Chapter 32 Chapter 32
~ Reynard POV cont. ~
Dad pushed me out of the way and jumped towards the door, taking a shot that was aimed at me, but it wasn’t a gun–the men also had a dart gun for their wolfsbane. My father wouldn’t go down so easily. He stood up, grunting at the paint surging through his veins and moved for the man.
The man emptied the dart gun into my father’s chest until he finally collapsed.
“Dad, no,” I bellowed, shuffling over to him. “Please, don’t leave me.”
He wheezed, “I’ll never leave you, son.” He placed a hand on my chest, over my heart. “As long as you follow your heart, y-your mother and I will always be with you.”
Shaking my head, my body trembled. “Please!”
“I’m proud of the man you are becoming…” his voice trailed off as he passed out from the overdose of wolfsbane, never to awaken again.
I cried out another scream. This time, the men didn’t even bother to silence me; they just grabbed me and dragged me towards the front door. Another loud bang was set off from upstairs, a final gunshot, likely to finish off my father and ensure he wouldn’t miraculously awaken and come to my rescue.
I tried to fight, but my squirming only gave them a reason to inject me with something – I think a tranquiliser – and with that, in combination with the sickness the wolfsbane had given me, it was enough for my body to give in and go limp and submit to their control.
As much as I tried to fight against the pain and the heaviness the wolfsbane bestowed on my eyes, I couldn’t.
Cold darkness consumed me as I passed out.
When I came to, I was lying by the open front door of my home, with my neighbours checking me frantically – one was on the phone to the police and the other was checking my vitals.
“Reynard, talk to us. What happened?” one asked.
“Where am I?”
My neighbours looked at each other, concerned.
“Where did the bad men go?”
A sigh, “I think they took off when they heard us coming. We were going to go after them, but we saw you covered in blood. We thought you were hurt.”
“Blood…” I repeated, blinking slowly as my mind caught up with my surroundings. Shooting upright rapidly, my head throbbed at the rush. “Where’s Mum and Dad? Are they alright?!” I shot to my feet; the sudden adrenaline had made me temporarily forget everything that had just happened.
I went to run up the stairs, but my neighbours stopped me and held me back.
“Reynard, no,” one said.
“You don’t want to go up there, I promise,” the other added.
Glancing down at my hands, I realised how much of my mother’s blood was all over me. “No…” The sight of it sent my mind through it all over again; it’s like it played on loop to remind me I just lost my parents forever, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
~ End of Reynard POV ~
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Suki held her tea in her hands, embracing it tightly as she listened to Reynard’s story. She hadn’t even taken a sip; she was so painfully engrossed in his suffering, as if she was suffering it first-hand herself.
Their bond didn’t help; his vulnerability and openness allowed Suki not only to feel her own emotions towards the story, but his emotions too.
“Rey…” she sighed. “I’m so sorry,” she put the cup down and hugged him tightly.
Reynard held her close but struggled to get any more words out. His breathing became jagged. He leaned back and stayed silent.
Resting her head on his chest, Suki spoke quietly, “That’s a lot for a child to go through. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have suffered with it alone. I wish you had told me.”
“You were 12, Ki. You only lost your mum a few years prior. I didn’t want you to relive your mother’s death.”
Suki sat up, staying close to him and frowned, “My mother didn’t die morbidly and horrifically. Rey, I’m your best friend. I should’ve been there for you.”
“You were.”
“You were silent for weeks!” She stood up. “You wouldn’t speak to anyone, including me.”
“Yet, you still followed me around.” He stood up and stepped closer to her. “You made sure I ate, you told my uncle all the things I liked and disliked so I would be comfortable in his home, and anyone who tried to say anything horrible to me, you were there to put them in their place. You say you should’ve been there for me, but you were,” he held her chin, “more than anyone else, and I’m so grateful for that.”
Placing her hands on his chest, she sighed, “It was all I could do; you wouldn’t let me in, you wouldn’t talk to me. I see why, but I don’t want you to do that ever again. As your best friend and your mate, promise me you’ll let me be there for you?”
“I promise,” he kissed her forehead.
She smiled weakly and hugged him again. “There’s something I still don’t understand.”
“What’s that?”
“The men who tried to take you. They ran off without you in the end. After all that trouble of taking down your parents, why?”
Rey hummed a sigh, “When the police and warriors searched the house and saw the amount of needles and wolfsbane darts around, they assumed that the men ran out of wolfsbane. So when my neighbours came running, the men likely knew they had no advantage.”
“No advantage? They were from an enemy pack, weren’t they?”
“Yeah, I mean, that’s what is assumed–they thought it was a targeted attack. They picked a day knowing that my parents would be more tired and weak. Based on the amount of wolfsbane they had, I don’t think the goal was to kill us; I think they wanted to capture us for whatever plans they had – probably to get something out of the pack, hold us for ransom or something – but when my parents fought back, they retaliated. Things escalated, which led to their deaths.”
Suki’s head dipped down. She shook her head slowly as her mind wandered.
Tilting his head to get a better look at her, Rey held her shoulders. “Hey, what is it?”
“If they were from an enemy pack, why didn’t they shift and fight back harder?”
“I don’t know,” Rey replied wearily, “the laws of trespassing and shifting on another pack’s land are magically bound. Maybe they thought it was best not to shift when they had already trespassed…? I’m pretty sure if they did, it would’ve been easier for witches to trace them.”
Crossing her arms, Suki chewed her lip. “Maybe…” Her eyes searched the room, but nothing there was what she was looking for; her mind was still going frantic, trying to understand.
Rey leaned against the armrest of the sofa and exhaled, “Ki,” he took her hand and pulled her closer, “I can practically hear the cogs turning in your brain. What are you thinking now?”
“One of the men said, ‘The boss will be interested to work on you’. Why would they say that if they were planning to hold you for ransom?”
“That’s just an assumption from the police; there is no guarantee that’s what they were going to do.”
Suki scanned his face. “Do you truly believe that Amelia seeing your parents die was accidental? There has to be a reason behind any of it.”
Reynard tugged Suki closer and held her waist. “The chances are up there, but believe me, I spent most of my teen years trying to get answers for my parents’ deaths, and I got nothing from it – no trace of those men or any reasonings as to why they did what they did. I don’t exactly see how it links with what else she saw.”
“You’re right…” Suki turned around and grabbed a notepad and pen from the table, and started scribbling down.
“What are you doing?”
“A darkness or shadow-like barrier covering a large amount of forest. Someone shouting ‘traitor into a void. Then three men who broke into your home, followed by you screaming for your parents. Those were all she witnessed in the visions, right?”
A nod. “Yeah, sounds right.”
She tapped her pen against the pad, “The second part of what she saw is clearly about you, but the first part isn’t. Whoever that is about might be the key to unlocking the truth about what happened to your parents.”
Reynard frowned. “But what does my parents’ death have to do with you having two mates? That’s what Amelia was looking for.”
The colour drained from Suki’s face as she slowly started to piece it all together. “What packs shield their borders with shadows?”
“There are a couple I can think of off the top of my head… Shadow and Nighttide, why?”
“Nighttide?” She whispered, “No…”