I dig my fingers deep into one of his eyes and he jumps back in rage giving me a split second to push up from under him. I’m only going to be able to survive with a weapon and as I look on the floor for my blade, Zara is on the window ledge, mad as hell, face back in a snarl and red eyes begging for blood. With remarkable speed, she and Anubis clash again, too fast for my eyes to follow. Then, with a flying kick, Zara sends Anubis into a wall and is on him in the same instant. I watch her head pull back slightly, and then her fangs find his neck. She pumps toxins in his body to make him weaker and soon he can struggle no more. I find Katsu on the floor and warily take three slow steps towards the two of them.
With blood dripping down her lips and Anubis now slumped to the floor, not yet dead but unable to fight any longer, Zara turns to face me with a look that I hope I never see again in my life. Inside her eyes held the promise of destruction, the true monster that is buried deep within her.
I take a step back and then curse myself silently for my stupidity. I’m making myself look like prey. Holding my head up defiantly, I glance at Anubis, no longer as strong, but certainly not back to normal and my heart drops. He looks up at me and growls.
“They don’t come back Rayne, not without the blood of an Immortal, and you learned how well that ended last time. Finish this or I will.”
I silently say a prayer for Anubis, for his dead mate and unborn child. I ask for forgiveness for still being too weak to save anyone. I make a vow to get stronger, to become a true protector so that I never have to do what I’m getting ready to again. With tears mixing with my bloody face, I slam my katana through the werewolf’s heart. He slumps to the ground immediately after I pull her out of his chest. Unmoving, dead, just that quickly.
The hole in my own heart continues to grow.
Chapter Thirty Three
The back of my head begins to pound from when Namen knocked me into the wall. My other injuries follow suit making themselves known. Anger takes me over as I walk back out of the building, wiping the blood of my new friend on the sleeve of my jacket. Zara reaches out to me with our bond, but I shut her out. I even refuse her blood right now. She instead stalks behind me silently, keeping to the shadows, undoubtedly looking for threats that I could care nothing about right now.
Still inside the building, Zara said that she had a friend on the police force that would take care of the body. They were on their way there now. I just hope that the sirens I’m hearing aren’t heading to where we just came from. We did a lot of damage. Shit, I am damaged. It seems that now, I lost another piece of myself. I just hope that Jaxson will at least make it, that Selene had been able to do something for him.
Like a Zombie, I tread back down the road. As I get closer to the abandoned research building, I begin to feel the magic, Namen’s magic sting me all over. He was here, after we left. Zara feels it too and she grabs my arm, pulling me into the shadows.
“Look up ahead,” Zara whispers, pointing in the distance in front of us. The car that Taryn was driving is wrapped around a pole, a limp body hanging out of the driver’s side, unmoving.
I run to the car, hoping against hope that the kids are still alive. Instead, ten pairs of dead eyes stare back at me. Taryn, her pack mate, and three innocent children. There is so much blood. This time, I can’t fight it, I scream in rage, seeing red, cursing the evil that is Namen. Behind me, I feel Zara’s bloodlust rise. She’s fighting to keep her composure, but I can tell that she’s walking a tightrope in a hurricane.
“Don’t you dare,” I warn her. “Don’t you fucking dare lose it on me too. I don’t care Zara, I will kill you myself.”
I turn and meet her gaze and she snarls at me, even though her mind is telling me that she’s fighting it. I take a step towards her, determined. She tilts her head at me questioningly. “What… are you doing?”
I grab her firmly into an embrace, her short body small and almost frail feeling against me. She tries halfheartedly to pull away, but I don’t let her.
“I need you right now. So, you either bite me or you suck it up so we can help the people that I care about.”
She breathes in my scent. “I’m sorry, you told me to help them, but I felt you in trouble and I made a choice. I can control it, but this isn’t helping. Let’s move, but I need you to walk behind me so that I won’t chase you.”
I pull away, and Zara takes off in the direction where we left Selene. She’s making another call about these bodies. There has been far too much death tonight and absolute failure on our part. I refuse to believe that it’s even possible for things to go even worse than they did tonight.
When we return, Selene is still on the ground with Jaxson, his head on her lap.
“He’s alive, barely. I can hear his heart beat. Anubis ripped a large hole into his stomach. Maybe my blood will help him speed up the process, but he has to change to heal. He’s going to be out of it so we need to lock him up in case he loses it too.” Zara then rips open a vein in her wrist and feeds Jaxson the blood. His mouth barely moves as he consumes her life force. Finally, after Zara seems satisfied, she gently drags his giant body to the car. We silently walk to the car and get him in.
I ride with Zara as Selene follows us to another one of Zara’s safe houses. I hold my left arm as close to my body as possible. Zara promises that she’ll help heal my shattered arm as quickly as possible once we are safe, regardless of my protests. She tells me that my face will probably scar a little. I cringe at the thought.
We move fast and get Jaxson in the house and into a large, kennel looking thing but with much stronger metal, and lock him in. Selene then spells it so that he still won’t be able to leave if he breaks free. That drains the last of her power and she walks out, completely exhausted.
The three of us make our way back outside just as we hear Jaxson scream in pain as he changes form. I glance back behind me and shake my head at the way the night has gone. It was the wolves that suffered the most and it was all because of my insistence.
“What happened to Anubis?” Selene asks quietly.
I shake my head and tell her as tears well up, “I had to stop him. He was on a rampage.”
“What about the others at the house? What do you want to do?”
“They’re gone. That’s why Anubis and Jaxson reacted that way. That’s probably why it was so easy to get to Anubis, he was vulnerable,” Zara explains. “We can go in a little while, I just want to make sure Jaxson is going to pull through. He’s alpha now and we still need him.”
“Okay,” I pause, thinking as I wipe away my tears. Something flashes in Zara’s eyes and she looks at Selene then at me.
“I’ll go watch him and let you two talk. Come get my blood when you’re finished,” Zara says before touching my good shoulder and walking back inside. When she opens the door, we can hear the snarls coming from Jaxson’s cage.
I wait until I’m sure Zara isn’t in hearing distance and then I take a deep breath and run my blood crusted hand through my short hair. I think I’m ready to grow it back out. It takes all my strength to turn back to Selene. I’m ill prepared to have this talk, but it can’t wait much longer. Not after what I learned.
“I didn’t get the gate closed,” Selene sighs as I turn towards her. “Maybe we can try tomorrow or something. I don’t know.”
“Right now, it doesn’t matter. Listen Selene, something crazy happened to me before, after Namen knocked me out, I don’t know. All I know is that he told me something that changes everything,” I pause and sigh again, searching her eyes, seeking out the lies she’s been telling me, what she’s been keeping from me and my anger threatens to overflow.
“What did he say?”
“Selene, why? Why didn’t you tell me about him? I can’t believe you. Is that who you were searching for when you left me leaving the club the other night when I was almost taken?”
Selene lifts up her head and looks confused, but unconsciously takes a step back as if she’s afraid that I will
lash out.
“What do you mean Rayne?”
“Selene, damn it! You have a fucking twin and you never told me!” I shout before I bring my voice down. “Did you know that he was working with him?”
“Santos…”
I turn on Selene, pointing accusingly. “No, let me tell you exactly what Namen said to me as he was torturing me in my mind or in his lair, or wherever the hell I was naked and alone with him. He told me that your twin was one of his best lieutenants and that if I went after him, he’d personally send your brother to kill me.”
I watch the shock and hurt flow across her face. She reaches for me, but I snatch my hand away. “Santos would never… He couldn’t have.”
“You know what I think, I think that he’s the one who killed Anubis’s pack. While Namen was waiting for his chance, he sent your brother to murder them. I think that you knew what your brother was capable of. He’s no better than Namen then, Selene. Fuck! How could you not tell me you had a brother! How could you not tell me that he could possibly be some freaking psycho. The evil twin! Are you serious?”
This couldn’t really be happening. My arm throbs even more and I know that I only have a few more minutes on my feet before the adrenaline leaves me and my strength is robbed.
“He was in a lot of trouble last I saw him Rayne, but I promise you, I never thought he’d be a part of this. Please.” There are tears in Selene’s eyes, but I don’t care. She still isn’t telling me why she never told me about him. It makes me feel that she’s keeping even more things from me and I don’t like it.
“Maybe I can talk to him Rayne, we can figure this out,” Selene cries.
“No! Let me make this perfectly clear Selene Marquez. If I ever see your brother, if he ever threatens me, happens to even be in the same vicinity as me, I will kill him.”
“He’s my fucking brother Rayne, my twin! Meu sangue.”
“And he’s a murderer. For all I know, he had a part in my family’s murder,” I spit with so much venom that I fear that I will lash out and hit her.
“If you can say that to me so easily, if you can make such a promise to me, to kill my brother, where does that leave us Rayne?” Selene cries more this time, her beautiful face full of despair and pain.
I turn away and shake my head. Unable to look into her eyes as the hurt of her betrayal washes over me like a monsoon. It’s suffocating me and I grab the front of my shirt hoping it will loosen this choking feeling. She’s the last person I’d expect this from. A brother, a potential threat. Where does that leave us? My heart slowly begins to break as I have no answer to give.
Be sure not to miss the second book of the Rayne Whitmore Series: Killer Rayne
I’ve been through more than I’ve ever imagined I could survive. But, this thing is far from over. Namen has decided to change the whole game. The lawyer leads me out of the interrogation room just as the detective grabs my arm.
I glance at the tall man that interrogated me and despite my anger; I still manage a little smirk at the fact that I’m obviously a true threat to him now.
Namen, you bastard, you played your hand perfectly.
“Namen says to tell you smile for the cameras,” the detective whispers smugly. I pull my arm away and tilt my head towards him in defiance.
“You know, I’m going to make sure that you’re the first human that I kill,” I warn.
“There’s too many witnesses now. You won’t be able to make a move now that the whole world is looking at you. You think you have friends. This police force belongs to Namen Young.”
I brush up against the detective and lift my head so that my lip is touching his ear. I’m close enough that I can smell his cheap cologne mingling with his sweat. He fears me and I like it. “Well then,” I whisper softly, “I guess I’ll have to kill you all.”
Dedication
Writing takes incredible insight and patience that I truly didn’t appreciate until I finally sat my butt down and got this book done.
Normally, people dedicate their books on the front; however, since this is my first novel, I wanted to save the best for last. People who come into your life and help shape you and teach you to dream bigger are few and far between. I’m just thankful that I’ve met my share.
First, I am grateful to my parents, especially my mother for not only reading to me, but for reading with me. I love my father for never being surprised when I did something great because he’s always known what I was capable of. My brothers helped expand my creativity. Those teachers that saw something in me pushed and challenged me in ways that changed me forever. They also taught me the value of giving back. The love of my life has been the best teammate that I could ask for through it all.
Last, I thank you for choosing to go through this amazing journey with me, helping me get one step closer to my dreams. I hope that you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing this story.
About the Author
Alanna is pretty sure that she loved books from the minute she was born. Raised in Omaha, Nebraska, there wasn’t much to do but read anyway. With the encouragement of her mother and a few clever teachers along the way, she turned her love for reading into a love of writing stories, poetry, and music. Although she went to college and obtained a degree in Criminal Justice, Alanna always finds her way back to her first love. She dreams that her own books will give someone the same excitement she feels when she reads a great story.
The Unmaking (The Rayne Whitmore Series Book 1) Page 26
