Chapter 305

When I walked away from Jay after he asked me to heal Audrey I did so with no trepidation, as Andre walked away from his wife, his daughter in his arms, neither did he, no way that girl is lying – too much evidence – dum dum hmmm hmm hmm hmm hmmmmhmmm - he thought of the same tune Rainy hummed, the same tune he’d heard his father-in-law hum to his daughter. One that couldn’t be found on any popular sound, a tune the man had hummed to his daughter all her life. The real blow was the conversation Rainy mentioned, the one no one knew – especially not Rainy and if she knew that conversation, she knew the others. I watched horrorstruck as Hope let her husband and child walk away to comfort her mother, father and Shane, daddy wouldn’t hurt anyone, she thought naïvely. Clenching my hand, a knuckle cracked, the sound loud of the tense silence at that beach, from the bushes people I had not yet planned to meet scurried onto the sand. As Brian Simeon grumbled and wheezed on the ground, writhing, only to stop when he winced in pain, my mind concentrated on Rainy’s. Whimpering, ‘No – no – stop,’ under her breathe I was just going to pull back from her thoughts, not wanting to see anymore that I already had, but in a flash all the images cleared, her strands of purple hair lightened then darkened to their normal strawberry blonde. ‘We’re gonna live on a beach one day Logan…’ a younger version of Rainy said her eyes then, focused on the setting sun, ‘and all your babies and my babies are going to play with each other,’ she giggled and the younger Logan just nodded, no smile or frown. ‘You’re gonna meet a girl and she’ll talk a lot so that you can be really quiet, and she’s gonna love you,’ Rainy said matter-of-factly leaving her brother no room to disagree. ‘What – what if your mate doesn’t like me?’ he asked her softly but she only giggled, ‘I don’t think I would get a mate so stupid that he wouldn’t like you – you’re the bestest brother in the whole wide world bubba,’ the end said seriously, ‘I don’t ever want to be separated from you Rain – no matter what.’ Again Rainy just laughed, ‘me either. So if I ever get lost come find me,’ he nodded, the gesture full of promise. My eyes watered, as I pulled out of her memory, once again taking in my surroundings, the number of people on the beach had multiplied, my eyes fell to Logan, my chin shook as I gazed at him, the devastation in his eyes as he took in Rainy. Why can’t I read her mind? He wondered, trying but hitting a wall each time. Her body stilled, upright but her eyes were eerily vacant all while her mind basked in a happy memory. “Rainy? Rain?” Chris whispered, manipulating her body so she could face him, “Rainy?” asked again, is she okay? Is mate okay? His wolf barked anxiously, Rainy? He tried to infiltrate her mind again and like Logan he was unable. Inhaling the aroma from Jasmine tickled my nose once again, what is that scent? I asked myself. Fae… my third wolf answered, my shoulders sagged a bit in relief, we hadn’t gotten to the reasons why the Elders would have wanted to kill everyone here, but knowing that it was probably Jasmine and not Brian my father was trying to save brought me some peace. Why – what’s happening? Fabian? Why is – “Jasmine?” Brian finally said something understandable, instead of just noises. “Why-” Chris snarled when Brian spoke, “Marlon – she – she just – just – att-ack-ed – me,” he panted turning his head to seek out help, then even I had to growl a bit but Marlon just concentrated on Fabian not giving Brian the time of day while Jasmine started murmuring under her breath. Reaching around Gabriel’s arm I went for the gun I knew was wedged behind his back, cocking it and pointing it at Jasmine, “If you don’t stop trying to heal him, I’m going to shoot you in the head,” I said dryly when I realized what she was doing. Her head snapped up, eyes wide and focused on mine. “Good.” “I – ne –ed – help,” why would she attack me? Brian thought pitifully but his feigning innocence. Voice booming I asked, “How many innocent people have you hurt Brian?” the question laced with power. “Too – many – to – count,” he choked out in a toneless voice, gasping. “Brian you – you don’t mean that,” Jasmine said and all the while I was steaming, it wasn’t that his answer displeased me it was the panting. Pulling away from Gabriel I stalked over to him, placing my hand on his torso, hard, “Ahh Christ!” he shrilled. “Why are you helping that bastard?” Logan stomped over, taking a step back when Gabriel stood in his way. I didn’t answer until I knew I had fixed the issues with his lung – the reason for the shortness of breath. “You wouldn’t do those things,” Mrs. Simeon said to her husband, “Because I want him to say what he did, and not be distracted by the panting,” I shrugged, Logan though, had already stopped listening to me, his temper flaring, nostrils twitching as his hands curled into fists at his side and then he was gone. Rainy? I called out to her over the link, you can come out now, he can’t hurt you, I won’t let. Logan won’t let him. Your mate won’t let him hurt you anymore. You aren’t back there, you’re here with people that love you, you don’t need to hide, I said as two women came closer, one staying near a man – her mate – embracing, the other walking up to Marlon. I asked – she said no – the others too… Marlon didn’t respond verbally, or mentally his response was physical, he sighed, his shoulders loosening right before my eyes. Didn’t hurt my pups, I almost nodded in understanding when it came clear to me. Almost. My mind monitoring thoughts – while I waited to see if Rainy would come out of where she went to in her mind, as I stepped away from the Simeon. What’s going on, why would the Luna want us all here? Did Lux explain? Marlon won’t answer over the link. The Luna is so young, how do we know she is the right one after all? It should be an older individual, with more experience under their belt, someone thought, my brows scrunched together. What? Did they think that they were born as old as they were? Did they forget they were once my age? Her mate wouldn’t help the Hellmanns – took their wolves away… from the bushes Lux along with another man, carried a large cage, black iron. Nonno came up, walking up to Lux when he placed the cage down, going and dragging Brian, “No – no – I didn’t do anything-” he shouted twisting his body as, flailing around like a fish out of water, but movement halted when a loud thud sounded. Everyone turning around to face the object, a large white screen I realized along with two people I had only seen in pictures when we were back in California. They were men in Logan’s crew, one holding a laptop, the other holding a large black object, wires going from it to the laptop and another to the object Logan was holding. Nonno and Lux pushed Brian in, not all too carefully, his head ramming against the iron. He can’t hurt me – he can’t hurt me – he can’t hurt me, my eyes snapped over to Rainy who was chanting in her mind, blinking, shivering despite the warm nights air.