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.

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 punishable to return like this empty-handed.

quite ready to acknowledge everything that had happened, simply just trying to get

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

was only me vs… them.

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,

look of hatred on Allison’s face still haunted me every time I blinked.

are…,” I said to myself in

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

you. Perhaps if you’d never existed, I could have lived my life

Just… a girl doing

not investing

father had

could see

business 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

to get back… even if it meant losing

catch one thing. Something that wasn’t quite like everything else. It looked almost like a journal entry in my father’s handwriting, one dated a few

it, wondering if the passage pertained to an

I am reminded of that fact every day by my fortune; with my

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

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

Not Eric Reid.

I instantly snapped the folder of documents closed, no longer

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’ to the list

reasons. The new information merely added more questions to my already

And I sighed.

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 me to

evil… a

seat. My father could have them back and secure

that the

to the book I’d stolen

Ashwood Archives. One I’d picked up out of curiosity at the

for me to take, one that could

stared at the two choices as they

title topic I was

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

Silver Lake’.

family’s history. Or… as was told by Ashwood, at least. I could only imagine the bias I would find inside upon

I really going to chase down another search into

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 more the further I went.

My other half.

My… mate.

person I lo-.

No.

I wasn’t going down this

or Rheyna…

was time for me to go home.

what I

I finally got back to Lockdale 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 was my longest time being

A needed one.

a light shone brightly through, emanating from down the hallway. I

was awake.

he somehow discovered what I’d