Once Scorched Always Safe

Book

An Old Enemy, An Old Ally

Chutside Shadows.

Retreat

He stood across the street watching as people trickled in and out of the bar. He had seen her pull up in the back earlier, he could get her alone. He eyed the two men outside the bar. Their scent told him that one was a vampire, while the other was a werewolf. She had muscle surrounding her everywhere. He narrowed his eyes, trying to think of a way to get to her while she was alone.

He could go for her during the day at her home, but this morning she had company, someone he knew well. Someone he never wanted to see again. So, he would come up with a plan to eventually give that little bitch what was coming to her. He walked away from the bar to go back to his hideout. He had

rogues to command and he would use them to their full potential. He had ways to make her afraid before he made her pay.

He had hidden in the shadows long enough, living off scraps of what the rogues left behind until he had enough of the kind of life, they forced him into. He fought for what he wanted, picking fights with rogues as they wandered too close to the little patch of land he claimed as his own. He got stronger with every fight, killed each rogue that wandered his way. He was ready to put that little bitch down, to finally be free of her, no matter who he had to kill to do it.

Sebastion

Somewhere in Southern California

They had stopped for dinner at a large family–style restaurant since they had children with them. He picked one near a park, and there was a hotel nearby that they could check into for the night. They would start their drive again in the morning, see how far they could get the next day. With ten extra people with them, four of whom were children under the age of ten, he knew that they could be another two days on the road.

Sebastion was eager to get back home to deal with the problem he left in the dungeons. Gia. Could he stick to his decision to banish her from the pack? He had learned much since locking her up, all he finally listened to after seeing her indiscretions for himself. He couldn’t allow her to stay. He knew that Jace would still need his mother, he had Arianna to help him since she had moved back to Redwood territory with her mate and their daughter. His son was his responsibility, but he would take all the help that he could get. He knew very little about mising children.

He sat on a bench overlooking the park as the children worked off their energy after dinner, thinking of all the things that needed to be done back home for them, and for all the children in the pack. There were about two hundred children of varying ages out of the nine hundred park members. Some teenagers, some younger children, same were of the same age that Jace and Calista were. They played in the mansion courtyard with his son daily, which made him happy the children accepted his son, even if some adults didn’t accept him.

Gia’s actions had caused that.

Her making him a blind fool in the eyes of his entire pack was something that he would never live down. There were a lot of apologies he would make to his pack members. To the men and women that he had done wrong with his blind, unwavering loyalty to a woman who used him the way Gia did. He owed them so much more for their loyalty to him. He had always made sure that his pack never lacked for anything, but what they needed from him for years he had failed to give them. His fall attention, his once open–door policy, and his ability to put his pack before his personal life.

“I can practically hear those gears turning in your head, Sebbie,” Arianna spoke softly as she sat down on the bench next to him. She handed him a coffee cup, then looked out at the children playing,

“I am just thinking of the things that need done at home for our new members.”

“There is more to your thinking

g than just these new wolves we are bringing home.” She turned to look at him as he watched the playground.

“I am just thinking of how blind Gia made me to the needs of my people.” His expression was a mix of anger and self–loathing.

“She did that and you let her, but you can make things right for our pack and yourself Become the leader you were meant to be without her influence over your actions.” She touched his shoulder gently

“I want to take these wolves home, become a better leader, a better father, and most of all a better man. I regret so much of the past Ari, so much that I bet slip away because of how blind I was to everything and everyone but Gia

“Let that go Sebbie, you cannot change the past, but you can make a change now for a better future. You are making a good start by helping these people make a better life after the devastation that they have been through. I know we went to Jade Moon with dual purposes, but this is the right thing to do, even if Rayne wasn’t there, she is out there somewhere. For now, you just need to concentrate on the things that are right here in front of you.” Arianna reached for him as he fought the tears that were threatening to overflow.

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What have I done, Ari? What have I become? His voice cracked as the dam broke on his emotions.

te held him while he cried, soothing him until he was calm again, then she pulled him to his feet to drag him to the hotel to get checked in. She made I the arrangements for their rooms, Justin and his crew’s rooms, then added all the rooms for their new pack members. He was in awe of how well she anaged him and the practical matters. An idea forming in his head as she left the hotel to hand out room keys, she should have been Alpha rather an him, there was something that he could do about it when they got home.

e mind linked Justin to have him meet him in his room. There were arrangements to be made for their return home, so they would need to have a inference call with Flint. With lack, they could have most of it completed by the time their little caravan arrived back in Oregon. They spent two hours sing over what needed done, with Justin and Flint putting their ideas in. They agreed on some while they rejected others. Both his Beta and Gamma remed surprised, yet happy with the change in him, ready for a change in their leader finally. After the three of them hammered out the details, he int Justin off for the night, then called Flint back to have him put Jace on the phone.

ebastion talked to his son about what he would like to do when they all returned home, asked about what he had been doing while they were away, en just listened to Jace chatter on and on for over an hour. He sent his son off to bed, then slept too. Feeling better about the plans in his mind, he rifted off to sleep thinking of the future with a more positive outlook.

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o far, the night was going smoothly, her regular customers were hesitant at first over Jazmine’s aura of power, her pale purple eyes were a sight many ere in awe of. She wowed them with her smile, put them at ease with her smooth abilities behind the bar. She even made a friend in the form of old dgar. Which was saying quite a lot considered the old man’s temperament was not friendly to strangers. He warmed to her faster than he had to Rayne

Parker, that alone made Rayne happy with Jazmine’s performance so far since she did it all with her personality, not magic.

idgar was a nightly customer who sat at the end of the bar sipping beer after beer until Parker had Spencer pour the old man into a cab as the bar losed. Edgar is a werehyena, which was another surprise to Rayne as she learned just how many werranimals there were other than werewolves. He came in every night with a sour expression on his face, talked to no one but the hartender, or Malcolm when he brought out Edgar’s dinner. Even that was more often just grants or a simple nod of thanks.

Rayne had asked Parker once what Edgar’s story was, only getting that he was a gold miner for years, that he had enough of blending with humans and their arrogance. Edgar mentioned being packless since he was in his early twenties when he left home for bigger and better things. He didn’t find them, which left him a bitter old man, alone in a world that was bigger than his dreams.

Rayne came up with Shadow’s Retreat originally for supernaturals like herself and Parker. Out in the world on their own, not a part of any pack or group of their kind. It drew in people who were looking for a safe harbor in the night. A place to spend time with others of the supernatural world without judgment or threat of danger. They had made contacts over the years as they traveled with many powerful entities in almost all the different species. California seemed to be a melting pot for the lost or wandering souls of the supernatural world. Something Rayne did not understand about as she dreamed of coming to California as a child.

With the contacts they made, she and Parker could often safely move some of those that were refugees of wars between packs, or sometimes those like Lena who was a refugee from a war on Fae in Europe. She came to the United States to seek safe refuge with others of her kind. For the most part. humans within the country were unaware of what blended in with them daily, which worked for most supernaturals very well.

Rayne had been up in her office for the last hour, making phone calls and answering emails. One in particular that stood out. She would need Parker’s thoughts on. It was from an old acquaintance of theirs from the early days after they became travel companions, Mortimore Blake, a vampire older than any she had met since then. Morty was over five hundred years old, though he never gave them an exact age, saying once a person lived past a certain age, they were no longer obligated to disclose their correct age to anyone. She respected that as she was learning of all that was out there in the world beyond her limited knowledge.

When they first met Morty, there was some instant hostility when he got her scent as a werewolf. The balance between the two species was tenuous. The occasional war between the two species breaking out now and then over the years, usually territorial wars. There had been peace throughout Rayne’s lifetime, but there was and always would be tension between the two species. When Morty gut wind of Parker, he was curious about what a shifter was doing with a lone werewoll.

They had exchanged names, purposes, and finally had a nice sit down at a little bar along the roadside to chat. When Morty learned how green Rayne was with her knowledge of the world outside of pack borders, all his hostility fled as he sensed that she was pure of heart. He traveled with them for a few months before business called him away. He said as he parted that if either of them were ever in need that he would aide them as much as he could. When word reached him through the back channels of their world of what she had created with Shadow’s Retreat, he reached out to her with a well–done email and maintained communication monthly

The email he sent now differed from all the ones before. He required their help this time and was seeking refuge. As powerful as Morty was, the fact that he was seeking refuge from something concerned Rayne. His email wasn’t very detailed, only stating that he would fill them in on the details when he arrived tomorrow night. That would give her and Parker the day to get the basement room prepared for Morty’s arrival.

Rayne replied to Morty, telling him they would be ready for his arrival, then left her office to find Parker. He would most likely be at the comer booth

An Old Enemy An Old Ally

that gave a view of the entire bar. As she entered the primary room, the smell of beer, fried food, and sweat assaulted her nose. The food reminding her⠀⠀ she had yet to eat, she would stop in the kitchen on her way back up to her office after she talked to Parker.

She found him where she thought he would be. He was watching a table near the bar where two werewolves sat. From a glance, it looked like trouble could brew. Reminding her they might need a few bouncers inside the har if business continued to be as good as the last few months had been. Sliding into the booth next to Parker got his attention briefly, then he went back to watching the potential storm. He slid his cup of coffer over to her as he continued his observation.

“I got an email from Morty tonight,” She took a sip of his coffee then slid it back to him.

Parker turned to face her as she mentioned their old friend, Morty. “That isn’t unusual, but I am guessing it was what he said that it now.”

has you mentioning

“He is asking for our help with something, seeking refuge from something, though he didn’t go into great detail.”

“When will he be here?” Parker turned back to the two werewolves as the glass broke, but relaxed when the two helped clean it up. The storm had calmed, for now it seemed.

“Tomorrow night. That gives us time to finish getting the basement room the finishing touches and getting to the local blood bank for supplies.” Rayne turned her attention to the bar to see how Jazmine was doing.

She was chatting away with old Edgar, which caused Rayne’s eyebrows to raise in surprise. That was interesting since for the first time he had set foot in the bar, Edgar was smiling, Jazmine would work out just fine.

“What do you think he could be running from? As powerful as he is? What could have him spooked enough to come here to seek our help?” Parker looked at her fully, noticed the worry in her eyes, then laid his hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“That concerns me, handle?”

that he didn’t say what it was, only that he would tell us when he arrived tomorrow night. What if it is something we cannot

“I can call Arabella, see if she can make it here tomorrow night to strengthen our wards. She was going to do the house when she came to town next”

“That might be a good idea. We could introduce her to Jazmine. See if, between the two of them and Lynn, we can come up with something stronger to protect the bar and the house.”

“Three witches in the same area at the same time, hm, could be trouble.”

“They are all White Witches, they are not territorial Parker. Rayne turned to him as they continued to speak. “Let’s talk about the rest of this at home.”

“Fair enough, now go eat before everyone in here can hear your stomach growling. He leaned in, capturing her lips softly before he nudged her out of

the booth.

Rayne did as he asked, stood from the booth to make her way to the kitchen, only to pause after a few steps when the bell above the door chimed. She looked over to see Morty walk in with two women at his back, Argyle, and Spencer right behind them. Well, this was earlier than expected, as she had only received his email thirty minutes ago.

Morty stood tall and alluring to those that looked at him. His skin was a bronze tone that most humans spent money to achieve. His facial features were sharp, well defined as a Greek god. His eyes stood out the most showing his nonhuman nature. Blood red. He normally hid his true color behind the glamour that vampires used to blend with humans. Here he was safe to show his true nature.

The two women behind him had the same coloring as Morty, showing there were most likely from his home country in Europe. One had dark brown hair, pale golden eyes, her face showing age like an ancient vampire eventually does. She wore what looked like ceremonial robes of a priestess of royalty. A pale aura surrounded her, marking her as something other than just a vampire.

The other woman was slightly taller than her companions, her skin tone just a shade darker, setting her apart slightly from the others. She wore what looked like wedding attire, and a glittering crown on her head. She was most definitely royalty, that could complicate things further. Her golden eyes stating straight at Rayne as if she was searching for something within her.

Rayne motioned her head for Spencer and Argyle to go back to their posts, then nodded to Morty, motioning with her hand for him to follow her up to her office. “Parker, I guess our meeting is happening now.”

“I will follow them, but I suggest having this meeting in the private room next to my ollice.”

The

e room next to his office had soundproofing on the floors, walls, and ceiling. It was where they took the refugees to hear their stories, the full pri

An Old Enemy, An Old Ally

keeping everything said within the room safe from those that didn’t need to know what secrets were told inside. Rayne nodded to him, then led the way for Morty and his group to follow her upstairs, a sense of urgency suddenly thick in the air.

Things were about to get interesting. With the threat of the unknown darkness coming for her, now this request from an old ally, her life was becoming more complicated as the night progressed.

What was next?