30
Wednesday; 12:02 A.M.
Rayna awakes suddenly, her heart beating quickly and her skin coated in a light layer of sweat. Her fingers twitch with adrenaline. She turns her head to the left to see Harley sound asleep in bed next to her. She looks around the room, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. She wasn't having a nightmare, so what happened?
Her eyes land on the window.
Something's out there.
She bites the inside of her cheek, wondering what she should do. She doesn't want to wake Harley, and something outside is calling for her.
She lets out a faint sigh and lifts the covers off of her. She silently slips out of bed and into the closet. She gets dressed out of pajamas and into leggings, a bra, underwear, a t-shirt, socks, and a sweatshirt. She puts on a pair of shoes and leaves out the bedroom door. She walks quietly through the halls and outside the back door.
The cool night air surrounds her, making her zip up her sweatshirt.
She starts walking through the woods, not knowing where she's going but knowing how to get there. This . . . feeling guides her through the forest. It's almost as if an invisible string is tied to her and pulling her towards something.
Halfway there, she remembers the rogues. She pauses, and something tells her that that isn't her biggest concern. Curious and too far in to turn back, she continues on.
After at least ten minutes of walking, she reaches the border of the territory. The feeling ends here.
Rayna stands, confused. She looks around, but she's only met with the darkness of the forest--the only light being the soft illumination of the moon. She doesn't smell anything out of the ordinary, either.
She tries to listen in, and she hears a twig snap. Figures appear on the other side of the border.
Her heart stops for a moment.
Johnathan.
Beside him is a blonde woman dressed in a Gothic black dress and hat.
Behind them stand a few other women and a large pack of rogues: the same ones that have been attacking the warriors.
'Witches,' Rayna's wolf tells her. 'The rogues are under their control.'
She quickly pieces together that Johnathan is working with the witches, and they're the ones behind the rogue attacks. She was right--someone is controlling them.
She takes a surprised step back, but she quickly collects herself. She stands tall, confidently holding her ground, and keeps on a strong face.
If they were going to do anything to her, they would've done it by now. They have a bigger plan . . .
"It's nice to see you, Rayna," Johnathan greets with a big smile.
"Johnathan," she softly growls, not taking his bullshit.
He raises an eyebrow at her, amused. The witch next to him looks up at him, as if she's wondering what he's going to do. He looks down at her for a moment and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her in.
"Rayna, meet Circe, my true mate," he tells her, emphasizing 'true.' Rayna holds back a growl at the disrespect to her mother. "Circe, meet Rayna, my daughter."
"I am not your daughter!" Rayna growls, clenching her fists. Her Queen Aura starts to surround her, so Johnathan and Circe back up.
He ignores what she said.
"Circe will be your new mom," he says.
Rayna is exasperated. She takes a breath and calms down, collecting herself.
"What do you want?" she asks.
"I see that you've gained some confidence," Johnathan comments. "I'll break you back down soon enough."
"What do you want?" Rayna repeats.
"Simple. You," he tells her. "You are my property, and I want what's mine. You see, these rogue attacks have all been us, so you can get an example of what we can do to the pack. But . . . it's just been scratching the surface."
Rayna is silent.
"You have two options. 1: Meet us here Friday night at midnight and come with us willingly, and we'll leave the pack alone. 2: Don't come, and we attack. We'll get you either way."
With that, Circe is suddenly in front of her and puts a thumb to her forehead, cloaking her in darkness.
How can she get out of this?
*~*~*~*
Rayna finds herself falling into darkness.
Falling, falling, falling . . .
Until she stops.
She's surrounded by a bright light, which then fades away to show the kitchen of what appears to be a wooden log cabin. The windows show that it's early morning.
She tries to move but can't. She tries to speak but can't. She can only watch and take everything in.
Circe and Johnathan enter the kitchen from a staircase off to the side. Circe is wearing leggings and a sports bra while Johnathan is in just a pair of boxers. Sadly, Rayna is unable to gag or look away.
"I have an amazing plan," Johnathans says to Circe, who has started moving around the kitchen to make some food.
"What is it?" she asks, not looking at him. He leans against the counter.
"I have an adopted daughter who would be a great help around here. Also . . . she's this generations Flower Wolf. The Dahlia Wolf to be exact."
Circe freezes. She turns around and looks at him.
"Really?" she questions.
"Yep. I already have her broken, so she'll do whatever we say."
"Where is she?" Circe asks. "You've never mentioned her before, and I didn't see her at the pack."
"She's mated to the Alpha King, so she's currently living at the castle. Is that gonna be a problem?"
She smirks.
"That's even better. With her, we'd also have control over the King, meaning full control over the entire werewolf population."
Johnathan frowns.
"I thought we were just going to live here?"
She corrects herself.
"Of course we are," she tells him, walking over to him and cupping his cheek. "It was just an idea."
He smiles.
"Also . . ." she continues, "I know a ritual we can do."
"A ritual?" Johnathan asks. "To do what?"
"It would allow us to take her powers and give them to ourselves. Then, we'd have complete control of her and be practically unstoppable with her powers."
Johnathan smirks.
"I love the way you think."
They lean in for a kiss, and it all fades to darkness again.
*~*~*~*
Rayna sits up fast, holding her heart. She's sweating just like she had the first time she woke up, and she's shaking violently. She slowly catches her breath, and she realizes that her alarm is going off. Harley stirs next to her.
"Rayna?" he mumbles in his sleep.
She smiles softly. She turns off her alarm and places a hand on his arm, rubbing her thumb on his skin.
"Shh. Go back to sleep, babe," she whispers.
He hums and smiles, drifting back off to sleep.
She sighs and gets out of bed.
Train now, think later.
*~*~*~*
When Rayna gets back from training, she doesn't even nap. She just grab a banana from the kitchen for breakfast and heads into her bedroom. She eats the banana and lays in bed, staring at the ceiling.
She has to do something. She can't just give in to Johnathans ultimatum. Her turning herself in should be a last resort.
She can't do this alone, but there's no way in hell she can tell Harley. He'll put her on house arrest or something like that, and then who knows what will happen to the pack because of her.
She'll have to go with the next best thing—talking to Keane, Emmett, and Calum.
She tries to think of an idea for a plan with what she knows, but she gets nothing.
After laying in bed for an entire hour after her training session, she finally get up again. She knows what she has to do right now.
She showers, cleaning off all of the sweat from earlier. She dries her hair, brushes it, and ties it into a low bun. She dries off and gets dressed into a black and white striped halter top and black leggings.
She walks through the halls to Keanes office. She takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.
"Come in."
She opens the door and steps inside, closing the door behind her.
"Oh," Keane says, surprised, looking up at her. "Hey, Rayna. What's up?.
"Can you call Emmett and Calum here?" she asks.
His eyebrows furrow in confusion, and his mouth opens. She knows exactly what he's about to say. "They're working right now."
Her facial expression hardens, making him close his mouth.
"It's important."
"Y- Yeah," he stutters. "Just give me a second."
His eyes gloss over, showing that he's mind-linking the two.
"They'll be here in a few minutes."
Rayna nods. "Thank you." She takes a seat in one of the chairs around the room.
"So . . . what's this about?" Keane asks. "Does Harley know??
Rayna shakes her head. "No, he doesn't know, and I don't want him to. Something happened last night."
"Okay . . ."
Her Queen Aura rises slightly, giving Keane the order to keep this a secret from Harley. Keane sighs, knowing this. Then, there's knocks on the door. Keane says "come in", and Emmett and Calum enter.
"What's up?" Emmett asks.
"Sit down," Keane tells them. "Rayna has something important to tell us."
They sit down, and all three of them look at Rayna expectantly.
"I know why the rogues are attacking," she announces.
"Really?" Calum asks.
"Yeah. It's-"
Suddenly, she breaks into a coughing fit.
"Shit," she growls.
"Do you need water?" Emmett asks, standing up. She shakes her head.
'That bitch witch put a spell on us,' her wolf growls.
Rayna sighs. 'I can break this,' she tells herself confidently.
'That's my girl,' her wolf praises.
Rayna closes her eyes and focuses her energy on pushing against the barrier preventing her from saying his name.
"It's . . ." she tries again, but she coughs a little bit.
She focuses in again, putting even more energy towards it.
"Johnathan is behind the rogues!" she finally exclaims, breaking the spell.
They lean back in shock. They share some looks.
"Who's . . . Johnathan?" Keane asks.
She takes a deep breath. Oh, yeah. They don't know.
"I'm adopted, and Johnathan is my adoptive dad. He's also the beta of my old pack. He was very abusive towards me after my mom died," Rayna explains.
Emmett brings his chair closer to her and places a comforting hand on her arm.
"That's terrible," he says softly. She nods.
"So that's why you were so scared of us . . ." Calum thinks aloud. She nods again.
"Has Harley told you guys that I'm the Dahlia Wolf yet?" she asks, looking around.
They nod.
"Okay."
She pauses for a moment.
Johnathan always knew about her power.
*~*~*~*
It was only days after Rayna's first shift. Rose had been telling her all about Flower Wolves and saying to her that she's special. She was feeling a little bit better.
Johnathan walked into her bedroom after school while Rose was out grocery shopping with the boys.
"Your mom is lying to you. You know that, right?" he said.
"What?" she asked, confused. "Wh- Why would she do that?"
"She's trying to make you feel special. Guess what? You're not, and you'll never be. You're just a weak freak."
*~*~*~*
"Johnathan has come back for me. He has the help of his 'true mate'—a witch named Circe—and her coven. They want me and my powers. They've been controlling the rogues who have been attacking."
They all lean back in surprise again.
"Wait, wait. Back up," Keane interjects. "When did you find out about all of this?"
Rayna explains everything that happened last night, including the visions of them talking about the ritual.
"Well . . . we're gonna need a plan then."
