by Lola Gabriel
“Shit!” he murmured in frustration. He had forgotten there was no service here. “Rayven! Rayven, listen to me, you need to get out of the house right now!”
“Scout,” Creek mumbled as he hung up, his voice panicked. “You don’t think…”
“Yes,” Scout replied. “I think exactly that.”
“Scout, what’s going on?” Onyx asked, surely confused by the entire exchange.
“This was a diversion,” Creek said quietly, the horrific realization that Scout had had dawning on him. “To get us away.”
“From what?” Onyx demanded. Scout glanced over his shoulder at the distant Silverthorne. He started walking towards the trail they had followed to the Vault. “Scout?” Onyx called him again, his and Creek’s footsteps echoing behind him. “To get us away from what?”
“From Rayven!” Scout screamed, picking up the pace until he was sprinting to his abandoned car. “We have to get back to the house now!”
9
“Where exactly does this go?” Kala asked Rayven as she held up two packets of oatmeal.
“Oh, I moved everything around in here. Scout doesn’t exactly possess the best organization skills when it comes to cabinets and all that,” Rayven answered with a chuckle and held her hands out to Kala. Kala handed over the oatmeal, and Rayven packed it away.
“You seem to be happy where you’re at right now,” Kala said.
“What do you mean?” Rayven asked, glancing back at her.
“I mean with Scout imprinting on you and you living here now. You seem happy,” Kala responded.
“Well, apart from hiding from the cops and someone who’s trying to kill me and the terrible anxiety I feel when I’m alone, sure,” Rayven murmured, chuckling dryly. “Kind of wish Scout had taken me with them to see the Vault.”
“It might’ve been better that you didn’t,” Kala pointed out. “You wouldn’t want to see such a majestic building destroyed like that. Not like I was ever there or saw it myself, but I always wanted to.”
“Must have been a sight to behold, huh?”
Kala let out a hum. “Can I ask you a question? You weren’t a member of this pack before you met Scout, right?”
“Right,” Rayven nodded. “I guess it just didn’t feel right to join another pack after my mom died.”
“I’m really sorry,” Kala said. “Did they ever find out who killed her?”
Rayven looked at Kala again. “How did you know she was killed?”
“You just said so.” Rayven frowned to herself. At her confused expression, Kala went on. “Or, you thought so. They sound the same to me, so I sometimes forget not everyone else can hear. Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“That’s okay,” Rayven said. “I mean, yeah, there was this… void in my heart after I lost her,” she admitted shyly, “but then I found Onyx again, and it actually gave me hope for the first time in years. And then with Scout…” She sighed in contentment, thinking that having Onyx and now Scout as well had filled the void in her heart to the point where it was like it had never existed to begin with.
“Must be nice to feel like that after everything you’ve gone through,” said Kala.
“It is,” Rayven agreed. “I never thought that I would feel like I belonged anywhere ever again, but now everything’s different.”
Kala rubbed the back of her neck. “So, I hate to ruin the happy mood, but what’ll happen if you can’t prove that you didn’t murder that man in the alley?”
Rayven sighed miserably. “To be honest, I have no idea. I have the worst case of cabin fever I’ve ever had. I crave to go outside and run through the forest, or just stand there in the snow. But my picture’s probably all over town, and if anyone found me, they would send me back to jail, maybe for the rest of my life! I have to find out exactly who killed him, it just—” She exhaled a long breath. “It just feels like we’ll never find the truth, and I’ll keep trying to achieve the impossible for as long as I live.”
“C’mon now,” Kala mumbled supportively. “Everything’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to; you’ll see.”
Even though Rayven knew she was only trying to make her feel better in a potentially hopeless situation, she appreciated the words.
“Thanks, Kala,” she said, and she meant it. “I… can’t always tell Scout and Onyx how terrified I am. They’re already worried as it is, how would they react if they knew how hopeless and helpless I feel sometimes?”
She leaned her head against the counter, resisting the urge to hit it against the surface. Rayven couldn’t help thinking that she would drag her family name through the mud if she allowed anyone else to see how weak she really was.
She didn’t hear Kayla move, but suddenly her arms were around Rayven, pulling her into the best hug she could, what with Rayven’s head still leaning on the kitchen countertop.
“Feeling scared isn’t a sign of weakness, Ray,” Kala told her, having probably read her thoughts. “We’re all scared of something.”
“Oh, yeah?” Rayven scoffed, looking at her. “What are you scared of?”
“Disappointing the people I swore loyalty to,” Kala answered. Rayven stared for a long time at her, wondering how such a grown-up wolf could possibly be scared of disappointing anyone. How could anybody think she was a disappointment?
Kala pouted at her. “Hey, I’m not as old as you might think I am.”
“Oh!” Rayven felt a blush taking over her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—I just meant that—”
“I’m just teasing you, Ray,” Kala assured her with a smile. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
Rayven nodded her head, glad that she had avoided a potential disaster. “So, are you happy in Scout’s pack?”
“Sure.” Kala shrugged nonchalantly. “Why do you ask?”
“Well,” Rayven said as she continued to put away the supplies the boys had brought. “Scout told me you haven’t been a member for too long.”
Kala raised a curious eyebrow at her. “You and Scout talk about me? Surely you have more interesting things to discuss.”
“You just came up as a random topic of conversation once,” Rayven explained with a chuckle. “Are you a Colorado native?”
“No. I’m from Maryland.”
“Where in Maryland?”
Kala paused before she spoke again. “Does it matter?”
Rayven frowned slightly at Kala’s tone of voice. She didn’t sound angry or upset, but it wasn’t the cheerful tone she had been using up until now.
“Not… really, I guess? My family was from Vermont. Onyx and I grew up there,” said Rayven. She had just been trying to make small conversation. “So. I assume you were a member of another pack before joining Scout’s right?” She looked over her shoulder to see Kala nodding. “What happened to your old pack?”
“I left them.”
“Really? I thought you could only be kicked out.”
“Is there any reason you’re so interested in my life, Ray?” Kala asked. She had entwined her fingers together and was resting her chin on them, watching Rayven carefully. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, and she was smiling, but Rayven had heard the clear hint of annoyance in her voice.
“No, I just—” Rayven helplessly glanced around the kitchen, unable to come up with an answer that didn’t sound ridiculous or stupid. “I don’t know a lot about you. I was just trying to get to know you better.”
“That’s sweet,” Kala murmured in a very non-sweet tone. “But I’d rather not talk about my past. It’s not like it will matter, you know?”
Rayven was painfully reminded of Scout’s mentality regarding his own past, how he refused to talk or even apparently think about his brothers because he hadn’t seen them in such a long time. She didn’t really think it was a healthy mindset, but who was she to judge? She hadn’t exactly dealt with her own grief in the healthiest of ways.
Kala grabbed a box of candles from the bags of supplies and said, “I’m going to put
these in the bedroom.” Then she left the kitchen in a hurry, as if she couldn’t stand being near Rayven.
Rayven wanted to call her back or apologize or something, but she had clearly overstepped her boundaries. It was better if she gave Kala her own space, to assure her that she wouldn’t ask about anything Kala didn’t feel comfortable telling her. She was one of the only people Rayven had started to think of as her friend, and she would hate to lose Kala because she hadn’t kept her mouth shut when she should have.
Kala’s phone suddenly vibrated on the counter. It didn’t vibrate again, which made Rayven assume a text had come through. Rayven glanced down the hallway to check if Kala would come back soon, but the blonde woman was nowhere in sight.
Rayven didn’t want to check the message and be caught intruding on more of Kala’s personal life. What if it was a text from Scout, though? But then he would’ve called them at the house, right? What if the call wouldn’t connect from all the way up in the mountains? What if he could only send text messages? Maybe it was someone else from the pack with more information about the extractor.
Whatever. Kala would forgive her if Rayven’s intentions weren’t spying, wouldn’t she?
Rayven leaned over the counter to glance at the message on the screen of Kala’s phone. The clear and concise sentences made her blood run cold in her veins.
Alpha and betas are at the site. Get it done.
Rayven’s chest tightened, and her heart pounded against her ribs. She looked out into the hallway again, but rather than being afraid she would get caught reading Kala’s phone, she was afraid that Kala would come back into the room with her.
That’s ridiculous, she told herself. It’s just a stupid text message. You don’t even know what it means.
Her entire body, however, kept screaming that she was in danger. It kept screaming at her to hide, run, get away, do something, there was a threat in the house with her and she had to do something. But Kala wasn’t a threat—Rayven was just anxious because she had made the situation awkward and she had been locked up in a house mostly by herself for a few days longer than she had wanted.
Something Scout had told the members of his pack in the basement during their meeting echoed in her mind.
If you hear or feel anything that doesn’t sit right with you, you are to report to me immediately, he had said. I don’t care if you think it’s just a hunch or a gut feeling. Don’t ignore your instincts.
And her instincts were telling her to keep as much distance between herself and Kala as she could.
She grabbed her phone from her pocket and switched it to silent mode. Then she opened the installed voice recorder and pressed play, leaving it on the countertop. Even if this ended up being nothing, she would rather be safe than sorry.
When Rayven heard Kala coming back down the hallway, she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down and carried on packing away the cartons of almond milk into the bottom cabinets. She tried to clear all thoughts from her mind, not wanting to give away her suspicions. She couldn’t let Kala know what she was thinking.
“I think your phone vibrated like a minute ago,” she said as nonchalantly as possible, keeping her back to Kala. She was too afraid to make eye contact, terrified that her every thought would pour out of her through her eyes.
“Oh, thanks,” Kala said. Rayven stood from the floor as Kala grabbed her phone and read the text she had gotten.
“Is it Scout?” she asked.
“No,” Kala answered. “There’s no service in the mountains, much less near the Vault.” She quickly typed back a response, and Rayven’s instincts went haywire again, yelling, Danger, danger, run, run, run!
“Really?” Rayven forced herself to ask. “I thought you’d never been to the Vault?”
Kala took only a second to respond, but Rayven saw the way her hands tightened around her phone before she put it back down on the counter. “Creek told me.”
Creek wouldn’t have trusted her with any information about the pack’s safehouse. He wouldn’t have told her anything he didn’t need to. Rayven had seen it for herself, and Scout had confirmed it: Creek had never trusted Kala in the slightest.
Perhaps he had been right all along.
“Are you okay?” Kala asked, cocking her head to the side. “I can practically hear the gears turning in your head.” Rayven prayed she didn’t mean literally. “What’s going on in that mind of yours?”
“I was just thinking of…” She desperately tried to come up with something personal, something that would be too embarrassing to talk about in detail. “How… I… can’t wait for Scout to come back! I’ve been so alone today…”
Kala scowled in disgust and shook her head. “Okay, that’s something I didn’t need to know.”
Rayven almost sighed in relief. “You did ask.”
“Yeah,” Kala chuckled, turning away so her back was to Rayven. “I guess I did.”
“Seriously, though, I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Rayven said. “They’ll be okay, right? I mean, they just went to check the damage, didn’t they?” Kala didn’t answer for what seemed like a long time. Too long, in fact, and Rayven turned around so she was staring directly at Kala’s back. “Kala?”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Kala said, her voice barely audible. She glanced at Rayven over her shoulder, baring her teeth. “But you won’t be.”
Her eyes flashed bright yellow.
“I knew it,” Rayven murmured. “I knew it! I knew it was you!” She desperately wished that Scout and the others would come back soon, as she was starting to feel her courage failing. She had never felt so terrified.
Kala was doing exactly what she had been instructed to do; she was taking away every shred of bravery Rayven had. She was extracting them from her.
She was the Crescents’ extractor.
“What gave me away?” Kala asked as she turned around completely, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Saying that Creek told you about there being no reception at the Vault,” Rayven answered. Truthfully, what had given her away had been the text ordering her to kill Rayven now that Scout and his betas were gone, but pretending Creek would willingly tell her anything had been the cherry on top. “You said you always wanted to see it, but you did, didn’t you? You saw it and then burned it down to get Scout, Onyx and Creek out of here.”
“It was the only way Scout would let his precious mate out of his sight,” Kala cooed, a sickening smirk on her face. “You really should have seen it, though. A majestic building, indeed. Too bad it’s nothing but ashes and ruins now.”
“Why did you kill Anton Lombardo?” Rayven demanded, asking the one question she wanted the answer to. She had never expected she’d get to ask it to the only person who could give it to her.
“That was nothing, really, a piece of cake,” Kala said with a nonchalant shrug of her arms. “I knew you were at that stupid club with the horrible music. I chased Lombardo until he sprinted off in that direction, but then I left him to run on his own. He once saw his brother transform right in front of his eyes, and it scarred him for life. I knew how terrified he was of us, and I knew you were on your way out of the club. My timing was absolutely perfect! Sure, I would’ve liked for you to follow him when he ran past you, but after I cornered him in the alley and rearranged his insides a little, you came and stepped right into my crime scene! I couldn’t have done a better job of leaving your fingerprints everywhere if I had wanted to.”
Rayven backed away from her, her bottom lip shaking.
“Now,” Kala continued. “Getting you arrested was the hard part. I was counting on you to use that amazing ability of yours to call your brother, and man, Onyx seriously came through for you! I didn’t expect him to break you out of your cell that same night. Reuniting you two was the perfect plan. The only hitch was that Scout imprinted on you, which is rather unfortunate. After I kill you and Onyx, he’ll be all alone. No best friend, no lifelong mate… poor Scout.”
&
nbsp; “You leave him alone!” Rayven hissed.
“I have no business with him,” Kala said. “It’s you I need to take care of.”
She lunged at Rayven with a deep growl, and Rayven reacted soon enough to move out of the way just in time. Kala swirled and on her and growled again, her eyes flashing.
“How about you transform and then we can fight?” Rayven taunted her. “Is it because you can’t use your ability when you’re a wolf?”
Kala’s expression twisted with anger, and she pounded on Rayven, knocking them both to the ground. Rayven pinned Kala down and pressed her arm to her neck, holding her in place the way she had refused to do it to Onyx while they were training for this precise moment.
“Did you kill my mother, too?” Rayven asked. When Kala didn’t answer, she pushed her arm tighter to her throat. “Did you kill my mother, too?”
“Yes!” Kala growled. “I honestly thought my dear sister would also have your ability, but alas, she disappointed me!”
Rayven’s arm seemed to move of its own volition, her grip on Kala weakening. “What did you say?”
Kala broke free from her grasp and punched Rayven in the face, sending her crashing down to the kitchen floor.
“Surprise, Ray,” Kala said, a sinister grin on her face as she stood up from the ground, towering above Rayven. “Or should I call you my niece?”
“Why?” Rayven demanded, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. “Why did you kill your own sister?”
“Allow me to explain. It might also be the reason why you and Onyx never knew about me.” Kala grabbed Rayven by the throat and effortlessly threw her out of the kitchen, across the room. Rayven flew through the air and landed on the coffee table, breaking it apart into thousands of pieces of wood. “Your father was supposed to be my mate. I had been in love with him for years, despite him never acknowledging me. But then he met Donna, and he went and imprinted on her. He chose her over me.”
Rayven coughed, trying to catch her breath, and shakily pushed herself up to her knees. “So you killed my mother because my father imprinted on her instead?”