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.

been long. Perhaps too long for an impatient man

wasn’t quite ready to acknowledge everything that had happened, simply just trying

about Kieran anymore. He didn’t exist as

it was only

my presence, an entire species probably soon intending to hunt me down. Because if a war could span over fifty years because of one pack,

look of hatred on Allison’s face still haunted me every

in the confines of

me the very thing that had started all of this. What my father had been desperate to

I could have lived my life in ignorance until death came for me. That sounds better than this… than now living with

There was no pain because I was fine. Completely fine. Just… a girl doing her job. And I pushed back the feelings threatening to

couple of minutes to crack into the lock, Miles clearly not investing enough

my father had been after.

I could see

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

even if it meant

as I was 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

passage pertained to an associate or partner in

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

and in personal life. Never even so much

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

Not Eric Reid.

folder of documents closed,

would get me in trouble. But I’d figured since I’d already broken

only for unexpected reasons. The new information merely

And I sighed.

more I looked into the reality of my world, the more dark truths I discovered. Truths that would only lead me into situations I was better avoiding. Just like how chasing after Kieran had led

evil… a mistake. Undeserving.

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

the

to

at the time but

a new path of opportunity for me to

as they laid

book with a title topic I

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

Silver Lake’.

my birth family’s history. Or… as was told by Ashwood, at least. I could only imagine the bias I would find inside upon reading. Though some information was better than nothing. Better

chase down another search

it some more, my heart ached for Kieran for the millionth time. It felt as though I’d had a part of myself torn away when I’d left, tearing more and

My other half.

My… mate.

person I lo-.

No.

wasn’t going down this path. Not again.

or Rheyna… I was Raven.

was time for

what I did.

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.

a light shone brightly through, emanating

was awake.

be angry? Had he somehow discovered what I’d been up to in