Secrets in the Fade (Secrets of the Sequoia Book 2)
Page 19
Rachael’s smile was a shadow of what it used to be. “Hi.”
Aaron nodded. “Your brother is at his job,” he said.
“I know.” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes briefly, and then stood straighter. “I’m here for you.”
Well. That was certainly unexpected. Aaron flashed a lazy smirk and gestured her in. She accepted but didn’t go past the foyer. After a nervous glance around at the home she was now intimately familiar with, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her school hoodie and held her head high. Her eyes glinted with determination he hadn’t seen in months, and it only piqued Aaron’s interest.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
Rachael hesitated, and then blurted out, “Will you have dinner with me?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
When Rachael remembered Vera’s untimely death, it sent her spiraling back into depression all over again.
Aaron had made good on his word by reporting a body found in the forest near his home. Once he had convinced the police he had nothing to do with it, Vera had gone down as a murder suspect. In the meantime, the police combed for evidence but found little. The papers never announced DNA, so Rachael, Aaron, and the lycans could only hope it had been successfully spoiled.
None of them wanted to tell the truth: that it had been Ana Sofia, their newest pack member, who had bitten Rachael’s best friend. And even worse, it had been Holden Cavanaugh, Rachael’s former love, who had suddenly and cruelly broken her neck.
It was nearly a month before Vera’s parents received the body. And by the time the funeral services were held, they had announced the session would be closed-casket. Vera’s parents invited Rachael to the proceedings. Keeping a respectable distance came easy to her. Not crying was quite a bit rougher, especially with everybody else in tears around them. So she hadn’t bothered to hold back.
The funeral had been harder than her mother’s. At least with her mother she had been braced for her to die early. But Vera had been so sweet, bubbly, and alive. As one of the most popular girls in school, she had been well-loved. It hadn’t stopped her from making good grades and reaching out to her friends in need.
Seventeen was far too young to die.
Rachael knew her friend’s death was hitting her hard. She was morose, her grades had slipped, and she hardly ever spent time at home with her father anymore. Not that Henry Adair seemed to notice. He’d nodded once when Rachael tearfully explained Vera had died, and then told her to go to bed before he opened his second beer for the night.
Her home life was also plummeting, but school was just as bad. Many mourned the loss of Vibrant Vera. The friend group Rachael had made because of Vera tried to hold together, but tensions ran high and they soon fractured and split. Shawna occasionally spoke to Rachael in the hallway, but that was about it.
Coleen, on the other hand, just wouldn’t leave her alone.
Nightly she would call Rachael even though she often wasn’t home. Most nights Rachael returned from the Moreno house, she found at least two new messages from her former enemy. So strange, she thought dimly. Coleen had gone out of her way to attempt to ruin Vera, even going so far as to sleep with her then-boyfriend. Yet she seemed the most lost with Vera gone.
Rachael sighed loudly as the phone rang again. She attempted to ignore the piercing jangles.
But when Coleen left a message, Rachael froze.
“Rache, I’m coming over. I just need to talk. Hope you’ll be there.”
Click.
Rachael groaned deeply. It was hard enough trying to grieve on her own, but Coleen attempting to force her to shoulder her sadness as well was becoming too much. She grudgingly supposed she’d have to have an unwelcome, stern talk with her classmate.
More irritating was that Aaron still had not given her an answer about her request for dinner with him. Rachael flushed deeply upon remembering how casually she’d asked. Only she could have made a request to be alone and talk sound like a date.
Good job, she told herself. Now he thinks you’re a complete crazy-pants. She tossed her clothes in the washer and shut the door when a knock came from down the hall.
Startled, she glanced down the hallway. Whoever was at the front door was, of course, obscured by the door. Though she found dim amusement in her own silliness, a deep sensation of dread pooled in her gut.
It was far too soon for Coleen to be there. At least, she kind of hoped so.
Rachael pushed the start button on the washer before stepping into the hallway. The calm knock sounded again, and she raised her voice. “I’m coming!”
But as soon as she opened the door, she wished she’d shut up and hid.
“Holden,” she whispered.
Holden stood on her front porch, looking as handsome as she remembered him. His rust-colored hair danced with a slight breeze. Brilliantly colored eyes searched her face, with blue, green, and gold roiling against each other like a terrible storm. He was dressed in awfully little for such a cold season.
But that was normal. Lycans ran hot, after all.
“Hey, Ray,” he greeted. His usual cheer was there, but Rachael still felt a tremor of fear. Her eyes drifted down to his hands, recalling how gently they had cradled Vera’s head before snapping her neck.
She took a step back, inching the door a little more closed. “What do you want?” she asked softly. She hadn’t seen him since Vera died in his arms.
Holden tilted his head slightly, his brow furrowed. He looked exactly the same as he had months ago. Only now, she thought, there was a definitive aura of darkness staining him, as though Vera’s soul was a blemish on his person.
“I missed you, Ray,” he said gently. “I wanted to see how you were holding up.”
“Terribly,” she snapped. Rachael cursed herself for allowing her voice to waver. Fear made her body tingle uncomfortably. “I don’t want to see you.”
He sighed. “I thought you might not.”
“Good. Then go.”
But when she moved to slam the door in his face, Holden shoved it back open. Rachael stumbled in her small foyer. She scrambled to right herself, wildly looking to see where he was.
Holden remained on the other side of the threshold. His kind expression was noticeably more disappointed and... dark.
“Look,” he said. “I know you’ve been to Aaron’s place a lot.”
Memories of his intense jealous rages rooted Rachael to the floor.
“You do what you want,” he continued, seeming not to notice her terror. He leaned against the door with both hands, never quite crossing through the door. Hysterically, Rachael found the comedy in a lycan behaving like a vampire—which, supposedly, didn’t exist.
“But know this, Ray. I can’t let Aaron make any more lycans. He’s done more harm than good as one.”
She swallowed. The lump in her throat remained.
Holden stared her down. When she didn’t speak, he said, “Ana Sofia is a kid now. But in ten years she won’t be. In body, yeah, but not in mind. Not totally.” He paused. “You should stay away from them. I don’t want to have you involved when I kill her.”
Icy shock doused Rachael. She shook her head numbly. “Wh... Holden, she’s just—”
“And don’t think about becoming one of them,” added Holden fiercely. The gold in his eyes burned, striking a primitive fear in her chest. In that instant his entire face transformed. Holden was showing the side of himself that loathed his former alpha. Or, perhaps more accurately, this was the side of him that hated all lycans. “Just don’t do that to me, Rachael.”
She forced her legs to unstick from the floor. Grabbing the knob, Rachael said in a loud, trembling voice, “Go away, Holden.” But before she could shut the door completely, his last words drove his purpose home.
“I don’t want to have to kill you, too.”
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Fou
r
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two