing that he wasn’t at home. He would spend every minute at the hospital with her.“She’s still asleep. I feel so angry and guilty because I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t even protect our child,” he said. His voice was filled with anguish and I wished I could change everything about that day.“I’m sorry,” I said. What else could I say? Nothing could change the way he was feeling now and blaming himself was part of the healing process.“When do I have to be at the house?” he asked.“You really don’t have to be here, James,” I answered him.“No. I need to know what Karani saw when she looked at Shoran’s memories.” James was adamant and I knew that nothing I said would keep him away.“An hour,” I said and he ended the call.I didn’t call him back. We all grieved in our own way and I had done the same thing. I had switched everything off, and distanced myself. I would give James all the time he ne
Karani briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I knew how hard this was for her. She didn’t like looking at people’s memories, especially painful ones like these, but she’d done it for Shoran without even thinking about it.“I went to Shoran’s hospital room and looked at her memories. The things I’m going to tell you now, are the things that happened to her. She was awake and alert for most of it. James is correct, by the time he got back to the house, Dave had already raped her once.She was pressed down on the table and Dave took the letter opener from the table and then he repeatedly raped her with it. Shoran had counted fourteen times that he stuck it inside her with force. She was bleeding profusely and she passed out while he laughed.”This time, Malachi had tears in his eyes as well and he squeezed Karani’s shoulders. James didn’t look at anyone, his gaze was fixed on the floor. He stood up without saying a word, wiped his eyes and left the den.I hurried out after him
The day after Christmas, Malachi stood next to Shoran’s bed and watched the same two police officers arrive and walk towards her room. A tear slid down Shoran’s cheek as she looked at Malachi. He gripped her hand tightly and she nodded her head.“Mr. Sinclair.” Officer Jones nodded in greeting. Officer Peters didn’t bother to greet either of them. “Morning Miss.” It was hard to look at Shoran and Robert felt extremely uncomfortable. “Morning, officers,” Malachi said. Malachi looked intently at Robert Jones because the other officer made his skin crawl. There was something about the man that didn’t sit right with him.“We really apologize for the inconvenience of this interview,” Officer Jones said. “Can you tell us what happened?”Shoran took a deep breath and looked at her hands. “James and I were housesitting for Malachi…er…Mr. Sinclair. We were busy in the kitchen and I realized that we needed a few things from the store. So, James said he would go and I stayed at the house. There
As James walked out of her room, Shoran began to cry uncontrollably. It hurt so much to see him walk away from her. Why had she taken her ring off? Why didn’t she tell him that she would come back? She felt more hurt emotionally than she did from her injuries and surgery. Losing the baby was one thing, but losing him too, it was too much and she broke down.Shoran wiped her tears away as her parents walked into her room, concern etched onto their faces. Her mother hugged her tightly and began to cry.“Don’t cry, Mom,” Shoran said and tried to comfort her mother.“I’m so glad you’re coming home, sweetheart,” her mother said and sniffed.“It’s just until I’m better, remember,” Shoran reminded her.“You can’t honestly want to come back to this place!” The look on her mother’s face spoke volumes and Shoran knew she had to rectify the situation.“Mom, nothing’s changed. I still love James. I’m just confused at the moment. I just need some time to figure everything out,” Shoran argued.“You
“This is a bloody mess!” Juniper said as Ramos threw his phone against the wall. Dave sat on the couch in the living room with a smirk on his face.“You started this mess when you told her to leave!” Ramos shouted at Juniper.Juniper was much too insecure to keep Adara in her house. Telling her to leave had been the only thing she could think of to do. She would do anything to keep Ramos. He just did something to her, and she would cling to him until her last breath.“You’re the one who had an affair with her!” Juniper shouted back.Dave burst out laughing. Ramos wouldn’t have an affair with that girl. They were cousins and the bad blood flowed through all their veins. Besides, this wasn’t the first time that Ramos and Dave had gone ‘rogue’ like this.“Will you both shut up,” Dave said lazily. He was still reliving that pretty, blondish girl from the drawing room. He got hard just thinking of her bent over that table. He stood up and Juniper could see he was aroused. She wished that s
Dave got into his truck and drove to the nearest bar. He sat drowning his sorrows and decided that he would go scout up the surroundings at the big house in the woods. There had been no new activity in town, so pack-affiliates couldn’t have arrived yet.He didn’t have a lot of knowledge about how packs worked, having grown up as a lone wolf for most of his life, he didn’t really care for pack etiquette. He had no desire to be an Alpha or any rank for that matter. He just wanted his cut, the cut of Adara’s inheritance that Ramos had promised him. Supposedly, the little girl was worth a few million and even more than the money, he wanted a taste of her.He stumbled to his truck for a bit as his body heat evaporated the alcohol. He felt slightly better and got into his truck. He sat there for a few minutes, making sure he was completely sober before he drove off.He drove towards the hospital, a route he hadn’t taken before, so any scents up there would be fresh and new to him. He doubt