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.

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

everything that had happened, simply just trying to get

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

it was only

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

still haunted me every

I said to myself in the confines of a dark office.

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

never existed, I could have lived my life in ignorance until death came for me. That sounds better than this… than now

a girl doing

minutes to crack into the lock, Miles clearly not investing enough in security, but soon enough I caught my first glimpse of

father had

I could see why.

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

Enough to risk it all to get back… even if it meant losing

everything else.

pertained to an associate or partner in

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

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

nothing like the man I knew of. Not the

Not Eric Reid.

I instantly snapped the folder of documents closed,

to begin with, such a thing would get me in trouble. But I’d figured

for unexpected reasons.

And I sighed.

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 me to

evil… a mistake.

into the car, throwing the documents on the passenger seat. My father could have them

I threw them down that the juxtaposition of my life really

next to the book I’d stolen

at the time but then somehow

me to take, one that could possibly

choices as they laid

or a book with a title topic I was slowly

front cover read.

Silver Lake’.

of 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

down another

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.

I lo-.

No.

going down this

wasn’t Rae or Rheyna… I was

for

what

City. The familiar scent of my home greeted me as I entered the house, the place quiet now within the late hour of the night. This

A needed one.

through, emanating from down the

father was

felt nervous confronting him. Would he be angry? Had he