And her name was vengeance.
Once their screams died out, Scarlet surveyed the gory scene, a sense of satisfaction coursing through her, but she was not yet fully sated. A howl tore through her, escaping into the cold night. It remained unanswered. It was then that she Changed into her wolf form; the act was graceful and lithe. Elegant. She sniffed the air instinctively, extending her white-coated neck. Slowly, methodically, she then wound through the bloody carnage that tainted the freshly driven snow around her and made her way to my parents. Nudging their bodies with her muzzle, she eyed their lifeless forms while they limply rolled into the snow where they lay.
I could not help but notice Scarlet's pause.
I felt no grief from her. No sense of loss. But there was something else there, something that implied that she did not want to abandon them―or couldn't. Not easily.
But a sound, somewhere in the distance, caught her attention. She snapped her head around to stare off at the darkness behind her. With one final look at my parents, she bolted into the woods at an unimaginable pace. She ran forever, covering miles and miles in her effort to avoid whatever it was she had heard. There was an urgency to her pace, as if a primal instinct drove her onward. Finally, after hours had passed and her feet were bleeding, she seamlessly Changed back into her human form. Fur became flesh, still bloodied from the execution of my parents' murderers, and she basked in the light of the moon that shone down upon her through a break in the dense forest. Then, out of nowhere, she spoke.
Time for me to go, she clipped. But before I leave, I need to do something.
Without warning, she reached down, wrapping her hands around her thigh―our thigh―and with a quick flick of her wrists, she snapped the bone clean in half. She felt nothing. Limping her way over to a large tree nearby, she then repeatedly threw her body against it, banging her head and torso, scratching and grating her skin until it peeled from her body. A smug grin tugged at her lips as she slunk down along the rough bark of the tree, nestling into the snow at the base of the trunk.
Then she laughed.
Sorry about this, my friend. You'll understand one day why I did it.
She closed her eyes, resting her head against the rough surface behind her and slowly she faded into the background, surrendering her freedom to me, though I had no idea at the time. With the changing of the guard came a pain so excruciating that my mind could not bear it for more than a moment. I screamed in agony, then I passed out.
When I awoke, Sean was there.
After her memory faded, I found myself sitting outside the restaurant, my mouth agape. My mind could not process all it had just witnessed, and yet it had to. There was no other option. I finally had the answer I had long sought and long feared, and it was nearly paralyzing. Nearly.
I had not finished examining the evidence before me.
With a deep breath and a roll of my shoulders, I straightened my spine against the fear that had overtaken me, and I sorted through what was left of the photos I held. Frame after frame, I saw a bizarre scene play out in two-dimensions before me until the final picture I grasped between my fingers fractured my psyche.
It seemed innocuous at first, just another photo of the military men I had begun to recognize, though this time they were dressed in plain clothes. There was such a crowd of them that I almost missed the tiny frame of the female who was flanking one of them, her mouth opened wide in laughter. She looked joyous, though surrounded by murderers.
She looked at home.
It had become apparent to me during my time with Ronnie that she was not unfamiliar with the world of violence that surrounded me. However, for all her insanity, I never thought that she would find such delight in it. And yet there she stood, vibrant and happy, looking up into one of the faces I had just seen in Scarlet's memory.
Then everything fell into place.
“It can't be,” I whispered aloud, my hands shaking while I tried to make the picture show me something else, something I could believe.
The Underground. Ronnie's safe haven from all things supernatural had killed my parents. It seems we may have a traitor in our midst, Scarlet warned, though my mind rejected her words.
She smelled a rat.
I smelled a pawn.
The Underground had killed my family. And, for Ronnie's sake, I hoped she had no part in it, because in that moment I vowed that, once I had tracked down every last one of them, I was going to make Scarlet's wrath look merciful.
Hell hath no fury.
* * *
By the time my mind caught up with my body, I was halfway home. My phone in hand, I had already queued Sean's number. I needed my thoughts to come out coherently, but I wasn't holding out a lot of hope for that outcome. My emotions were rising far too fast.
It rang with no answer as I stepped in front of the exterior door to my apartment. Strange. Instead of going up, I rifled through my pockets for the keys to the TT, ready to speed over to Alan's. If he wanted a lead, I just got the motherfucking lead of the century. I needed to tell him and Cooper and all the others that things were starting to become clearer. That maybe we could unravel the mysteries surrounding us and get some justice for McGurney too.
I turned to where the TT should have been parked and saw nothing. Realization that it was still a mangled wreck of metal at the bottom of a hillside settled in quickly. With no other options and no time to waste, I ran through town, covering what should have been a short car ride to the suburbs in record time on foot.
“The Underground killed my parents,” I muttered to myself repeatedly; it became a rhythmic chant that somehow calmed me while I raced around the corner to his street. My melodic ramblings immediately stopped when I stared down the tree-lined road, the strobe-like flashing of red and blue lights cutting their way into my consciousness.
It looked as if the entire Portsmouth Police Department was huddled in the middle of the road, their cars jackknifed in all directions, as though they'd come to a halt abruptly and jumped out without thought. My heart dropped instantly.
Once my legs obeyed my brain's command to run, I sprinted toward the scene where a swarm of cops, both uniformed and not, hovered in the front yard of a familiar property. My throat tightened as I neared the yellow tape of the crime scene.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, grinding to a halt only feet from the barricade.
Alan...
Epilogue
There are times in life when the imagined worst-case scenario proves better than reality. When the images cultivated in your mind are not nearly as horrifying as the truth. When the desire to turn back time and do things differently burns through your body so fiercely that it singes the very fiber of your being, forever changing you.
And change me it did.
I could remember that evening with precision, and yet the details still remained cloudy. Crystal clear memories blurred together. I remembered how the bright yellow police tape flapped violently in the wind; how the lights of the cruisers reflected off the windows of the surrounding homes, nearly blinding me at times. I remembered the pounding of my feet on the pavement and the sound of my ragged breath in my ears, blocking out the noise of the scene. I remembered seeing Sean in the crowd. An explanation. Crying.
But I still could not remember his exact words.
I remembered the sharp jolt of pain I felt when I crashed to my knees. The feeling of Sean's strong arms lifting me up. A car. Driving. Home.
I remembered the soft spell of sleep cloaking my mind, begging me to succumb to it. The safe embrace that held me tight. I remembered the sadness. Anger. Guilt.
Those three emotions drove me.
In the darkness of my room, I stared off at nothing, my mind turning. Planning. Plotting. If the Underground thought they could hurt those close to me, they were wrong. Dead wrong. And if it was the last thing I did, I would drive that point home to them with such clarity that they would see nothing else.
I had become rage incarnate.
; And they were about to incur my wrath.
Author Note
Thanks for reading “STRAYED.” I really hope you enjoyed the twists and turns the series has taken as we approach the very end of Ruby's journey in the CAGED world. If you loved this book and this series, and want to help support it further, one of the best ways to do that is by leaving a review on whatever retail site you purchased the novels from. We only have TWO installments left in the series! Please help bring new readers to Ruby's wonderfully kooky urban fantasy books.
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ARES: Former god of war. Father to all the PC brothers. General pain in Sean's ass.
COOPER: Ruby's roommate and alpha werewolf.
JANNER: Leader of the U.K. trio of werewolves that sought refuge with Ruby. Former member of the notorious London pack.
ALISTAIR: One of the U.K. trio werewolves that sought refuge with Ruby. Former member of the notorious London pack. His mate Jemma was murdered by his former alpha, Tobias.
BECKETT: One of the U.K. trio of werewolves that sought refuge with Ruby. Former member of the notorious London pack. Quiet but highly intelligent and observant.
SEAN: Leader of the PC (Patronus Ceteri). Boyfriend to Ruby. Total badass.
PEYTA: Teenage daughter of Ronnie Marks (owner of Better With Age clothing store), Healer, and dating one of the PC brothers, Jay.
JAY: Highly ranked member of the PC. Sean's right hand man. Boyfriend of Peyta.
RONNIE (a.k.a Veronica): Mother of Peyta, highly armed friend of Ruby, owner of Better With Age clothing store, and overall loose cannon. Knows of the supernatural but isn't one.
GINGER: Grandmotherly figure to Ruby. Wife of the ever-mysterious Gavin.
GAVIN (a.k.a the Chameleon): Legend amongst the supernatural community. Able to change his appearance. Haunting presence in Ruby's life. He is trying to separate her from Sean.
SCARLET: Ruby's inner wolf. General bad ass.
TREY: One of the PC brothers, who excels with technology.
TOBIAS: Dead alpha of the London pack. Wolf responsible for the brain control of the UK trio in FRACTURED
DEACON: Dead former alpha of the London pack. Predecessor to Tobias. Killed by Alistair, who was manipulated into doing it by Tobias' mind control technology.
ALAN (a.k.a Detective Beauchamp): Detective at the Portsmouth police department. Husband of Ruby's friend Kristy. Unknowingly involved in the supernatural world through the death of his friend and mentor, Jim McGurney.
McGURNEY: Former Army Ranger and member of the CIA. Died investigating the Rev (Keith James) in SCARRED. His murder is yet unsolved.
THE REV (a.k.a Keith James): Ronnie's dead husband and deranged werewolf.
MALCOLM REED: Leader of the Underground. Ronnie's long time friend and now boyfriend.
UNDERGROUND: Organization of humans aware of the existence of werewolves. Led by Malcolm Reed. Ronnie is a longtime member of the group.
ARIANNA: Ruby's childhood mentor. Died just after Ruby's parents were killed and she Changed.
MATTY: Ruby's dead friend and dance partner. Was Scarlet's mate for a brief time before she was forced to kill him in SCARRED.
MARCUS: Dead alpha of the Boston pack, who knew that Ruby was an RB. Sold Ruby in CAGED to the Utah pack where she met Cooper.
STRAYED Page 39
