novelSTRONG HEART RAINE
| ← Ch.0235 | Ch.0237 → |
Raine also realized what Torak had done for her, but she couldn't help the sorrow in her heart that she felt because Torak had ignored her.
But then, Calleb didn't stop there, he continued."You must have met the other Lycans that Torak had put in your university. Do you know how many Lycans that Torak had put there?"
"No." Raine replied honestly, she didn't have any idea about the other lycans were being there until recently."Three?"
"No." Calleb shook his head."More than that."
"Ten?" Raine widened her eyes in surprised.
"No, Raine. There are a hundred lycans and all of them must maintain their distance with you, they are not allowed to be in the same area with you for long time, because of your condition, but they have to be close enough with you if you need help, just like when Aeon met you."
"A hundred?" Raine was shock with the number that Calleb told her."That's why I have never seen supernatural creatures around the university..."
Before Raine met Torak, she would see those creatures at every corner of the street that she walked, though some of them didn't try to attack her or simply ignored her, if she didn't make eyes contact with them, thus she always put fixed her eyes on her shoes, yet when she met Torak, Raine saw them less and less.
"Yes." Calleb nodded."And 'a great effort' even couldn't describe well how much Torak had done to plant a large number of people inside the university of yours. It's including a great magic to modify memory of some people."
Just like how Torak had Belinda to modify the memory of people in the orphanage, so no one could remember Raine's face when someone asked about her, in this case Andromalius had been trying to find out about Riane's identity.
However, after the public announcement about Raine was being Torak's girlfriend and in another understanding was Torak's mate, probably that spell didn't work anymore.
Or when Torak killed the man inside the hospital when her first disappearance.
"And also bribes and sort of things that you will not think of." Calleb added without detail.
Raine didn't feel better when she heard that, if anything her feeling was worsened by the fact that Torak had done so much for her."He has done so much for me..." Raine wept. She felt terrible.
"You know what? If that day the shadow warrior managed to take you away, I will not surprise if the next moment there will be a hundred headless Lycans in disposal."
Raine shrieked as she covered her mouth with both of her hands.
"I know, it looks cruel for you, but that's how we live, Raine. As an Alpha he is required to be cruel, because Lycanthropes will not condone to weakness." Calleb blurted out."Yet, no matter what Torak will always treat you like the most precious thing that he possesses."
Raine gulped hard.
"I am telling you this not because I speak for Torak and belittle your effort all this time, you had improved so much, but I am telling you this because I want the situation now is transparent for you, so you can judge it yourself." Calleb rubbed Raine's head."I know that Aeon had saved your life and you are being inclined to him because of this, but if this news is caught by Torak's enemy, it will be a boomerang for you and if it something related to you, it will affect Torak as well. After all, you will be our Luna someday. You will lead and rule side by side with the Alpha."
Raine felt there was a heavy burden that pushed her shoulder down. When all Raine thought that all this time was how to live a normal life, there were many things happened without she knowing it and there would always be a thick plots in everything.
Raine didn't know if she could be the Luna that they expected.
It was hard to be with Torak...
"If you want to keep Aeon save, make him to stay as far away as he could from you or stop protecting him in front of Torak, because the most you try to save him the more furious the Alpha will be." Calleb gave some advice.
Raine looked at Calleb in new light, the Gamma, who always been fool around and teased her all the time, actually talked a long sentences toward her and all of that was brutal truth, the reality that Raine had ignored.
Raine kept ignoring the fact that there would always be a reason for every action and reaction, and only focused on how well Torak had been treating her, until she forgot what he had done for her just to keep her safe.
No wonder, though as a Lycan Calleb's age was consider young, he had been the third in command for Torak and the Alpha trusted him enough to keep Raine safe.
Calleb was wise enough to make her understand Torak's reaction.
But, if Raine thought about this again, Serefina had mentioned about this couple of time, yet in different way.
People around her had been trying to tell her that the world wasn't as beautiful as it was seen, and Torak's way to keep her safe by turning her oblivious on what was going on around her wasn't a right decision.
"Don't feel pressured, I know you can do it." Calleb tried to cheer her up.
Raine's feeling now was similar to her feeling when they said that she was Torak's mate and a guardian angel, when she knew nothing about the supernatural creatures and the existence of the pack of Lycantrophes and werewolves or the devil and witch.
It felt odd, but at the same time was surreal.
Regardless what Calleb had said, Raine still felt pressured.
They wanted a strong and confidence Luna to lead the pack, someone who had strong leadership ability just like Torak, but Raine was nothing but strong and every time she thought about this, her mind would always think about Jenedieth.
Her confidence and boldness... her beauty and fierceness... were something that could compliment Torak's character.
Not someone like her...
"Can I be that kind of Luna?" Raine asked in very small voice."I want to be strong... but, why it is so hard?"
"Of course you can." Calleb said reassuringly."Look back and you will see how much you have changed and you will keep changing until you reach the point where you are stronger than you think you are."
Raine lifted her head and hugged Calleb while crying."Thank you... your words mean a lot for me..."
"You are welcome Luna."
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On the second day since Torak left the house with Raphael, both of them still had not returned yet.
No news. No message. 𝑓𝑟ee𝘸e𝘣𝗻ov𝒆l - 🅽🅽novel
Even Calleb was fl. u. s. tered by the situation and now he was busying himself inside Torak's study room to handle a few matters because neither Torak nor Raphael were available to run the business and took some decision.
Calleb couldn't go to the company because Raine was not allowed to step out of the house and this time Raine didn't complain about it.
She didn't want to aggravate Torak anymore by disregarding his order, but she couldn't help herself by getting anxious for every minute that passed without news from Torak.
"I will be grateful if you stop to make that noise." Calleb lifted his head from the doc. u. ments at his hands and glared at Raine.
"Sorry." Raine replied and stopped knocking the table with her fingers."Still there is no news?"
Calleb sighed and ignored the questions.
Raine had been asking the same questions since the last two hours she was sitting inside Torak's study room, accompanying Calleb that more like bothering the Gamma.
"Calleb..." Raine whined.
"Raine, I don't know where they are. If I know, I would rather to go with them instead have to deal with these papers." Calleb also whined. Paper works were never his things.
But, since no one in charge, he had to take over all Raphael and Torak's work that he could handle.
"But, I am not going to ask that..." Raine stood up and approached Calleb, who was working on Torak's desk."Can I go to the greenhouse and play with bunny? Nothing I can do here..." Raine said pitifully.
She wasn't allowed to go to the college and couldn't go out of the house, and when she wanted to help Calleb, he didn't allow her to touch the doc. u. ments.
To watch movie alone was out of options because she would feel more lonely since Calleb couldn't accompany her.
Meanwhile Belinda was busy treating Serefina.
Raine has no clue how bad Serefina's condition was, because Torak not allowed her to see the witch. Raine only knew that Serefina was still unconscious, even now.
"Greenhouse is still inside the house area, there are Lycan warriors everywhere and guards." Raine added when she saw Calleb didn't reply to her immediately.
Calleb contemplated, it took him a moment to reply."Alright, but don't go anywhere out of the house and keep yourself within the lycan warriors and guards eyes. If you find something suspicious don't go and check it, let someone else do that." He ranted.
"Okay... I will just go to the greenhouse not to a battlefield." Raine grumbled and waved her hands at Calleb.
Meanwhile another phone call annoyed Calleb as he cried."Postpone all the meeting!"
==============
When Raine walked to the greenhouse, she met a few guards with their expressionless face and exchanged a polite smile, but Raine couldn't see any Lycan warriors nearby.
Maybe they were hiding somewhere, knowing Raine would be in the greenhouse.
Torak had given them a strict order that they were not allowed to be near her if it wasn't necessary, but just like those Lycans that Torak had put in her university, they would always have their eyes on Raine and would pop out if Raine was in danger.
Raine walked to the bunny's cage and found the white little one was sleeping soundlessly with it long ears down, yet when Raine squatted down to look for it, the bunny opened its red eyes and raised its small head to look at her.
"Hello..." Raine smiled and opened the lock of the cage, carefully picked the bunny into his embrace.
However, the moment the bunny was out of its cage, it jumped past her shoulder and ran toward the petunias before the bunny disappeared among it.
Raine frowned as she stood up and approached the petunias to get her rabbit.
"Bunny, come here." Raine called for her, but of course there wouldn't be a reply or the bunny could make a sound like a cat.
Raine squatted down to see below the plant's pot, trying to see the white fur ball beneath it.
From the corner of her eyes, Raine caught a glimpse of the bunny ran toward the bougenvilles. Annoyed, Raine stood up and walked toward the spot where she saw the bunny.
Yet, when Raine was about to bend over to retrieve it from the secluded spot, the bunny ran away again and this time it ran toward the door that slightly open.
Raine was surprised and started to run as well.
It would be troublesome if the bunny managed to go out of the greenhouse, it would be more difficult to catch it later.
"No. no...!" Raine shouted when the white fur ball dashed through the door and stopped ten meters away, outside."Bad bunny!" She groaned.
The bunny stood on its hind legs and raised its long ears cutely, as if she was waiting for Raine to catch her.
The diamond on the bunny's red rubber ban that attached on its front leg, shone under the ray of the afternoon sun.
Raine remembered, it was Torak who had given it to the bunny when he bought it for her.
She missed Torak dearly...
And when Raine mused into the memory, the bunny started to run again.
"Comeback here!" Raine started to run again to catch her bunny.
She didn't realize when she almost walked out of house, when a lycan warrior stopped her before she could run any closer to the gates.
"Luna, may I help you?" There were three lycan warriors there, but only one who came to approach her while the other two stayed behind and only nodded their head politely at her.
"Yes, I am looking for my rabbit." Raine was almost out of breath while chasing the bunny, but now she couldn't see it anywhere.
"Don't worry, we will find it soon." The lycan warrior informed her before his eyes turned haze.
It seemed he was mind- linking the other Lycans, Raine often saw Torak and Calleb did that.
"Luna, please stayed inside. I will give it back to you once we catch the rabbit." The lycan warrior said in his gruff tone.
Raine grimaced slightly when she heard the word 'catch' from the bulky Lycan. In Raine's eyse his huge body only consisted with muscled.
"Don't hurt the rabbit please..." She couldn't help, but saying that. It almost felt like they would bite the rabbit the moment they catch it.
The bulky lycan let out small chuckle."We will not, Luna."
Raine blushed slightly to think how stupid her question was. It just came out from her mouth without her thinking about it carefully."Alright, but I will just stay here, is it okay? It will not take long time, right?"
With the Lycan ability and speed, it would only a matter of a few minute before they could catch the bad bunny, right? So, it would be fine if Raine stayed there...
The bulky Lycan saw his Luna uneasiness and then bent his body dramatically while smiling."Yes, just give me a moment and I will come back with the rabbit."
Probably the Luna didn't trust them enough and thought they would accidentally bit the rabbit to its death, there was a possibility for that though.
Raine nodded and saw the two Lycan behind the bulky lycan followed him as they sniffed the air to catch the smell of the rabbit.
Raine wondered how the smell of the rabbit could be? How they could pick up the faintest smell easily? It was incredible how those supernatural creatures could have that odd ability.
However, there were still a lot of things that she still didn't know it yet.
Raine was kicking the small pebbles below her feet when she heard rustling sound from the street across the gates.
When she raised her head, there, the white rabbit was staring at her innocently tilted her small head as if questioning Raine for not being able to catch her.
"You? Why are you there?" Raine looked around her and didn't see anyone."Why there is no guard or a lycan here?" She mumbled to herself.
And also, why those lycan didn't know that the rabbit was there, standing on its hind legs just across the street. They should have known it, right?
Raine was contemplating about what she should do. The bunny was only across the street, if it didn't move carelessly again, she could catch it without trouble.
But, she wasn't allowed to leave the house... yet there was no one there to catch the rabbit.
The bunny has rubber ban with diamond on it, Raine was afraid there was someone out there caught her bunny because of it.
Raine hesitantly walked forward while looking around her, probably there was guard, either human or lycan, who walked past by.
However, there was no one and the bunny looked at its left side, as if there was something that caught its interest as it started to move a bit.
Seeing that, Raine quickened her steps and stopped right at the metal bars of the gates, she tried to get the bunny's attention while clapping her hands."Hey, bunny. Come here! I will give you bunch of carrots!" Raine said in louder voice, so those Lycan could hear her as well.
But, the bunny didn't interest with what Raine's offer and started to take two jumps, approaching the things that caught its attention.
Raine clicked her tongue and tried to look the thing that caught its interest, but nothing there. The road was empty and only there was wall on both sides with the end that Raine couldn't see.
The rabbit took another leapt.
"No." Raine grimaced because the Rabbit started to move out of her sight.
When the rabbit took another leapt again, Raine was trying to look for the handle of the gates and as she found out the gates was unlocked, she pushed open it and started to run out of the house.
Raine didn't realize that she was already outside and the odd situation there, her only focus was on her bunny.
The moment she caught a sight of the white fur, it had turned at the T- junction that made Raine ran after it.
Raine was breathless when she turned at the same corner as the bunny took, but the sight of the road turned her flabbergasted.
It wasn't a road, but a rooftop!
Raine needed a long time to discern her situation.
How a road turned out to be a rooftop of a building?! How could that be possible!? Probably the scorching sun had play trick on her eyes.
But that wasn't the case, because when Raine turned around to go back to the street that she had walked, the street was no longer there.
She was totally in different place.
Though it wasn't the first time that she ended up in different environment in blink of an eye, but she still couldn't get use with this.
Did she travel back to the past again?
Raine frowned because her surrounding didn't indicate that she had thrown to centuries ago, actually it seemed like she was in the middle of the city with billboard on the tallest building that she could see and the sound of car engine from the street below.
It didn't seem like she was going back to centuries ago. And with this little information, Raine could sigh in relief.
As long as she was still in this current time, she could call Calleb and asked him to pick her up because she didn't really know how she could go back home nor she knew where she was.
Raine started to look around her to find a door or stairs so she could go down from this rooftop when someone called out her name.
"Raine... you are here."
Hearing her name was being called, Raine whipped her head toward the source of the voice and found the person that had made her fight with Torak.
"Aeon." Raine's voice was colder than what she intended to.
Yet, Aeon didn't seem to mind the way Raine called his name or the way her expression turned impassive the moment he came to her line of sight.
"Did you bring me here?" Raine narrowed her eyes at him.
Aeon was wearing a simple t- shirt and ripped jeans the same style that he wore when he met her in the university while his slightly long curly hair was tied at the back of his neck.
"It's not him, it's me."
Another voice from behind Raine, which made her startle and turned her body around abruptly.
Not far from Raine, there was a man with golden eyes was staring at her, bemused. In his arms was the white bunny, nestled comfortably.
Raine had never seen this man before, but his golden eyes and the aura that surrounding him were very familiar.
"Hello Raine, finally we meet." The man said with a dramatic bow and smiled that didn't reach his eyes.
Only then, the understanding dawn on her."You are the devil." She uttered.
Raine had seen those golden eyes, but it was not him. Those golden eyes belonged to the devil, Belphegor. But definitely this man wasn't Belphegor, but he must be one of the devils that Torak had told her.
"Let me introduce myself." Lucifer caressed the scruff of the white rabbit in his arms."I am Lucifer and like what you said, I am the devil."
"What do you want to bring me here?" Raine looked at the bunny that looked very comfortable nestled in Lucifer's arms.
"Easy there..." Said Lucifer, kept focusing his attention on the small animal.
"Give me back the rabbit." Raine said sternly. The bunny was a gift from Torak.
"Oh, right... I am sorry." Lucifer lifter his head as he stared at Raine apologetically, a fake impression nonetheless."Here. I found it roaming around the street."
What a lie...
However, Raine didn't want to argue with him about that, she just wanted her rabbit back.
Lucifer took a step forward, but out of instinct, as if he was a danger, Raine took a step back with wary expression.
"How can you get your rabbit if you act this way?" Lucifer smirked, tilting his head, as if he was assessing the girl before her eyes.
Raine was standing between Aeon and Lucifer, so when Lucifer moved forward to her and she stepped back, it brought her close to the shadow warrior.
"Here your rabbit." Lucifer extended his arms and held the rabbit on its scruff."Take it."
Raine looked the rabbit, struggling to get free from the devil's hand, but couldn't get itself out of it.
"Stop it." Aeon groaned as he took long steps and grabbed the rabbit from Lucifer's hand and gave it to Raine.
Raine flinched when Aeon walked past her to get the rabbit and warily retrieved the small animal from his hand.
At the very least, Raine knew that Aeon wouldn't hurt her. So, she preferred to stay close with Aeon rather than to be with the devil.
Since the rabbit was in Raine's arms, she didn't want to stay there any longer and tried to find an escape route from there, but when Raine was about to go Aeon held Raine's shoulder.
"There is something that I want to show you." He said in low voice, slightly grimace when Raine cringed away."Raine, don't be like that. You know I will not hurt you."
Lucifer folded his arms in front of his chest, staring at the pair with amus. e. m. e. nt dancing in his golden eyes. He wondered how far this shadow warrior would go for this Alpha's mate.
"I want to go home." Raine stated as she hugged the bunny and tried to avoid Aeon's touch.
"I have something important to tell you." Aeon ignored Raine's request.
"I have to go back now, or else the moment Torak find you, you will get hurt." Raine tried to make her own way out from this situation.
But, Aeon didn't appreciate the threatening's tone in Raine's voice.
"Wow... The Alpha will kill you for sure Aeon." Lucifer added fuel to the fire, when he saw Aeon's expression turned ashen.
"Do you think that Lycan can hurt me?" Aeon growled and took two steps forward.
Raine wanted to say 'yes' and asked Aeon to let her go, whatever Aeon's reason to bring her here, she didn't to stay longer there, yet she couldn't say it.
Because Aeon would be aggravated by that and that wasn't a wise answer for Raine in this unfortunate situation.
Regardless, Aeon took Raine's silence as a 'yes' answer. He was pissed, thus he grab Raine's arms and hissed."Let's see how he will kill me."
In matter of second, everything was change again.
Raine wasn't in the rooftop of the building, instead, she was in the room that filled with bookshelves, row after row, as if she was in the library.
"Where is this!?" Raine was asking, panic. How could they teleport her as they wish?!
"Library." Lucifer answered Raine's question sarcastically."Don't you see?" He waved his hands toward those books.
Raine didn't want to have a conversation with the devil, so she simply ignored him completely.
"Come here Raine..." Neither Aeon heeded Lucifer's existence as he extended his hand for Raine to grab."I want to show you something. This is something that you and Serefina are looking for."
"I don't want to see it." Raine shook her head."I want to go home." She was adamant with her demand and this didn't please the shadow guard.
"Come with me please." Though he said please, but Aeon's eyes had turned darker than before, he didn't like Raine's rejection.
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