Luna Nevaeh held the Vance family down with an iron grip of generosity and strength in every sense of the two words. Her fierce protectiveness over any life she set eyes on made Rayne wonder if her father kept her out of the loop on their newfound prisoner purposely. But that thought quickly disintegrated after catching them in a quiet argument after returning from the dungeons. She caught Ezra lounging on the couch flipping through channels and before she could say a word, he jabbed his thumb in the kitchen's direction.
Rayne desperately needed a shower, but she was too curious about the conversation to head up just yet. Instead, she tiptoed over to the kitchen door and barely nudged the door open to hear them better.
"How could you not come to me about this?" Nevaeh hissed, leaning her hourglass body against the sink. Her full lips were twisted into a frown, her plucked eyebrows nudged together over thundering eyes—Rayne and Ezra's eyes.
Nashoba pushed his muscular body forward, his dark hair now unbraided and floating down his back. He tried to touch his wife's arm, but she moved away. "No, Nash. Now tell me where he is."
"Not until you tell me you aren't going anywhere near him," he deflected, a protectiveness leaking into his voice. His jaw was set, his gaze just as fierce as hers. "I know how you are, Vae. I don't want you or the kids down there alone until I know he's safe to be around."
Kids? Rayne scoffed mentally. She was twenty-one years old, and her brother twenty. They could easily take care of themselves.
"Need I remind you that you're the one who brought him here?" Nevaeh demanded. Her hip jutted out now and Rayne knew as soon as she pushed away the small coils of obsidian from her cheeks, father was done for. "Onto our land—without telling me, mind you, even though you know you have Warlock Holmes for a daughter? You don't think she's already trying to figure him out?"
A growl rumbled low in Nashoba's chest. His hands clenched into tight fists, and he rolled his shoulders back to release the tension at such a thought.
"Don't like that, do you?" Nevaeh smirked. She dropped the unused pot into the sink and shot him a look. "Should have thought about that before putting him in that room."
"Well—" he paused. Rayne made the mistake of shuffling closer to the door. "It seems like we have company."
Ezra snickered. Rayne cursed under her breath and straightened her back, deciding it was time to make her presence known. She pushed open the door to the kitchen completely and walked right up to her unsurprised parents. Nevaeh thinned her lips at Nashoba but shot her eldest a serene grin.
"Hey baby," Nevaeh greeted, pressing a kiss to Rayne's temple on her way back to the stove.
"Hi mom," Rayne replied, though her eyes stayed on her father. Despite being forty-one, Alpha Vance was just like any other wolf with the slow aging. He easily could pass for Rayne and Ezra's older brother, as disgusting as that sounded to her, and her mother could be her sister. Both passed for their early thirties, which should have made it easier to talk to them.
But it did the opposite; at least with her father.
"Dad?" Rayne started off hesitantly.
"A, um i hullo?" he questioned, waving a bronze hand to draw her closer to him. His hair was pulled away from his sharp features that resembled her own, with their almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones. He seemed in a good mood.
Like a pup seeking parental protection, she dove straight into her father's side. Though she was still upset with him for how Jarrah was being treated, she relaxed under the affection of her father giving her one of his signature hugs. "Chim achukma?" he asked.
"Amachukma," she said, then paused. No, she wasn't fine; but she couldn't show him how affected she was by the Fae king in their dungeon. "I heard you and mom talking about the Fae king."
"Of course you did," Nashoba muttered. "We've talked about this, Rayne. You're too old for eavesdropping."
"I know, I know . . . but why is he chained up with iron? You know they can't heal properly with iron—"
"Until we know he is safe to be around and won't leave, he is to stay down there."
Rayne frowned. She went on to finish her thought when Nashoba's eyes grew stern, and his hold tightened with the purpose of getting her attention. She already knew what was coming next without him even saying a word.
"I don't want you in that dungeon unless Declan or I are with you. And don't argue with me about it—you're lucky I'm letting you come at all."
"Dad, I can handle myself. I'm next in line for alpha, remember?" she huffed.
"I remember," he said, kissing the top of her head. "But I don't trust him around you or Ezra, yet. Part of the pack or not, the Fae aren't to be trusted. Especially around the future of Moonshine. Got it?"
Rayne pouted up at him, but all it got her was a severe warning look. She mumbled out a low, "Ome."
"Good. Now go get Ezra, dinner's ready." He kissed her temple one more time and sent her on her way.
The conversation didn't satisfy her at all, but she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't wait for her questions to be answered. She needed to take matters into her own hands and fast.
Luckily, she knew just how to do that.
*****
Somehow, Rayne had succeeded in convincing Ronan to go with her to see Jarrah. They were currently waiting around the side of the dungeon only minutes before Jay was expected to show up. Rayne tried to prepare Ronan for his task, but he was too busy waving her off. She frowned at his stubbornness and reminded him it was her plan they were executing.
"Remember, Ro. Act natural and make it quick," Rayne hissed quietly, catching sight of Gamma Jay coming over with a tray in his hands. Ronan smirked.
"Act natural?" he scoffed. "I'm the king of natural. Watch and learn, Raynie baby."
She almost threw up at the nickname combination.
Ronan straightened his broad chest up. Pushing back the waves of light-brown locks from his tanned forehead, he sent a hazel-eyed wink to his best friend and went in for the kill. She almost fainted at his loud, "What up, Jay? Looking like the coolest gamma, as always!"
It was official. Rayne hated him.
Jay paused near the door of the room. A mix of amusement and confusion washed over his face as he took in Ro. "Ronan? What are you doing here?"
Ronan shrugged his shoulders casually, his voice cool despite the subtle tremor of uncertainty that only Rayne could detect. "Thought you could use some help. Rayne's done with training and my dad didn't have any work to give me today. So, mind if I help you spoon-feed the fairy?"
Jay snorted. "You can try. He might bite your hand off."
"We'll see about that."
Jay unlocked the heavily bolted door and creaked it open. Ronan followed closely behind him, their voices growing distant and drowning out until they shut the door securely behind them. Rayne breathed out a sigh of relief. Time for phase two.
She turned away from the door and leaned her back against the wall of the building, willing her heart to stop beating so rapidly in her chest. She pressed a hand to it and focused on her breathing.
If anyone could do it, it was her. Her father may not want her down there, but it was time he saw her for who she was. She was his successor, and he needed to see her as such. She won't learn anything by sitting on the sidelines for the rest of her life. It didn't matter that she was his first born, anymore. Ambrosius was coming, and Nashoba needed all the resources he could get.
Five minutes after Jay and Ronan entered, and Rayne was on the brink of saying 'fuck it', the door finally reopened. She tensed against the wall, ready to spring into action as she slid her body behind the opened door. Jay was the first to step out with his back turned, taking a few steps forward so that Ronan would have room to leave, and Rayne didn't let a second of that go to waste. Without sparing Ronan a passing glance, she slid inside by tiptoeing on the side of him. The quick exchange lasted all of two seconds, and by the time Jay turned around to close the door, she was already inside the dimly lit room.
Her heart pounded in her chest at the locking of the door from the other side, and she almost couldn't believe she could do it successfully. Especially Ronan. That one was definitely more surprising.
Before Rayne could chicken herself out of what she came to do, she swallowed down whatever fear that was building in the pit of her throat, and slowly made her way around the wall.
Instead of sitting on the bed like she was expecting, Jarrah was sitting against the wall with his elbows resting on his knees, his wings tucked away and no longer visible to her eye. His head hung low as he stared at the floor between his legs rather than the untouched food at his side. The skin around his chains was still raw and painful to look at, and the longer she stood there, frozen at the sight of him, the more she noticed how much paler his bronze skin looked under the bluish-white hue of the lamp. It made her stomach twist with nausea.
He didn't glance at her right away, though she didn't know if that was because he knew there was another presence in the room and didn't care, or if he didn't know at all. Whichever it was, he didn't show any surprise or emotion when he finally looked up at the sound of her clearing her throat.
Jarrah's sharp features dripped with exhaustion, his brown eyes simmering in an anger that rimmed around his iris. His jaw was set, and a muscle pulsed at his temple. He had a good reason to be angry. She knew that. But it still didn't stop the sting of his rage.
"You may not believe me," she started, her voice soft despite being shaky with nerves. "But I'm sorry to see you down here like this. I don't . . . enjoy seeing other people this way, as hard as that might be to believe coming from me."
Jarrah's jaw clenched with a tick.
"I've been trying to convince my father that it isn't humane to keep you locked up like this, but he is the alpha. I can't convince him to let you go until he knows he can trust you enough to help him with Ambrosius."
His eyebrow moved at the name. It wasn't a name unknown to the Fae Folk. Ambrosius hunted them down just as brutally as he hunted the wolves. There was no kind good enough for him, not unless they themselves were vampires. Humans, the Fae Folk, nymphs, and werewolves alike were hunted, and soon enough, there won't be a safe place in sight if the Weres and Fae refuse to work together.
"I don't know about you, but I won't stand by and let my pack be slaughtered. They're too important to me," Rayne continued. "And I'm sure this is something you've heard a thousand times before, but it would be really helpful if we can work together. You don't have to trust me, hell you have no reason to. But I do want you out of those chains to contribute to—"
"And why should I care what you want?" he interrupted harshly.
She paused, stumbling with her words at the sound of his voice. It was deep with a woodsy huskiness that carried on the back of the raspy wind. She hadn't expected him to talk to her, though she didn't deny that was what she wanted. It would be easier to communicate that way, even if he met her openness with his anger.
"Look, I know you're angry, but I'm not my father. I'm going to figure out a way to get you out of here as soon as possible," she said. "But it would be nice if we could work together to stop Ambrosius. I won't force you to help, but my father's convinced you can help us. And you might be our only hope."
Jarrah raised his wrists, his eyes darkening. "I'm treated like a prisoner by your people. Until you get me out of these, I can't help you."
Rayne bit her lip. "How do I know you won't leave?"
He growled something under his breath. Shifting his jaw, he explained sourly, "A Fae's word is branded onto us until our end of the bargain is upheld. When I told your father that I would help him, I was telling the truth. I have no choice now." He gestured to a swirl on his shoulder that she hadn't noticed before, with intricate designs that curled into a symbol she didn't understand. "Enemies or not, I can't break a bond."
"What happens if . . . if you don't follow through with your word?"
"We die," he huffed. "It's the burden of magic."
For some odd reason, she believed him. She didn't know how, but she did. "Okay, then I'll grab the keys at nightfall and release you."
A humorless smirk played at the edges of his lips, covering his surprise. "You want to turn your back on your father? Didn't know alpha pups can go rogue."
"I'm not a pup or a rogue," she growled, narrowing her eyes at his mocking tone. "What I'm doing is for my people, and if you're part of the pack, you're included in that. So would it kill you to help me make a plan for Ambrosius?"
Jarrah looked at her for a long minute. He was watching her deliberately, his lips pressed flat and jaw set. He searched for any sort of bluffing or weakness that proved she wasn't all in. But when she raised her eyebrows in a 'well?' gesture, he flattened his legs to the ground and crossed his arms. "The lost elixir," he grumbled.
Her eyebrows furrowed. "The what?"
"There's a hidden elixir at Crimson Peak that'll help defeat Ambrosius. I know how to get to it, but it's a suicide mission. And I can't obviously do it alone." The disgust in his voice at his own admittance was clearly evident.
Her mind swirled. Whether it was a suicide mission or not, there was hope. And her pack desperately needed hope if they were going to stand any chance against a vampire army.
The dungeon door opened then. The slam of it closing behind multiple footsteps made her close her eyes and rub at her temple. Here we go.
"That's enough, Rayne," a voice boomed from above. Rayne swore under her breath.
She turned around to face her family, taking note of the thunderous expression on her father, her mother, and Ezra's faces. Declan had his son's shirt clenched in his tight fist and Ro offered her a desperate look that told her he knew she was going to drag him into her shit.
"Father, just listen—" she tried, but he swiftly cut her off.
"You deliberately disobeyed me, Rayne."
"I know but—"
"I don't want to hear it!"
Rayne's face flushed. "But we know how to defeat Ambrosius!"
"I don't c—" he growled, but she stepped forward, cutting him off.
"There's an elixir that will help us defeat him for good!" she shouted, gathering the attention of everyone in the silent room. "And Jarrah and I are going to go find it."
There was another minute of stunned silence.
And then all hell broke loose.