The Blood King

6: Blood Ties

RAYN...

I HELD Olivia in my arms but I couldn't temp down my anger as I stared at my cousins, wondering why they were there with her. Were they sent by Dominiq to bring Olivia in? The entire Blackstone forest was crawling with the king's hounds. It was so dangerous for me to be there and Tamara's call came through, asking me to get to the edge of the forest as fast as I could I thought it was a trap to lure me into the woods where they would finish me off easily. But Olivia's distress broadcasted itself to me and I couldn't ignore that particular call. It was loud and was drenched with so much fear and sorrow that tugged to the strings of my heart and left my chest burning with this new feeling. So, this was what being blood-bonded to someone meant? I could feel every thing as if it were my own and it didn't matter how far I was, I felt it.

It reminded me of last night when I felt her fear as she made her way home with the friend I warned her about. Damon might have been married to someone else but to me, he was getting too close to Olivia and that didn't settle well in my gut.

I looked down at the dead woman with a terrified look on her face, her eyes dull and her skin grey. The rogue has struck again and the bodies were piling up faster than before. These were two bodies within the same week which meant he or she had reached a point of no return. This also meant he or she was becoming careless with their pattern because when I looked down at this particular body, it seemed as if they wanted to get rid of it quickly.

She was bound by something that left marks around her wrists and the bruises around her neck told me that she was strangled but I could tell that she didn't have a single drop of blood in her body because of the pallor. An acrid, acid like smell filtered to my nose and I knew the killer used it to clean the body and leave no scent behind.

"Where did you find her? Was she murdered by that man you were chasing?" Damon demanded from Jaylan and I narrowed my eyes at my cousin. He knew something.

Talk to me, Jay. I connected with him through our mind channel.

I saw the way his eyes widened in surprise as he turned to me and replied. Verik was here. He was instructing his hounds to attack Olivia. The only reason why they didn't shred her into pieces was because we were here with her.

And why are you here, Jay? Why are you hunting Olivia? I asked him, annoyed that they would do such a thing for a man who was not even fit to be king.

Jaylan gave Tamara a caution look then turned his eyes back at me. You don't know, do you?

Know what? I never liked the guessing game and I felt that Jaylan was stalling maybe so that their hounds to tear me into pieces but they failed to understand that I never went anywhere without mine. Cedric and his men were close-by, watching me and the mundanes carefully.

"The girl was killed last night and her body was dumped in the forest for people to find." Jaylan spoke out loudly. "This is not the first body that was found in the forest this week. The perpetrator is making a statement."

"What other body?" Damon asked in surprise and I felt the woman I was holding stir in my arms and look at Jaylan as well.

It seemed no one else knew that there was yet another death by the same killer.

"Is that why you are here, Jay?" I asked him hoping he would just agree.

The grim look that appeared on his face told me otherwise. I needed to get the two humans from that place before all hell broke loose. I let Olivia go and looked down at her, hoping that she would trust me on her own freewill without the need to influence her. "I need to get you away from here. You need to trust me, okay?"

Olivia turned to Damon who moved from where he stood and came to stand behind her as if protecting her. Any other time and I would have laughed at the gesture but at that moment, we were in a lot of danger. I was in a territory that had a bounty on my head. Every mercenary Blood who was there was going to be after me.

"Okay." She answered as she unconsciously reached for Damon's hand. The beast in me reared its head in fury. How dare that mundane touch Olivia? I had to calm down before turning to Tamara.

"Call off your hounds, we are leaving."

Tamara's face paled down as she looked towards the forest. "But that's the thing--we didn't bring any with us."

Verik....I thought venomously. I could feel him. He was somewhere watching us, I could tell. I also could feel about six hounds surrounding us. I knew Verik would not attack as long as his siblings were there which raised the question as to why Tamara and Jaylan were preventing their brother from ending my life and the lives of Damon and Olivia.

Walk towards me, Rayn....Tamara's voice stuttered in my head and when I turned to her, I saw the way she watched the forest while she took a step back. I grabbed Olivia's hand and crossed the space between me and Tamara just as two large hounds pawed their way out of the forest, their hackles raised and their mouths snarling towards us. A nasty set of canines were displayed as the hunched down, ready to lung forward and attack us.

A small yelp escaped Olivia's lips as she tightened her grip on me and Damon when she saw the hounds. Tamara pushed us behind us and raised her chin up like the royal Blood I had come to know. The hounds knew better than to attack while their royal heirs were in close proximity. 

I could have fought them off. Heck, I could have killed them but with Damon and Olivia there, I was powerless. 

Jaylan turned to them and Rayn felt the burst of energy from him as he tried to push a command into their minds.

"Down, boys." He muttered but the two hounds just shook their heads to ward off the command and continued hunching, waiting for the instruction to attack from their master. 

I knew Cedric and his men were moving in, ready to attack the other two hounds when the need arose. There was nothing worse than to have the lycanthropes choose sides. It was sad that due to their loyalty, they were ready to rip each other's hearts out to protect their royals. I didn't want it to get to that so I took Olivia's hand tightly into mine and led her away with Damon following us behind. He kept close, not only because of fear but the human genuinely believed he could protect Olivia from well trained soldiers ten times his intelligence, his strength, his speed and his primal instincts. 

The hound snarled and warned me off but I made sure Olivia's eyes were ensnared with mine. She didn't know our rules and I didn't want her to look at the hounds and unconsciously challenge them into attacking her. Also, she had be spooked enough for the day and she didn't need anymore s**t, especially from Verik and his siblings. 

"What about Tamara and Jaylan?" She asked me as we approached Cedric and the other who stood in the edge of the clearance. I could smell their thick and musky scent that drenched the atmosphere which was used to warn off any lower-level hounds within the proximity but Cedric was facing death because he wasn't in his territory.  

"They will be alright." I assured her.

"Just who the f**k are you, by the way?" Damon looked irritated and I knew it was because I was familiar with Olivia. 

"Get in the car." I turned to the angry human. We didn't have the luxury of a thousand questions. I had to get to the borders because I knew Verik would not just stop at threatening me. I was a hindrance to his ascension and the only thing that would get him to sleep better at night was if my head was on his bedside table. 

"No, for all I know, you could be taking us to get slaughtered." Damon crossed his arms.

I arched my eyebrow at him. I was more than willing to leave him there. It didn't matter to me whether he died or not but I knew Olivia would not have it.

"Damon, let's go. Please?" Olivia pulled him towards the car where Cedric stood keeping guard as more hounds stepped out the forest. 

The man reluctantly entered the car and soon enough the three cars we came with were racing against time towards the borders of Blackstone. Good thing the town wasn't so big or there would have been something to worry about then. 

Olivia's relief went through me as we began to put distance between us and the hounds but the sorrow she felt for the girl who was found dead was still too thick in her blood. It was what triggered my need to be there for her. The overwhelming emotions she felt when she saw the body must have reminded her of what she went through herself six months ago. I wanted to keep her safe but now she was caught right in the middle of it all. I shouldn't have bonded with her...yet there was urgency that had my incisors ache in their hidden place in my mouth the moment I saw her. 

I didn't know what it was but instinctively I felt the need to keep tabs on her. I needed to find her again and the intense emotions that I went through every time I thought about her or when I was with her last night made me realize that this wasn't merely missing someone. There was an underlying reason that I was missing. 

Looking at her as she sat beside me, I couldn't help but want to touch her...and I did. I found myself lacing my fingers with hers. She turned to me and a small smile appeared on her lips. I frowned at the blood splotches on the handkerchief that was tied on her hand. I had seen this kind of tactic before among hounds. By exposing her blood, it was easy for them to single her out. This meant that they knew of her for a long time. 

Tamara and Jaylan being there gave me a picture of just how much I underestimated them. 

"Can you leave us in that corner please?" Damon instructed and I felt his frustration because he wasn't getting the answers for his questions.

Cedric turned to me as if asking for my permission to get him off. I could see how annoyed he was because the human was being a little out of control but who could blame him? He had just witnessed a dead body, not to mention being hunted down by a pack of hungry hounds. 

"We can let you go because you are a negligible factor but Olivia is leaving with me." I told him.

"That is the second time I am hearing that comment and I still haven't found out what it means but what I can say is that Liv is in a lot more danger with you than she is with me. I will take her home. Just let us out at the corner." Damon gritted his teeth.

I somehow agreed when he spoke of the danger surrounding Olivia and me but I was advantaged at making sure she didn't lose her life. I knew Damon wasn't going to let it go and he was going to put up a fight to the end so I turned to the driver and instructed him to stop the car. I looked at Damon and my eyes twirled towards him, ensnaring him in my abilities.

"Go home, Damon. Forget what you saw today. You went trekking with Olivia this morning, had a great time and brought her back home. She called to tell you she will be staying with a friend for a while." 

Damon repeated the words in his dazed state and Olivia gasped in surprise. 

"Now, get off and go home for some rest." I said to him.

Damon reached forward and opened the door then stepped out of the car.

"Damon!" Olivia exclaimed trying to get his attention but the command was too strong for him to ignore. She turned to me with fury in her eyes. "What did you do to him?" she demanded. 

"I did that for his safety--"

"We have a chasers. We need to go." Cedric spoke as he noted the two bikers racing towards them. He closed the door before Olivia could jump out and the three car went full speed towards the borders. 

"Wait! Let me go!" Olivia started struggling against Cedric and I. I saw the way Cedric rolled his eyes, irritated because now not only did he have the job to keep us safe but he had to also babysit a full-grown woman. "Let me out!" Olivia screamed.

The two bikers flanked the car, escorting us out--making sure we didn't stop again within Blackstone Creek. I hated to use my abilities on Olivia but I had no choice. She was hysterical and she needed to calm down before she got us in even more mess. I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me. Though I knew my commands really didn't work on her, I noticed that last night she became more complacent.

"You are safe with me, Olivia." I told her. "You need to calm down. I will not hurt you."

"I just want to go home. I don't know what is going but I just want to get back to my life--where you were nothing but an imaginary person in my dreams." She begged as tears ran down her cheek.

That tugged hard on the strings of my heart. It was a big blow to me that it almost sounded as if she regretted ever meeting me. Truth be told, I turned her world upside down and I couldn't undo it even if I wanted to. Frankly, I didn't want to anyway so she just needed to deal with the new reality. I could read her emotions and they were all over the place; fear, dread, sorrow and anger all clouded her thinking and rode her body like a freight-train. 

OLIVIA...

I LOOKED at the man sitting next to me with his warm fingers laced with mine and I knew that though there was no place in the world that felt safer than in that car with him, I was bound to lose my mind by accepting to go with him. I was hysterical because it was not normal that Damon would get off the car and leave me behind when just seconds ago, he was all but fighting with Rayn to let us go. 

"I can't allow that, Olivia because you are not safe at your place. You need to be somewhere I can keep my eye on you until the danger passes." He assured me but that is what I didn't want to hear.

I had a normal life before he showed up. Why couldn't he just go back to being a figment of my imagination because it was easier to handle? Having him in reality, sitting next to me and holding my hand made it even more scary and my little brain couldn't handle all that information. I was surprised that I hadn't passed out yet because in just a few hours I had seen a dead body, I had met Tamara and Jaylan who I knew were very strange, I had been abandoned by the one person who I knew would never do such a thing and was stalked by the biggest wolves I had ever seen in my short life.

I looked up at Rayn and he stared back at me with his strange eyes. When he looked at me, his eyes made me want to do whatever it was that he asked of me. They were always calm and I could see truth in them. He was genuinely worried about me and he just wanted to keep me safe. I found myself calming down a little as he stared at me, as if he was trying to read my mind and see what I was thinking.

A myriad of emotions was clouding my thoughts. So many things didn't make sense like who were those two men who cut my arm up in the forest and why did they want to harm me? Why were there crazily huge wolves in that time of the year? Why did I feel that though Tamara and Jaylan were left behind with those nasty looking wolves that they would be safe? Why didn't they look worried as we hurried away and why were there bike escorts for Rayn's cars?

"I know you have so many questions right now, Olivia." Rayn squeezed my arm lightly with his and reached forward with his free hand and pushed away the lock that had found it's way to the corner of my mouth. "I will answer all of them to the best of my abilities--when the time is right." 

But I didn't want the time to be right because I wasn't ready to let go of the reality I was in. I needed to be grounded and I knew Rayn would tilt my world off its axis with whatever he said. I sat quietly beside him, afraid even to breathe out loud. Even if I screamed for help, the best I could get from it was maybe a bullet in the head.

Suddenly the car stopped and the blonde man stepped out. I didn't know that we moved so fast because that was when I realized we were out of the town. I peeped through the tinted window and saw the two bikes stop short of where the blonde man stood. One of the bikers got off and removed his helmet. I was surprised how much he resembled the blonde man. He smirked and said.

"Next time I see you in my turf, I will rip your head off, brother." 

"Until it has been officially announced as part of the motherland, Blackstone Creed is not your turf. Next time I see you, Ronan, you will be kneeling before me and begging for forgiveness. I will never forget your betrayal." The anger in the blond man's voice was thick and heavy.

Ronan shrugged as he turned back to his bike. He stopped short and said. "As long as Dominiq sits as king, I am loyal to the throne--something you completely disregarded even though you took oath to protect it like the rest of us."

"I will not protect a mass murderer. I swore to protect the rightful heir and that is what I am doing."

"As long as Verik is alive, Rayn will see the throne in his dreams." Ronan chuckled venomously as he climbed on his bike and replaced his helmet. "Stay the f**k out of Blackstone Creek." He growled and made me jump even though I was safely tucked in the car. The bikes' engines came alive and the two bikers returned back into town. 

"That little fucker needs a proper beat-down." The blond entered the car and looked very annoyed. 

I had no idea what he was talking about with Ronan but I caught something about Dominiq being king and Ronan being loyal to the throne. The last time I checked, we didn't have a monarchy and who the hell was Dominiq? Were they talking in code? I knew that the two brothers had a falling out and each chose a side but everything else in between sounded like a good historical novel. 

Rayn was supposed to be an heir to the throne? I turned to him and he was smiling at his bodyguard's anger. It could describe his strange yet captivating accent. 

"He is still your younger brother, Cedric. We don't go around beating-up family. Blood always runs thick." Rayn chuckled as the cars began moving again.

"Says the man who wants to slit his cousin's head off." Cedric shot back and I gasped in revolt.

That was when they remembered that I was still in that car with them. Cedric gave me a severe look then turned away. It looked as if I was such an inconvenience to him but I wouldn't have blamed him because I was an obstacle in his job as Rayn's bodyguard.

"How do you even talk so lightly about killing someone?" I asked suddenly hoping that it was just a metaphor they were using.

"Because that is the harsh reality you woke up in." Cedric suddenly answered.

"Ced..." Rayn warned his bodyguard and it only seemed to irritate him even more.

"What? She needs to know what it meant for her on that night you blood-bonded with her. If she wants to live another day, she needs to know the truth!" Cedric said.

"Blood-bonded?" I felt my body go cold so suddenly. What did that even mean? I heard such a term in movies and story-books but the actual definition was quite vague. Sweat dampened my brown and I felt a tremble go down my body as I looked for Rayn, desperate for him to tell me that his bodyguard was just teasing me but the grim face he had told me otherwise.

"Yes, Rayn blood-bonded with you that night to save you. He used his blood to heal you and in turn, you and him started sharing a life-line. So now, you have no choice but to be with him." Cedric continued.

Rayn's hand tightened lightly against mine when he felt I was about to slip it away. His eyes begged me to be understanding but the only thing I understood at that moment was the rising panic within me.

What kind of f****d-up dream was I having? 

Olivia, wake up! I screamed in my head...