10. Pictures

Mayra.

I wake in my bedroom disoriented for a while. That is until I remember that Raya forced another shift yesterday.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I discover that I wasn’t covered in blood this time. Every time she shifts I’m afraid that she’s out there killing humans. The hate that she harbored for them was in loads. I think if she could have her way then she would destroy the entire human race.

Wondering how I was going to keep my walls up and strong. I head to the bathroom. The last thing I needed was Raya drawing the attention of the elders and of Ren.

Whether I liked it or not, she is the goddess’ executioner. If things got out of hand, Ren would have to kill me even though we were friends. Her loyalty to the goddess came first and we all know the goddess will get rid of anyone who endangered our secret and risked exposing us to humans.

“Raya…” I reach out tentatively through my mental blocks.

She doesn’t answer me. Never have I ever felt so alone in this. We should be helping each other to heal. To move forward but all she does is bring me down. She tears into me and makes me feel worthless. I know I can’t blame her fully, she isn’t well but if only she would allow me to help her then I believe that things would fall into place.

When I’m done showering, I leave the bathroom. Just as I was picking my clothes for the day something catches my eye. It was out of place because I don’t remember putting anything on my bedside table.

I approach it with apprehension. Part of me wants to ignore it but I can’t. The same dread that filled me yesterday when I found the note fills me now.

When I get closer I realize that its pictures. I pick them up. If this was a movie, everything would have happened in slow motion. A gasp leaves my lips when I look at them.

Picture after picture of myself assaults me. It was from yesterday when I received the note, to when I woke up from the nightmare, to when Raya took control. They continue almost as if they were documenting what happened the entire night.

Raya running through the forest, the crazed look that was etched to her face, when she came back to the room and shifted. Finally there was a picture of when she shifted back to human, me lying on the floor naked and then to me when I woke up.

I drop the pictures and search the room but nothing was out of place. Sniffing the air, I try to smell if there was an odd scent but there isn’t. The only whiff I got was my own scent.

I start backing away from the picture. Confused and on edge. I was now sure that I had a stalker.

“Raya…” I called her again. This time desperately, my voice shaking.

She was the only one who could help me now. We couldn’t go with this to Sebastian. I didn’t want them to know.

“What is it…can’t you see I’m trying to sleep” she snarls at me, bearing her fangs, her lips pulled back.

Going to my closet, I pick an outfit mindlessly and put it on, before starting to pace the room.

“We have a problem…don’t know if you know this but someone is stalking us”

“That’s not a ‘we’ problem, it’s a ‘you’ problem…I don’t give a fuck if someone is stalking you, they can kill you for all I care”

It shouldn’t have hurt but it does. It hurts so freaking bad. I know it was my stubbornness that got us captured but she behaves like I wasn’t there.

She forgets that everything that happened, the torture, the rape, the experiments. They all happened to me. Not her. She behaves like the roles were reversed.

“You don’t mean that and besides, you forget that if I die, then you die too” I tell her softly. Trying to fight the emotion that was clogging my throat.

She snorts and looks at me in disgust. “Then good riddance, at least I would be free from you”

With that she forces me out of her mind and draws up her own mental block. I fall on the bed completely defeated. I hated that there was this big gap between us that she wouldn’t let me fix.

Fuck! What was I going to do? As if I didn’t have enough to deal with. Now on top of dealing with a problematic Raya, I now had to watch my back and find out who was stalking me.

The knock on the door makes me shoot up in panic.

“May, are you still asleep?” Ren’s sweet voice cuts through the frigid air.

“Yeah, just give me a minute”

I rush to collect the pictures that were laying on the floor. I open my bedside cabinet and throw them in before trying to compose myself.

Opening the door, I’m met with Ren’s questioning face.

“You do realize I could hear you as you rushed to hide something?” one of her brows was raised up and her hands were folded over her belly.

“I wasn’t hiding anything” I squeak.

I didn’t know how to lie. I always get nervous and instead of my voice coming out normally, it comes out in a high pitch.

She scoffs, her mouth twisting in a sneer. “I have two teenagers who do the same thing and not forgetting my super hearing”

“Fine…I was hiding something”

“What was it?”

I wrack my brain for an answer that would placate her. I can't come up with anything so I say the only thing that pops into my mind.

“Pictures of Darren’s dick” I say before covering my mouth in horror.

I can’t believe I said that. She looks at me like she can’t believe that I said that too. Her face is a mask of shock and who can blame her.

I was starting to shift uncomfortably on my feet when she threw her head back and started laughing. I just stood there watching her. Now I was the one who was confused.

She wipes the tears from her face. “Wow that was a good one May…I’m guessing he’s giving it to you good if his dick is the first thing you want to look at in the morning”

I blush from embarrassment. Not only because of her comment but because this is her ex we’re talking about and given they have a kid together I’m sure she’s seen his dick more times than I have.

I feel something uncomfortable settle in my chest. Was it jealousy? Probably. But I didn’t want it to be there. There wasn’t a reason why I should be jealous when it comes to Darren. We weren’t a thing.

“Come on…I need your help downstairs” she pulls me from my thoughts then proceeds to grasp my hand and pull down the hallway.

“Help with what?”

“Breakfast…Sebastian has a meeting with some of the Alpha’s and he requested I make breakfast for them”

I nod even though she can’t see me.

“Don’t worry though…Darren is among the Alpha’s coming so after the meeting you can bring him to your room to show you the live image” she teases I groan. This was going to be a very long morning.