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.

the car and drove like hell out of Ashwood, I was reminded of the fact that my absence had been long. Perhaps too long for an impatient man such as my father. I knew it would be

as I went through the motions. I wasn’t quite ready to acknowledge everything that had happened, simply just trying to get through the day without breaking down. To keep moving without remembering his face or

Kieran anymore. He didn’t exist as

it was only me

days of the past. Now, I’d need to work even harder to hide 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, then I was sure that they weren’t

still haunted me every time I blinked.

said to myself in the confines of

safe stared up at me 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 hands on

never existed, I could have lived my life in ignorance until death came

no pain because I was fine. Completely fine. Just… a

into the lock, Miles clearly not investing enough in security, but soon enough I caught my first

my father had been

I could see why.

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

to get back… even if it meant losing his daughter. All

I did catch one thing. Something that wasn’t quite like everything else. It looked almost like a

wondering if the passage pertained to an associate or partner in crime

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

snippet, confused by who he was talking about. Because for as long as I could remember, my 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 wrote here… it was nothing like the man I knew of. Not the cold-hearted, business focused father who I’d lived with for years.

Not Eric Reid.

of documents closed, no

shouldn’t have gone looking through it to begin with, such a thing would get me in trouble. But I’d figured since I’d already broken every rule, that adding ‘snooping’

that, if only for unexpected reasons.

And I sighed.

looked into the reality of my world, the more dark truths I discovered. Truths that would only lead me into situations I was better

evil… a

could have them back and secure his business, just as he wanted. It

the juxtaposition of my life really

next to the book

I’d picked up out of curiosity at the time but

opened a new path of opportunity for me to take, one that could possibly lead

choices as they laid

with a title topic I was

front cover read. ‘A history of The Winter Mist

Silver Lake’.

as was told by Ashwood, at least. I could only imagine the bias I would find inside upon

was I really going to chase down another search into

the millionth time. It felt as though I’d had

My other half.

My… mate.

I

No.

going down this path.

Rae or Rheyna… I was Raven.

was time for me

is exactly what I

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 feeling considering the nature of my life,

A needed one.

brightly through, emanating from down the hallway. I knew

was awake.

felt nervous confronting him. Would he be angry? Had he somehow discovered what I’d