Chapter 4: Meeting Rain Blood

Selena’s POV

I woke up to my entire body aching. My muscles felt like I’d just run a marathon and my skin felt hot and tight. My one eye felt weird, my hands and feet hurt like a son of a bitch, and my nose felt like it was the size of a baseball, making it hard to breathe.

Well, I guess it beat being dead, I thought, fighting to open my eyes. But the first ray of light that hit my eye, left my head feeling like a mind-field. And those mines were going off in a not-so-sexy way.

Shit!

Perhaps it was better just being dead, I concluded, feeling like my head was about to split in two. The pounding felt like a pulse, sending shock waves of pain throughout my entire body. I felt sick and bile threatened to rise, but I somehow managed to swallow it back.

Instant regret!

My mouth was dry and all I did was hurt myself even more. Well, it wasn’t the first time my father had beaten me bloody and then sent me to my room to heal up. I ran my tongue over my lips, noticing the split. That was going to leave a scar.

Weird…

My father was usually particular about NOT leaving any scars. He needed me picture-perfect for all the alphas, lunas, and any other sucker he wanted to parade me in front of. For that, he needed a perfect face, so he would usually go for the stomach and back. And my rips usually felt his love the next day, but this time, they didn’t feel half bad.

Which was also weird...

Did he restrain himself from kicking my sides?

That was new…

The rips were usually his favorite part. The soft spot, so to speak. The one that made me cry out in pain. And he loved hearing me scream.

He relished in my pain...

I tried to move my hands, hoping to get a better understanding of what was going on with my face. That was when I felt something pull on my hand. It didn’t feel like I was restrained, but something was definitely holding my hand back.

Hmm, that’s new, I thought again, making another attempt to open my eyes. It took me a couple of seconds before I could see. And even then the image was blurry and out of focus. But I could still make out the white ceiling and a couple of machines in the background.

Wait!

I was in the hospital?!

Had my father been replaced by aliens? Or had Greg finally grown some balls to do something about it? My dad would never have let me see the inside of a hospital; that shit left a paper trail. Greg would usually be the one to nurse me back to health, but had he really gone the whole extra mile for me this time? How badly had my father beat me up if he was willing to face the King’s wrath?

Movement to my side had my head turning in that direction. I more or less expected to see Greg sitting there. He was my father’s beta, despite being just a couple of years older than me. His father, the previous beta, had been killed in battle just a few days ago. He’d led the King’s forces that went after the rogue alpha, Rain Blood, who’d---

Wait…

The man sitting on the edge of my bed wasn’t Greg, I realized as my vision began to clear up. His hair was as dark as tar and his eyes were so dim, they too looked black. He sat there so regally, his back straight and shoulders squared, I could have sworn he was royalty. He was so tall, even sitting down, that I had to crack my head back just to look at him.

Hot!

That was my first honest impression of him. Yeah, I really shouldn’t have been noticing how attractive a guy was – especially a stranger! – when he’d clearly made himself at home on my bed. Not only would my father be furious, but Greg would lose his shit as well.

Considering I was his fiancée and all that…

But the guy on my bed was stunning. I’d never seen a man this... this stunningly beautiful before. He looked like he belonged on the cover of some kind of magazine or something. My heart skipped a beat and as he observed me with such raw intensity, I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks heat.

Who was he?

Suddenly, images from the night before rushed across my memory and I remembered. My father was dead, I’d been taken prisoner, and then---

An alarm started to ring as my heart rate started to rise. Fuck! This man clearly worked for Rain Blood! The man who’d killed my father and ordered my torture. Why was he here? What did he want? Was he here to torture me for fun or for information? Did he want to know about my father’s business?

In either case, I was screwed!

I didn’t know anything about my father’s business. He never trusted me with any information about any official affairs. And Rain Blood was rumored to be cruel and simply crazy! He wasn’t going to believe me! He was going to torture me in ways I probably hadn’t even imagined yet!

Shit!

I should have stayed dead, I realized, trying to pull away from him, knowing it was hopeless. But to my surprise, the man looked up, eyeing the machine behind him, and then turned his black gaze on me again.

“You’re safe now,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft despite the edge of roughness it held.

Erm…

What?!

“Does it hurt?” he asked again, and before I could answer, he pressed a couple of buttons, and within moments, I could feel my body relax and the pain I’d felt dim. I could breathe more easily and the splitting headache that had made me sick before dimmed to a dull throb.

Was he seriously helping me?

No, that couldn’t be right!

Could it?

Yet, I was of the firm belief that actions spoke louder than words. And his actions said that he didn’t want me in any pain. But why would he do that?

What was going on here?

I watched him, as he took a glass and filled it with water. He was wearing simple sweatpants and a gray T-shirt, which was usual for a wolf to wear if he’d shifted and torn his clothes.

When had he shifted?

He returned to the bed and sat there as if he had every right to be there. He handed me the cup, but I just glared at it suspiciously. This--- this didn’t make any sense! Why was he being so nice? Why was I at the hospital? Why was he pretending to help me?

And why, oh why, was I drooling over him so badly?

Had to be the drugs!

And there were probably more in that cup---!

“It’s just water,” he continued, as if he’d heard my thoughts, and took a sip of the water, proving that it wasn’t drugged or poisoned. He then pressed the glass into my hands, helping me drink. And I wasn’t going to lie; the water tasted divine, soothing my dry mouth. I couldn’t contain a soft moan of delight as the water cooled my wounds and hoarse throat.

“I won’t hurt you,” he once again reassured me, a ghost of a smile on his lips, as he sat the glass back down and looked at me. “What’s your name?”

He wouldn’t hurt me?

Yeah, I’d believe that when I didn’t feel like my head was going to burst open...

“What’s that to you?” I asked, my stubbornness making me braver than usual. Sure, I’d been raised a princess, but I’d been playing politics long enough to know that nothing was ever truly free. But to my surprise, yet again, the man just smiled mysteriously, making him look even more dashing than before.

And yes, annoyingly, it made me blush!

“I’ve been wanting to know your name for a very long time,” he replied with a hint of mystery in his tone. “My name is Rain.”

My heart dropped, and all color drained from my face.

“Rain--- Blood?!” I asked in utter disbelief. THIS man was the infamous Rain Blood. The insane rogue that delighted in the gore and pain of pack mate and enemy alike?!

He nodded, making a shiver of fear travel down my spine.

“What do you want with me?” I asked, my voice suddenly hoarse. The man was notorious for messing with his enemies' heads – before ripping them to shreds, that is. There couldn’t be a single good reason for him to keep me alive.

He seemed hesitant to reply at first, making me wonder what he was thinking.

“For now, I want you to get well,” he replied after a couple of seconds, and his intense gaze returned to me. “What’s your name?”

This was the second time he’d asked me that. And a ray of hope bloomed in my heart.

He didn’t know who I was!

That had to be why he was being so kind to me. He didn’t know who I was. And for a split second, I wondered if there was hope for me. That I could lie and get myself out of here alive!

“I didn’t know Alistar had a mate,” the rogue alpha said nonchalantly, but I had a feeling he was getting impatient with my lack of reply. “Let alone a human mate.”

Shit!

So much for that theory. My mind whirled to find a solution. Trying to keep myself alive for long enough to escape this hellhole. But I wasn’t going to lie, I was scared. I’d been through the wringer with my dad a couple of times, but at least I knew that my father needed me alive.

Rain Blood didn’t!

I tried to speak, but my mind couldn’t come up with anything to say. My jaw locked and involuntarily my body shook. From cold or fear, I wasn’t sure, but---

“Don’t be scared,” Rain suddenly said, his voice just barely containing a growl. “My wolf doesn’t like it.”

Was this guy for real?!

“Oh! I’m sorry,” I snorted, unable to help myself; a habit that often had landed me on the wrong side of trouble. “But your wolf is the least of my concerns right now.”

“You’re feisty,” he grinned all of a sudden, all the previous anger seemed to have dissipated. “We like it.”

“What?” I gaped, wondering if this was some kind of “bad cop, good cop” routine. Only, this wolf was more like a “crazy cop, insane cop”.

“Normal alphas don’t like attitudes!”

“I’m---,” he grinned and the way he looked at me had chills crawling down my spine. “Far from normal.”

I believed him. The way he looked at me made me feel like a prey that the predator just spotted. His gaze was black, yes, but his eyes were anything but. There was so much there, so many emotions. He was smart, yet crazy. He was gentle, yet danger seemed to lurk under his skin like a living thing.

He was no ordinary alpha…

“Now,” he practically purred, leaning forward and closing the distance between us. “What’s your name? Or will I just have to call you Azura for the rest of my life?”

“Azura?!” I echoed, wondering what he meant by that.

“Because of your blue eyes,” he said, gesturing towards my face. “They’re stunningly beautiful.”

Many people had told me that. Many people had told me I was beautiful, with my mother’s blue eyes and blond hair. So, yeah, I knew I was beautiful, but beauty only spoke to the superficial.

A doll on display...

“Selena,” I told him, seeing no point in lying now. “My name is Selena.”