by Lola Gabriel
“I didn’t just kill your mother,” Kala replied as she walked across the living room to where Rayven lay. “I killed your father as well. I was slightly careless with Onyx, though, I’ll admit that. I could’ve sworn he would die from his wounds, just like your dad, but the little bastard managed to survive long enough for Scout to rescue him.”
She grabbed Rayven by the throat and pinned her against the wall, causing Rayven to yelp in pain.
“You’ll p-pay for what you did to my family,” she choked.
“Newsflash, princess,” Kala murmured lowly. “I am your family.”
No. You didn’t betray your family. You didn’t kill your family. As far as Rayven was concerned, Kala was nothing to her. She was a stranger. She was a murderer. She would never be a part of Rayven’s family.
Rayven grabbed Kala’s wrist, trying to break out of her grip, but Kala tightened her grasp on Rayven’s throat, cutting off what little air she had left. Her mind was slowly invaded by Kala’s presence, a breach of her intimacy so strong that nausea coursed through her body. She felt little pieces of herself leaving her, being drained and extracted from her, and she knew that if she couldn’t break free from Kala, it would mean the end for her.
10
Scout ran as fast as he could towards the house, his heart pounding in his chest. Onyx and Creek had headed back to the car and promised to meet him back at his house, and Scout had sprinted off through a shortcut, knowing he’d get there faster.
Even though his muscles burned as he made his ways through the trees, he kept running—he had to get to Rayven.
When the roof of his house finally came into view, Scout charged ahead through the snow like an animal. He jumped over the boundary hedge and crashed through the door, his only rational thought being that he had to make sure Rayven was okay.
The scene that greeted him was the coffee table of the living room smashed to pieces and Kala holding Rayven against the wall with one hand around her throat.
Kala’s eyes were yellow and glowing.
“Shit,” he murmured to himself. He hadn’t wanted to believe it. He hadn’t wanted to believe that Kala—the only other person who knew about the butane canisters, and only because she had read his mind to find that information—was the extractor. That she was not only an extractor, but the Crescents’ extractor.
A deep growl escaped his throat.
“Oh, look!” Kala cried when she saw him. “Your boyfriend has arrived!” She let Rayven drop to the floor and turned her attention to Scout. “Come and get me, alpha. Show me that you’re as tough as you think you are!”
A wave of heat passed through Scout’s body, starting at his back and spreading throughout his limbs until he had transformed into a majestic wolf. He bared his teeth at Kala, growling again.
Kala shook her head. “You know this isn’t going to amount to anything.”
“She can’t use her ability when she’s a wolf!” Rayven called out from her place on the floor, her voice hoarse and breathless.
“Shut up!” Kala snarled. She kicked Rayven, silencing her.
Scout leaped towards her, but Kala quickly transformed into a charcoal grey wolf, smacking him away with her front paws. Scout landed on the ground and pounced on her before she could pin him down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rayven scrambling to her feet, and he desperately wished that she would get the hell out of the house and as far away from Kala as possible.
Scout heard the familiar howls of Creek and Onyx signaling that they were close, and he went for Kala’s neck, sinking his teeth into her flesh. Kala yelped out in pain and threw him off her. The taste of her blood was bitter in Scout’s mouth, and he heaved a few times. He started to feel slightly lightheaded as the world spun and blurred around him.
“Scout!” Creek’s voice came from somewhere behind him. “Scout, spit out her blood! It’s toxic!”
Scout shook his head, trying to focus his eyes properly. He heaved a few more times and spat out Kala’s blood on the floor in front of him. Kala made a run for the door, and just as Scout was about to go after her, he saw Onyx, fully shifted into a wolf, follow her.
“Remember her blood is toxic!” Creek yelled after him. “Watch out!”
Scout felt his wolf form slipping away from his control, and he was left naked on the floor of his wrecked living room. Creek was by his side immediately, offering him clothes to put on. It didn’t take him long, but he still felt a bit woozy.
“What the hell is in her blood?” Scout asked, turning to look at Creek.
“It’s a certain type of endorphin that only extractors have. It acts like a sedative to any wolf who bites them and can be fatal in large doses,” Creek answered.
“How do you know this?” Scout asked.
Creek’s jaw clenched momentarily. Then he said, “Because my blood does the same.”
Scout’s eyes widened, and he unconsciously backed away from him. He didn’t know if he would be able to stand two of the people he held closest to him betraying him in the same day, let alone within the same hour.
“I’m not one of them!” Creek hurriedly added. “I mean, I’m not a Crescent. I’m our pack’s extractor.”
“Why didn’t I know about this?” Scout questioned.
Creek lowered his gaze. “Some things are just best kept secret.”
There was a loud growl and a thud coming from the basement, and Scout scrambled to his feet. Rayven was gone, and Onyx had gone after Kala. They probably needed all the help they could get.
As he and Creek ran down the hallway, Scout asked, “Seeing as you and Kala are the same, any ideas how to kill her?”
“I need her pinned down in her human form,” Creek instructed him. “I’ll do the rest!”
Down in the basement, Scout glanced in horror as Kala, who had shifted back into a human, had the twins pinned against the wall, each hand wrapped around each of their throats.
“How is she even doing that?” Scout asked.
Kala glanced at Scout over her shoulder and laughed wickedly. “The mighty Scout at last comes back to play! And you call yourself an alpha? Here, catch!”
She threw Rayven effortlessly towards Scout, who lunged forward to catch her. To his surprise, Rayven turned around mid-air and landed on the ground in a crouched position, the only sign of her pain a discomforted groan.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Rayven mumbled. “We have to get Onyx away from her.”
“Get your hands off him!” Creek snarled. He ran towards Kala, but she deterred him by scratching him across the chest. Creek wasn’t stopped for long, though, and he threw a powerful punch that sent both Onyx and Kala to the ground. Onyx quickly scrambled to his feet, and he, Creek, Rayven, and Scout cornered Kala.
Her eyes flashed viciously. “You can’t kill me.”
Rayven reached out and grabbed Kala by the hair to hold her in place while Creek helped her to force Kala into a kneeling position.
“I’m sick of playing your games!” Rayven growled. “You killed my parents, but you’re not going to kill me or my brother or anyone else again!”
“Is that any way to talk to your aunt, Rayven?” Kala snarled. Scout immediately looked at Onyx, who stared back at him with the same expression of confusion on Scout’s face. “Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”
“How can that be?” Onyx asked.
“Tell Rayven to let me go,” Kala muttered, “and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Shut up!” Rayven cried.
“Rayven, how is she our aunt?” Onyx demanded.
“It doesn’t matter!” Rayven snapped. “She killed Mom! She tortured you and Dad! She’s a Crescent, Onyx!”
Rayven and Onyx were too focused on their argument that they lost their focus on Kala. None of them, including Scout and Creek, noticed the way Rayven’s grip on Kala loosened slightly.
Kala broke herself free from Rayven’s and Creek’s grasp, and her hand shot out tow
ards Onyx’s neck as she pushed everyone else away from them, sending them spiraling to the basement floor. Scout’s vision went blurry again, and the only thing he could see was Kala holding Onyx in the air as if he were no heavier than a stuffed animal.
“Onyx!” he heard Rayven scream from somewhere next to him. “Don’t look at her eyes!”
Onyx grappled under Kala’s grip, struggling to free himself, but his efforts were all in vain. Kala was just too strong for him, overpowering him completely.
Scout shakily pushed himself up to his knees. He looked over at Rayven and reached out his hand to her. Before he could say anything, though, Rayven let out a furious howl unlike anything Scout had ever seen before, and she transformed in front of his very eyes.
He had been completely wrong about what her wolf form would look like. Her fur was as white as snow, and there was a black patch on her flank that somehow resembled a bird in flight. A raven.
Even though he knew that he and Creek had to do something, Scout was unable to tear his eyes away from her. It was only until Creek rushed to his side and helped him get to his feet that he came back to himself. They had to get Onyx before Kala extracted his ability and killed him.
“Are you ready?” Scout asked Creek.
“I was born ready,” Creek answered.
As they rushed towards Kala, a yellow glow emanating from her eyes illuminated the whole basement.
11
Rayven’s head pounded as the yellow glow faded and she her eyes adjusted back to normal. She was back in her human form, fully clothed, and she glanced around her. Creek and Scout had Kala cornered, fighting her way out of their grasps but clearly not succeeding. They seemed to have a handle on her.
Rayven turned her head, looking for her brother. Her eyes widened as she saw Onyx lying on the ground in his human form, and she crawled over to him.
“Onyx?” she called him. Her brother lay motionless on the floor, and she pulled him into her arms, cradling him as best she could. “Onyx, come on,” she nudged him. “Come on, brother, get up,” she pleaded, her eyes filling with tears at the complete lack of response from Onyx.
“Pin her down, Scout!” Creek called out to Scout, but their voices sounded muffled and far away. The only sound Rayven could hear was that of her heartbeat drumming in her ears.
A sharp shooting pain erupted inside her chest as she pulled Onyx’s body close to her, sobbing into the crook of his neck. She remembered that pain all too well. She had felt it when she and her mother were separated from her father and brother; when she realized they were never coming back; when she had found her mother on the floor of their house in Texas; and now she felt it again. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she shook Onyx’s body, calling out to him in agony. “No, Onyx, wake up. Please, please, don’t leave me again!”
Onyx said nothing. He didn’t move.
Rayven glanced up at the chaos in front of her. Scout had managed to pin Kala down to the ground with both of his arms. Kala tried to fight him off, but she had spent enough energy fighting Rayven, Onyx, and trying to extract both of their abilities. She was tired, and her strength was failing her. Creek placed his hands on either side of Kala’s face, forcing her to look directly at him. His eyes, just like Kala’s had, began to flash a bright yellow.
Rayven’s eyes widened in terror as she realized that Creek was also an extractor. She willed Scout to look at her, and when he did, he nodded his head reassuringly. He knew about Creek, and he, unlike Kala, was on their side.
Rayven watched Creek extract everything out of Kala: her memories, her abilities, and her life force, leaving her with nothing but a big black abyss in which she could spend the rest of eternity. Her grip around Onyx loosened.
“I’m so sorry that I couldn’t save you, Onyx,” she whispered against his hair. “I will always love you.”
Her eye caught a small flicker of yellow light traveling through the air, landing on Onyx’s chest. She followed the origin of the flicker back to Creek, who seemed to be willing those flickers in their direction. They looked like fireflies circling above Onyx’s body, growing brighter as they sunk down into his skin. The flickers all disappeared into him, and he started to glow from the inside.
“Watch your eyes,” Creek warned. Rayven looked away and closed her eyes. Just like before, the entire basement was lit up with an intensely bright yellow light that would’ve blinded her if she had been looking at it directly. After a moment, when the light had diminished, she opened her eyes and glanced down at Onyx.
“What just happened?” she asked. Creek and Scout rushed to her side.
“Creek killed Kala,” Scout said.
“Technically, we all did,” Creek added.
“So, you’re an extractor now?” Rayven asked him.
“I always have been, but it’s because of people like Kala that we don’t exactly advertise our skills, you know.”
Suddenly, Rayven felt Onyx shift in her arms, and she looked down at him to see him groaning.
“Onyx?” she whispered, gently touching his arm. Onyx, to her surprise, slowly opened his eyes.
“Rayven?” he asked groggily. “What… what the hell happened?”
Rayven let out a sob of relief and burst into renewed tears, hugging her brother with all her might. Onyx returned the embrace, though she could feel his head glancing from Scout to Creek, probably wanting an answer to his question.
“Kala’s dead,” Scout said, and his words seemed to have a finality to it that Rayven really appreciated.
Onyx sat up and looked over at Kala’s lifeless body. “Was she really our aunt?”
“She was,” Rayven confirmed. “Listen, I’ll tell you all about it later, okay?” She threw her arms around Onyx once more. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too,” Onyx said.
“I think all of us are,” Scout said. He knelt down in one knee to put his hand on Rayven’s shoulder. “I’m just relieved that this is finally over.”
Almost as if the universe wanted to prove him wrong, police sirens could be heard in the distance.
“Shit,” Scout muttered under his breath. He helped Rayven get Onyx to his feet and then turned to her. “We have to get you out of here.”
“That… actually won’t be necessary,” Rayven said, a smile slowly overcoming her mouth. Scout frowned at her.
“What do you mean? You’re technically still a fugitive. The cops think you’re a murderer!”
Rayven smiled and fished her phone out of her pocket. She swiped across the screen a few times and played back the recording of her conversation with Kala in the kitchen. The four of them listened carefully to every word, and Rayven lowered her gaze in a mixture of pride and embarrassment when Scout stared at her with an impressed smile. Finally, Kala admitted killing Anton Lombardo, and Rayven heard the three men exhale with nearly palpable relief.
“That should take care of that problem, right?” she asked.
“Let’s hope so,” Scout said.
He, Rayven, Creek, and Onyx went back upstairs, and she heard the shocked and horrified groan Scout let out at the state of his living room and kitchen. Rayven cringed apologetically.
“I’ll clean it up,” she said. “I swear.”
Scout smiled slightly and pulled her close to him. “As long as you’re okay, then everything is fine.”
“I love you,” Rayven whispered against his mouth before kissing him.
The sirens grew louder until they were right outside Scout’s home. Three police officers with pistols burst through the smashed door of the living area.
“Freeze!” one of the officers called out. “Hands where I can see them!”
Onyx and Rayven immediately held their hands up, followed by Scout and Creek doing the same. Rayven narrowed her eyes as Detective Morris stepped into the house and smirked at her. “So this is where you’ve been hiding.”
“I haven’t been hiding,” Rayven said. “I’ve been proving my innocence.”
“Yes,” she assured him, slowly pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Here’s the proof that I didn’t kill Anton Lombardo.”
“And does your proof include who killed him?”
“I think you should know the answer to that by now, detective,” Rayven replied, throwing him her phone. Morris caught the device in his hand and stared at it, no doubt wondering why Rayven wanted him to hear the voice memo recorded.
“Detective,” Scout called him. “If you’ll allow it, I can escort you to the basement, where you’ll find Mr. Lombardo’s murderer.”
Morris glanced at the three police officers accompanying him. Although he showed some reluctance, he nodded at them to lower their weapons and followed Scout down to the basement. The five or so minutes they took felt like an eternity to Rayven, but when they finally returned to the living room, Detective Morris headed straight to the door.
“Let’s go, gentlemen,” he said. “There’s nothing else to be done here.” He glanced over his shoulder at Rayven. “I’ll make sure to return your phone after we’ve heard your proof, Miss Stark.” Then he walked out.
The officers looked at each other, puzzled, before following him out of Scout’s house. Rayven, baffled by what had just happened, turned to Scout with a perplexed frown.
“What the hell did you say to him?” Onyx asked him.
“Well, I showed him Kala’s body,” Scout answered. “And I told him that if he kept pursuing Rayven, he would end up exactly like her.”
Rayven stared at him in astonishment. “And that worked?”
“Are you saying you doubt my persuasion skills?” Scout asked.
“No, I’m saying that I can’t believe a Crescent would back down against you.”
“He is the alpha,” Creek pointed out.
“Exactly,” Scout said. “And the alpha always protects his pack.”
“You’re amazing,” Rayven murmured to him with a proud smile.