A Gift from the Goddess

Book Two-Ch.# 37

“NO!” Kieran roared.

And right as the dagger pierced the surface of my shoulder, Daniel was promptly pushed off me.

“I said *don’t touch her*,” he growled.

The weight of his words fell over everyone in the room, and once again I experienced the tangible sway of his order.

“Kieran,” Daniel huffed out, unable to get back up to his feet. “She-.”

“No, enough! You’re hereby forbidden from moving until further notice,” Kieran said. ” That goes for you too Allison. Sit down. Now. And I don’t want to hear another word from either of you.”

Allison gritted her teeth but did as she was told.

“What… What is that?” I asked. “What did you do to them?”

Kieran looked defeated as he straightened back up, unable to meet my eyes. He simply stared at two people he held dear as they were trapped on the floor.

“An Alpha heir order,” he said. “It’ll only hold them long enough until a full ranked member arrives though.”

“Kieran-.”

“Leave… Rae,” he said quietly. “I can’t do anything else for you now.”

The pain in his voice was clear, an echo in it that stung me. I didn’t want to upset him further, and so, with one hand covering the shallow new wound to my shoulder, I hobbled back to my feet to grab the book and dagger.

“There’s a cupboard to your left which has an emergency hidden staircase inside it. Use that and follow it all the way down. It’ll take you to the car park outside safely without being seen.”

Just as he’d said, upon inspecting the cupboard, there was indeed a staircase inside. But as I stared into the dark passage ahead, I hesitated once more.

…This was the last time I might see him. Did I really want to leave things like this? With lies intended to push him away and a head full of questions?

“Kieran… I…,” I said, my voice trailing off.

So many things I wanted to say, to explain, to ask about. All of which would take too long to get through. And so, in the end, I settled for one thing.

Just one line.

“…I’m sorry,” I whispered.

And I slipped through the doorway without another word, beginning the descent down.

“This isn’t over, Rae,” he called out behind me. “I’ll find you. I promise.”

But I just wiped at the stray tear that had escaped my eye and kept walking.

There were a lot of promises that were made lately. Too many.

“Do yourself a favour for both our sakes, Kieran,” I said quietly. “…Forget about me. My survival might just rely on that very thing.”

I knew what awaited me now. The only remaining path left.

A path that would lead me to the one place I ever truly belonged.

Back into the shadow of my father.

But first… first I had a job to do.

reminded of the fact that my absence had been long. Perhaps too long for an impatient man such as my father. I

everything that had happened, simply just trying

couldn’t think about Kieran anymore. He didn’t exist as

it was only me vs… them.

even harder to hide my presence, an entire species probably soon intending to hunt me down. Because if a

Allison’s face still haunted me every

in the confines

from within the floorboard, promising to give me the very thing that had started all of this. What my father had been desperate to get his

Perhaps if you’d never existed, I could have lived my life in ignorance until death came for me. That

because I was fine. Completely fine. Just… a girl doing her job. And I

clearly not investing enough in security, but soon enough I caught my first glimpse of the coveted

documents my father had

could see

transactions, photos and other pieces of evidence that would be enough to crumble my father’s business to dust. Yes… Miles was a smuggler, but at some point he must have switched sides. Probably working for someone who had it in their best interest to see my father finally go to jail. Some of the information in here would have

even if it meant losing his daughter. All to save the

shuffling the papers back together, I did catch one thing. Something that wasn’t quite like everything else. It looked almost like a journal entry in my father’s

wondering if the passage pertained to an associate or partner in crime but… but I wasn’t so

The woman came to me again last night and I basked in her glory,’ it read. ‘What I have, I owe to her, and I am reminded of that fact every day by my fortune; with my business and my Raven. It is through her continuous instruction that I have loyally served

father had always been alone; both in business and in personal life. Never even so much as bringing a casual one-night stand over to the house, let alone ever speaking about a woman with such adoration; not like in the way he did

I knew of. Not the cold-hearted, business focused

Not Eric Reid.

documents closed, no longer wanting to read

trouble. But I’d

that, if only for unexpected reasons. The new information merely added more questions to my already confused

And I sighed.

only lead me into situations I was better avoiding. Just like how chasing after Kieran had led me to the state I

broken… evil… a mistake.

into the car, throwing the documents on the passenger seat. My father could have them back and secure his business, just as he wanted. It was a

I threw them down that the juxtaposition of my life really came

to the

up out of curiosity at the time but then somehow

of opportunity for me to

choices as they laid side

a title

Council of the Silver Mist’ the front cover read. ‘A history of The

Silver Lake’.

could only imagine the bias I

really going to chase down another search into who I

millionth time. It felt as though I’d

My other half.

My… mate.

I lo-.

No.

I wasn’t going down this path. Not again.

or Rheyna… I was Raven.

was time for

exactly what I did.

house, the place quiet now within the late hour of the night. This was my longest time being away and it felt almost… safe being back here. An odd

A needed one.

shone brightly through, emanating from

was awake.

confronting him. Would he be angry? Had he somehow discovered