Chapter 8

• Nysera.
• The moment the gate closed behind me, the air changed. It wasn’t as thick and suffocating as it was while inside. It circulated freely around me. I stood there, waiting for some second, to see if someone was going to call me back.
• Not that I had expected them to, but I fed myself that lie, that perhaps someone was coming after me. The silence stayed heavy, settling on my shoulders like a new coat.
• I thought everything within me was going to be shaking, just like how it used to do before, filled with so much fear, and anger, that I couldn’t stand up and do good for them.
• I had always done right by them, but with Rana in the picture, no one had seen me for what I had been. How I had left behind everything that I ever owned.
• The memories stayed imprinted at the back of my head, the insults, the threats and the treatment. Rana even went ahead to made me small enough to fit into her fist.
• I kept walking, far away from the depressing pack house, until the sounds of car moving around filled my ears.
• For the first time since I had moved back in here, the world was a better world, it wasn’t restricting me to a particular thing.
• I hailed down a cab, it was a surprise that I could get one at this time of the day around here. “Take me to any hotel in the pack please.” I flashed him a smile.
• “Not any hotel sure but any that calls less attention for.” I corrected. These people that I was dealing with have the proper connection to find out where I am staying.
• I wasn’t fully healed yet, my heart still hurts against it cage but it was the good kind of ache. “I think I have a perfect hotel to stay undercover.” The driver answered.
• Without uttering a word, I rolled down the window, letting the fresh air hit me right in the face. It was cool, calm and clean. That was how I realized that I had sold myself off to those people in the past, the greatest mistake that I could ever make.
• But for the first time, I was going to stand up for myself. I would fight for myself, make them pay for every single thing they had done.
• I realized how hard I had gritted my teeth until I felt a sharp pain around my gum. I clenched my fist, my knuckles instantly turning red.
• “What a fool that I had been.”
• The driver must have heard as he played a soft music. It was meant to help me calm down, gather all my thoughts, but it was impossible.
• Not when I barely have any money left. I had a few dollars that could last me for a day but the next? Totally nothing for me.
• I didn’t realized how fast the ride had been until the driver turned back to face me. “Miss, we are here.” He announced.
• I looked out the window, we were at a motel, it was a two story building and from the way things looked from the outside, I didn’t need to be told twice that it was going to be affordable.
• It has to be!
• “How much is your fare?” I questioned, going through my purse.
• “Oi!” The driver exclaimed, he had an accent that doesn’t belonged to the locals here. “You could pay me five dollars.” He grinned.
• Despite the fact that I was going to living from hand to mouth, I didn’t fight him for the price and passed him a rumpled ten dollars. “You came from the pack house right?”
• “Are you one of them? Your scent, is just like that of the Alpha.” He pointed out.
• I sniffed myself out, well, the first thing that I needed to do as soon as I get a room was to wash off the stench scent that had followed me. “No, I have nothing to do with them.” I answered.
• He seemed unsure of my answers as he assessed my face. “You do look a bit like them, and it is like I have seen you before.”
• Now, my blood was boiling. “That is a very rude thing to say, mister. I have told you that I am not related to them, and you have never seen me before.” I dropped off the taxi.
• He had never seen before, I was never made public, maybe those that had seen me before or had heard the rumors and since the pack house never denied it, or addressed the issues, it was where he was getting his ideas.
• I snatched away my change, walking inside the motel with my luggage. One thing that he had done right before sending me off was taking me to a motel that required no mean of identification.
• Unlike, other hotels and places around the pack that would want to see an ID. It was a means that they had always used to identify locals and rogues that had found refugee here.
• My ID showed that I was part of the pack house, that I was one of them. And even if I was to cover up my face with a hat and shades, the moment they get their hands on the ID, then my identity would out there in the wild.
• Second good deed that the driver had done was taking me to a cheap motel. It was going to keep me off the radar until I had find a start.
• I handed in the cash, for the night only before, checked in and fell on the bed the moment I walked into the room. Like I had said before, the hotel rooms were decent. They were okay for the amount that I was charged.
• I closed my eyes for a little bit, until I touched my pocket and felt the phone that I had retrieved before leaving the house.
• It was the phone that I had been using before I moved into the pack house and started afresh. “This is it! I am doing this.” I mumbled to myself, before dialing the number.
• It has been on my speed dial, ready to be pressed whenever I needed a task. “Oh, my fucking goodness!” A voice came from the other side of the phone.
• There were some rustling in the background, distant sounds before his voice became clear again. “I never thought that you would be coming back, you vanished away from the dark web and I had no way of contacting you. It was so much.” He said all in a breath.
• I smiled, it was a reaction that I had expected to get from him, my partner and also the man that sourced contracts for me. “Andy, I just took a break.” I lied.
• Well, maybe it wasn’t a lie. I truly took a break. “But I am back, with my full strength and I need cash so I am taking jobs again.” I revealed.
• From the other side, he squealed like a lady would. “Damn! People are about to lose their minds because the Raven is back! Give me some minutes.” My stage name had always been Raven, that way no one could point a finger at me.
• He mumbled something before he hung up while I chuckled. This was for a better beginning.