10
"King!" Daniel shouts. Rayna can hear the two sets of footsteps approach the bedroom, but all sounds quickly stop from them.
"Mate . . ." the King says. Rayna finds herself unable to move or avert her blue eyes from his hazel ones.
The King, whose name she recalls is Harley, bends down in front of her.
"What's your name?" he asks. She gulps. His voice is just as attractive as his . . . everything.
"R- Rayna," she stutters.
"Rayna," he whispers, trying her name out on his tongue. She shivers, making his lips twitch. "What are you doing here instead of in line with all the other girls?" he asks.
"I- Uhm . . . I wasn't allowed to, sir," she tells him, 'sir' being her default when talking to older males.
"Please, call me Harley. Who said you weren't allowed to?" he asks, his fingers twitching. Hesitantly, she looks over her bed, and points at Johnathan, who is watching in pure shock in the doorway.
"H- Him. John," she says.
Harley stands up, giving Johnathan a hard glare, which causes the two leaders to bow their heads. Rayna realizes that Harley had kicked her door down, as there was splintered wood everywhere and the door was on the ground.
Harley looks back at Rayna.
"I'll be back in a little while. You should start packing," he tells her before walking out of the room. With a simple hand gesture, Daniel and Johnathan are following him with their tails tucked.
Rayna gulps and doesn't dare move until the front door is closed. She lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and looks out her window again. Harley is taking the two to the Pack House.
She gets up and walks around her bed. She sighs and goes to grab a broom. She spends a good ten minutes cleaning up the wood chips and putting the main piece of her door in the hallway.
By the time she actually gets her only suitcase out from the top of her closet and starts packing her stuff, the front door opens again. She looks through the doorway to see Harley again. Thank Goddess it wasn't someone else.
He walks over.
"I'll be staying the night in the Pack House, and we'll leave for the castle in the morning. Is that okay with you?"
She nods, pulling out the bins under her bed. Harley doesn't know that they're secret so it should be okay. The first thing she packs is her sketches.
"You draw?" Harley asks, bending down on the floor with her. She nods again. "May I see some?"
She gives him a glance and tentatively nods. She grabs three sketches and hands them to him. One is of cherry blossoms, another of Ray, and the third of Naomi.
"These are really good," he compliments. She feels her cheeks heat up.
"Thank you," she replies softly.
"Who's this?" he asks, holding up the sketch of Naomi.
"She's my best friend," Rayna tells him. Harley nods.
She puts the sketches away and packs everything from the boxes. She then grabs her backpack and pulls out her new clothes. She folds them and packs those as well. Strangely, she feels comfortable with Harley. She knows she's being watched, but she doesn't mind. There's an odd sense of security that comes with Harley.
She packs certain things she might need at any time in her backpack.
"This is the Beta House, correct?" Harley asks. Rayna nods. "The Beta, John . . . Is he your father?"
Rayna sighs and nods. "Adoptive," she clarifies. Harley's mouth forms an 'o', and he nods.
"How old are you?" he asks. Rayna realizes he's trying to start a conversation.
"I just turned nineteen. You're . . . Twenty-five, right?"
"Yep." There's a few moments of silence as Rayna packs all of her sentimental items, like those from her mother. "You don't have to worry about much. If you don't mind, I can replace it once you move in."
Rayna nods. "I know."
"You say you just turned nineteen? When?"
"T- Today."
"Oh. Happy birthday."
She feels her cheeks heat up again.
"Th- Thank you."
"If I had known, I would've gotten you a present . . . You can wait until tomorrow, can't you?"
She pauses and meets his eyes. "Y- You don't need to get me anything. It's fine."
"Bull. I'm gonna get you something. What'd you do to celebrate?"
"I had a sleepover with my best friend, and she took me shopping." She motions towards her current outfit. Harley nods.
"Would you like to tell me about your family?" he asks.
Rayna shakes her head. "N- No, not really."
"Oh, okay. When did school end for you?"
"Last Friday."
"What grade did you graduate from?"
"Twelfth." He gives a slightly confused look for just a moment. "I- I have dyslexia and dyscalculia, so I got held back a year," she explains. His mouth forms an 'o' again and he nods.
"T- Tell me more about you," she stutters.
"Okay." He sits up farther. "Well, my best friends are my fellow leaders. I have a bad habit of indulging myself too deep into my work, and I like photography."
"Cool," she comments, packing some clothes from her closet. She looks at the full suitcase. That's all she really needs. Sketches, Mom's stuff, some clothes. Not to mention her phone charger and earbuds, with her phone on her bed.
"Is that all you need?" Harley asks, also looking at the suitcase. She nods.
"Y- You said you can replace all my art supplies, right?"
He nods. "Of course."
"Yeah, this is all I need," she answers. She imagines that she'll be able to get new clothes.
"Okay. Would you like to keep it in here for now or should I go put it in my truck?" Harley asks.
"Uhm . . . If you could j- just take the suitcase, please."
He nods, before he spaces out for a moment. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"
"Oh. O- Okay."
Harley gives her a small smile. He grabs the suitcase before walking out of her room and then the front door. Rayna sits on her bedroom floor for a few minutes, processing what has just happened, before she remembers about Jayce.
She knocks on his door.
"Come in," he says. She opens the door to see him laying in his bed.
"Hey, Jayce," she says softly, closing the door behind her.
"Hey, Rayna," he replies, sitting up.
"How are you doing?" she asks, sitting down at his desk. She sees the bottle of heat pills spilled over and empty. "When did you run out? I can go get you some more."
"No, no, it's fine," he assures her. "It's getting better already. I'm . . . Not as bad. I feel bad that Jamie had to be the brother to represent. No one knows where Jake is and I'm . . . ya know."
Rayna nods.
"I- I have something to tell you," she stutters, shifting nervously. He gives her a side glance.
"What is it?" he asks.
"I- I'm mates with the King. I'm leaving tomorrow."
Jayces entire face lights up.
"Dude! That's amazing! You're finally getting out of here!" he exclaims. Rayna can't help but giggle.
"I'm gonna miss you and Jamie and Hazel though," she reminds him.
"I'm gonna miss you, too, little sis, and don't get me wrong. I really want to spend more time with you to make up for all of the shit I've done, but I'm so happy that you're getting away from here. You found your mate—and the fucking Alpha King?! You're set for life with that."
Rayna smiles.
"You're right."
*~*~*~*
Dinner time rolls around. Rayna has been hiding in rooms since she met Harley in order to keep herself away from Johnathan. Luckily, he's been with Daniel and Harley in the Pack House. Jayce explains that they're probably going through the legal stuff of Rayna changing packs.
When Johnathan isn't home by 6:15, Rayna and Jayce have supper together. Alone. Jamie is at Hazels again, though he had dropped by to congratulate Rayna and promise they'll be there to say goodbye in the morning. Jake is still gone to who-knows-where. Rayna just hopes that he'll still be gone until she's out of there. Jayce's heat is almost over, so he isn't worried about being outside his bedroom.
The brother and sister pulled out some board games to pass the time since Rayna doesn't know how to use the controller to Jayce's gaming system. After an hour of that and they've run out of two player games, Jayce does get Rayna to try out playing a game. It doesn't take long for Rayna to get the hang of it. After two hours of that and the clock reading 9:56 P.M., Rayna decides to go to bed.
"Goodnight, Jayce," she says softly, opening his bedroom door.
"Goodnight," he replies, starting another game and giving her a smile.
She closes the door behind her and quietly enters hers. She feels nervous since she doesn't have a door anymore. She decides to change in the bathroom. She also grabs two sketches from her book to look at them in the light. Once she changes into pajamas, (an old t-shirt and shorts,) she looks at the sketches. She decides that they're good enough to leave be, so she turns the lights off, walks back into her room, hides the papers under her backpack, and crawls under her covers.
She grabs her phone. She texts Naomi.
Rayna
Hey
Naomi
Hey! What happened???
Rayna
I'm mates with the king
Naomi goes off about how she knew it and she was right. Rayna just accepts it and finally comes to realize that this is happening. She cries a bit. They talk for a while and come up with a plan. At 10:32, she turns off her phone while Naomi starts packing.
Rayna quickly falls asleep, wanting to enjoy her last night in this hell hole.
