The letter was from Negan. Her shoulders slumped. For an instant, she thought it would be from Keegan stating that he wanted to meet her somewhere. It would have changed her mood completely. But it was just a letter from Negan saying he wanted to see her. Why send a letter when he could send a guard to fetch her?His behavior was concerning and suspicious. She saw a different side of home everyday. She thought before that she knew him well but the hard truth was that she didn’t have a clue about who he was. She was delusional before, blinded by an admiration that was unfounded. She saw an attractive face and associated everything beautiful, good, and perfect with him. To her, Negan was a flawless creature. It was only after the bitter betrayal that she realized that she was the problem all along and not him. If she had kept her eyes open, she would have seen everything she needed to see. Rae straightened her spine and left the bedroom. She practically marched out. She would see wha
Rae could only hope that Keegan's friend delivered the message to him on time. She couldn't say that she didn't feel paranoid right after leaving the female's room. She began wondering whether she could trust her at all. What if it was all a plan to frame Keegan? She kept looking over her shoulder to see if there would be anyone following her but she saw no one. She reached her room safely and leaned against the closed door to catch her breath. Her feelings were ridiculous but so much had happened to her that she was beginning to doubt everything. Even people's supposed loyalties. It was only after she caught her breath that if occurred to her that this friend of his was probably the one who helped him get into StonePaw to see her, and if she were on Negan's side, Keegan would be dead. But do I know if he's even alive? a sinister voice in her head asked. That was an exaggeration. She was going to far but her state of mind was spiraling out of her full control. She was overwhelmed w
Rae felt sorry for him. Watching him break down was touch to watch. It was enough to rock her solid foundations and she discovered that she no longer felt anger toward him, not as much as it was in the beginning. He was overcome with grief. He was hardly processing it all. He was looking for someone to blame to bring her some form of justice and it hurt that all his efforts, all the fighting in the world, wouldn’t bring her back. Nor her or their unborn child. She let herself out because she didn’t know what to do. It was hard watching a man, a powerful one at that, cry as if the world would fall upon his head. It stirred feelings inside of her, feelings she had long ignored and forgotten, especially toward her sister. She suddenly found herself remembering everything that they had gone through, how she would help her with her numbers and reading early in her childhood. She was kind to her, that was something that Rae remembered clearly. Kara wasn’t rude to her, not like older sibl
Two weeks passed. Rae could hardly believe that she had spent so much time at StonePaw, enough time that she knew some of the wolves' names and even learned the whole dynamic of the pack. StonePaw was quite different from BloodMoon, in every conceivable way. The organization that her mother insisted on was nowhere to be found in StonePaw. They were quite wild in their ways. Etiquette was something her mother learned when she visited the human world when she was a pup and ever since, she implemented it in all aspects of her life. She insisted that they eat with knives and forks. The employees were expected to set the table and cook in a sophisticated manner. It was no wonder that Rae couldn't shift. She hadn't been raised as a wolf. She was raised to resemble humans. It was hard to admit, but it was the sad truth. She wondered how Kara coped here in StonePaw. They were remarkably different from them.Living in StonePaw was the same as living at the camp. The only essential differenc
There was a knot on her throat. What male? Where? She couldn't believe that such a thing was happening to her. She couldn't imagine herself walking through the woods before bug that was exactly what she was currently doing. She wasn't wearing appropriate shoes. The thorns were pricking the uncovered parts of her feet and the skin itched unbearably. It was strange how a couple of weeks away from the forest changed her. Before, she was hiking barefoot. Now, sandals weren't enough to protect her. Negan was taking the lead. She was right behind him and the guard wolves were behind her. There were four of them so there was no escaping for her, even if she tried. The only way out of this was following Negan to see what he wanted from her and which male he was referring to. A lot of things were running through her mind. She didn't want to entertain any of her thoughts. The way he looked at her scared her badly. There was something wrong, that she had to know. Fooling herself was out of the
The walk back was less tense but Rae still sensed that there was something dark about the way Negan looked at her. She didn’t know if her quick thinking had been enough. She couldn’t say that she wasn’t proud of the lies she managed to come up with in the last minute. Sure, she implicated Keegan, but that was exactly what he told her to do to save herself. But somehow, that wasn’t enough for him. Of course, he had the right to be suspicious. She was conspiring against him and working with Keegan on the low. She believed in Keegan’s story despite his convincing lies and knew what Keegan would do to him as soon as the opportunity arose. She was the worst kind of betrayer, the one that as close to him as a shadow. He confided in her about his pain and she felt no real sympathy but acted as if she felt his pain. Or maybe she did. She would only be able to answer the question once she was a safe distance away from him. She couldn’t tell at the moment. She was lying to him (and to herself
Rae was right. She didn't sleep a wink even though her body was crying out for rest. The long walk paired with the late dinner exhausted her physically, but how could she sleep when she knew that the male was in the house, somewhere beneath her in a cellar, perhaps being tortured as she twisted and turned in bed by Negan for information on Keegan. She was concerned for many reasons; firstly, she couldn’t be sure if he knew about Keegan’s whereabouts or not. She didn’t know where Negan had found him. Chances were that he did, because Keegan seemed to trust him. He was the hunter, after all, the one who gathered the extra meat for her to eat. He also entrusted him with her, and since she knew Keegan well, that meant something. Also, the male knew that there was something between them. He knew Keegan left without her because he wanted her to be protected. He also knew that she followed him because she couldn’t fathom the thought of not being with him while he fought with StonePaw. Sh
Rae hadn't stopped thinking about the male. He had helped her. He had even saved her life once. She couldn't not think about him and how unfair it was that Negan's wolves could just grab him and drag him here to torture and question. She didn't accept that in her heart, even if the roles were reversed. But, of course, the only reason why she had given him a thought was because she knew him. Although she didn’t attach much importance to him before, she could not forget that if he hadn’t intervened that day in the woods, she would be perhaps dead or scarred for life. So now that he was in the same position as her, how could she do nothing?It was unfair that everyone who supported Keegan was abandoning a fellow friend who was considered Keegan’s Beta. If Keegan considered him a Beta, it meant that he was entirely trustworthy. He hadn’t even told Rae that before bug perhaps things were different now. She hadn’t seen him in a ridiculously long time. So much had changed, she imagined. Bu