by Lola Gabriel
“You’re amazing,” Rayven murmured to him with a proud smile.
Scout smiled back at her. “Come on. Let’s go outside.”
12
Two Months Later
Scout glanced over at Rayven, who sat beside him on the porch of the newly built safehouse, and frowned at the vague expression on her face. “What’s on your mind?”
She looked at him and smiled slightly. “I was just thinking how nice this is, being outside. Being here with you. Sometimes it felt like I was going to be stuck in that house for the rest of my life.”
“It wasn’t all that bad, was it?” he asked with a grin.
“No, of course not,” she assured him, playfully shoving his shoulder. “It was great. I do miss the big kitchen, and the awesome gaming system you had set up.”
“Well, the house is finally done being repaired. I know you’re all packed, but I still need to gather a few things. Are you sure you want to go back? It won’t bring back too many unpleasant memories?” Scout asked.
“I can’t believe it has taken so long. I will miss this cozy little place, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be permanent.”
“Yeah.” He let out a sigh. “It’s way too small if we ever decide to have little pups running around.”
Rayven raised an eyebrow at him. “Little pups, huh? Are you that eager to start a family?”
“Not at all. I’m a little selfish and want you all to myself for a very long time.”
A smile ran across her lips, and she nodded. “That sounds nice.”
A quiet silence fell upon them as they gazed out into the distance. Then Rayven turned to him again. “I was thinking about something else, too.”
Scout bit back an I knew it. He could tell by the look on her face that she hadn’t just wanted to talk about their current living arrangements.
“Just a few things that I don’t understand,” she went on.
“Go on,” he said, shifting on the wooden bench to see her better.
“If Kala had killed me,” Rayven began, and she held her hand up just as Scout opened his mouth to interrupt her, “what would have happened to you?”
“I would have set the world on fire and then burned down along with it,” he answered immediately.
Rayven looked at him with her mouth slightly parted in shock. “That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Rayven…” Scout grabbed both of her hands in his. “You’re my lifelong mate. Without you, my life would be empty and meaningless.”
“Aw,” she gushed, entwining their fingers together. “I still think burning the world down is a little too much.”
“Yeah,” Scout chuckled, shaking his head. “I do know what you mean. And, to be honest, I’m not really sure. I’m just glad I don’t have to find out.” He leaned in to kiss Rayven, and she squeezed his hands, sighing contently against his mouth. When they pulled away from each other, she was smiling, though it shifted into a hesitant smile soon afterward.
“Okay,” she said. “There’s something else I want to talk to you about, but you have to promise not to get mad.”
Scout grimaced. He didn’t like it when people said that to him. It made him prepare himself for the worst, and it wasn’t a pleasant sensation. “What is it?”
“Promise,” she insisted.
“Okay,” Scout said, hoping he wouldn’t regret it. “I promise I won’t get mad.”
“Okay,” Rayven repeated. “Listen. This whole thing with my family and Kala being my aunt was driving me crazy. It kept me up at night, and I just couldn’t understand how she could be so hurt and angry to be driven to do something like… like all the things she did. She killed her own sister, tortured my dad and Onyx, staged this crazy elaborate plan to reunite me with Onyx only to try to kill us—” She shook her head, as if to dissipate those thoughts from her mind. “Why would someone do something like that to their own family?”
Scout glanced down at their entwined hands. “I don’t think she ever cared about family all that much. She only cared about herself, and her pain clouded her mind and made her desperate.”
“I’ve felt desperate before,” Rayven mumbled, “but never anything like that.”
“We all have our own ways to deal with our emotions,” he said, trying to get rid of the remaining guilt he could see in her eyes. He didn’t want her thinking that something could have been done to help Kala—as painful as it was, he doubted that Kala could have ever been different, regardless of the hand life dealt to her. “Some of us don’t deal with them at all.”
“Like you with your family?” Rayven asked, and her words immediately made Scout tense. “You promised,” she reminded him.
Scout’s shoulders slumped. “Yes,” he answered reluctantly, “like with my family.”
“Look, I know you don’t like to talk about it, but maybe it’ll help you find closure,” she said.
“That’s never going to happen.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s nothing worth closing,” he responded. “The five of us… we were all too proud to work together after we lost everything else. My father used to tell us that blood was what made us related to one another, but loyalty was what made us family. And when the chips were down and things got tough, we broke apart like we meant nothing to one another. We couldn’t work things out after one argument, Rayven. There’s nothing left there to salvage.”
“Oh, Scout…” Rayven let go of one of his hands to softly caress his cheek. “I’m sorry that I brought it up.”
“It’s fine,” Scout assured her, kissing the top of her head. “Really. I’m not sorry I left, and I’m not sorry for not trying to find them. Now I can finally put it to rest and focus on my new family: you.”
Rayven grinned joyfully, and Scout leaned in, kissing her on the lips.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” he murmured against her mouth as he pulled away from her, “Now, let’s go pack so we can go back to our permanent home.”
“I like the sound of that,” Rayven chuckled.
Scout stood from the bench, still holding on to her hand. “I promise you that I will never let anything happen to you.”
“Scout’s honor?” she asked with a smile.
“Absolutely,” he said with a laugh, letting go of her hand. He walked to the door and glanced at her over his shoulder. “I knew you weren’t just a pretty face.”
Rayven laughed, pretending to be insulted.
Scout shook his head, still laughing, and then went inside the safehouse to pack. He looked around the place, his hands on his hips. The Vault had not only been a safe house, it had also been a part of the pack, a place where they could rest assured that nothing would happen to them. And while this new safehouse would never be the same as the original Vault, it didn’t need to. The physical building didn’t matter as much as what it stood for.
Just like Rayven didn’t need to be a replacement for his brothers. They had been a part of his life once, and Scout had closed and left that chapter behind so he could move on to the next one: his new life with Rayven.
After he had finished packing what few belongings he had brought with him to the safehouse, Scout walked out onto the porch. Rayven seemed to be deep in thought, and he cleared his throat to make his presence known.
Rayven turned back to him. Her eyes were red with unshed tears, but when she looked at him, she grinned so wide and brightly that Scout wondered how he wasn’t blinded by her. He loved her, and he would lay down his life for her if he needed to—if it meant she would have the opportunity to grin like that every day of her life.
“Are you ready?” he asked her.
“Always,” Rayven answered, holding out her hand for him to clasp in his own.
For once in his life, Scout looked forward to the future. He was ready to start his new life with Rayven, and Onyx, and Creek. They were his real family.
Not by blood, but by loyalty.
THE END
Wolf’s Baby
Code of the Alpha
1
Coleman, Wisconsin
The Wisconsin sky was cold and fresh as the darkness settled in a heavy blanket over the rolling hills, particularly in the small Midwestern town of Coleman, Wisconsin. The tree branches and ground were covered in a thick layer of winter snow, as they usually were this time of year. It was long past midnight and the town slumbered peacefully, unaware of the fear and anxiety that was about to boil up inside a house on Elm Drive.
Liya Channing opened her eyes as a powerful stabbing pain ripped through her skull, and the world swam around her. She slowly pushed herself up from the cold floor of her bathroom and felt the tightness of her scalp ease slightly. It had been yet another torturous and anger-filled night for Liya. She scrambled to her feet, and almost didn't recognize the person in the mirror. She wasn't even five hundred years old, but she felt much older, especially after what had happened tonight. Her blonde hair hung lifelessly around her narrow shoulders and her blue eyes—which were once filled with light and hope—were now two dark pools of sorrow and nothingness.
Liya stepped out of the bathroom quietly and into the hallway. The floor was cold against the soles of her feet and as she approached the door at the end of the hallway, she stopped. Liya peeked inside and saw the silhouette of her daughter, Illa, sleeping soundly in her crib. She smiled sadly and stepped away from the door. She was quite surprised that the noise of her cries and his growls didn't wake Illa, but she was relieved as well.
Liya carefully walked back to her bedroom and was almost too afraid to enter the dark room, but to her relief, she realized the room was in fact empty. She sat down on the bed and bit her lower lip.
When she met Hunter Duncan four years ago, he was charming and easy to fall in love within such a short space of time. He was very attractive, with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes much like her own, only darker. They had met at a bar that Hunter frequented and, soon afterward, had moved in together. Liya was happy, and despite her parents’ wishes to take things slow and be wary, she took that step.
Then things started to change for the worse, as they usually did.
Hunter became obsessed, as he was a hunter wolf, and soon his violent nature and short temper became apparent, leaving Liya terrified every minute of every day. Hunter apologized, of course, and promised that he would change, but he never did. When Liya told him that she was pregnant, things seemed to calm down. He was calmer, but his troubled demeanor always seemed to lurk beneath the surface. Hunter spent most of his nights out—at bars and clubs—while Liya stayed home with Illa.
A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of all the nights she spent fearing for her life as Hunter unleashed his temper on her. Luckily, he never touched Illa. Liya was not a violent person, but if any harm came to Illa, there would be hell to pay, and somehow she hoped that Hunter knew this.
She ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair and tied it up on top of her head. Her scalp ached again from the pressure and she cringed slightly. She had had enough. She couldn't go on like this any longer. Too many nights had she spent at the mercy of that cruel, vindictive man. Too many nights had she been pushed around and beaten on by that man. Too many nights had she woken up in a daze after that man threw her around. Too many nights had she spent on the floor wishing she was dead. She couldn't take it any longer. There was no use fighting back—Hunter was just too strong, and she definitely didn't want to leave Illa at the mercy of her father.
Liya’s hands started to shake from all the anger inside her, but she simply stared at them. She was paralyzed with fear, but she also knew that she needed to do something. She would eventually die at the hands of Hunter, that much she knew. She stood up shakily and glanced around her. She crouched down in front of the bed, her body aching from the damage done by a man who claimed to love her, a man with whom she’d had a child, a man who didn’t deserve her, or Illa, for that matter.
She slid a large suitcase out from under the bed and emptied her drawers and her closet into it. Not everything was going to fit, so she only took the essentials. She loaded her suitcase into the car and went back upstairs to pack Illa’s things. She packed everything into the car before carefully scooping Illa up in her arms and taking her outside. She gently placed her in her car seat, in its reclining position, buckled her in and covered her little body with a fluffy blanket. Liya placed her baby bag with all her essentials—such as bottles and diapers—on the back seat and closed the door of the car. She pulled the car out onto the driveway and locked it. She didn't like leaving Illa alone inside the car, but she couldn't take her along with what she had planned next.
Grabbing a full can of gas from the garage and walking with purpose through the house, the home she had built with Hunter, she poured the gasoline over the furniture. She made her way back to the garage and placed the now-empty gas can on the wooden bench. She took a few steps back, pulled her lighter from her jacket pocket and lit it. She took a few deep breaths before throwing it into the garage and then rushed to the car. She checked the back seat, where Illa slept, completely unaware of the turmoil around her.
Liya climbed into the car and slowly drove off, watching in the rearview mirror as the flames started to engulf the house, her old life.
It was time to leave this life behind for good, or it would be the end of her.
Liya didn't have a set destination, and simply drove. She drove until the sun came up, fueled by the desire to keep herself and her daughter safe. She also knew that Hunter would be able to track her if she knew in advance where she was going, so she simply kept driving. She just wanted to get as far away from Hunter and his pack as possible.
Hunter belonged to a massive pack, originating from Louisiana, but having branched out to the Midwest. Hunter was a Zeta and he was considered a valuable member due to his hunting abilities, which was also why his violent behavior was ignored, making Liya out to be a liar. The pack members simply turned a blind eye, and it was not something that they addressed.
Hunter could literally find a needle in a haystack and this was what made him both valuable and dangerous, especially to his enemies. Although, now thinking back, Liya felt she was in more danger than his enemies.
Liya was passing through a small town in Minnesota called Easton when Illa started to make a fuss. Liya stopped at a gas station to fill up her car and she couldn't help but glance around her with paranoia. By now Hunter would be standing in front of their burnt-down home, ready to kill, and Liya didn't want to be anywhere near him when that happened.
“Hey, baby,” Liya smiled and took Illa out of her seat. “Are you hungry, baby girl?”
Liya and Illa went for a quick breakfast at a diner across the street, which was quite nice for a small town. Illa had fun throwing the straws and napkins onto the floor, and although Liya apologized profusely to the waitress about the mess, the middle-aged waitress simply smiled, saying, “It’s no problem. As long as she’s having fun, right?”
Liya was grateful to the friendly waitress, and she felt a little more relaxed. She knew she couldn't keep driving too long with Illa in the car, as Illa loved moving around and detested staying in her car seat for long periods of time, but at this moment, Liya knew that she didn't have much of a choice.
As Liya and Illa headed back to her car, she noticed a police cruiser slowly drive past her and her heart started to pound in her chest. She wondered whether Hunter had involved the police or not, but knowing him, he’d take matters into his own hands.
Or his pack would.
She buckled Illa into her seat, giving her a fresh bottle, and just as she was about to close the door, she noticed the police cruiser stop a few yards from her. Her chest tightened as she closed the rear door and walked around to the driver’s side door.
To her dismay, a police officer climbed out of the cruiser and approached her car.
This is it. I am so busted, she thought to herself as she climbed into the car, closing t
he door abruptly.
“Good morning, ma’am,” the officer said in a strange accent she didn't recognize.
“Good morning, officer,” she greeted him politely. “Is there a problem?”
“No, not at all. I noticed you’re from Wisconsin,” he answered and stopped in front of her window.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You’re a long way from home.”
“My daughter and I are visiting family in Washington,” she said nonchalantly, surprised at how easily she lied.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
“Why didn't you just fly?” he asked. “Wouldn’t that be easier with a baby?”
Liya narrowed her eyes for a moment and placed her hand on the steering wheel. As she was about to answer, she noticed the officer look at her hand and he suddenly began to back away. There was visible fear in his eyes and he held one of his hands up in the air.
“I’m sorry that I bothered you, ma’am. Have a safe journey,” the officer said and turned on his heel, hurrying back to his cruiser.
Liya frowned, slightly confused for a moment, and glanced down at her hand. On her skin was a small tattoo in the shape of a crescent moon, which was exposed to the officer when she had placed her hand on the steering wheel.
The crescent moon tattoo was a symbol of Hunter’s exclusive pack and it certainly had its benefits being a member. It struck fear into the eyes and hearts of even the most powerful Alphas in the country. The tattoo, or even the mention of the pack’s name, was enough to command the utmost respect from anyone who saw or heard it.
The Crescents.
Dating back to the 18th century, the Crescents settled in Louisiana, or more specifically, New Orleans. They were originally from France and had traveled to New Orleans a few years after it was founded. The packs settled into the lush plantations in the area, and they were much happier, free from the persecution that almost led to the extinction of the pack. They weren't the friendliest bunch, and in the mid-19th century, another pack threatened to take over their lands, but the Crescents' Alphas and Betas slaughtered the entire pack, burning their bodies in a pyre.