Ronnie.
I ran. my breathing unsteady and my mind frozen to the reality of the horrible thing that I had done.
Where would I run to now?
My mind was clouded, in a full haze, as I tried to get myself to think. I could still hear Lucan's voice, filled with so much rage, so much sorrow, and so much pain.
“Run, Ronnie. You'd better run as fast and as far away as you can.”
My heart beat faster than normal, I felt my chest constrict at the memory of his words.
"I will kill you for what you've done."
Each word stabbed me, gutted me. Much like what I had done to my father, the man who had raised me and loved me.
I wailed, the sound low and guttural as sobs fell from my lips.
I stopped running, and stood for a beat, two beats, and I was falling. I sank to the bare ground, my legs folding beneath me as a deep tremor overtook me.
My chest hurt and my eyes stung. My pulse was thudding hard in my ears and all I could hear was a dull roar.
The thought of what I had done beat at the periphery of my mind but I struggled against it, pushed it back, stuffed it away so I didn't have to confront what I'd done.
Not now. I would die if I allowed myself to think about it.
A cold hand grasped my shoulders and I was startled out of the deep funk I was in.
I dragged my eyes up, my weary eyes following the hand placed on my shoulder to find the face of its owner.
I flinched away in shock as I recognized who it was.
“You!” I growled at the woman, my eyes shooting daggers at her. “You caused this!”
It was the woman from before, still in her black dress of doom. It was fitting really, seeing as everything in my world had turned black.
I turned my gaze down to the white dress I'd donned earlier today for the mating ceremony. I had been so giddy with excitement, so hopeful.
Now the dress looked stupid. It taunted me with its message of purity, on a day that had gone dark.
Like a zombie, I mechanically spotted the drops of red on the dress and I laughed hysterically. Now that was fitting.
“Ronnie? Dear girl, are you alright?” she moved closer to me, her voice low and urgent.
She gripped me with both hands on my shoulders and shook me slightly as if to rouse me from my muddled state.
I sagged against her side, a sob rising in me again. “No, I am not okay!”
“Why, Ronnie? What has happened? What did he say to you?”
Slowly sounds began to filter into my ears and I raised my head, realizing that in my confused state, I had run to the garden again.
And this woman was still here.
“Why?! Why did you come here today and tell me all those things?!” I yelled at her, ready to place blame.
“Because it was time you knew, Ronnie! You deserve to know your real family.” she said unapologetically, her grip tightening on me.
Did she even know what her truth had made me do?
Did she even know how her words had pushed me?
She gasped, “Ronnie, your hands!”
I stared at my bloodied hands with her, not recognizing the blood-stained hands as mine.
There was blood on my fingernails, the red ugly against the white polish on my nails. My hands were red. Red with the blood of the man that had been my father.
I choked on dry air, nausea gripping me. I dragged my knees to my chest, hugging them to my body as I buried my face between my knees.
I rocked back and forth, silent tears streaming down my cheeks. “I killed him.”
“You killed who?”
I shook my head, refusing to speak his name.
She inhaled sharply, her hands falling away from my shoulders. “You killed Darius Dane.”
I shook at the sound of his name, shutting my eyes tightly as my heart ached.
The woman laughed, more like cackled. “THE Darius Dane. You ended the one Alpha that no one could kill, not even his most powerful enemies could.”
“Stop. Please stop.” I mumbled, near hysteria.
“He trusted his enemies, child, and you were his downfall. Fitting really, since he killed your parents.”
My eyes flew open as I gasped, tears raining down my cheeks. “I didn't do it for revenge. It was an accident!”
“It was no accident, my dear girl. It was fate,” she knelt in front of me, bringing her fingers to tip my head up, my tear filled eyes meeting hers.
“You are a Visaynt. Ronnie Visaynt. And you have avenged your parents and your slaughtered pack in the greatest way possible.”
Numb to everything now, I tuned the woman out, trying hard not to shatter. I felt like anymore and I would break into a million little pieces that would scatter in the wind.
“Come. my dear,” she said, gripping me by my arms, trying to get me to move.
“Please, just leave me alone,” I said in a hoarse, ugly voice.
She yanked my arms away from my body and drew me to my feet, keeping a painful grip on my arms when I would have fallen to the earth again.
“Listen to me, girl. You have murdered the Alpha's father, and to think his son only just became Alpha today.”
“They will come after you! That's if they have not found us yet. They will show no mercy. Not even Lucan will care to save your neck, after what you have done!”
The mention of Lucan's name got through to me.
"I will kill you for what you've done."
I shut my eyes as pain lanced through me, his words reverberating in my heart and in my head.
“It is time you returned to your true family, Ronnie. Come with me, we will protect you. They can't reach you. We won't let them harm you.”
I allowed her to lead me out of the garden, still in a muddled state as she took me with her.
I did not know where we were going, but I knew without a doubt, I no longer had a place here.