CHAPTER TWO DISGUISE

RAISA POV

It was time to leave but I needed to do something important first.

I cut my hair.

My long, flowy black hair was cut to shoulder length. I also dimmed my eye colour from grey to black. It was like my soul.

I looked at the ground to see the long strand of my hair on the floor. It was the symbol of the girl I was—a weak girl. But not anymore.

I braid what’s left on my head. I look back at the mirror, my now black eyes staring back at me. It was cold and that's what I wanted.

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Crossing the border into Aegis feels like I'm going on a suicide mission. The air in this part of the country was polluted, I couldn't feel any packs for miles away. It was just noise, engines, neon signs, and human greed.

When I got to the main road after walking for days, I stole a bike and a leather jacket. I rode into the city.

Aegis city rises ahead of me, filled with light. It was ugly and wrong. I rode inside it with no hesitation. It was time to do what I had come to do.

A few more minutes of riding….I found it.

The Blackthorn Territory.

I rode in without fear, stopping at a bar which was at the corner of the road. The neon sign flickered green and red. I looked around. I could see thousands of bikes packed.

“I should burn them…” I whispered to myself but I stopped myself, as I heard laughter spilling from the door with loud music. I could see girls, naked and rubbing over the men while they sprayed them with money.

I gnashed my teeth in anger. Inside, the men who wore my family bones were drinking and laughing. My hands curled into a fist.

My first mission was clear but one thought kept circling my head. I cut the engine off and swung off the bike.

“It’s time to walk into hell…..and rule it.”

I swung the door open and the loud noise slammed into me. The music, shouting, and glass breaking. I could smell the stench of oil, sweat, cheap alcohol, and blood. My shoulders squared as I walked deep into the bar.

I see conversation stopping, eyes slide to me, then away from me. They see a lone woman and they are thinking all the wrong thoughts.

It made me smile.

I walk in, barely there before someone grabs my arm. “Wrong place, sweetheart.”

I paused, “That's not something you want to do.” I snarled.

The man chuckled, “And what are you going….”

I twist and his bone pops. He screams as I drive my elbow into his throat. I picked him up, throwing him to the far end of the bar. I had all the men staring at me shocked.

They all glared at me.

A bottle whistled past my head. I duck, grab a chair, and swing it. The chair hits someone hard. Another man lunges towards me. I kick him in the knee, and he drops. I stepped on his wrist as his gun slid across the floor.

The bar erupted.

I moved fast, wasting no time. A punch to the ribs, a heel to the chin, a headbutt that broke someone’s nose. Someone tries to tackle me from behind. I flipped him, used his momentum, and slammed him against the counter. His teeth scattered across the bar, while he moaned in pain. I jumped across the bar, grabbed a knife, and stuck it down the man’s throat.

He fell to the floor…..dead.

The rest of the men begin to crowd me, chanting in loud voices.

I looked at all of them, and a smile appeared on my lips “Back up.” I said in a cold voice.

They don’t.

That was fine. I could do this all day. I moved forward, faster than they could think, disarming one, breaking his hand. The blade flashes. I catch the wrist, twist, and the knife drops. I don't stab him. His pain is enough.

A gun clicks behind me, as the cold metal presses to my skull. “On your knees,” a voice growls.

I froze on the spot, as I calculated my next move. The room was still. Blood dripped everywhere, music died and I raised my hands slowly but I didn't kneel.

“Do it,” he yells.

I turned my head just enough to look at him. “You are shaking.”

He flinches and I strike. The gun fires, as the shot tears through the ceiling. I pulled the gun away from him and slammed it into him. He drops to the floor as his head bleeds. I kick the gun across the floor and step back into the open.

Everywhere was silent.

That's when I heard the sound of heavy boots behind me. I could feel the atmosphere change, then I heard a cold and low laughter.

“Well,” a voice rang out. “That was entertaining.”

The men parted the way without being told. He walked through them like he owned the ground. He was huge, had broad shoulders, and his leather jacket was marked with the Blackthorn sigil. His dark hair was pulled back and his eyes were sharp. They did not miss anything.

Jaxon Blackthone……the man I was looking for.

He stops a few feet away from me, as he looks at me deciding how to take me apart. I met his stare. My countenance cold as the devil’s

“You came and started a fight in my bar,” he says. “Most don't make it out.”

I spit out blood, “I wasn't trying to leave.”

A few men chuckled, others glared at me. Jaxon’s mouth curves into a smirk.

“Name?”

I consider lying to him, but I don't. “Raisa.”

“No last name?” He asks.

“Nope, it got burned.”

His eyes flicked. He was looking at me with interest. He circles me, slow and I track him without moving.

Something was wrong…..he smells wrong.

He did not smell like a human.

It was faint, buried under all the smoke and stench but it was there. I could feel Midnight shift beneath the binding.

Jaxon stopped in front of me, closer than before. He tilts his head. “You fight like you’ve got nothing to lose,” he says, he moves closer. “Or everything to gain.”

I don't answer him. My head is still trying to figure out why he had an off scent. It was not werewolves or humans.

“You broke seven of my men,” he gestured to them and killed two.”

I shrugged, “They started it.”

He smiled wider, looking like the devil before he was evil. “They always do.” He paused, still staring at me. “You didn't beg when the gun came out.”

I rolled my eyes nonchalantly, “I don't beg.”

“Good.” He leans in, his voice dropping. “Begging is boring.” he moves back, and he smiles.

“I want you.”

And I freeze and I smile, coldly. My plan was working.