He walked over to me, put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes, “Just try to calm him down.”
“Thanks,” I choked slightly.
He examined my neck and touched the bruised skin gently. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Anytime, kid,” he smiled and left me alone with Rayce. I approached him while he was still trapped in his menacing form of teeth and blood. He stepped back and tried to turn away from me. I got closer to him and reached and touched the side of his cat-like face. I could feel his razor-sharp teeth touching the palm of my hand. I got down on my knees and looked him in the eyes.
“I know it has to be hard to calm down enough to change back, baby. It’s alright,” I said in a soothing voice. The best I could muster after what had happened. He pulled away from me and I could see blood on my hand. I grabbed his huge head with both of my hands and made him look at me. “I’m not afraid,” I exclaimed.
I softened my eyes, smiled, and began to stroke his fur like I would with my dog. If I remained calm, so would he. His breathing was ragged as he still growled deeply, but it was slowing. The vibrating stopped and he sat down on the ground. The magical mist of the hellhound shift began to swirl around him slowly. His watercolors of red and black began to swirl around my patient hands. I didn’t stop stroking him as his bones shifted back into place. It was a wonderment to see Rayce finally appear before me. “There’s my guy,” I stated softly as I pushed his messy hair away from his gorgeous face. Gage’s blood still lingered in his mouth. He spit it out onto the grass.
“I’m sorry, babe.” I was caught by surprise and I didn’t protect you,” he said softly. “Fuck, your eyes.”
“What about them?”
“Did he choke you again?”
“Yes.” I grabbed at my sore throat.
“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you,” he said. His pride was beaten but I didn’t care. I took him in my arms and held him close to me.
“You did protect me,” I showed him the bite he gave me on my neck. “This stopped him from having his way with me.”
“The bite won’t detour him from you forever. It surprised him and that is why he stopped. He will be back.”
“Maybe, but not tonight,” I assured. “Are you hurt or can you walk?”
“I’m fine,” he said, but his left eye was deep red and the skin at his brow was split from where Gage had kicked him. “Are you alright?”
“Sore, but I will be fine,” I assured.
“We should get inside,” he said and I helped him to his feet. He slipped back into his jeans before we stepped inside the house. Marie startled me when I looked up at her.
“Holy shit!”
“What?” I asked as I helped Rayce down into his chair.
“Your eyes,” she said in shock.
“What is it?” In a panic, I checked my reflection in the toaster. I feared one was actually bulging out. “Holy hell.”
“He choked her in the truck before you came out,” Rayce explained to them.
My eyes were still intact but the whites were blood red. Blood vessels had burst from the lack of oxygen as Gage choked me. After all Gage had done to me and Rayce, I never thought he would go so far as to literally choke the life from me. Rayce was right, Gage wouldn’t stop, which meant I would have to stop him before he could hurt me or my family again.
I turned to face the three people in my kitchen. I couldn’t deal with this anymore. “Jay, I know Gage is your brother and you can hate me forever after I say this, but I hope you don’t,” I paused and finally found the words. “I’m going to kill him.”
CHAPTER
17
It was kind of dark in my room when I woke up but my clock said it was mid-day. The dark haze I saw outside of the window looked like it was raining. I crawled out of the sanctity of Rayce’ sleeping body and made my way to the bathroom. The floor was freezing.
While brushing my teeth, I had a bad feeling in my gut. I wasn’t sure what it was but it lingered heavily on my mind.
The house was quiet, other than the stairs that creaked with every step I took. I still couldn’t shake the bad feeling that I had. It felt like I was in a dream but couldn’t wake. I started to make my coffee. While I waited for it to finish, I thought about the past animal sightings. I knew it was the hellhounds people were reporting but the color was what stuck out at me the most. It was black, just like Gage’s hellhound form. He was the only black one in the group of hellhounds I had met.
I knew Gage had been sighted roaming the land of the nearby towns. He was also more than likely the one who slaughtered all of those cows. I wouldn’t doubt that it was him who killed the dogs that I read about in the newspaper. But why?
Was he the one who killed the man behind the hardware store several years ago? The thought gave me a shiver. I wondered if the man was another hellhound or someone who knew too much about their kind.
Rayce came into the kitchen yawning and rubbing his eyes. “Good morning, babe.”
“Good morning,” I smiled at him. He had completely healed but my throat was still bruised but my eyes were healing. He poured himself a cup of coffee. His taste was gross. Black with no sugar. Coffee water. I couldn’t live without cream and sugar.
I walked over to give him a morning kiss but stopped to look out the kitchen window. “It’s snowing,” I said in surprise. “Did Tank come down with you?”
“No. I thought he came down with you,” he replied as he sipped his cup.
“He must be on the couch.” I walked to the back door and turned the knob. Opening the door was hard. It had to be frozen from the other side. I grabbed the knob with both hands and gave it a hard pull. It flew open and I nearly fell on my ass. The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. My first reaction was to close the door but I had to let the dog out. “Come on, Tank. Outside,” I called, but he didn’t come.
Rayce whistled for him and he still didn’t. I closed the door a little and headed to the living room. Tank has never liked the snow so I always had to force him to go outside.
“He must be hiding someplace,” Rayce snickered.
“Yeah, he hates the cold like his mother,” I giggled.
I checked the couch but he wasn’t there. As I went up the stairs, I flipped on the heat. I looked all around the house for him. I checked under beds and even my office. I came back downstairs in a panic. Rayce was at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me, “He has to be here someplace. He couldn’t have gotten out on his own,” he said.
My heart sank, “What if he didn’t get out on his own? What if,” I paused and ran passed Rayce. The cold air coming into the house gave me a shiver. I opened the back door enough to step outside on the back porch. I walked to the right of my wraparound porch and looked down to the front of the house. I didn’t see anything. I went the other way and looked down the other side of the house but nothing. “Tank,” I called. My heart was in my throat. I could see my truck parked in the drive way coming into the back yard and it was covered in heavy snow. The flakes that fell from the sky were huge and I could feel them hitting my head as soon as I stepped off of the last step into the yard.
Rayce had come out of the door and stood on the porch. “Tank, come on, boy,” he called.
Emotion found its way out of my chest and into my throat. Tank was my baby and he was missing, “Where could he be? He has never run off before,” I cried.
Rayce came out into the falling snow with me, rubbed my back with his right hand and tried to pull me back to the house. “Come on inside. I will get dressed and go look for him.”
We started to walk back toward the house but I stopped, “I need to check the front yard.”
“I’ll check the other side of the house, babe. Don’t worry, we will find him.”
The snow was starting to fall faster and harder. It was almost turning into a white out. I looked under all of my rose bushes and even down the street a little but I couldn
’t see far. “Tank,” I called. “Where are you, bub?”
Feeling defeated, I turned back to the house and finally saw him. He was lying motionless on the porch in front of the door. I ran up on the front porch and fell to my knees with a loud thump. Rayce came around the corner of the porch and ran up to me. The lump came back and the tears fell down my cheeks. “Oh, my baby. I’m so sorry,” I sobbed as I took his body in my arms. He had been mutilated. His throat was ripped out. He suffered a great deal. I couldn’t control my tears. I thought I would die right there as I cradled him.
“Babe, I’m so sorry,” Rayce said softly.
My paper was rolled up and crammed into his mouth. I kissed him on the head and cried over his dead body. Only two people could have done this but only one person had a key to my home. I knew that Gage had killed my puppy. Rayce pulled me into his arms and held me as I soaked his shirt with my tears.
“I can’t leave him out here,” I sobbed.
“Come inside. I’ll take care of him,” Rayce assured as he got me to my feet. We walked back around the house, entered the kitchen, and Rayce closed the door with a slam. He walked with me to the living room and sat me down on the couch.
“Stay here and get warm,” he said softly. He kissed my forehead before he turned to go upstairs. I sat and cried about my dog. I wanted to kill Gage for this. I hated myself for not protecting him. My stupidity killed my dog. The pain was too great. I felt defeated.
Rayce came back down dressed in jeans and boots. He grabbed his jacket that was on the banister at the bottom of the stairs. He winked at me and turned to the kitchen carrying something white in his hand.
I stood, took a deep breath, and with the tears still falling, I walked into the kitchen. I watched Rayce enter the tiny house in the corner of the yard. He emerged with a shovel.
I dressed quickly and went outside. I grabbed my own shovel. When I came out of the tiny house, I saw Rayce coming back from the front yard with my dog in his arms. He had taken care to wrap him in a sheet.
“You don’t have to do this, babe. I’ll take care of it,” he said.
“No. He’s my dog. I need to do it,” I explained while still crying.
“I understand,” he said softly and put Tank down on the snow-covered ground.
He crammed his shovel into the frozen ground and started a hole. I walked over and used my foot to shove the garden tool into the ground and came back up with a clump of dirt. The dirt was a little wet so it made it heavier than usual.
With my tears still falling, we finished the hole. Rayce handed me his shovel and bent down to pick up Tank for the cold ground. I could see now that he made sure all of the awful parts were covered and removed the paper from his mouth and closed it. Somehow, he made it look like Tank was only sleeping.
I looked down at Tank in his forever sleep and gave his head a kiss. Rayce covered his head and gently placed him into the hole. Saying my final goodbye was harder than I thought it would be. “I will miss you, bub,” I cried as we covered him with dirt.
We walked back into the house and I walked up the stairs to my bed. I pulled the covers over my head and cried until I fell asleep.
Hours later, Rayce woke me with a soft kiss on my lips. I raked my fingers through his hair to hold him tighter to me. His hands wandered over my body, waking me fully.
“We have company,” he said against my mouth.
“Later,” I whispered and kissed him deeper.
“I wish I could stay in bed with you all day,” he said. “but we have a problem.”
I sighed in defeat and released him, “A bigger problem than what we already have?”
“The same problem but it has escalated,” he said as he pushed my hair behind my ear.
“Will it ever stop?” I grumbled.
Downstairs, Jay and Marie were sitting on the couch. Marie stood up and pulled me in for a tight hug. I kept my emotions in check. I was tired of crying.
“I’m so sorry, my friend. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“You can help me hunt down Gage and that bitch of his,” I expressed.
“You got it, chick,” she smiled.
“Gage is sadistic,” I stated and sat down on the couch. Jay looked at me in surprise. “I’m sorry but it’s true.”
“You both don’t understand what we have been dealing with this last week,” Rayce said.
“This psychotic behavior has to stop. Gage has to die,” I expressed. Jay looked at me with surprise splattered all over his face. “Your brother is crazy. No kidding. Downright crazy.”
“We already know that but what happened this week?” Marie asked.
“He had flowers delivered, he steals my mail, and he even came inside and set out my night clothes when we left for the store the other day. Not to mention, he murdered my dog,” I growled.
Jay looked at me, “What do you want me to do Jessica?”
“Listen, I know he’s your brother. I told you that you didn’t have to be my friend anymore if you didn’t like it. Gage has to die.”
“I know he’s a little crazy but it’s the blood. He has been consumed. That is no excuse for what he has done, I know that, but I can’t kill him. He is still my brother.”
“What if it were me in her shoes, Jason?” Marie asked tenderly. “What would you do if he hurt me?” He sighed in defeat. “Exactly. Jessica is a part of this family now. We have to protect her by any means necessary.”
“You’re right but you can’t ask me to kill him,” Jay said.
“Then I will,” Rayce announced.
“Can you kill your family so easily?” I could understand Jay’s struggle. His loyalty to his family and the pack was profound.
“After what he has done to me. To her,” he said pointing to me. “Yes. I can end him without a second thought. He has ruined this family and everything we stand for.” Rayce’ words filled the room with such supremacy. It was almost overwhelming but powerful to watch. “Cousin, I understand your struggle, but it must end somewhere.”
“I know,” Jay confessed.
“I want you to gather what remains of the pack. We need to have a meeting about this issue immediately.”
“What do you mean by what remains of the pack?
“Unfortunately, a lot of hellhounds are missing,” Jay explained.
“Missing?”
“Many have gone missing,” Marie explained. “We believe Gage has gotten his hooks into them.”
“We aren’t sure if they have gotten hooked on the hunt or ran away. They could be dead or joined a different pack. We aren’t sure,” Jay explained.
“Shit,” I said.
“See? Problems,” Rayce stated.
“How many are left?”
“Maybe ten,” Marie stated with a shrug. “We aren’t sure.”
I looked up at the two big men filling my living room and they were both on their phones. Rayce closed his and looked down at Marie and me.
“Let’s go. We are going to go to the office. Some of the pack members are already there,” he explained.
We all loaded up in the truck and headed over. I sat in the small back seat with my hellhound friend and all I could think about was killing Gage. Rayce was right. Gage does deserve to die for what he has done and I was going to take pride in doing it myself.
Rayce typed in his code and the gym door popped open. We walked in and there were only two men and one woman inside. I recognized them from the raid at the landfill.
Thirty minutes later, seven more showed up. Jay stood in the middle of the ring and all of the people gathered around him. It was easier for everyone to see him from up there. They were ready for him to take the lead. Rayce was standing behind me with his arm around my waist.
“Everything will be alright,” he whispered but his body shook. I stroked his hands tenderly, trying to calm him.
“I know that,” I said softly.
He released me and turned me around so I could face him. “I love you, bab
e.”
Before I could reply, he kissed my forehead and walked toward the ring. I watched as he climbed up and stepped inside. He approached Jay and whispered something. My boss stepped back and gave him control of the mat.
Rayce had a different presence about him. It was the look of authority. Before he addressed the remaining pack members, he looked up and smiled at me. My heart skipped and I couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“You all know who I am but my true identity has been hidden from you,” he said. I was shocked. What was he saying? The pack members began to murmur to each other. Rayce sighed, “I am your true pack master.”
Everyone erupted in a ruckus. They were blaming Rayce for the broken pack. I was growing furious at them all. My body heat began to grow slowly. Jay had to step forward to calm them down.
“Please, everyone,” he said. “You must understand. Rayce was thrust into leadership before he could completely understand what came with it. We made the best choice for the pack at the time.”
“Please, let me explain,” Rayce said. “My father was pack master. I was only a child when I became pack master. I relinquished my position to Gage.”
“Why not give it to Jay?” one member asked.
“Right. He has led us these past few years,” another stated.
“You have to understand. Gage is the oldest in our family. The position fell to the next in line,” Jay explained.
“Due to Gage’s antics and destruction of this pack, I am stepping up and taking back my proper place as your pack master,” Rayce declared. “If any of you dispute this, leave now. I will not stop you. If you stay, your loyalties lie with this pack and me as your leader.”
I could feel the change of the energy in the room. Everything seemed to shift. The pack members knelt and bowed their heads, showing the back of their necks in respect. Rayce had reached out and taken hold of his position. With his final words spoken, the pack recognized him as the pack master.
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