Chapter 120: Book Two - Chapter 13


    I left Noah in Zac’s capable hands and got his word that he’d call my father to say the job was


    completed per normal.He was risking a lot for my sake, I knew that.


    A lot of risk for what seemed like absolutely no reason.


    The level of danger associated with this insane n wasn’t lost on me.


    After all, thest thing 1 wanted was for Zac’s name to end up in my next mani folder.I headed home


    as soon as I could, leaving enough time to arrive well before daylight, and walked towards my front


    door.


    But it was as I was entering through the front gate to our property that something caught my eye.


    It was an olddy, huddled up in a shawl, standing just on the street outside.


    She had grey hair and eyes to match, clearly at an age that would suggest a retirement home or carer


    was required.


    And yet she stood randomly outside my house at three o’clock in the morning, staring directly at me.


    I paused for a moment and looked around, trying to see if she was with someone.


    But when the empty street waspletely silent and devoid of all other life, I started to wonder if


    maybe she’d gotten lost.


    ...Did I really have the energy to deal with this right now though? I was already so exhausted and just


    wanted to go inside to sleep in my own bed, something that would be a first after many days.


    I could already perfectly visualise how soft my pillow would be...


    just begging to beid on and—.


    "I can save her," the olddy suddenly said.


    "I can save the girl." …


    What? I took my hand off the gate handle and turned back around to fully face her, part of me still


    wondering if she was even talking to me.


    "..Pardon?" I called back.


    Wasn''t itmon for older people to lose their minds at a certain age? What if she was a dementia


    patient who wandered off? I should probably just look up where the closest hospital or retirement home


    was and tell them where to find—.


    "The girl.rissa," she said.


    As if that was of any real help.


    I nkly stared back at her.


    "I’m not rissa," I rified.


    "I think you’ve—."


    "I know that," she snapped sharply, making me flinch a bit in surprise.


    "Oh...kay.Well, is that...your daughter?" I asked, still trying to be polite.


    "Or your carer? Do you want m e to call someone for you—?"


    But then she started to walk towards me, her stride more steady than I would have expected given her


    appearance.Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    There was something oddly strange about her too.


    A weird atmosphere around her.


    Or maybe I was just slightly unnerved by the whole creepiness of the situation.


    "Do you not know who I am?" she asked once she stood within a few feet of me.


    "Ma’am, truthfully, I’m not even sure if you know who you are.No offence," I said, starting to get more


    ufortable the longer this drew out.


    "If you just wait here a moment though, I’ll head inside and wake up one of the maids.They can maybe


    help you out or something."


    I really didn’t care about courtesy anymore and just wanted to leave as soon as possible.


    There was something about this entire encounter that just rubbed me the wrong way.


    Almost as if I could feel the hair at the back of my neck standing up.I turned around and tried to open


    the gate, but she quickly moved forward to stop me.


    "Wait," she said, and I had to bite back my instincts telling me to go.


    Rational logic would suggest that there was nothing to be worried about.She was just an olddy.


    Frail enough looking to be pushed over by the wind alone.


    "Wait, amoment," she repeated.


    ..And I reluctantly turned back around to meet her eyes.


    Eyes that seemed to hold an intelligence there that I wasn’t expecting.


    And she spoke in a tone so low that I almost didn’t hear her.


    "...Do you know the true story of the Winter Mist?" she asked.


    Her expression waspletely serious as I shuffled ufortably under her gaze.


    It was as though I could feel her scrutinising me, analyzing my face for any sort of recognition that I


    knew what she was talking about.


    Which, of course, I didn’t.


    "Is that like a fairy tale?" I asked.


    "Was it a book you used to read to your grandkids or something?"


    But to my immense difort, she only continued to stare at me silently.


    "..Ma’am...?" I really wanted to leave.


    I was so close to home, merely a foot away from being back on the property.


    Just a step forward and I could close the gate between us.


    But she was so close to me that I wasn’t sure what she would do if I tried.


    Clearly, she wasn’t right in the head.


    However, at the sound of bird wings loudly flying into the air somewhere, she finally turned away,


    pulling the hood of her shawl up.


    "I can save her," she simply repeated.


    "Don''t forget that." And she started walking back down the street towards town.


    ...What the hell had that just been? I didn’t waste any more time in stepping through the gate and


    locking it behind me, my chest still pounding slightly from the whole ordeal.


    So much fear caused by just one crazy olddy.


    But if I had to say one thing that was far more terrifying than the old crone, I would have to answer that


    it was the man waiting for me once I finally entered inside.


    As I walked through my front door, I saw a light had been left on in the living room.


    A surprise given most people in the house should have been asleep by now.


    Naturally, after everything that had just happened, I had every intention of just ignoring it and heading


    upstairs to my room instead.


    ...


    However, I couldn’t help but catch the familiar scent of someone I knew only too well.


    My father.My foot had been on the first step of the staircase as I came to this realisation, so close to


    finally being able t o go to bed, but I knew that the light had been left on for a reason.


    He was expecting me.


    With a small sigh, I stepped back...and headed towards the living room instead.


    "My Raven," he greeted me, sitting in a leather armchair.


    From where I was standing, I could only see his arma s he held a drink in his hand, the chair facing


    away from me.


    "Father," I replied.


    "I just received the call from Zac not long ago," he said, taking a sip from the ss.


    "You’reter than expected."


    "Oh...Well, there was this olddy outside," I started.


    "I think she was lost.Kept trying to talk to me and wouldn’t let me leave—."


    "I meant the job, Raven.You’re several hourste from the job.The agreed upon time should have seen


    you home a long time ago."


    "Ah..."


    "Did everything go...smoothly?"


    No.No, it had not.


    In fact, I couldn’t think of many ways in which it could have gone worse.


    I''d dug into things I definitely shouldn’t have, opening a door to a liability of my own creation.


    Firstly, by identally killing an employee for a kidnapping job...then by failing to take care of the


    consequences of that mistake.


    Now, I was continuing to hide that consequence because I didn’t want the death on my hands.


    Though, I couldn''t mention any of this to him.


    By this point, I was already in far too deep toe clean.


    Besides...and I knew I shouldn’t be...but I couldn’t help but feel a little...curious.


    Just what had that smuggler managed to find out? Was it rted to the documents?


    "Yep...it ah, it all went smoothly," I lied.


    "I just had some issues getting into the building, is all.A crowd of people were drinking outside and,


    well, intoxicated o r not, they''d still be witnesses.I decided to y it safe."


    "Is that so...?" he mused.


    A nervous feeling was bubbling in my chest.He couldn’t know I was lying...could he? But then


    again...there was no such thing as a secret from Eric Reid.


    I knew that better than anyone.


    The silence seemed to stretch on for what felt like an eternity, quiet enough that I was painfully aware


    of how loud even my breathing seemed inside the room.


    Could he sense how nervous I was? Hear the loud thumping of my heart? But, no, that was impossible.


    Because love him or fear him, at the end of the day, m y father was still just a man.


    Aman.


    Not a...‘werewolf’.


    And, as a normal man, he didn’t have the heightened senses I possessed.


    That was always going to be something that kept us apart.


    Thinking on that now, it was a stark reminder of where I''d identally found myself now.


    Facing a crossroads of two paths.


    On the one hand, I could continue to live blindly in fear, hoping that the eggshells around me would not


    crack under my mistakes, revealing to the world just how different I really was.


    A path where I would follow the rules, taking each day one at a time.


    Forgetting about everything I’d found out, everything I’d seen...everyone I’d met.


    All so I could continue to loyally serve my father.


    The man who raised me, doing what he thought was best for both m e and the business.


    And, in doing so, trying to save m e from myself...and others...Or I could reach into my pocket to where


    that hotel keycard nowid.


    A promise attached to it that maybe things didn’t need to be like that.


    A warm hand extended towards me through the darkness, offering sparks and a light that I’d never


    experienced before.


    That I never thought even possible.


    A way to take back control over the things that constantly scared m e, learning to use them for myself


    instead.


    To be a version of myself that had no limits.


    If Kieran was telling me the truth and I really was what he said I was, and he was the same, then didn’t


    I have no choice but to at least try and explore that option? To at least take a chance that maybe one


    day I wouldn’t need to be so afraid? My father could try a million different things to help me hide my


    secret.


    To contain the creature and keep m e protected under his umbre of power, hidden from the world, but


    at the end of the day...he didn’t really know anything.


    Just like how I currently didn’t either.


    He was...just a man.


    Just a human man.


    Someone who could never truly understand me.


    The only real question now was...


    Am I actually doing this for him? Doing this out of love for him and for the business I was raised in? ..Or


    am I actually doing this for myself? I heard as my father then inhaled sharply, standing u p from the


    chair he’d been seated on, and turned to walk towards me.


    That fearsome gaze of his still pierced through me, as if he could see everything I was hiding from him


    inside.


    But I held my resolve, keeping my expression steady,mitted to this decision I’d made.


    He walked until he stood right in front of me, staring into my eyes as he watched me carefully, bringing


    a hand up as he slowly reached for my face, and....


    ..And he gently touched my cheek.


    "Good work," he said simply.


    "You’ve done well." And, with that, he walked past me, leaving towards his own room to rest.


    My shoulders rxed the minute I heard his footsteps fade upstairs, but despite that minor relief, I was


    still helpless to the thoughts swimming around in my head.


    Because for the very first time in my life, I had knowingly and willingly disobeyed my father, going even


    as far as to lie to him.


    And yet, somehow, in spite of all of that...by some goddamn miracle......I had gotten away with it.


    Or, at least, that was the case for now.