Page 61 of Of Daggers and Deceit

“Give me your suit, Raya. We must get rid of it. Then portal back to the compound. Rid yourself of any speck of his blood, and neither you nor I will ever speak of this again.”

Riley’s tone was shifting towards cool and commanding, but I knew I needed it to gain some sense of direction or rules to follow when I felt so lost. She was everything I had asked for in the quiet moments before I’d passed out.

I stripped down in a careful manner so as not to smear or spread any blood. My skin pebbled against the onslaught of wind, which nipped at my skin as I used my hands to cover myself as best I could.

Riley looked confident, her hair lifting in the breeze, her face determined. I wished I could be like her, to be as sure and as powerful.

Instead, I felt flat and afraid for my family’s future.

“Thank you,” I whispered. She was the answer to my prayers, even if I would never have chosen to involve her in this. I was thankful she was here.

I hesitated before leaving, not wanting to leave her behind to deal with my mess.

She persisted, softer this time in her persuasion. “We don’t know if Zander picked this location, Raya. We don’t even know if he is aware of this. There are so many variables we cannot control, but you cannot bury this body. They will find it. It is better if you leave and there be a struggle for any evidence than you stay and bring him straight to your doorstep.”

She nodded her head with a small smile, as if to reassure herself that this would suffice as a reminder of who she was before Zander had ever chosen her. I etched that smile into my brain, to remind myself that, at the end of the day, there was no bond stronger than blood. Our sisterly bond would always be there, just as she would.

I portaled away to the front of the compound, noticing some Alphas stirring on the desert floor around me, soothing some of the anxiety inside of me that they had been severely injured or worse.

Before they regained full consciousness, I entered all the codes and darted down the stairs, making for the showers to scrub the memory of this cruel night from my skin.

I flicked the water on searing hot, stepping beneath it with a hiss, allowing the torrent to beat down against my skin, burning my flesh with a heat I welcomed. The ritual of it was almost cleansing as I scrubbed my skin raw, every inch red, the sight of it the only thing calming me. Zander could never know.

My chin dropped to my chest, watching red drip down my body and onto the tiled floor before being swept away by the water. It prompted my thoughts to drift back towards the lifeless body of the Benefactor. Why did my family have to suffer this?

My shoulders slumped down as I stepped forward towards the wall, my forehead pressed against it, trying to focus on my breathing. There were thousands of questions I had that I may never get answers for.

Everything felt like it was crumbling around me, and the only thing within my power right now was to wash myself. I shook my head, feeling pathetic.

The water continued to cascade down my back, the tumbling heat a stark contrast to the cool tiles touching my skin. It was the only thing keeping me oriented to the present moment. I tried and failed to focus on it.

We never stood a chance in this city. It would never change.

I heaved in a strangled breath as I remembered everything he said, everything he did.

They electrocuted us. It was never just about tracking us.

What if they found his body?

I bit my hand in a scream of frustration as tears formed and fell down my face. Nothing was ever fair or easy in this world, especially not for any of us stuck in this stupid ring, all because of our biology.

“Raya?” A knock pulled me out of my misery, Bodhi’s voice floating through the doorway.

I tried to open my mouth to reply, but I panicked when it felt like I couldn’t utter a steady word. I turned the water colder and put my face right under the spout of water to wash away any evidence of my distress.

He couldn’t know.

He couldn’t know.

My stomach churned, but I inhaled a long, fortifying breath.

“Yes?” I managed to call out.

The sound of a door closing forced me to pull my head out from underneath the stream of water as Bodhi stood there in the bathroom.

I tried to cover myself, thankful for the heavy steam around us coating the glass and obscuring his view. As a shifter on the defence, he had never thought much of nudity. I, on the other hand, felt vulnerable.

But tonight, even knowing my shyness about it, he wasn’t deterred.

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