Chapter 66

(**Rayne’s POV**)

*Two Weeks Later*

Exiting the airport to see her father waiting for her makes Rayne smile. Rushing to him, she goes into his open arms for a hug. His comforting scent washes over her as it reminds her of home. Questions of what has been going on while they have been away flood her mind, but instead of asking any of them, she just lets him hold her.

Parker’s arms coming around them both from the side causes a laugh to bubble up her throat.

“I can see you both missed me. Now, let go, we have somewhere to be.”

“Home,” Rayne states in a firm voice.

“Nope. The welcome home party you didn’t want is happening, anyway. So, let’s get moving.”

Rayne grumbles the entire way to the bar. All she wanted to do was go home, unpack, and relax on her deck with Parker. Tomorrow was a new day and it would force them to confront all their problems. Today was their last day of downtime. Why did her friends not listen to her about not wanting a party?

She could feel Parker’s unhappiness as well, but he was interested in seeing what their friends planned. It is fully dark outside by the time they reach Shadows Retreat. The patio is empty, making her assume they closed the bar for tonight’s party. With reluctance, Rayne puts a smile on her face as she gets out of the car.

When she steps into the back room where their employees’ lounge is, laughter greets her coming from deeper inside. From the sound and volume of the laugh she can tell it is Spencer. Grabbing her hand Parker pulls her towards the bar area, she follows him even though all she wants is to go home.

When she enters the room, she is shocked by all the different people gathered together. Not only are all her employees here, but they are joined by her family and friends. Morty is sitting on a stool at the bar talking to Argyle, who has an ugly scowl on his face. Bridgette, Carlos, Tomas, Clara, and baby Alec are all in the corner booth chatting happily.

The smell of fresh baked pie, a swirl of expensive French perfume, and a deep southern accent float to Rayne from the kitchen behind her. Arabella, Lynn, and Jazmine have all come back for the party. Jazmine being here explains the scowl on Argyle’s face.

Everyone in the room turns to look at her and Parker as they stand in the doorway. Their massively loud yell of surprise is a little late, but she didn’t let them down and smiled at them all. Parker is dragged away from her to join the men at the bar while a light touch on her back has her turning around to face Arabella.

“Go down to the sanctuary, I have something to give you.” She then walks into the bar, leaving Rayne confused.

Walking into the kitchen, she is greeted by Lynn who wraps her in a motherly hug. Closing her eyes, she breathes in Lynn’s scent. This was the woman who accepted her on sight when she first came to Bodega Bay. The woman who stepped up as a mother figure and never once tried to replace her actual mother. Lynn gave her unconditional love.

“Did you know I was a broken mess when we first met? Is that why you accepted me so fast?”

Lynn pulls back from the hug and looks into her eyes. “I felt your lost soul. The dark stain in your heart that was put there by another. I sensed the child’s heart within you yearning for love. Your eyes showed your purity and innocence. I was drawn to that. You became like a daughter to me.”

“Thank you.”

“There is now and never will be a reason to thank me for doing what felt right in my heart. Now, come, the girls have a surprise for you downstairs.”

Arabella, Bridgette, Clara, Lena, Tara, Shelby, and Nyla, join them in the kitchen making the room feel cramped. Nyla was the newest face among the rest, but Rayne can feel that she will fit right in with all the others. Smiling at all the women gathered in the kitchen, she then follows Lynn down the stairs to the sanctuary below.

A soft gasp leaves her lips when she reaches the bottom of the stairs. They decorated the living room area with pale blue and pink streamers. A small cake is on the bar in the room's corner. Next to it on a large table there are presents piled high, some wrapped, some in bags with pink and blue tissue paper poking out.

They were throwing her a baby shower.

“We are doing this now because not all of us may get the chance to do it later when you are closer to your due date.” Bridgette says as she files into the room.

Everyone spreads out around the room, taking seats on the sofas and in chairs that had been brough down from the patio. They set a chair with pink and blue silk wrapped around the back up against the wall between the bedroom doors. A sign above the chair has her name and the words ‘mother-to-be’ written in elegant hand written letters.

Rayne feels tears slip from her eyes as she looks around the room at all they had done for her. The only person missing in the room was her mother. To not go down that dark spiral of depression she walks to the chair with her name above it and takes her seat for this party her friends set up for her.

“Let’s get this party started but I swear if you guys make me doing any stupid games, I will make you regret it.” Laughter fills the room as she says this.

“We also have a few things here for Nyla, who is the newest addition to our crazy family,” Bridgette says as she stands up from her seat to walk to the gift table. “I think we should do that first since she looks like she could pop ANY day now.”

Rayne looks at Nyla’s face to see the other woman is shocked at this news. Rayne is surprised too, but she agrees with what Bridgette says. Nyla is her sister-in-law and that makes her family just like every woman in this room in some way. Not all family is blood related. Some of the best families are those who a person choses to have in their lives.

For her it was Lynn, then Arabella, who showed her that was true. Shelby and Lena came later, but their loyalty and friendship is something that has never been questioned. They became the sisters that she never really had. Finding Bridgette again after five years and seeing how much she has grown up gave back the sister she grew up with. Before the Luna’s death and the Pack Wars changed everything.

Tara, Jazmine and Nyla were still new to her but there will be time to get to know them better.

“Where is Jazmine? I heard her earlier when I was still in the bar. Where did she go?”

Arabella lets out a heavy sigh when Rayne asks that question. Anger glitters in her eyes for a moment, then she shakes her head before answering. “She went back to France after leaving her gift on the table. The unwelcoming air from her mate was overwhelming, so she decided it was best if she left.”

“Sometimes the inability to let go can cause someone to lose out on what is precious to them. One day I feel he will wake up and it will be too late.” Lynn says from the bar, “Now, let's have some cake and talk about baby names. You two must have made a list.”

Chaos ensued for the next hour as cake, champagne, and they pass tablets of paper around. Each woman writes a list of name suggestions on strips of paper that are then thrown into a big bowl. For everyone woman in the room, Rayne was to pull out one strip and add the name given to her and Parker’s list of names.

What were eight more names to an already long list of names?

When it came time to open presents, there was a lot of oh’s and ah’s as she opened each gift. Clothes, blankets, and everyday items were added to the growing pile on the floor. Lena gave her a blanket with hand stitched embroidery on it. The design showed a baby in a cradle with a space under it for a name and birth date. Lena told her she would add that later once the baby is born.

Brigette and Clara gave her a hand-crafted wooden basinet. Little wolves are carved into the frame with trees flanking them. Carlos made it, and Clara made the padding and hood for it. Personalized gifts are the best.

Shelby gave her an old antique diaper changing station that she found at a local antique dealer. The wood is worn, but it was in excellent condition. The padding had been replaced, and it looked beautiful.

Tara had nothing to give since she wasn’t sure what they needed. She did offer to help clean out the guest bedroom, paint, and be a grunt when Rayne was ready to do the nursery. That was the best gift she could have given. All the help they could get was welcome.

She wasn’t expecting anything from anyone here, but all the personalized gifts make her cry. Happy tears. When she left Jade Moon all those years ago, she was broken and alone. Now she has more family than she ever dreamed of having. Rubbing her belly as the surrounding women chat and laugh, all she can do is smile.

Hours later, the party was over. Bridgette and Clara left to go feed their babies. Nyla left when Owen came down to take her to where they are staying for a nap. Lena, Shelby, and Tara left to go open the bar. There was still plenty of night left for customers to come in. Leaving Rayne with Lynn and Arabella.

With a snap of her fingers, Arabella made all the opened presents vanish, telling her they were now in the living room of the beach house. That solved the clean-up problem with the snap of her dainty little fingers.

“Tell me how Cyra is doing? How are you two able to be here?”

“We put her in a type of suspended animation. Lynn found a spell in one of my books. It takes life force from willing subjects into another, then freezes them in time in a way. Her life is on pause, basically. Her wounds will not heal, nor will they get worse, and it stops her life force at the exact level until they can free Tyson.”

“Woah. How long can she stay like that?”

“Forever if necessary. We will have to touch the spell up with more power after a few years, but basically, she is as safe as I can make her. I moved her to a secure location within my magical vault. Only I can bring her out.” Arabella sits down on a sofa.

Arabella gave her some details of the spell and how they did it. It still amazes Rayne the power level that Arabella, Lynn, and Jazmine can achieve. Three is a powerful number. It symbolizes past, present, and future. Life, death, and rebirth. Often it also represents beginning, middle, and end. Three is also a magical number for the Divine, which most supernaturals know as the Moon Goddess.

*Rayne, you need to come up here.* Parker tells her through their link.

*What is going on?*

*Someone is here to see you. Trust me, you will want to come up here.*

“What’s going on?” Lynn asks as she finishes boxing up the leftover cake.

“Parker says there is someone waiting for me upstairs in the bar.”

“Who could it be?”

“I have an idea, but I will need to go up there to confirm. We ran into someone on our time in Maui who mistook me for my mother. He claims he is my uncle Ryan’s Beta. He also claims he was my mother’s boyfriend before she met my father. How much of that is true I don’t know.”

Curiosity makes her stand up and walk upstairs, pausing at the top to close the hidden passage behind Arabella and Lynn. When she walks into the bar her face clouds with anger when she sees Daniel, however the man standing beside him makes her breath catch.

Her uncle, Ryan Larkin, stands before her. He stares at her with a mixture of emotions crossing his face. His eyes so much like her mother’s and his raven black hair reminds her of her own. His hands shake as they reach up like he wants to touch her face. A single tear slips down his cheek.

“You look so much like her, but your eyes are all your father’s. I didn’t know Ray, I swear.” His voice cracked as he spoke her name.

“Wilson lied to you, but you didn’t come to see her despite his lie. Why?”

Grief swam in his eyes. Then he takes the steps needed to close the distance between them. Before he could speak again, she holds up her hand for him to wait. The bar’s nightly customers will trickle in as soon as Spencer lights the sigil stone outside. This conversation should not take place here.

“My home is near here. I think it would be a good idea to go there, so we have privacy. You can follow my mate and I there.”

“I have one question first before we do.”

“What is that?”

“If Wilson lied to me about your death, did he lie about your mother’s too?”

“No, that is one death that he didn’t lie about.”

Pain immediately filled his eyes, and he stumbles back into Daniel. When he composes himself, she tells him to meet her and Parker out front and they will lead them to her house. How was she going to break it to her uncle about how his sister died? She didn’t just die. Wilson brutally murdered while trying to protect her child.

The only thing she might console him with is the knowledge that her murderer is dead too. That is her father’s story to tell.

“Argyle, we won’t be back tonight.”

“Got it, we can handle things here. Go deal with your family.”

Her father is waiting at the jeep when she gets outside. His face is grim, but he looks determined. She knows that there will be a lot of painful memories brought up tonight. Questions that her uncle will ask that will need answers.