25. Raya
RAYA
I ’d lay awake for the rest of the night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the Benefactor’s face, watching as he choked, his breath pungent and rotten as he took his last breaths. The light faded from his eyes, the glint of the gold from the two weapons around my wrist antagonising me.
Murderer.
That’s what they’d label me if Zander ever found out. I resented it, resented him for everything that had occurred. Had I killed a Dominant, I’d be labelled a hero. Life always found a way to be cruel.
I picked at the cuffs on my wrist again in my anger, as I’d been doing since I’d left Bodhi’s room in the early hours of the morning to attempt to remove the incriminating jewellery adorning my wrists. At times, I’d yanked and pulled at the clasp with such force, I thought my wrist would snap, but it didn’t budge. I’d tried sliding them off, but they remained fastened—to what, I didn’t know.
I’d come up with a single last option, one I didn’t truly want to do, because they were a gift from my father, the only thing left of him. But I knew I had to remove them, no matter what.
Mine and Riley’s lives depended on it if I couldn’t sort this out. My plan required more time, and removing the cuffs was the only way I could ensure it.
Some would call this a stupid idea, the risk of injury high, but I would rather deal with broken arms than wear these and almost guarantee my death.
I raised the hammer high above my head, my left wrist resting casually on the table as I inhaled a full breath, my eyes locked onto the seemingly bland cuff at my wrist.
With all my strength, I brought it down hard, directly onto the cuff with a loud clang. The wrist carrying the hammer jarred slightly when the cuff beneath it didn’t even dent.
Fuck.
I tossed the hammer onto my bed away from me as I began to drag in quick, short breaths, panic gripping me more fiercely than I’d ever experienced in my life.
I slammed my hands onto the table, closing my eyes, trying to focus on my breathing and get it under control again. Movement on my wrists caused my eyes to flick open, watching in horror as the gold liquified to move up towards my palm. I jerked away, shaking my hands frantically in front of me.
“No, no, no.” The gold wrapped faster, like running water. The more I shook, the more my distress heightened, that familiar shape of the dagger slowly formed in my palm as I refused to clamp my fingers around it.
But it didn’t matter; the dagger formed and stuck against my hand like a magnet. I held my hands out in front of me, the blade pointing away from me. Could this hurt me?
I didn’t know, and my father’s gift didn’t come with an instruction manual or warning label.
I was screwed.
Deep breath, Raya. Get yourself under control. It’s just another gift.
I closed my eyes and focused in exactly the same way I would my gift, narrowing my attention to the feel of the gold against my skin. I gritted my teeth. In the quiet, I noted how cold it was, how it warred against the heat radiating from my skin. I noticed its weight and texture, light and smooth.
But there was something else I felt from it. It was so soft, I would never notice it in my day to day. But here, in the quiet, I felt it: the gentlest of vibrations against my skin, which strengthened the longer I focused on it.
My skin itched against it, my focus tightening on that buzz as I searched within me for that ember of my own power, determined to find whatever foreign power controlled the cuffs.
I pursed my lips in concentration, my skin beading with sweat. I could almost feel something flickering inside me, that hum that matched the cuff’s vibration, tiny and muted as it brushed up against the power of my own gift.
I gasped and felt the gold move like liquid running along my skin. But I didn’t budge, my eyes closed, my focus locked on that small, dull ember of something foreign nestled in amongst the power of my familiar gift.
But then, it snuffed out.
Just as I felt like I was getting somewhere, my eyes flew open, annoyed.
The daggers were, thankfully, no more. It was only my wrists adorned with those ornate cuffs. I huffed. Whatever I’d been close to grabbing onto was lost—for now.
My experiment wasn’t wasted, though. To some degree, it was a power of its own, which, even to a small effect, must respond to my emotions, given both this instance and last night’s. So, for now, I would treat it exactly like my own power.
Control my emotions to control it.
It was the only solution I could come up with.
“Raya?”
I blinked at myself in the mirror, trying to orient back to the room at the sound of Apple’s smooth voice.
“Raya? Bodhi’s waiting out the front with Hayden. They finished their training session early. We’ve got the rest of the day off to stay with family today,” she called again when I didn’t respond.
Shit. I’d lost track of time.
“Coming!” I yelled back. I ran to throw on some spare clothes they kept here for each of us before opening the door to a surprised Apple.
“Damn, girl, you can move quick when you want to!”
I managed to laugh, mirroring the brilliant smile she cast me. She pivoted and held out the crook of her elbow, which I gladly took.
“Those are so cool,” she commented as her hand swerved to touch the cuffs on my wrist. My other hand reflexively snatched hers, stopping her from venturing further. Shit.
She shot me a strange look, and I fumbled, “Ughhh, thanks. Family heirloom.”
She smiled again and nodded her head before turning ahead, the beads on her braids clanking together. Her hair was always so irritatingly perfect. Mine was as messy as it always was.
We walked in silence until a bubbling urge to ask her about her experience with the electricity last night began to override my mum’s usual warning.
“Are we going to talk about what happened last night?” I asked quietly, unsurely.
The shift in her expression from warm to something firmer disclosed far more than the words that followed.
“We are all mourning the loss of the Omegas last night. It was one of the worst nights we have ever had on the defence.”
“It was,” I confirmed. In so many ways she will never know. I didn’t miss her careful dodging of what happened to us as defence, about why we lost so many Omegas, but I was curious, and Apple was being far more controlled. You never knew who could be listening in on your conversation.
We turned, her grip tightening on mine as she entered the code to open the door to the stairwell. Up and up, we rose, the only sound between us the scuff of our shoes, our quiet breaths, and the clink of beads.
Our toes reached the final step, and she paused.
“One day, we will discuss the extent of what occurred last night. It seems the war is ramping up, and we must be ready to fight it on all fronts.”
I turned to her as she punched in the last code, my pulse pounding in my ears. I squeezed her arm in reassurance, a sign of solidarity. Then, together, we walked through and out the door to the others, not a sign of anything out of the ordinary marking our faces.
“Finally,” Hayden exclaimed as Bodhi’s head tipped up towards me.
We walked across towards them, the pair of them watching us approach. Bodhi looked down at my arm in Apple’s, his fingers twitching nervously at his side. My heart rate began to increase, anxiety simmering beneath my skin. I was in unfamiliar territory. A determined look settled onto his face as we stopped in front of them and, quicker than I could blink, he had reached out to grip the front of my shirt, yanking me forward to seal his lips to mine.
My eyes flared open in shock, barely able to process it before he released me and smeared his thumb across my lip with a devilish grin.
My cheeks flushed with colour as I quickly looked around at the other two standing there. Apple rolled her eyes and began to walk away as Hayden raised his eyebrows and huffed a laugh, slapping Bodhi on the shoulder before following Apple ahead.
“That was a possessive debut, even for you, Bodhi,” Apple called back as Hayden cackled.
“I guess Klarissa is out of the running now,” Hayden chirped, though I knew he was jesting by the antagonising smirk he threw back.
Bodhi glared at him. “I told you there was only one person ever in the running!”
I laughed up at him, my insides warm. It was hard to comprehend how something so terrible could happen with something so wonderful all in one night. But when I looked at Bodhi and at the two others strutting ahead, I felt lighter and more powerful than ever before. I realised I would do desperate and terrible things to protect them. I swallowed. I’d already planned it.
Bodhi’s hand wrapped around mine, his warm breath dipping close to my cheek as he placed a much softer, less shocking kiss on my cheek.
“I’m not giving you a single chance to ignore or pretend you can resist me,” he stated casually, his lips lifting.
I huffed and mimicked Apple’s earlier roll of the eyes before I tried to sprint away from him.
He laughed and yanked me backward into his arms again, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing at all.
I slapped his back.
“Put me down, you dick.”
“Not a chance.”
“I’ll portal us sky high.”
He laughed and tapped my ass. “And I’ll shift and show you what it’s like to truly fly.”
I groaned. “You’re annoying.”
“You said you wanted this.”
Blood rushed to my head, the sway of his walk jostling me around uncomfortably.
“I regret that.”
He smacked my ass harder this time, dragging his fingers down my centre teasingly. “Hmm. No, you don’t.”