The Unmaking (The Rayne Whitmore Series Book 1) (22 page)

            “I get it. Thanks, uh,” I
say, trying to catch his name. I like the man mountain.

            “It’s Jaxson. Now, be
smart in there.”

            “I will,” I promise. I
give him one last glance as he chuckles at me then crosses his tree stumps
called arms as two more customers walk through the door.

            The music is not too loud,
but fast and electrifying. A club with wolves can’t blast music without risking
ear damage to all of their customers. I easily find myself sliding teasingly
through bodies and notice that no one is really turning around and sniffing out
the human. It must be from all the sweat and excitement in the air. My smell of
humanity must be cancelling out. Good.

            I look at the dance floor
sitting on a level lower than where I’m at now and notice how closely all the bodies
are pressing together. People are making out, dancing topless, and just having
a grand old time. The upstairs level seems to be more laid back, with
soundproof glass, pool tables, and a smaller bar. A few people are looking out
at the dance floor from the top. The floor I’m on has a large bar in the middle
of the room and comfortable looking tables and chairs throughout. Right now
there’s no sign of Selene, so I decide to just hit the dance floor for a few
songs to release some of my tension.

            I fit in easily; I loved
to swim but dancing is my element, my release since I had been attending an
arts school on a dance scholarship before my world went to shit. I let the beat
fill me up and for a second allow myself to just feel the music pumping inside me.
I dance with whoever is near me, simply enjoying. Either they still don’t
notice I’m human or they simply don’t care, it’s just as well though.  I let
the vibe and call of the moon that these wolves are feeling flow into me.
Through my shirt, I can feel my tattoo glowing, like a battery recharging.

            Once I have my fill of the
dance floor, I order a drink, then find a table, my back against the wall so
that I don’t catch any surprises behind, hoping that either Selene will find
me, or that someone will decide to come chat.

            I sit alone for about
three songs before I see a darker skinned wolf eying me from the top. I take
another sip of my drink, pretending not to notice before I get up again and
make my way towards the stairs, prepared to follow him. My watcher is coming
down, however, and grabs my arm firmly, escorting me back down the steps and to
my previous seat. He sits across from me after pulling out my chair. I look at
him once he settles in his seat.

            He may not be nearly as
large as Jaxson, maybe 5’11” or so, but it is clear from the way his dark green
dress shirt hugs his body that he is all muscle. I’m starting to get the
feeling that this is a common trait among wolves. His hair is past his
shoulders and in very well maintained dreds and a ponytail. His skin is like
the brown of hot chocolate, darker than my own, and he has three piercings in
his left ear, but none in the other. His nose is wide but not overly large and
his lips are full. He appears to be in his late teens, but with the way wolves
age, he’s probably actually in his early thirties.

             His dark brown eyes say
that he has seen more than his share of stress. He is not strikingly handsome,
but nonetheless, has a dangerous beauty about him. It’s the kind that you’d
have to look deeper, past the wall he’d so clearly built to see. But, I guess
that is understandable, he’d lost his mate. When wolves lost their mate, they
rarely mated again, if they even lived through it. He lost his clearly at a
young age. I’ll have to play that to my advantage, no matter how messed up it
might be. Then, I zero in on the scar on his neck. A nasty one that starts from
the bottom of his left ear to the right side of his collar bone. Someone had
tried to slice him open. He is a survivor indeed.

             I look into his dark eyes
as he catches mine. I try to hold my gaze as long as I can, but the power
behind his stare overtakes me. This man is clearly an Alpha and I stand no
chance of dominance against him, not here, not when the full moon is this
close. Even without that, I think his aura would have consumed mine regardless.
I look away and try not to look into his eyes again. I dare not speak until he
decides it’s time.

            After he finishes sizing
me up, he smirks and says, “You really are a human. How interesting.” His voice
is quiet, almost timid, clearly deceptive. It’s clear that he’s confident in
his own strength and has nothing to prove with his voice. He knows it will be
heard and also listened to.

            “I am, but I’m not like
any of the others,” I tell him.

            “Hmm. Clearly. So, what is
a young woman like you doing in a place like this?” he asks, obviously wanting
to know more than just how I came to be here tonight. He wants to know who I
am. I need to know if I can trust him before I say too much.

            “Let’s just say that I
have friends in high places. Beyond that though, I heard that there was an
Alpha wolf named Anubis that shared something in common with me. I was told
that we could help each other out. I hope they were right.”

            He leans back in his chair
and I see him do something with his hands. I glance around without being too
obvious and notice that a few wolves in here are now paying attention to our
table. They must be his pack. That means that I have to tread carefully.
Finally, at the bar, I spot Selene. She’s sitting next to some drunk guy
laughing and talking, but I can tell that she’s also eying the other wolves in
here. Even though we are grossly outnumbered, I still feel much safer knowing
she’s close.

            “I’m listening. Tell me
why this is worth my time,” he demands.

            I slip him two hundreds
out of my pocket just to peak his interest and keep him from walking away for a
few minutes. “I understand that time is money, but what I’m asking for and
willing to give is worth a whole lot more trust me.”

            “Who are you?”

             He doesn’t pocket the
money, but I leave it there anyway.

            “My name is Rayne
Whitmore.” I pause, waiting to see if the name creates a reaction, when it
doesn’t, I continue. “You may not know who I am exactly, but trust me, we have
much more in common than you may know. Two years ago, my family was murdered.”

            His eyebrows rise
slightly, but he attempts to show no interest.

            “They were possibly
murdered by the same man that murdered your mate. I know what it’s like Anubis
to lose someone who means everything to you.”

            He interrupts me, “What do
you want?” Anubis leans forward, still trying to give nothing away, but the
ring around his iris begins to turn yellow, betraying the anger boiling up
inside. I pretend not to notice his pack mates shifting in their chairs.

            “I want his name. I want
the protection of your pack so that I can do what I have to do without having
to worry about any and everything coming at me trying to kill me before I can
kill the son of a bitch who took away three people that I love,” I tell him
firmly, leaning forward in my seat and meeting his eyes briefly so that he can
see the sincerity in them.

            “What makes you think that
you, a human, can do what I can’t?” he asks humorously.

            “I’m more than I appear
Anubis, trust me on that. Besides, I have nothing to lose,” I tell him.

            “Oh?” he begins. “Is that
so? What about your witch at the bar, is she so disposable?”

            I glance up at the bar and
frown. It’s obviously one of Anubis’s pack mates that is speaking with Selene.
Then, I give my attention back to him. I know she can take care of herself.
“How do you know that she is mine?” I ask.

            “Your scent is all over
her and vice versa. You smell of magic and human. Besides, what are the chances
that a witch and a human appear here on the same night, a night that is usually
all my kind. After I knew what to look for, I could smell you ten feet away.”
he tells me.

             Interesting.

            “Well, she is all that I
have left in this world and she is certainly capable of protecting herself too.
I have nothing to lose because she won’t be going anywhere. She knows my aims
and she understands that I will sacrifice myself to get my justice.”

            “You say that, but the
question is will she let you?”

            I consider his question
for a few seconds before I respond. I know that he might be right. Selene
wouldn’t be quick to allow me to surrender my own life to kill the man who took
my family’s lives.

            “I’ll do my part, just
give me his name. You are the only one who really understands me right now
Anubis. You have no reason to trust me, no reason to extend the protection of
your pack to me, but I can see it in your eyes that you want justice just as
much, if not more than I do. I will be your answer,” I nearly plead.

            His eyes begin to return
to its normal color and he blows out a long breath. It seems like hours before
he answers. “I cannot.”

            It feels like a punch in
the gut.

            I stand up and slam my
hands down on the table and say the hell with not staring him in the eyes. I
meet his gaze with a fiery fury and hold it. All around me I can feel his pack
begin to stand up and walk towards our table. I also somehow feel the hum of
Selene’s magic wrapping around me, ready to protect me. The music even lowers
slightly, an indication that a lot of people are now watching, waiting. I have
no friends here. This could get ugly.

            “How can you fucking
protect this man after all that he’s taken from you?” I hiss. My tattoo glows
through my shirt as my power rises from my middle. Anubis notices the light
through my shirt but doesn’t comment.

            “You know nothing about me
or what I want,” he growls. “You came to me demanding and expecting much more
than you can even handle little girl. You play a dangerous game and you don’t
even realize it. The man you seek will destroy you in seconds.” The force of
his pack lending him strength through the magic of their bond finally forces me
to look away again.

            “Then tell me his name,
who he is, and let me decide for myself.” I wipe my hair from my face and
realize that I’m beginning to sweat. “I’ve changed who I am completely to find
this man. You have no idea what I’ve been through either.”

            “Sit down,” he commands,
voice like a cold snap brushing against my skin.

            “No,” I tell him
defiantly, chin up. He’s not my fucking boss.

            “If you don’t sit down, I
will consider this a challenge and you will not walk away this night, believe
that, human,” he commands again, quieter, more focused, deadly.

            I sigh and find my seat
once more. Slowly, the room goes back to normal and the sound of laughter and
the thump of bass begin to fill the air. “I apologize. You are not my enemy.”

            “Nor do you want to make
me. Let me tell you about how I got this scar on my neck,” Anubis says. I look
at him impatiently before I decide that it’s best to just listen and hope he
gives me what I need.

            “Ok. I’m listening.”

            “It was the night of the
Wolf Moon, about fourteen years ago, and it was freezing cold out, even for my
kind who naturally are resistant to cold temperatures. I was with my pack at
the time, my father was the Alpha. We all ran together in the forest, hunting.
I felt alive, free, wild. I was sixteen and it was my first hunt with the whole
pack together.”

            I watch Anubis’s eyes as
they remember better days, a deep longing in their depths. His silky voice is
easy to listen to.

            “It was amazing. When it
was over and we had run until our feet were sore, the pack headed back to their
cars. Yet, I wasn’t ready to leave, so my father told the rest of the pack to
go without us, that we would have one more run, just the two of us. When we
finished, we headed to our car, but there was someone there waiting for us. My
father ordered me to hide amongst the trees and I did. I waited and listened.
He spoke with a hooded man about pack territory, experiments, and me. My father
didn’t agree with whatever he was saying. But, it didn’t matter because
whatever happened next changed everything.”

            I lean forward, struggling
to hear as the music seems to blast even louder now, the tempo speeding up and
the lust of the crowd increasing.

            “My father was an Alpha.
He was strong and always in control. Yet, whatever the hooded man spoke next
forced my father into a change. Alphas are the only wolves that can force
another wolf into change and for a non-wolf to do so is unheard of. Then, he just
disappeared, leaving a hint of his scent behind, blowing in the wind. Not only
did the man compel my father into change, but somehow he became feral, no
humanity left, it was the moon rage. I left the safety of the trees to go to my
father and that’s when he attacked me.” Anubis leans back in his chair, folding
his calloused, ringed hands on the table.