The Reaver Chronicles: Raziel (Book 1)

Chapter 3

"Rayne, knock it off. I need to examine your wounds." He snapped, pulling his wrist from my grip and grabbing onto my chin. I allowed him to look, but I knew they wouldn't be there anymore. I had no idea how to explain that to him. "Just lie, tell him that it wasn't your blood it was from Sarah, it was just on her nails." Wynter said, which was a great idea.

I opened my mouth to spit out the lie, but he spoke over me. "What pack are you from?" He asked. Panic flooded through my chest as I backpedaled, trying to avoid this conversation. "Rayne, don't f*****g play with me, I know you are a Wolf. What f*****g pack?" He growled. Fuck... I had to tell him now, I couldn’t keep denying it, not when there were so many damn indicators.

Finally, I sighed and looked down. "The Obsidian pack." I mumbled, hoping he didn't hear me and would just forget about it. I couldn't be so lucky. His breathing hitched in his throat. "Alpha Drake?" He snapped. I nodded my head. He inhaled slowly. "Jesus Christ, does he know you are here?" He hissed.

I shook my head. He then put his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. "You are playing with fire, you know this, right?" He hissed. "How in the f**k do you know about any of this?" I interrupted, not caring that I completely ignored his question.

He raised his hand and elongated 5 Wolf claws, spinning them around between us. I gasped. "You're a Wolf?" He turned from me and clinked his claws on the sink. "I'm a Hybrid, half Wolf, half Human. My mother had an affair, but we all pretend that she didn't. Luckily, I still look like my ‘dad’ enough not to cause concern. But... well, you know. I'm surprised you didn't realize it the first time we spoke." He said. I just shook my head. "I wasn't paying enough attention to notice." I retorted, offended that he would take a jab at me like that. He ignored me with a snort.

"So now what?" I asked. He shrugged. "We both have a secret, so we both need to keep it. We are going to go back downstairs and get f*****g trashed. Everyone is going to cheer because you kicked Sarah's ass, and you are going to appreciate the recognition. After tonight, we both just keep our f*****g mouth's shut and you stop kicking Human's asses. Deal?" He said.

I didn't agree, I rolled my eyes. "Rayne, I'm serious! Knock your s**t off. Where is Eric anyways? Weren't you with him earlier?" He asked. My stomach felt like it fell straight out of me onto the floor. Pain, sharp and furious, clawed its way into my chest, and tears attempted to make their way out of the silver prisons that caged them.

"I... I don't know where he is. We got into a fight earlier and he left... I thought... I thought he would be back, but..." I said softly, before the cages failed to hold their prisoners, allowing burning hot tears to escape down my cheeks.

"Fuck... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... f**k it, you need a drink." He said, pulling a bottle of Crown out of his inside jacket pocket. "Rayne, are you ok?" I could hear Jae's voice outside of the door, faintly.

I looked at Brett who nodded for me to open the door just as his claws rescinded into his fingertips. I unclicked the lock and opened it. She eyeballed Brett, who was standing behind me, for a bit longer than I think she wanted to, before looking back at me.

I knew I still had tears cascading down my cheeks but I had taken the crown and tipped the bottle back. I looked at Jae and shrugged. She started laughing nervously but took the bottle from me and followed suit. Brett pushed his way past us both, and only shot me a glance as he headed back down the stairs. He didn't even bother to take the Crown with him.

"Ok girl, SPILL!" Jae cried. I shook my head. “It was nothing, he was just asking me about Eric, which is why I'm now crying..." I said softly. "Brett didn’t try anything?” She asked. I shook my head. “No, he just asked about Eric, that’s all.” She sighed out loud. “f**k him. Let's go, we need more drinks.”

She pulled on my arm as we headed back down into the crowd. The second I stepped down off the stairs the entire crowd erupted in cheers. Startled, I stood there like a deer in headlights. I could feel the redness digging its way onto my cheeks. A feeling that was unwelcome at best. I looked at Jae who was laughing her ass off.

Her brown eyes were a bit glazed over and I knew she was drunk enough now that I could have escaped without her noticing, but it seemed that I was not going to be able to escape everyone. I sighed, and then tipped the Crown back. More cheers erupted and clapping. What better way to grieve than drink the pain away? Maybe if I drank enough I could actually get drunk.

The feat was easier than I expected to achieve. It didn't help that everyone I passed was handing me shots and drinks. 2 hours or so went by, and I will say I was definitely feeling the alcohol. Brett had rejoined the party by this time and was pouring a cheap beer into the funnel above me, and the funnel above one of his Frat boys at the same time.

"Chug, chug, chug!" The crowd chanted, as I downed the entire thing in record speed. I wiped the dribble from my chin as everyone cheered. The Frat boy had finished his but I was already done and ready for round 2. I turned to Brett to get him to find me another contestant I could beat at the beer bong, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I noticed a small commotion directly in front of us.

It took me only seconds to realize it was surrounding a man who looked very out of place here. Every single female and most of the males in this room were gravitating towards him. He was leaning against the doorway between the kitchen and living room with his arms folded across his large chest. The gold surrounding his attire seemed suffocating, as I, once again, fought to regain what was left of my composure.

It had been hours since I had felt a single thing except pure, unbridled joy, and I wasn't about to let my Demon ruin this. We locked eyes and he shook his head slowly, as if to forbid me from whatever the f**k he thought I was going to do next. I raised an eyebrow at him, before I turned my back and got ready to annihilate the next contestant.

I know I should be upset, annoyed, or humiliated that he thinks I need a f*****g babysitter. But with this much alcohol running through my veins I wasn't even scared. What would he do, kill me too? Bring it...

"Rayne, you need to listen to him! We should go." Wynter whimpered, but I pushed her away. I wasn't going anywhere. It wasn't until I was just about ready to take another beer that I heard the golden tone of his voice. "You are done. We are leaving." He ripped the beer bong from my hand and tossed it aside. I looked up at Brett, who had already taken 4 steps back. He had to know what a Reaver was to act this way. It was a subtle movement on his part that no one else here would understand, but it made sense to me.

No one was safe here, not even me… not anymore. The moment of clarity I had was gone in a flash, and my usual snark replaced it. "I am not leaving." I huffed. I watched anger flash through my Demon's eyes before he reached for me. I stepped back, just out of his grasp. "Rayne, I'm not f*****g around. Do not make a scene." He hissed.

In my drunken state I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea, but I turned and took off running through the house. The Humans at the party parted to allow me through, which in turn, allowed my Demon to follow much too easily. I took off up the stairs and into the first room I came to, slamming the door behind me.

My heart was hammering in my chest as I fumbled with the lock, though I knew it was no use. He could get in, regardless of what I did. He slammed his fist into the door, further startling the couple that was making out in the bed behind me. "Rayne, open this goddamn door right f*****g now." He hissed. Anger rolled through his words, engulfing me through the measly slab of wood that separated us. In any normal circumstance I would have been absolutely shaking with fear, but I was shitfaced drunk, and couldn’t feel anything but excitement.

"Make me!" I replied, backing away from the door when I heard the lock click. The couple in the bed were slightly panicking as the door slowly opened, but I saw their demeanors change drastically when they saw the man standing behind the flashy gold attire.

He did not look amused. I only dared to meet his gaze for a brief second before I attempted to dart past him and out the door. My attempt failed, and he basically clotheslined me with his arm hooked around my waist. Panic finally broke through my drunken euphoria, and began to seep deep into my bones. He pulled my back to his chest and held me there. I could feel his warm breath as it danced along my jawline.

"Enough is enough. We are leaving. Don’t tell me you have already forgotten our meetup from earlier. I will kill every single person in this house and not even think twice about it. Don’t f*****g test me, Rayne." The tone was calm, too calm. I didn't know much about the man in gold, but I had a feeling that he was not actually calm at all. "Listen to him, Rayne! Stop being stupid!" Wynter snapped. "Shut the f*****g door!" One of the Humans in the bed hollered, breaking me from my internal panic.

My Demon released his ironclad grip on me just enough for me to step to the side and exit the room. He followed and closed the door behind us. I turned and locked eyes with him, and then took off on a dead run down the stairs. I heard him growl under his breath as he pursued me. I only made it to the second to last stair before he had a hold of me.

He grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. I pounded on his back, screeching for him to release me. I could hear the gasps of the Humans who split the way for us to leave. "You motherfucker! Let me go! You can't control me!" I hissed. I attempted to kick him in the balls, but I couldn’t get my foot down that far. Instead, I kept assaulting him and continued to scream and holler the entire way out of the house and outside. It was childish. I ignored the feel of his large hand as it pressed into the side of my thick thigh. I could feel the bruises beginning to form already.

It wasn't until we got to a solid gold sports car that he stopped and finally let me down. He dropped me to my feet in front of him and immediately I began to pound my fists into his chest. He grabbed my wrists, stopping me. He was gripping them so tightly I was sure I would bruise here too. I finally calmed down enough to look up at him. He was glaring at me, and for the first time since he had shown up, I could feel the terror grabbing hold of me and dragging me down into its inky depths.

I previously had opened my mouth to say something snarky, but chose not to follow through with my retort. Instead, I closed my mouth and swallowed hard. "Get. In. The. Car." We were so close I could taste the mint on his breath as he slowly spoke, over enunciating each word. I was vaguely aware of the crowd that had gathered outside to watch our shenanigans. I'm sure the fancy suit and sports car wasn't helping. It was rare to see something this fancy in the Human side of town so naturally, they were curious. Even those with money didn’t drive Bugattis. I ripped my wrists from his grip, surprised that he let me, and took a step back away from him.

I fixed my shirt that was falling down over my shoulder and stormed past him to the car. He snapped and the door opened as I walked up to it. I turned to look back at the crowd and locked eyes with Brett who was standing right out in front.

I rolled my eyes and stuck my fingers to my head pretending to shoot myself. The crowd began to laugh, but not Brett. He knew the severity of what I had done, and I was starting to realize it too. "In the car, Rayne." My Demon’s silky voice echoed throughout my inner ear. I snapped back to the task at hand, slipping into the car without another glance at the crowd. I shut the door and heard the lock click. My jaw dropped as I tried to open the door to find that it was locked from the outside. Offended, I turned and looked at my captor. He was already in the car, and I let my jaw drop in offense.

“You locked me in? Are you f*****g kidding me?” I huffed. “Tell me you weren't going to try and run.” He replied, starting the sports car. The rumble of the horses did little to calm me. f**k, he had me there... I remained silent, unsure of how to answer him.

He leaned over and I instantly placed my hands up to shield myself. He pulled away briefly with the seatbelt in his hand and gave me an annoyed look while clicking the seatbelt across my chest. I would be lying if I said the black interior peppered with gold wasn't bringing out the shades of gold in my Demons hair and eyes.

Even as pissed as I knew he was, somehow, it made him that much more enticing to look at. Regardless of his God-like beauty, I was still upset that he had the goddamn audacity to kidnap me from a frat party. He acted like I was a child who needed to be watched at all times.

The f*****g audacity of this man!