Once Scorched Always Safe
Chapter 8

The Ugly Truth, The slap of Guilt

Redwood Pack, Oregon

The sound of children laughing coming from the courtyard below made Arianna look over the railing from where she sat on the balcony of her bedroom. Calista, her three–year–old daughter, and Jace, Sebastion, and Gia’s almost five–year–old son were manning around the courtyard chasing after Justin for the fifth time today. She looked at the two differences between the two children, think again how different the two cousins looked to each other. She had very serious doubts that Jace was Sebastion’s sun. She was also not the only one to voice that opinion, though many had stopped questioning his origins.

Calista took after their Greek heritage with her olive–colored skin tone, dark silky hair, and grey eyes from Schastion and Arianna’s father’s family. The little girl got her looks from her mother, but her attitude was all her father’s. Playful, outgoing, strong willed, and far more intelligent than a child her age normally is. Flynn, her mate, was the Beta of Red Dawn pack from Georgia. They had met while she was on a business trip for the company that she ran with her brother. She was beyond happy to have finally met her mate

Jace was fair–skinned, blonde hair, blue eyes. The eyes she could believe he got from Gia, but the rest was not normally found with their heritage. Yes, she knew that some genetics could skip generations, but she had watched all of Gia’s flirtatious ways while Sebastion was not in town. He never believed that she was with other men, even when his Beta and Gamma told him tales of her trying to seduce them. Even when several she–wolves came to him complaining that she had seduced their mates. He would not listen to their stories. He said that he believed in her loyalty to him.

For a year after Jace was born, Sebastion would challenge those who spoke out openly about him not being his son. For the first time since he became Alpha of the pack, those he had sworn to protect feared him. His blind devotion to a woman who was not his true mate, for the woman he chose over Rayne, was not a healthy thing. Gia was not as devoted to him as he wanted to believe, and the entire pack knew it.

Arianna smiled as Calista hopped on Jace’s back as they raced out of the courtyard to chase after Justin, who slipped away again. Her phone rang, making her frown at the ringtone. It was her mother. Why would she be calling this early in the week? They normally touched base once a week on Fridays to discuss business and the children. It was only Tuesday, not that she minded talking to her mother anytime.

“Mother, what a surprise to…..” She was cut off by the urgency in her mother’s voice. Her mouth fell open in shock.

Her mother and father were on the Werewolf Council of Elders, they were in Europe on council business. For her mother to call her during meetings with the council, something of dire importance must have happened. She hung up the phone as soon as her mother finished telling her the horrors of what had happened. Two packs had been attacked, one of them Arianna knew. So did her brother. That pack was nearly wiped out. She had to replace Sebastion.

She tried to mind link him, but he was blocking their connection. That meant he was with Gis. That would make what she had to tell him harder for him to hear. Arianna stood from her chair, raced into the house to go in search of her brother. She cringed at the thought of walking in on him and Gua having sex, but what she had to tell him was far more important than him getting laid.

Sebastion

He stood in the little doorway of the cabin he had built a few years ago, away from the mansion. It was a retreat for him and Gia to have some alone time without the rest of the household hearing them. His heart was breaking at the sight of his lover in the throes of passion with another man. The smell of their lust filled the small cabin to the point he knew that she hadn’t sensed him yet.

Finally, after over nine years of people telling him she was an unfaithful harlot, he was seeing the proof with his own eyes. He would never have believed all their tales unless he had proof, and now he did. He took a step into the room, letting the cabin door slam closed behind him, alerting the lovers that their secret was out. He let out a growl so loud that he was sure that those back at the mansion could hear it. The glass rattled, and the lovers jumped to untangle themselves from each other.

“Bastion, it isn’t what it looks like, baby…” Gia pleaded with him.

Part of him wanted to believe her, but he knew now that this woman would do or say anything to get what she wanted. The blinders were off now. No longer did he see the girl he fell in love with as a teenager, the woman she had grown into that he had loved above almost all others. Gone was the family they had created from that love, from the band he thought was stronger than any real mate bond. Stronger than the bond he had with that pathetic wolf he left in the dirt five years ago.

“Oh, isn’t it?” He narrowed his eyes at her, then looked to the man beside her, who was oozing fear.

“No, he attacked me. Bastion I would never be with….” She closed her mouth at his angry growl.

“You looked to be very much enjoying what the two of you were doing, so do not lie to me. Sebastion took another step into the room.

The Ugly Truth, The slap of Cult

“Baby, you have got to believe me.” Gia let the tears fall down her cheeks. She knew he was a sucker for her tears.

He moved across the room faster than either of them had time to think what he was going to do, grabbed her lover by the throat, then threw him as hard as he could against the wall. The wall cracked, the window next to where he had hit shattered, and Gia screamed. Ares was close to the surface. Though he hated Gia, it enraged him that this woman would hurt Sebastion how she did. Because of her, he had lost his true mate, the one that the Moon Goddess had made just for then

When his eyes flashed to pure black, Gia stopped screaming and backed herself against the wall. He was no longer in complete control. She knew this was going to be bad for her and her lover. For the first time in her life, she was afraid of the man she claimed to have loved. All she ever wanted from him was to have the title of the Luna of this pack and to have him cater to her every desire. He gave her everything but the title she coveted so much.

The door to the cabin burst open as Justin barged in to see what that howl of pain he had heard was about. As he took in the scene, he instantly knew what had finally happened. The whore had finally gotten caught by the one person in the pack she had always had wrapped around her little finger.

Sebastion turned his head to look at Justin, “Call someone to take care of that filth, then have someone escort Gia to the dungeons, lock her in, then leave. I want this cabin burnt to the ground.” He turned back to look at Gia as she buddled naked, smelling of another man and sex.

“Bastion, baby, think of our son. He needs me.” She begged him as she shivered in fear.

ΠΕ.

“Is he my son? No one believes he is.” That thought made his stomach drop. The boy was his light, his joy, his world. To think he wasn’t Jace’s father made something in him snap.

his

rage

He stepped to her, wrapped his hand around her throat, and squeezed, her eyes bulging as he lifted her on the wall, holding her there as consumed him. He could feel Ares trying to calm him, he could sense Justin stepping closer behind him, prepared to pull him away if needed. He wouldn’t kill her, but he would surely make her fear that he would.

“Have there been as many men as I have been told about over the y years? Would you even know who lace’s father is? Are you that much of a greedy slut?” He squeezed harder until her face turned purple, then he dropped his hand, letting her slide to the ground. Even after what he had seen, he could not hurt her further.

He spun around, walked past Justin, then exited the cabin and walked a few feet away before dropping to his knees in the dirt. He was shaking with the many emotions that were passing through him. Anger at himself for being such a fool for her. Pain at knowing she used him for everything he ever gave her. Most of all the guilt he felt as he remembered leaving his true mate, kneeling in the dirt very much like he was now,

He never formally rejected her, so their bond was still there, so weak that most days he didn’t feel it. Today was one of those days he didn’t. He felt even more hollow than ever. Not knowing what else to do, he reached out to his sister to tell her he needed her, opening their link to share the images that had greeted him when he walked into that cabin. She had been right about Gia all these years, but he had just been too blinded by love to listen to the one person who had never once lied to him.

Sebastion looked up as two guards arrived to escort Gia to the dungeons. He would throw her lover out of pack territory. They had to leave her lover behind, as Gia was kicking and screaming, so the two guards had to work together to drag her from the cabin. Justin walked out of the cabin with her lover over his shoulder, wrapped in a blanket from the bed.

“I will take care of this one, please go back to the house, talk to…” He looked behind Sebastion as Arianna stepped out of the woods in front of the cabin. “Talk to your sister.” He turned away, leaving to take out the poor unlucky bastard that slept with the Alpha’s woman..

Seeing her brother on his knees in the dirt made Arianna forget what she had originally wanted to tell him. The pain in his eyes shook her. He was so strong–willed that she couldn’t remember that last time she has seen him cry. Rushing to him, she went to her knees, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, letting him know that it was ok to let it out.

She saw the images he shared with her as she was rushing here for him, not surprised at all about Gia finally being caught in the act. He cried until his voor was hoarse and his body had sagged completely against her as he finished crying. She gently pushed him back so she could see his face.

“What will you do with her now that you know the truth?”

“I had her taken to the dungeons, she can stay there until I have all her things packed, then I will have her banished from the pack.”

“What about Jace? He…” She paused at the glane he sent her. “He is still your son, even i

even if you are not his biological father. You are all he knows,”

“He will go with his mother, I will not have him here as a reminder of her infidelities, nor will 1 have him here to remind Rayne of what I did. Rayne will take her place by my side where she belongs as soon as I replace her.” He looked off into the distance as he thought of Rayne.

Arianna’s face paled as she remembered what she needed to tell him. “Sebble, there is something that you need to know.”

“What more do I need to know? Haven’t I learned all there was to know today?” He looked at her when he heard the note of sadness to her voice.

The Ugly Truth. The slap of Guill

“Mother called me awhile ago…… there was an attack……‘ “She didn’t get to finish as Sebastion shot up off the ground to tower over her.

“Father? Are they both alright? What happened to them?” He peppered her with questions as he reached down to pull her up off the ground.

“Yes, they are fine. The attack wasn’t on them. They are with the council. The attack was on two packs”

on

He frowned down at her, “Then why the urgency to tell me? Is it an allied pack? Did we miss the call for help?”

He took his alliances with neighboring packs seriously, if they ever needed help he would give it, with the idea that if his pack ever needed help, they would return the favor. Since he has been Alpha, there had never once been a call for help against attacks of any kind. He had helped with food, housing, or other needs as the occasions had called for it. He would be concerned if an ally had called for help and he was too busy to heed the call.

“No, Sebbie, it wasn’t any of the nearby packs, one of them however was one we both know. We have been there once before, five years ago to be exact. Jade Moon.”

He shook his head as what she said sank in, tried to deny what she was telling him. “Were there survivors? Did she make it out?”

“There were survivors, but Rayne was not among them.”

“No, she isn’t dead. I would feel it if she was.” Wouldn’t he? Their bond was so weak that he couldn’t even feel it right now.

Usually when one half of a mated pair dies, the other dies too, rarely does one survive without the other. Since they had not fully mated, since he had left her behind, he believed she would be safe if he were to die in battle. He should be the one to die, not her. He left her behind in the dirt like garbage. Now he would never get the chance to claim her as his.

“I need to see her body. I need to know how damned my soul is for the th

things I said to her.”

*Sebastion, you are not damned. You were in love.”

“I made the wrong choice Ari, I knew what I did was wrong, but I did it anyway, I was cruel with my words for no reason at all. I could have just left with Gia and not looked back, but I had to make her hate me.”

“You hurt her, but she told me she never wanted a mate, it sounded so much like you I laughed when she told me. I joked that it would be ironic if she ended up being your mate. The Moon Goddess was right when she paired you two together. I am sorry that Gia was always in the front of your mind.”

“I need to go see her body, Arl.”

“I know. Let’s go back to the house, I will plan for Flynn to take Calista so I can come with you. We will leave first thing in the morning.” She held his arm, leading him away from the cabin, back towards the mansion.

Sebastion let her guide him home as he got lost in his thoughts. Thoughts of what his life would have been like if he had just listened to his wolf. Her pale green eyes full of tears and anger at that last exchange of words would forever haunt him.

He would go to Arizona, replace out for sure if she made it out alive, or if what his sister believes is true. That he lost his soul mate before he could make her his. When he met her that night, he was in the mindset of not wanting a mate. A mate for him would change his life from where he wanted it to stay, even if he intended to only use her for an heir. Thinking of that made him feel even worse because no matter what happened, no one deserved to be treated as less than what they were.

As the mate of an Alpha, she would be the pack Luna, his equal in all things, but she would be more. The Luna is the heart of the pack, leading from within, supporting the Alpha in any way that she can. Gia had clouded his heart, his mind, and worst of all, his moral code. He had put her above almost his entire pack, making him weak and cruel to the eyes of those he swore to protect.

When he brought his Luna home, there would be changes in the pack that was long overdue, changes to set things right. To show his mate, his pack, and himself that he could be a better man. A better Alpha. She belonged to him. He would replace her and bring her home where she was meant to be.

She was alive.

She had to be.

Sebastion prayed to the Moon Goddess for the first time since he was a child. He prayed for her for forgiveness from his blind devotion to an unworthy, unfaithful, liar of a woman. He prayed for forgiveness for believing Gla over all the people who tried to tell him the truth. Most of all, he prayed that she would give him the chance to replace Rayne, that she was alive, that she would finally be his.

Please!

The Ugly Truth. The slap of Guilt

Be!

Alive!

Her Beturned Mate (The Gathering Shadows Series, Book I

Witches, Drifters, and Shifters, Oh My

California

Parker

He sat at the bar going over applications for a replacement for his drug–dealing ex–bartender. He had good feelings about the application on the top of his pile. A female, age thirty, with a military background so she could handle herself if things got rowdy. They did from time to time during the bar’s monthly poker night, which Rayne had set up so that half of all winnings went to the local women’s shelter. She amazed him more and more as she matured. She was so young when they met, but she was battle weary from the life she told him about over the years they had known each other.

He looked over the application one more time, then picked up the others to take them back to his office. He would look through them again if his first pick didn’t pan out. After placing the files on his desk, he made his way back out to the bar. He had a phone call to make. He picked up his cellphone, dialed her number, then waited patiently for someone to answer. On the fourth ring of the dial, the bell above the bar door signaled two things

One, he had forgotten to lock the door during non–business hours, which would frustrate Rayne to no end if she knew

Two, there was a woman in the bar’s doorway. Her face was one he had recently been studying in her file.

He hung the phone up as she walked further into the bor, “Well this is interesting.”

She stood in the entryway for a moment as she looked around the interior of the bar. She was dressed in black from head to toe, black skinny jeans, a black t–shirt, with a black baseball cap over her shockingly white hair that was braided over one shoulder. Her heart–shaped face was alluring, bare of any makeup, but it was her eyes that surprised him. In her photo from his file, they were brown contacts he knew now. Plain brown to hide the unnatural shade of purple.

She walked to him, not saying a single word, just her head tilted to the side as she studied him. He was doing the same as she was, looking her over, trying to get a sense of what she was. She was not human, her eyes gave that away. He could sense an aura of power around her. Her eyes made him wary, as even in the supernatural world, he had seen no one with eyes that color. He had seen blue, greens, golds, and reds of almost all shades imaginable. Even shades that were mystifying in their intensity, like the almost electric blue of a shifter born with elemental powers.

When he recovered his tongue, he reached out his hand to greet her, “Hello, I am Parker, half owner of Shadows Retreat.”

“Hello. You already know my name, so it would be redundant to introduce myself.” Her voice was rich, velvety, and held a thick southern accent. She ignored his outstretched hand.

“That is a point. May I ask how you knew that I was going to call you? How you knew to show up at the bar today?” He dropped his hand, laying it on top of the bar counter.

She threw her head back and laughed. It was a deep throaty sound that normally sends shivers down most men’s spines. “I am….. unique,” was all she

said.

“Well…” He ran his tongue over his front teeth in thought. She would keep the customers on their toes for sure. Her employment file was full of minor jobs intermingled with her military deployments, but he liked what little background she provided. So, he made a decision that he hoped he wouldn’t regret, “Show me what you can do with alcohol, then we can go from there.”

They spent the next hour going over all the mixed drinks that the bar offered, between the two of them they came up with a few more, and she adding a new spin on some existing ones. Parker made notes of what they came up with for new and old to give to Rayne. He wanted her approval before he added to the drink menu.

“Alright, I think you surpassed my expectations for a bartender, added in your military background, I think you

Would you like the job?”

u will do nicely. Wou “I had it the minute I walked through the door, though I appreciate you going through the motions to make it an actual interview.”

Her cockiness made him laugh. She was correct about bis decision to hire her the minute she walked in. He felt he had to go through the process, anyway. “So, that is a yes.”

She nodded her head, went around to the front of the bar to leave, but stopped to look at him with a sad look on her face. She shook her head, then. headed for the door. “Is tonight a good night to start?”

“Yes, be here at nine tonight, we open at ten at night and close at

Eve in t

the morning. We cater only to….

“The supernaturall, I know, that is the only reason that I applied for this job.” She nodded her head at him, t

then left the bar.

Wiches, Defans, and Shifters, Oh My

Parker was left staring at the door as it closed behind her. That was the most interesting interview he had ever been a part of. He could tell right that she would do well at the bar, that Rayne would enin getting to know her just as much as he would. Witches

was very positive that this one would be very entertaining to have around

Rayne sat in a deck chair on the porch overlooking the ocean. It troubled her mind, all the memories that Bridgette’s visit bei mind. She has spent the last five years putting the post as far behind her as she could, but as someone once told her, the past abwi Usually when she least expected it, and almost always when she doesn’t want it to. There wasn’t much in her past that she couldn’t live brought back, with only two mujor exceptions

Once she left Jade Moon territory, she came to realize something about Wilson. That the anger he had about her dreams was fear of her remember something that he would do anything to keep hidden. What did he not want her to remember? She tried to have Lynn search her memories, but there was a deep blank spot of that night. Lynn said it was a strong protective spell, one that she did not have the magic strength to berak

What was he hiding about the night her parents died?

Her parents‘ death. There was always something that her subconscious tried to get her to remember aboud that night, usually

a small sense of déjà vu bere and there. Yet in the waking hours of the day, it slipped away, leasing her feeling just lost in the had the night they died. For the first three years after their death, she had temble nightmates, ones she could never remember when the wake. The linger she had them, the angrier Wilson became, though he didn’t start hitting her until after that night he went ton far

Before she could stop it, the memory of that night came flooding back.

Rayne Age Thirteen

Manning Graphic Some

Rayne woke screaming for the third night in a row. The dreams were coming more and more often once she gained her will, Ruby. Her memories were to surface from the night her parents died. She wanted to remember so badly, yet she was afraid of what she would remember. Did the see them

die? That was something she was sure the would remember unless their death was so horrifying that she post blanked it from her mind.

The door to her room was thrown open as Wilson stormed in with that same look of anger he always seemed to get when she had her nightmares. Why was he so angry that she was dreaming of her parents? Sometimes she thought he was angry that the couldn’t forget them so he could forget them to Her father was his Beta, his friend, so she always thought his death hit Wilson hard.

to her bedside

“What did I tell you about those dreams?” He growled at her as he walked to

Rayne instinctively pushed herself against the wall next to her bed, back to the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest. His anger always frightened her, made her chest tighten, and her stomach hurt. Tonight, was different from all the other nights before. Tonight, he was drunk, so drunk that she could smell the alcohol as soon as he burst into her rooms.

“Answer me! H

He yelled, sending a spray of spit out of his mouth as he did.

She cringed but decided if she just answered him, apologized for waking him, then maybe he would leave her be. “You told me to stop or there would be consequences. I am sorry Wilson, I am not doing it on purpose, sir,”

They need to stop! You need to grow up. Tonight, you will face the consequences of your childishness.” Wilson leaned down, grabbed her by the ams, yanking her out of the bed. “You will no longer be sleeping on the same floor as my family, the attic will be your new home *

The attic was on the fourth floor of the mansion, with two little rooms and a bathroom. It was originally for the nanny of founding pack Alpha. No one had used those rooms since before Wison took over, though Bridgette and Alec occasionally played up there when Wilson was out of town the dragged her out of the bedroom, cut into the hallway, then up the narrow stairs at the end of the hall. She struggled as he dragged her up the stain. She screamed despite knowing that no one on the third floor could come to her and

Once at the top of the stairs he kicked the door open, pulled her inside to stand in front of him, then he closed the door behind him. As soon as the door closed a sense of dread settled in her stomach. The look on his face was searing her. His eyes were glassy, but still, tage filled as he advanced on her. Rayne yelped in fear, tried to buck away from him, only to fall on her butt. She looked up at him wordlessly, shaking her head as he came closer to

When Wilson was practically on her, he slapped her hand across the face making her eyes water at the siden assault. He pushed her down onto her Teating at her clothes. The pain she experienced as he took her innocence in a drunken hate was that last thing she remembered before she blarked t

Present They

Witches, Daftark, and Shifters, Oh My

Mysterious stranger

He watched as Rayne pulled herself out of that memory, gasping for air. She stood swiftly, ran to the porch railing and dry heaved until she was struggling to breathe. She slid to the porch floor, sat there staring at the ocean in an almost catatonic condition, unaware that the was being watched from down the beach. She did not see the hooded figure approach slowly as she crumpled to the porch floor.

She didn’t feel arms lifting her gently from the floor to carry her delicately into the house. He laid on the couch, pulling a light blanket over her as he sang softly, chasing the past nightmares away. She wasn’t aware that she closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, letting to the calming effect that the song had to tumble her right into sleep.

The stranger stopped singing as he looked down at her as she slept. He looked around her small living room, noting the warm and inviting atmosphere that she had created. From the images he glimpsed from her mind, she deserved all the peace that she could create around herself. He felt anger, sorrow, and most of all a protectiveness for this woman whom he had never met before today. Who was she? Was she someone that he knew from his past? A past he had no memory of at all

He had woken up one night, covered in dried blood. No memories at all of who he was, where he was, and whose blood he was covering his body. There was a scar going down his face from his temple to his chin on his left side, it was thick and it felt freshly healed, if that was even possible. Though he had learned as time went on that he was capable of quite a lot of odd things. He embraced the life of a drifter, moving from town to town as he made his to an unknown destination. His voice often earning him enough money to eat, sometimes even sleep in a bed, but he tried to stay on the outer edge of society as much as he could.

He turned toward the driveway as he heard tires spin in the gravel as a motorcycle pulled into the driveway. He looked back at the woman’s sleeping form before he quickly ducked out the door to the porch, slipping out of sight before the newcomer could see him. He would stick close to this house, to this woman, to see if maybe she was the key to his memories. She was the first person who he had encountered over the past fourteen years to trigger any kind of emotion from him. Her childlike face from her memories triggered something in the back of his battered mind, but like the fleeting wind over his face, the memory vanished.

Parker

He parked the motorcycle next to the house, walked up to the back door, then paused as he caught the scent of another werewolf, a male, near the side of the house. It was an unfamiliar scent, so instead of going inside to check on Rayne, he shifted into a bird to fly up over the house towards the side porch to see around the outside of the house. As he cleared the roof of the house, he saw a streak of grey cloth rush into the bushes along the edge of the small wooded area at the front of the house. He flew towards the woods to follow the male, only to lose him shortly after. Rayne distracted his mind from being alone in the house.

Parker flew up to the top of the trees to scan

in the area around the house, then he flew the short distance back to the house. His priority now was to make sure that Rayne was alright. He landed on the porch, then shifted back to his human form. As he looked into the house, he saw that Rayne was on the couch that faced the porch. She was asleep with a blanket over her. She looked peaceful. He hoped that it would stay that way, but he had a gut feeling that this was the calm before the storm.

Something was coming their way. Something that neither of them would be ready for. Something that Lynn warned him about as he was paying for their uneaten breakfast this morning. She had a premonition last night but wanted to do a spell to clear the images that came to her. She said that by Rayne’s reaction to Bridgette; she had confirmation of the warning she received. What it would mean was something that would become clear in time.

Parker knew that he would do anything to protect Rayne, he loved her even though he knew she had a mate, even though he knew that somewhere out there he had one too. He always knew that one day he would have to let her go, but until that day he would love and cherish her as she deserved. Even if they were not always lovers, they were at the core of their relationship friends. He would remain that as long as they both lived.

He walked to the couch, wrapped her in the blanket, then picked her up to carry her to her room. She didn’t stit, so deep was her sleep, that he ambled as silently as he could down the hall to the bedrooms. He laid her gently on the bed, then leaving her long enough for him to get dressed in loose- fitting sweatpants. He came back to her room, slid onto the bed beside her, wrapped her in his arms as he let sleep wash over him. They had hours before they would need to be awake again. The bar didn’t open until eleven in the evening. So, he would hold her while they slept, let her know with his body that she was safe.

To let her know that she was not alone.

Hello Readers

This

chapter introduced two new characters, both mysterious a

and nameless.

I will reveal more at this story unfolds, please stay with me to learn their stories as well

“What do you think of the stranger who found Rayne after her flashback? Who do you think he is?”

Witches. Drifters, and Shifters, Oh My

Also, I am sorry if her flashback was too much for some. I was torn on writing it at all

Please stay tuned for the next