Something shifted in the atmosphere. The air became heavier, thicker. Robyn felt as if it was weighing her body down. Although she was on her knees she felt them completely unable to move off the ground, as if they were glued there. Suddenly she noticed she wasn’t the only one. Jasmine had landed on her knees with a thud, strain and resistance clearly visible on her face. What was happening?
“Get up, Robyn,” he called, his voice smooth as ever.
The weight lifted off her body in an instant. Robyn scrambled to her feet and backed away. Ray was walking towards Trevor and Dom, who were both trembling on the ground unable to even look up at Ray. Caleb was slumped against the wall, blood covering one half of his body. His breaths were deep and laboured. Robyn wiped the tear sliding down her cheek and ran to him.
“Are you okay?” she asked, kneeling beside him.
He gave a small, almost non-existent, nod.
Ray towered over the cowering wolves. Somehow, as if by magic, they changed back to human right before Robyn’s eyes and lay motionless by his feet.
From the darkness, Nick emerged carrying Chloe’s unconscious body. She had returned back to complete human form, too, her body draped in Dom’s discarded shirt. He laid her down next to the other two.
“She’s alive,” he said as he stood back up.
“Who did this to them?” Ray’s voice was calm but underneath there was undeniable rage.
Robyn and Caleb looked at Jasmine, who was now shaking from the strain of trying to break Ray’s control over her. Her face had an alarming resemblance to that of an animal, something Robyn had never seen before. Whereas at one point she used to look up to this girl for her elegance and beauty, now all that she could see was a grotesque remnant of it.
“Speak, Jasmine,” Ray turned to her, “why did you do this to them?”
The first sound that left her mouth was a growl.
“Speak.”
“To use them,” she spat out, “so that I could get rid of her,” her eyes pinned Robyn down. She knew, in that moment, that if Ray wasn’t holding her in place she would have leaped to her in a second and finish what she started.
“Why do you have to use humans?”
“Why should I lose a perfectly good wolf of mine to be sent to jail for manslaughter? Humans are disposable. Take Shane for example, how long did the police investigate? If it’s an animal attack, it’s an animal attack.”
Robyn felt sick to her stomach.
“Shane..?” Ray said, “so that was you? You’ve been trying to kill my mate all this time. Why her? What’s she done to you?”
Jasmine was quiet for a second, then said, “she’s taking what’s mine from me.”
Ray looked at Robyn, then at Caleb.
“Caleb is already yours,” he said.
She scowled, “not him. My Alpha. Alpha Ulric.”
The shock hit Ray like a ton of bricks.
“Your Alpha? You said you were a rogue. Why have you been lying to me?”
“As if I need to explain myself to you. Quit acting like you’re so noble, you’re as feral as any of us, if not worse.”
“Don’t you dare,” he growled, “werewolves like you wreak havoc for the rest of us trying to live in peace with each other. Your Alpha Ulric, do you have any idea what he’s been up to? How many lives he’s taken? How many more he is planning to take?”
“Yes and they deserve it. They all deserve it. For everything they’ve put us through, they deserve to die!”
“They’re innocent people!”
Jasmine snickered, “innocent? Your father is innocent, is he?” Fury swept over her face, “I saw my parents die right before my eyes when I was just a child! What was their mistake? Were they not innocent? Is it not fair then, dear Noble wolf, to take our revenge?”
Ray balled his fists. He had run head first into the same question--why? Why did his father have to go on a rampage all those years ago? It was a shadow from his past that not only followed him to this day but grew bigger and bigger every time he was faced with it.
“Ulric and I, we’re made for each other. And no one--no one--can come between us. Your mate,” she looked pointedly at Robyn, “I want her dead before any of you. I want you gone because Ulric is mine, do you hear me?” Jasmine growled.
“I don’t know what it is about the females of Sapphire pack, they just can’t stay away from our wolves," Jasmine spat, "first it was your mother, and now you’re pathetic mate.”
Ray’s control faltered. The ground tilted under his feet, his head spinning. What about my mother?
“No. This time,” Jasmine continued, coming up to her feet, “I’m going to be the next Luna of Emerald pack.”
She moved like a bolt of lightning, zooming past Ray straight at Robyn. Ray wasn’t able to move in time, the weight of her words weighing heavy on his limbs. The scene before his eyes played as if in slow motion. Jasmine’s claws, deadly long and eager to strike, her face twisted in a nasty snarl, her eyes full of fury and satisfaction. And then the splatter of blood.
There was silence.
“Caleb…” Jasmine wheezed.
“I told you I won’t let you kill her,” he said, standing in front of Robyn like a shield. Droplets of blood had fallen onto his face. He wiped it with his forearm as Jasmine fell onto her knees with a soft thud, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.
Everything was still and quiet for what seemed like an hour. Then Ray registered the choked cries of his mate.
“Come here, Robyn,” Ray called to her. She ran straight into his open arms.
He embraced her, pulling her closer into his body. Ray buried his head in the space between her neck and shoulder and breathed her in. It calmed him down, right to his core. Not only because she was safe, but also because, in that moment, they were together again.
Just as quickly, the moment ended as she broke off wiping her tears. Ray cupped her face in his hands.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Hearing those words from him was enough. Robyn wanted to hug him again but his attention had been stolen by Nick and Caleb. Robyn didn’t want to turn around. She couldn’t believe what had happened. One second she was sure of her end and the next… If Caleb hadn’t stood up to stop Jasmine right at the last minute, it would have been her lying motionless on the floor.
They spoke in hushed voices among each other, as if scared to wake up the dead. She glanced at Dom. She was still unsure about what Ray had done to him and Trevor. Robyn could only hope they would wake up again, preferably not eager to rip her to shreds this time. Then she watched Chloe and suddenly, the truth slapped her across her face. She had done that to her. How?
“C’mon, Robyn,” Ray appeared by her side, one arm around her. “I’ll take you home.”
They stepped out into the open night. Robyn immediately inhaled a long, deep breath as if for the first time. Although the air was crisp, she didn’t feel it standing next to Ray. She looked up at him. His face was set in a grim expression, his cool blue eyes vigilant and staring straight ahead. His pale hair sat like a halo on his head. That was what he was, her guardian angel. From the day it all started, that morning in the coach a year ago, he had been by her side and protected her from the monsters that were out to get her.
He looked down at her. Robyn blushed at being caught staring at him. For a second, his eyes wandered down to her lips. Then he looked away, frowning. He opened the car door for her and waited until Robyn had settled inside before closing it and walking to the other side.
It wasn’t the same car she had come in. It was Nick’s. Ray started the engine as Robyn looked at him again. All the things she wanted to say to him were at the tip of her tongue, but for some reason she couldn’t form them into sentences. Only then did Robyn notice he was in his rugby attire.
“Did you leave the game halfway?”
He nodded, one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on the gear stick between them. Robyn wanted to reach forward and hold it.
“Thank you,” she said. She wanted to say more. She wanted to tell him everything she was feeling in that moment but an invisible zip had locked her mouth from opening. Defeated, Robyn looked out of the window. But as the silence stretched on, she become more and more restless.
“So much has been happening recently, I really don’t know what to believe or rather who to believe anymore,” she blurted.
She looked at Ray to see his reaction, but there was none. He drove on in silent contemplation.
Nevertheless, Robyn continued, “It started with Shane. Everything that followed after was… It wasn’t normal. Nothing about my life since I’ve known you has been normal. I don’t know how to process it all and I kept saying to myself I’ll figure it out, that we’ll figure it out together. I know I feel something special with you and that is what keeps me going, what gives me hope in this crazy, atypical relationship.
“But I didn’t know there would be so much baggage to deal with. With you being the way you are,” Robyn shook her head, “were. That was difficult. It was difficult losing that stupid challenge, even though I knew I’d lose. I thought maybe… I don’t know what I was thinking. It was difficult to bring myself to accept the fact that maybe I’m not the human I thought I was for eighteen years of my life. But since you came, it’s just been one thing after another screaming in my face that nothing is normal or human about me.
“And I guess it reached a point where I just wanted to run away from it. From you,” she looked at Ray, his knuckles clutching the steering wheel so tight she thought it would come off.
“I said I wanted time to think,” she continued, looking down at her fingers, “but I realised tonight that I’ll never feel how I feel for you, for anyone else. I… I understand now, what it means to be mates--”
Suddenly, his hand was in her hair and his lips came upon hers. For a brief second, before she lost herself into the kiss, she noticed they were pulled over to the side of the road. The orange indicator lights blinked rhythmically in the darkness as the kiss stretched on. Every cell in her body was charged.
Robyn still felt his lips on hers when he broke off the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.
“That we belong to each other,” he finished.
“Yes. And you’re the only werewolf I want to belong to,” she whispered, hugging him.
Ray smiled, “what do you mean”?
Robyn looked up at him, her chin resting on his chest, “earlier… Before your game when you found me with Rick,” she watched as his eyes darkened, “he was kind of forcing me--”
Ray held her at a small distance so he could see all of her, “what the hell did he do? Did he hurt you?”
“No, not like that,” Robyn held his hands, “I didn’t know it but he’s one of you. He told me that I’m his mate,” she rolled her eyes, “and he was forcing me to go out with him.”
Ray stared at her for a long second, confusion visible on his gorgeous face. Then, looking into her eyes, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“You’re mine.”
A blush creeped up her neck. Somehow, those same words coming from his mouth were imposing and sultry.
“And you’re mine,” Robyn sighed, feeling giddy with joy at her newfound realisation.
“I am,” he smiled, resting her hand on his thigh and starting the engine, “let’s get you home now.”
“But I want to spend more time with you.”
“Tomorrow, I promise,” his voice rung out with finality.
Robyn relaxed in her seat. As she let her mind wander to the events of the evening, she found herself wondering who was this Alpha Ulric. She didn't know this person and yet he had made her life hell. If only they had spoken once to clear Jasmine’s misunderstanding then things might have been different now. Robyn couldn't, for the life of her, comprehend how Jasmine was so certain of losing Alpha Ulric to her. So certain that Jasmine felt the need to kill her.
Just as she sat up to ask Ray the question, Robyn recognised the massive oak tree at the entrance of her street. They had arrived. As they drew closer to her house, she noticed a different car parked in the driveway next to Laila’s Volkswagen. It was a white SUV that she had never seen before.
Hey :3
So... That was Jasmine’s end. What do you think? Did you like this chapter? Robyn and Ray are back together! I know I said a lot of questions would be answered in this chapter but as I was writing it I realised it's getting a bit long so I had to end it here :( but I hope you liked it nonetheless!
We're coming close to the end with every chapter now! How do you guys feel about that? I'm a little excited tbh, it will be my first completed story ever! ^-^
Please vote and comment to show your support! I really appreciate it 💕 ^-^
I'll see you very soon,
~Mich