Our Deceptive Heat (When it Raines Omegaverse #3)

1. Ryn

Chapter one

Ryn

Four years ago

All at once my grey world burst into colour- Ryn Raines.

My mother named me wrong. I’m not golden, I’m nothing but a dark spot of shame on my parents’ expectations. Raven black hair, pale skin and, in my father’s words, an unnecessary and useless beta with no value at all. I’m not male and alpha, nor am I a tradable omega. He likes to remind me of these facts often because he’s an asshole.

Auryn means gold. But I’m not gold. I’m not even silver or bronze. In my mother’s eyes and my father’s dismissal, I’m nothing, I don’t rank, I barely even exist in their world. I just float on the periphery of their luxurious lives. So I call myself Ryn, and I skate by working as a gift card designer and doing cute little loved up designs while I wait for Dad to decide where in the company I’ll be most useful.

The only thing that shows that I am a Raines is my blue-green eyes that my aunts, my uncle, my mother, and my cousins share. The Raines eyes.

I am an embarrassment to my father. But to my mother, I am the reason my father hates her.

Thus, I have no right nor reason to be snooping through my father’s files. The CEO of Alpha Labels who inherited his position through his prestigious marriage to the famous song writer Chile Raines, would never allow me here. I shouldn’t be here at all. Not in this building. Not in this office .

But I’m desperate.

Typhor Raines never would have left anyone else alone in his office. But I’m his only useless child. The one he can ignore until he sells me off to the highest bidder. I can’t remember a time my father was proud of me or interested in me. So when I came to see him and he got called away, he didn’t think twice about leaving me alone in his inner sanctum.

I am the perfect daughter. Well behaved and forgotten.

And I’m desperate enough to turn into a thief.

Right now, my salvation, my potential freedom, is at hand. In this folder is the outline of a problem that could very well rescue me from the horror that is my future. As my father’s daughter, I know I should shut the file and walk away. As my father’s unwanted child, I know if I don’t seize this opportunity, I might never get another.

It’s not like Locke can help me.

And Aunt China is worse than my mother. Lia is never going to escape her mother’s awful controlling rules. Bethany is gone. Raider is too busy trying to survive on the ice as a pro-hockey player, and Kelly is too far away.

I inhale slowly, drawing in the chemically clean air, trying to calm the churning in my gut. My fingers tremble as I turn the pages, swiftly scanning for the information I need. The desperation I feel won’t go away.

Time. Time is my enemy.

If only I could buy some. Freeze it. Still this office in a moment so I could search every inch, just to make sure it’s the right path. Instead, I have mere seconds to find the golden ticket out of my life.

I’ve planned this down to the last detail. The call for the last minute meeting came from my mother. My father will find his new potential singer will be with a brainless socialite who wants to sing songs to impress her mama and get famous.

It was all set up by me. I pulled strings, then promised people my first-born children. I used my savings. Everything worked like clockwork, predictable and exactly to my plan.

I curl my hands on his shiny black desk, using my long hair to shield what I’m doing as I pretend to have a violent coughing fit. The computer chair behind me presses against my thigh. I should have moved it.

There’s only one camera in my father’s office and that’s the one directly over my left shoulder. The security guard who traded me the information only wanted a kiss. I ignored his rough groping and, despite how sickening it was to have his tongue down my throat, I know I’d do it again and again. Totally worth it .

I turn the page and find the information I need. Fate’s Choice is my in. They will be my ticket to freedom. A band with four alphas who are up and coming, their rise could be astronomical, and their music suits my style.

I quickly take photos of all the information, then steal the page requesting a songwriter, making it disappear. My father won’t have read the file yet, and no one would dare correct him. I roll the page up and stick it in my jacket pocket. I take a moment to pretend I’m weak from coughing, shut the folder, and then leave the room exactly as I found it.

The only impressive thing about those rooms are the views.

Alpha Label looks over the city and all its impressive skyline. Powerful men have always sat in this room. It holds nothing but revulsion for me. Sometimes I wish Kelly hadn’t left and was sitting in this office instead of my father. Is that wrong of me?

When I pass my dad in the hallway, he does what he always does; he pretends he doesn’t see me. I stand still, watching him as he walks with the young blond who looks similar in colouring to Lia. His arm is around her shoulder as he guides her on a tour of Alpha Labels. She giggles and touches his chest in a way that makes me feel ill. He leans in closer, smiling that smile that terrifies me.

I spent a lot of my childhood hoping he would never, ever pay any kind of attention to me. So far, I’ve been lucky, but he’s made comments about my lack of use, and it’s making me nervous.

My father’s personal assistant glares at me as he follows behind, a tablet clutched to his chest. His suit fits perfectly, his hair is slicked back. Nothing about his features stands out or is noteworthy. Uley Ethels is as evil as my father, maybe more so because he isn’t a megalomaniac. He’s a normal guy trying to leach power by sucking up to the asshole of my father. I’m relieved when he turns the corner, and I can’t see him. The beta creeps me out.

Idly, I wonder if my father hates me because he hates my mother or if I am some extra torment for him.

It doesn’t matter. My father, with his crisp suits and his infallible routines, will be a thing of the past. No longer will his dead brown eyes torment me as they measure my worth and find me wanting. I will achieve what Chile Raines never could, and I will escape the man who controls our lives.

I’m playing the long game now.

And I’ll do it in a way that will make him eat every horrible word he’s ever said to me.

And then he’ll be dead to me, too.

“Ryn, I’m not sure about this. If you get caught-”

“Locke, for god’s sake, lower your voice,” I hiss. “I’m not getting caught. You’re going to reach out to them and tell them about someone you know who can help with their little problem, that’s all.”

My cousin is the lead singer of the rock band Derision, but right now, he’s looking at me from where he’s perched on the stairs of our cousin Lia’s house, the old Raines family mansion, and trying to destroy my dream. She is, of course, setting up all manner of pranks in her desperate bid to outwit the Mirakill Pack that she met a month ago. One month, and they have become her obsession, still it’s nice to see life in her eyes. Who would have thought infamous bikers would devolve into two-year-old children around my cousin?

I want to find it pathetic, but I’m envious. The way they look at her. The way she talks about them, they are the thing that makes love songs ache.

“Please, Locke. You have to help me. If I don’t find something soon to aid my escape, he’s going to gift me to one of his old cronies as a broodmare. Help me!”

Locke tosses his golden hair, his eyes flashing with frustration. I don’t understand why he’s being so stubborn about this.

“Ryn, no. I won’t do it.”

I stare at him, my hope dying, but I have one last weapon against him. Guilt churns in my gut, but I ignore it. “Then you acknowledge who wrote those songs.”

He inhales sharply. The fear that flickers across his face almost makes me take back the words, almost.

“That wouldn’t help any of us, and it would make your situation worse, and you fucking know it. What the fuck, Ryn?” Locke explodes, furiously standing up to pace. “How can you even say that to me?”

“I wrote those songs for you. Hell, I gave them to you in good will to help you get to the top!” I growl back at him, matching his anger for anger. “Locke, I deserve acknowledgement. I just want a little word in their ear, an intro. Fucking hell, Locke the world’s at your feet. You have everything. Give me this. Help me, damn you!”

Locke looks down at his ring-covered hand for a couple of minutes. I wait, knowing that he’s often slow to act when he needs to think things through.

“You’ll be working as a silent partner?”

“Right up until I have enough street credibility that he can’t just sell me off,” I say with a grin. The flutter of hope explodes, leaving me feeling weak.

“Why music? You could have done anything else. You can draw, dance, write. Why on earth would you chase the one industry that could destroy you?”

Locke sounds like he’s completely confused about why I’m doing this. But surely, he, of all people, would understand? I can’t believe he’s even asking me .

“Because music is my heartbeat. It’s every breath. It’s every thought, and it’s who I am, Locke. Don’t you feel that way?”

Locke shakes his head as he stares at me. “I am what they made me to be.” He hesitates. “No, I guess I don’t feel that way. I went into music because it's all she let me do. I don’t love it like that. Some days I don’t even like it.”

She being my aunt Cara. She’s been on a one track mission to turn Locke into a superstar. His act of rebellion was joining a rock band instead of a pop band she’d selected and signing so fast she lost control of his future. She went from being in his life every moment to ignoring his existence. I’m not even sure when she last spoke to him.

He huffs and stands up. Locke is tall but lithe. Almost bordering on thin. He holds out his large hand. He is everything a Raines should be, tall, heartbreakingly handsome, rich, famous, and golden. I put mine in his.

“I’ll talk to them. I’m not sure how much I can do. They’re doing fine on their own, and they’re pretty closed off.”

I shrug, knowing that they aren’t as well off as Locke thinks but unwilling to share that knowledge with my cousin. “Thank you. I just need a window. I can do the rest.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

We let go and turn as one as Lia comes screaming with laughter back to the house. She jumps up into Locke’s arms, laughing.

“Lia!” he says and looks at me in concern. “What have you done?”

She giggles hysterically as fireworks start going off all around the Mirakill Mansion.

It is pretty, I will give her that, and it is nice hearing those big bikers swear.

“Hello?” I groan into my phone, barely awake enough to even register I’m up and answering a call. What bloody time is it?

“Hello, Ryn?”

I hesitate, my whole body coming online. I know that voice. Oh, hell, it’s happening. After weeks and weeks of silence, it’s really happening. “Who is this?”

“This is Tyr from Pack Fate.”

I sit up so fast my head spins. I gasp, clutching at my quilt. “Fate’s Choice?”

“Yes.”

Calm down, Ryn. Be cool. You need this too much to fuck it up. I am a bad ass song writer.

“Wow, I wasn’t sure you were going to call. ”

“I wasn’t sure I was going to call, but Locke Raines told me that you wrote one of their songs.”

Aww, bless your big beautiful heart, Locke . He went the extra mile for me. I’ll find a way to pay him back one day.

“I did.”

“It's an incredible song. An absolutely amazing song. We want you to come and make a song like that with us. No, we need you to do that. The band’s future is on the line, Beta Raines, and only you can save us.”

I hold my breath so I don’t scream and embarrass myself. “I’ll send you my contract to look over.”

“I don’t need to look it over. I’ll sign whatever you want.”

I’m taken aback for a moment, and then my nerves burst inside me like those fizzy candies.

“Okay, when would you like to meet up?”

“We’ve got a tour scheduled, but we'll be back in three months.”

Three months. Oh, god, this is really happening. “Okay, Tyr, I’m really looking forward to working with you. I think we’re going to do amazing things. When you’re back, call me. I’ll come to you.”

Tyr murmurs a goodbye and hangs up.

I stare at my phone. Did that really happen? Giddy excitement bursts through my veins. I jump out of bed and let out a squeal.

Fate’s Choice! I did a thorough analysis on them; they have so much potential. I know exactly what kind of songs I want to create for them.

This is going to be amazing.

I spin around and then race out of my room, pausing only when I see the light on. My stomach flips violently, and I forget all about Fate’s Choice.

A moment later, I hear my mother’s strident voice. She sounds drunk. What are they doing here? They seldom come back to this house. My father responds, his voice raised. He sounds angry, which sends an icy shiver through my body, leaving me feeling sick and shaky. My mother screams in anger, and it changes into a vicious wail.

I can guess what they’re fighting about. Any number of my father’s affairs. He flaunts them in front of her carelessly. He honestly just doesn’t care about it hurting her. It’s always the same fight. I don’t understand why they continue this vicious cycle. I don’t understand why they continue to live in pain.

The excitement I’d been feeling changes to fear and a toxic apprehension that twists my insides. I think of Fate’s Choice, trying to recall that happy feeling, but it’s gone. I slip into the shadows, listening intently. The joy I had in my heart, I bury it deep, focusing only on surviving the next couple of minutes.

Her voice gets louder, more desperate, more whiny. And then I hear a crack. The sound of flesh hitting flesh is a sound you never forget. It’s a sound that haunts my nightmares.

I tremble and step backwards but force myself to stop. Just in case.

I thought we’d moved past this, this fear.

How many times have I called the police? How many times has she lied? My father has never, ever raised a hand to me, but I’ve had to watch this all my life. One day he will. If I say no, if I refuse to do his bidding, he will hit me the way he hits her. He’s said it, he promised me.

I’m twenty-one. I shouldn’t be this scared, and I shouldn’t be having to put up with this anymore. Why do they do this?

I’m almost as angry with her as I am with him. Why can’t she walk away? Why not pack her bags and find another pack? Find someone else. Why stay? Why? Why? Why?

I wrap my arms around my middle and slowly retreat to my bedroom; her wail is an accompaniment that haunts me.

When I get in there, I sit with my phone in my hand, waiting in case it gets worse.

Two hours pass in a slow crawl as their argument rises and falls. When, at last, it goes silent, I tiptoe downstairs and find my mother curled up on the kitchen floor. Tears run down her cheeks, and her mascara is smeared down across her face. Her eyes look dead.

He never hits her face. I carefully peel up her top, checking her back for the telltale dark violets of an emerging bruise. There are a couple of bad ones.

“Do you want to report this, Mum? We can call the police.” I know what her answer will be, but I live in hope that today will be different.

“No,” she slurs. “Nope. I deserved it.”

“Mum,” I protest.

“Shut the fuck up, Auryn! You don’t know what you’re talking about. Wait until you have a husband or a pack or a bond. Then you’ll understand.”

I shudder. I don’t know that I want any of those things. What I want is freedom. I help her up and into the room I set up for her for nights like this. It takes me a couple of minutes to get her undressed. I put a bucket beside her, get a couple of painkillers into her with a few sips of water, and help her into the giant bed.

Alone.

She’s always alone.

Except for me. But she hates me more than she hates him.

Is that any kind of life?

For any of us ?

Why am I the only one who is looking for more? I squeeze my phone to my chest as I leave the room. This is not my future. This is not how my life is going to go.

I’m fighting for something more. Fate’s Choice is my choice.

I close my eyes, go upstairs, and grab my already packed bags. Is it weird that I live out of them? I’m constantly changing locations from home to hotels, avoiding my parents. An hour later, when I’m sure everyone is asleep, I slip out of my family home.

As the dawn rises, I find myself in a cab, being driven across town to the only safe place I know. And when I knock on the door of the Raine’s mansion where I was dumped three quarters of my childhood like a piece of unwanted trash, it’s Lia and Locke who let me in, who pull me into safety and listen while I tremble and cry.

It’s to them I eventually tell my good news. And an hour later, the three of us are celebrating with shots and dancing. Because that’s the version of family that I know and love.

I choose my own fate.

They are my choice.