Colton stepped over the threshold and thanked Ray. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a black coat, his hair slightly windblown. He looked nice and my heart started thumping theatrically at seeing him.
He looked up as I came down the stairs and I smiled remembering this was how I first saw him after the club a few weeks back when we weren’t Layton.
Tasha had made up that pet name, much to my annoyance.
Ready to go ? Colton asked and I nodded, jumping down on the last step.
I looked up at Ray who gave me a small smile. I’ll see you when I get back, then I’ll help you pack.
Thanks, he smiled and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him closer. I resisted the urge to sob as I pulled myself away from him and followed Colton outside into the dusky night.
I got inside his black jeep and buckled up as he got inside the drivers and started driving.
Ray’s leaving.
I know, Colton said. Toby told me. He asked permission to follow Ray. I’ve let him, but don’t tell your brother that.
I smiled, Ray and Toby on a road trip together, now that was going to be a good story. I relaxed.
I’m glad he’s going with him. Ray can be so hot headed sometimes. He needs him.
Yeah, Toby needs a break with everything that has gone on. Plus, getting them away from the action is the best thing to do.
I nodded. You’re right.
We drove for about two hours and by now it was dark outside. I could see the lining of the lake from the moonlight and it made me wonder more where he was taking me.
I’m taking you to where it all began, Colton mumbled as if reading my mind, shifting gears as we drove up a hill. I haven’t been up here in a while, or taken anyone up here.
I nodded and reached out towards his hand, he grasped onto it and it was the first time that night I noticed his dark brown eyes so full of apprehension.
He was scared to tell me, it was hard for him. I felt guilty, but I needed to know.
He parked the car and got out. I followed suit and stepped out into the dreary, cold night but was stunned by the beauty of this place that looked like some fantasy land under the moonlight.
I shivered slightly and went over to Colton, who put his arm around me. He froze on the spot and pointed. I followed his hand and saw a neglected lake house sitting near the glittering lake.
I could tell it was a place that had seen so much grief by the gloomy and foreboding look it had about it.
That’s where it all happened. I shivered right down into my boots and clung onto him, this was where his parent’s died ? Are you ready to hear my story ?
I’m ready, I said quickly and swallowed.
I turned my head and looked up at him. He was looking over at the lake house looking deep in thought, lost in his own world.
It started the night I almost killed a girl, he spoke suddenly and I swallowed nervously at his words. I’d just turned sixteen. My friends and I stole my father’s car one night. We were taking Salt and drinking, not caring of the consequences. I was a wild teenager, not really into the rules and I didn’t like the whole alpha authority my father was training me for. I guess you could say I rebelled against it. That night I almost smacked into a little human girl who’d ran out on the road. I managed to dodge her, but I drove us all into a tree nearby, almost killing all of us.
Colton looked down at me, the wind was howling and I was shivering like mad. He smiled a little but then his eyes glazed over as he went back.
My father was furious, said that I was a bad influence, and as alpha’s son people looked up to me. I had disappointed him. He told me to grow up and in turn I told him to fuck off. You see, I didn’t want to be an alpha. It’s a big responsibility looking after families and making sure the pack is secure financially, not to mention protect them from threats. I didn’t think I was cut out for it.
I rested my head against his arm, because something made him change his mind, he was a good alpha now, the best even.
I didn’t speak to my father for a whole week after that. I said some things to him that, to this day, I regret. It was his birthday one weekend, and my mother wanted to do something special for him. She wanted to take him up to our lake house, this place… Evelyn didn’t want to go because she had her first date. So, it was just me, my father and mother.
He paused and I looked at him, he was chewing on his bottom lip, his face twisted in pain. My heart welted at the sight of him look so deflated. He was getting to the bad bit.
My mother was one of the best, the type of woman who was always there with a cup of hot chocolate if you were sick or down in the dumps. The room just lit up whenever she was around. My parents were mated and loved each other a lot, they had a type of love that I’d never understand. It was deep. He looked away from me. We came here for the weekend and my mother threw my father a small party. It was nice and I tried to be peaceful for her, but my dad kept picking on me that I was too immature to run a pack and that if I didn’t buck up my ideas the title won’t go to me. I was so annoyed that in the end I told him I hated him. I didn’t mean it, I was just angry. I went to bed that night and to this day, I wish I could take back those words after what happened later that night.
I swallowed and nodded, willing him to carry on, feeling sick to my stomach.
It started at about eleven, my father came into my room and dragged me out of bed, pulling me inside their room and telling my mother to lock the door behind him. I didn’t know what was going on, only I felt something bad was going to happen. I thought my father, being an alpha, would be back, but he didn’t come back. My mother dragged me into a hidden closet and placed the ultimate sacrifice on me. She made me stay in that closet by a special command, one a mother can only give her cub. I physically couldn’t move. I begged her to stay, but she shut the door and all I had was a small peep hole. A small peep hole to show me hell, and to show me everything that was about to happen to her. I watched seven moonwalkers walk into the room. I didn’t recognize any of them, but later I would find out they were The Savages. Carlos was among them. My mother didn’t scream. She didn’t even shift into her wolf to protect herself, because if she did shift, they’d find out I was hidden in that closet by the protection her wolf had given me. The next bit is bad, are you sure you want to hear it ?
I nodded slowly. Yes.
He gave me a worried look before nodding, he paused and looked away from the lake house and over at a tree.
I watched as they ripped the clothes from her body and raped her one by one, taking turns for hours. Carlos wasn’t the worst out of them, but what he did was sickening. I’m glad he’s dead, but I haven’t killed the worst out of them. She didn’t scream or cry for help, she just lay there and took it all, to protect me.
Colton was shaking and his breathing was heavy. I put my hand over my mouth and started crying, unable to understand how something so horrid could happen to a woman. You heard about it all the time, but the fact that Colton watched this happen to his mother and couldn’t do anything was heart breaking. I could tell why he was so full of inner hate. He blamed himself.