Falling Rain

14

Mason

    I was in my office doing paperwork when I felt a surge of uneasiness wash over me. A terrifying feeling which I couldn’t explain. 

Something is wrong with Rain… Striker says in the back of my mind. 

I jump up from my chair and that's when I hear Rain’s voice in my mind. 

Mason.. Please…

    I take off down the hallway, running as fast as my feet will take me, as soon as I reach outside Striker takes over, shifting and charging to where I feel her presence. I am heading towards the tree line when I see something, by Helen’s old tree house. 

    Striker skids to a stop and growls, Helen is  on top of Rain’s back, there is blood on the ground, not Helen’s but Rain’s. 

   Striker howls in pain as he sees our Mate hurt on the forest floor. 

Dad come to the old tree house, quickly. Helen and Rain are hurt.. I mind link him 

    I shift and check over Helen, making sure she has no neck injuries and lift her off, dad is running towards me as I do. I hand Helen over to him and rush to Rain’s side. 

“What happened?” Dad asks 

“I don’t know.. Rain was able to mindlink me for help and this is how I found them” 

“Mind link? I thought she wasn’t able to do that?” 

“She wasn’t, until now” 

    He nods and carries Helen back towards the house, I gently lift Rain and follow behind, going to the hospital center. 

    Waiting for her to wake up was like a lifetime for me when she finally opened her eyes. All I could do was thank the Goddess. 

    The next day I am able to take Rain back to the main house and get her settled in bed. I am going to make sure she relaxes, 

“We can postpone our trip until you get better” I tell her as I kiss her hand. 

“No, I want to go...I feel better. Ember helped me heal. Please don’t cancel the trip, I really want to go” She begs of me, tears springing to her eyes. 

“Okay, alright.. Calm down.. We can go but you have to promise me you will take it easy.. Okay?” I say sternly. 

“Promise?” 

“I promise...we will leave as scheduled” I tell her, she sighs with relief. 

“You know I’d do anything for you Rain” 

Alex mind links me telling me to meet him by the old treehouse. 

“I have something to take care of, I’ll be back soon okay. Get some rest.. I love you” I kiss her on the lips softly and pull the covers up over her and tuck her in. 

“Okay, see you later” She yawns and snuggles into the pillows and closes her eyes. I smile and look at her one last time before leaving, turning the lights off and closing the door. I instruct the maids to not disturb her, she needs her rest. 

I meet Alex at the treehouse, he looks conflicted. 

“What is it?” I ask as I come beside him. 

“I found something strange” He points to the treehouse, the spot where the boards gave way. He leads me to an old tree nearby where the trunk has been hollowed out, he looks inside and grabs a hammer and some old bent nails. 

“Is this what I think it is?” I am shocked. It looks to me like someone has intentionally compromised the treehouse’s structure. They took out the nails holding the floorboards and made it unstable. That alone wouldn’t have caused it to collapse, especially under the small weight of Helen. I go back to the treehouse and inspect the boards that are now on the ground. It looks like the boards were bashed in with the hammer. 

“I think so.. But who would do this? Who were they aiming for to begin with?” 

“I don’t know, but if there is someone in our pack who is trying to hurt another pack member we need to do something. Start asking around, anyone who was in the training yard in the past week. You have to go right through the yard to get here so someone must have seen something” 

“I’ll get right on it. Do you want extra guards set up for Luna and Helen, just in case?” 

“That would be smart. Rain and I are leaving for a week tomorrow, we are going to visit her family.. I want either you or Troy to escort us.” 

“Yes sir, I will make the arrangements right away” 

    I climb up the tree looking at the inside of the treehouse. It's a lot smaller than I remember but it brings back many memories. Dad and I built it after they took me in. Then the twins and Helen took it over. As I glance around I can see that the nails have been tampered with in many spots. There are loose boards all over the place. 

    I think about all the people who could have been responsible but nothing comes to mind. I don’t have any enemies yet and Helen is such a sweet little girl, nobody would think of hurting her. I need to talk to dad about this new information. 

“What are you going to do?” He asks after I tell him what we found. 

“I’m going to find out who is responsible and make them pay. Helen could have died. Rain could have died.. It’s a miracle they are both alright” I try to keep my cool but I’m finding it harder by the second, the more I think about it the angrier I get.  

“Well it seems like you have everything under control” He stands and walks out before I can say another word. 

I had hoped he would do something to help me figure this out but clearly not. A knock comes to the door. 

“Come in,” I sigh, sitting up in my chair. Troy comes inside the room and sits down on the leather chair across from me. 

“What’s up Troy?” 

“Well I talked to Alex and we agreed that the Beta of the pack should stay put while the Alpha and Luna are away, so here I am at your beck and call. What do you need to do to prepare for tomorrow?” 

“I thought you were the Beta, is that not what you claimed when I asked you two to be my right hands?” 

“Oh come on, we both know that Alex is more Beta material. He will serve you well as Beta. I’m happy to be your Gamma and besides I will get to do the traveling, Alex hates traveling. Maybe I’ll finally find my Mate” He laughs 

“Alright. Did Alex tell you what happened? The old treehouse? We need to start looking into it right away. They could have died” I tell him 

“Yeah he told me. I was thinking of a few people but it just seemed crazy. No one would want to hurt Helen and as for Luna, she has hardly been around anyone for them to really know much about her for her to be a target so I don’t know”  

“Well find out what you can, we leave tomorrow at 8AM. Don’t be late, you’re driving. We will have four runners with us” I tell him. 

“Got it, I’ll round up some guys and let them know the details” 

I am told dinner is ready and that Rain was waiting for me in the dining hall with the rest of the family. 

“She’s not in our room resting?” I demand of the maid. 

“No Alpha, she has been out of bed for a few hours now” She looks terrified. 

    I nod and chuckle, somehow I’m not at all surprised. I quickly go to the dining hall and I see her sitting in her wheelchair chatting with the twins and mom. 

“What’s going on over here?” I ask, sitting down beside Rain. I reach out and place my hand on her thigh, she smiles at me and looks straight ahead, a blush creeping on her cheeks. 

“We were just asking Rain about how she saved Helen.. She was so cool!” Chase says with a serious look on his face. 

“Yeah, she is a hero.. If I had been there I would have saved them both though!” Jason proudly announces. 

“Right, I’m relieved to know we have two little heroes sitting amongst us” 

“Don’t call us little Mason, not cool” Chase pouts. 

    Dad and Helen come into the room, Dad is carrying Helen in his arms, she has something in her hands. She places it on the table in front of Rain. 

“Thank you again for saving my life, Rain.. Daddy and I made you this” She pushes a small cake forward, it has rainbow icing and sprinkles covering it. 

“Wow, this is beautiful.. Can we have it after dinner?” Rain asks with a giggle. 

“We can't eat it now?” Helen asks with hope. 

“You know we have to eat dinner first pumpkin” Dad chuckles and sets her down in a chair. A maid comes and takes the cake away then comes back to serve dinner. 

We all eat and chat as the night goes on, we eat the cake Helen and dad made, which is surprisingly good. 

“We should go to bed, we have an early morning tomorrow..” I tell Rain 

“Oh I didn’t even notice the time.. I was having such a good time with everyone” She yawns and giggles. 

“Alright Helen, say goodnight to Rain, it’s past your bedtime anyways.” Max says. Helen comes over and hugs Rain. 

“Will you be back soon?” She asks 

“Of course.. We will be home in a week”

“Goodnight, have fun with your parents!” Jason waves at us as we head upstairs. 

    Rain waves at everyone and settles into me as I carry her. We decided using the chair lift is pointless when she is with me. I prefer having her in my arms and she seems to enjoy being in them too. It’s a win win for me. 

We get to our room and I shut the door. She is strangely quiet. 

“Are you alright?” I ask as I set her down. 

“Yes.. can we have a bath?” 

“Of course.. Let me go start the water”

I walk into the bathroom and start the water, I add some bubbles to it this time. 

When I come back out Rain is laying on her back on the bed, her legs dangling off the end. She has her eyes closed and is humming. 

“That’s a pretty tune, what’s it from?” I ask, sitting on the bed beside her. 

“My mom.. I think” She continues to hum the tune for a few more minutes. 

“It’s beautiful” I whisper. She rolls onto me and places her head on my lap. 

“Are you ready?” I ask, I’m sure the bathtub will get cold if we stay here much longer. 

“Yes”