Once Scorched Always Safe
Chapter 22

Rayne

Founding on her office door made Parker growl as he bit into her shoulder again. They were now on the flour, having fallen off the couch while he tried to flip her over. They were still laughing as they continued to make love; they seemed to not be able to get enough of each other.

“There is a furious Alpha werewolf outside fighting Argyle, Spencer yelled from out in the hallway.

“What the fuck?” Parker jerked up as he turned his head towards the door.

Rayne groaned as Parker moved off

off her. He grabbed his pants, getting into them as he hopped towards the door. Rayne grabbed her clothes from the floor, trying to get dressed before he opened the door to Spencer. She pulled her shirt on as Parker looked at her before opening the door.

“Jecz, it smells like a lot of sex in here, reminds me I am not getting any at home, thanks, boss.” Spencer chuckled.

Rayne cleared her throat from behind Parker, “Is everyone inside safely other than Argyle?”

“Yes, he showed the last customer inside behind me, then hopped off the front stoop to go on the defense.”

“Go get

get Morty, Malcolm, and my father. The wards will keep him out if we can just get Argyle back inside.”

“I’m in boss–lady,” Argyle said from the hall behind Spencer.

His face was bloody with scratches going across his face. They were already healing, so she didn’t worry too much. What worried her now was what was outside her bar. Sebastion was not taking her rejection well. Now he had hurt one of her friends, she would have to show him he would not get what he wanted by throwing a tantrum.

More of her emotions must have gone through the mate bond than she expected. Fear spiked in her heart as the four of them made their way downstairs. Would he try to get to Parker? Did he think if he could hurt or kill her lover, she would take the rejection back and fall into his arms? Was he really that selfish to think harming the man she loved over him would solve his problems?

Arabella and Jazmine stood behind the bar, both whispering low, but stopped when Rayne walked past them.

“Rayne, we have an idea that may work for your mate problem,” Arabella told her.

himself

“That problem is outside and furious,” Rayne stated as she heard a loud roar, then the immediate boom as the wards reacted to him throwing him against the front door. She grimaced as she felt his damn ain through the mate bond.

“What is your idea?” Parker asked

“We

sever

the mate band.”

“How can that be done?” Rayne looked surprised.

“It would work as rejection does, but there is a danger to it,” Jazmine looked to Argyle as he came into the room, anger flashed in her eyes.

“What danger?” Parker asked.

“May I suggest calming

Π

the beast

beast down first, then maybe we talk about solving this problem after he is safely dealt with,” Argyle suggested.

Arabella mumbled a few words, licked her hand towards the front of the building, “Done. He is out cold until this time tomorrow,”

Decisions and One Very Angry Alpha

“Well, isn’t that handy, Spencer chuckled.

“Can you contact his twin somehow?” Rayne asked Arabella.

“Yes, give me just a moment,” Arabella closed her eyes as she cast her mind out to Sebastion’s. “Ok, I tapped into his mind to replace her. Now I can speak to her from here.” Arabella explained the situation, told Arianna where to replace the bar, then she went back to her books.

When Arianna arrived at the bar, it shocked her to learn what her brother had done in his rage. His body was singed as if he walked through fire. He was healing, but she was still worried for him. What had he been thinking? That brute force would be the way to get Rayne to listen to him? After all Rayne had gone through as a child, Arianna voice her anger at her brother loudly for all to hear.

Arianna had the two men who came with her take Sebastion back to where they were staying for the night, she stayed to demand answers. They were now in the safe room next to Parker’s office, just the two of them. Parker had brought them coffee, nachos, two cheeseburgers, then kissed Rayne as he left them to chat. Arianna gave them a look of admiration, then nodded her head as he left.

“Rayne, what in the world have you gotten into?”

“Do you mean Parker or the bar and all the supernaturals in it?”

“Both, but let’s start with him. What is he exactly? Arianna looked at the plate of nachos with hunger in her eyes.

“Eat while I talk. So, five years ago, after your brother exposed Wilson for the monster he was, he unknowingly freed me to walk away, I was planning to that night anyway, I had a bag packed and hidden in the bushes by the garage. When he left, I picked myself up off the ground, dried my tears cause by his hateful words, then walked away from Jade Moon. I never once looked back.”

“I am sorry for the things he said to you. He was blinded Gia the whore,” Arianna stuffed nachos in her mouth.

“Don’t be. I told you that night that I never wanted a mate. Sebastion only solidified that in my mind when he called me pathetic and weak. So, one night I was in my motel in this shithole town in southern California, wearing nothing but a towel when my door is kicked open. Parker enters, soaking wet, black eye, with a knife in one hand. He demanded to know where Kylee was, his girlfriend and her new lover were somewhere in the same motel My growling at him convinced him he had the wrong room, her room ironically enough was right next door. They put on quite a show by the sound of

“Damn, how the hell did you end up befriending him them?”

“I went for breakfast right after he left. The next thing I know, he is sliding across the booth from me. He apologized for what happened in my room, then we talked for the rest of the night. We connected on many levels. Then when he found out I was heading out of town and had no ride, he offered me life. We have been inseparable ever since.”

“Have you always been how you are now?”

“Lovers? Not in the beginning, then off and on over the years. What we have now is more recent, though we have both felt it for over a year. I never wanted a male before, I want one now, but the one I chose is not Sebastion. Parker has earned my respect, trust, loyalty, and most importantly he has eamed my love. He is the mate of my heart, no matter what this damn mate bond with Sebastion is telling my soul.”

“That I can respect. My brother had done many bad things to people he was to lead, people he was to protect. All under the misguided notion that the woman he thought he loved, loved him just as much. She proved him wrong recently, now he is trying to be a better leader, father, and man.”

“So, he has a child?”

“Yes, and no. Jace is a product of one of Gia’s many adventures, but Sebastion loves him, he is determined to raise him as his own.”

“Well, that is noble of him, but does not change my mind,”

Rayne spoke bluntly.

*I am not meaning it to, just explaining. So the bar and all the creatures that I never believed existed, how did you fall into that?”

My friend Morty suggested it one night You met him downstairs earlier. We were all on the beach one night talking about what we had planned for the future. I off the wall mentioned wanting to own a bar, then the idea took root.”

“The magic?“*”

“That came along later when I met Arabella dancing on air on a drunken bender, but that is another story for another time.”

“You have been living a very interesting life over the past five years.”

Decisions and One Very Angry Alpha

“That I have,” Rayne raised her glass to Arianna’s.

They talked for hours, Rayne answering all the questions Arianna asked, she asked some of her own. They laughed at some antics that they both experienced over the years, then Rayne saw her friend out of the bar when it was time to close for the day. She promised that she would try her best to talk Sebastion into accepting the rejection, even knowing the pain that it would cause both of them.

Now, with luck, Rayne could finally relax and enjoy her time as she chose.

Knowing the world she lived in, the chances of that were slim, but it was worth the thought. She rode home with her dad and Parker intending to get some sleep, then maybe tomorrow they would start on the garage apartment and go over the expansion ideas for the bar. Her life would go on no matter the cost.

Arabella had told her the danger of severing the mate bond..

Rayne had to die.

Then have her heart restarted after five minutes, her heart no longer beating would sever the bond, then when it restarted it would give Sebastion a possibility of a second chance mate. One who just may control him the way he tried to control everyone else.

She only had to die to do it.