167: SHE WANTS TO KNOW HERSELF

SHE WANTS TO KNOW HERSELF

2When you can't control what is happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what is happening. That's your power.

**************   

"I need some explanations," Raine said determinedly. "I want to know about the possibility of my power."

"We will find another way to figure that out. But I still think that it's better for you to tell the Alpha about what just happened." Raphael disagreed. 

"But if Torak knew what Serefina had just done to me, that she almost hurt me…" Raine subconsciously touched her neck. Suddenly the fear that she felt from earlier, came back on her mind. "Again…" She added. "Then, Torak will never allow me to cross paths with Serefina, ever again. Ever! And you know how it'd be like." 

Raphael knew better than anyone else that it was exactly what Torak would do. The supreme Alpha would put Serefina on the blacklist of those people who were absolutely banned to come near his mate. It was only natural for him to take that action, and he completely had all the reasons to do so.

Because at that very moment, it was proven that Serefina was more likely to harm Raine, than to be a protector and guidance for the girl as she should have been.

Suddenly, Raine felt something unknown. Unwantedly, a wave of strange feelings to talk about this, emerged in her. She was kind a reminded, and wondering at the same time. She realized that if only this thing happened months ago, there was no way that she would bring herself to ask for anything from Raphael.

That girl from months ago couldn't even look at him in the eyes, unlike what she was doing now. Now, Raine was no longer that girl. She was standing there, while looking at Raphael straight in his eyes. And not only that, she effortlessly expressed her own opinion about the matter.  She couldn't remember the last time she was being this determined to do something.

"And also…" Raine stopped in the middle of her own sentence. She blinked her eyes nervously. 

"And also?" Raphael repeated. Never had he ever imagined that this day would come, the day when Raine would have her own opinion, and actually asked him to do something against Torak's will. Torak would be displeased once he found out that Raine was hiding something from him. Whatever her reason would be, this was simply unacceptable.

"I want to know about the person that Serefina had mentioned briefly earlier." said Raine without any hesitation. 

"Raine… You see, Torak is right about it all. This will be beyond dangerous for you." Even though Raphael was not exactly that old, he knew that it was all true, that those shifters and supernatural creatures who lived in that era were all ferocious and ruthless. He couldn't imagine if this even possible, for a person who was as kind-hearted as Raine, to survive from all that.

Ignoring Raphael's concern, Raine carried on what she was about to say, "I want to know about the prophecy. Why guardian angels are being resurrected. In this case, i'm one of them…" She wasn't used to addressing herself this way, but she couldn't find the best way to say it in any other words. "Will you tell me?"

Hearing what the Luna desired, Raphael felt conflicted. He was troubled with the matter. Because Torak had never mentioned anything about the prophecy. At least not yet. It was the first time for them to hear about this, when Serefina brought the topic. And this made Raine want to know more about herself. 

In this chaotic situation, she couldn't draw the line between what was imagination, and what was reality. Not anymore. And as a result to that, her world was now turning upside down. Because everything seemed so real to her. And now, the fact that so many creatures were trying to harm her, was making things even worse than ever.

Such threatening moments could happen anytime. And should that time come, she wanted to stand up by herself, and she desperately wanted to learn about herself better. 

The strangest thoughts came into her mind. Somehow, Raine could feel that Serefina didn't have any intention to kill her when she strangled her previously. It was no secret how powerful Serefina was, if ever she wanted her dead, that witch didn't need to immobilize her like before, nor break a single sweat. She didn't need to go through all that troublesome work, just to take someone's life.

The witch was more than capable of killing one's life. In the hand of an exceptional witch like Serefina, taking a human girl's life, like Raine, was effortlessly easy. With that kind of power, Raine's life was only a finger snap away from death. 

Whatever Serefina's intention actually was, to think about it again, what she did previously was still a ruthless way of doing things. If anything, ending her life was not Serefina's intention, and Raine was pretty sure about that. Because, why would she do that?

In fact, Serefina had taken a great risk to look for information about her. At least, it was according to what she said the moment when Torak tried to leave the room right before all the chaos happened. 

"It's not because I don't want to tell you. It's just that I'm not that familiar with the subject in this issue. This prophecy, the resurrection of the guardian angel, I wasn't aware about these all up until recently."

Raphael only found out about just a small part of it. When Torak brought her to the pack house, it was the moment when he told them about it for the first time. "There's this prophecy that was told by the Moon Goddess herself. And, it was something that Torak heard in person. I think there's only a handful of people who knew about this prophecy."

"Are you trying to say that it would be much better for me to hear it directly from Torak?" Raine concluded. It was a good thing that she didn't let her hope high, as she was aware that Raphael wouldn't say anything without Torak's concern.

"I think the Alpha could explain about it better than I do. After all, he got to hear the prophecy in person, directly from the moon goddess herself." Raphael suggested.

"Alright, I got it…" Raine nodded understandingly. She would ask Torak about this, once he had calmed down. "But, could you not tell him about what Serefina did to me? I'm going to let him know later myself." 

Raphael didn't answer her and only patted Raine's head.

==============   

Raine was waiting for Torak to return. It was late at night, and her sleepy eyes couldn't stay awake any longer. Then, she fell asleep.  Until that moment when Raine felt someone's presence, joining her on the bed. She stretched out her arms, and hugged the familiar warm body. 

"Did I wake you up?" Torak asked, whispering his question. He put his arm under Raine's head as a pillow, and he pulled her closer to him. 

"I was wondering when you will come back, so I waited for you. But then I fell asleep." Raine nuzzled her head against his chest, as she mumbled her answer. Her sleepiness was still taking over her whole. "Where have you been?"

"Running." Torak kissed her forehead, and then he breathed in on her rich scent. 

"I need to ask you about something…" Raine said. 

Torak chuckled upon hearing her sleepy voice. He patted her back, and said, "Your question can wait. I promise you can ask me anything tomorrow. Hush now, and go back to sleep." He cradled her in his arms, and he lulled her to sleep. 

Torak knew exactly what she really wanted to ask. Raphael had already told him the moment he returned. In the end, the Beta could never hide things from his Alpha. He told him everything, including the part where Serefina tried to strangle Raine.

Upon hearing Raphael's report, Torak crushed the glass in his hand. He knew that he should've just killed this witch from the first chance he was given to.

"But, Raine asked me to not tell you about this." Raphael added when he saw the anger started to consume the Alpha. "She wants to do something about this, herself."

"Did she tell you what she wanted to do?" Torak squinted his sharp eyes dangerously. He was fed up, and had enough of Serefina's idea to bring Raine back in time. An era that was way back to centuries ago. It was crazy enough to imagine Raine living under the harsh environment of that era. He didn't need Raine herself to have a personal agenda that might be as crazy as Serefina's. 

Seeing how the Alpha reacted to that, Raphael explained Raine's intention on this matter. "She wants to know better about herself, and she wanted to learn better about what she could do with her ability."

It was a good thing to see that Raine was slowly progressing. Now she started to develop understanding about herself. In fact, she seemed to crave even more to learn about herself. It was just that Torak couldn't really agree with her decision this time. She might hurt herself in the process, and that was the last thing that he wanted.

About the prophecy. Never had he the slightest of intention to tell Raine about the prophecy, even from the beginning since their life together started. He didn't care at all about the approaching war that would occur in the near future, or any of what Selene had warned them. He only wanted to keep his mate safe.

Because he knew that the war would cost her life… 

Just like what had happened to the last war, where all the guardian angels were wiped out from the realm for centuries. Until, the Moon Goddess decided to resurrect them again. Torak tightened his arms around Raine's sleeping body, she slept soundly with her mouth slightly opened. 

How could he let anything happen to her, after all the passing time that he had been through, where he waited so long just for her to finally come into his life? 

The war could happen, but Raine wouldn't be part of it!—he thought.

==============   

Raine woke up early. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the sight of Torak who was staring at her. "Good morning." Her voice croaked. 

"Good morning, my love." he said while kissing the tip of her nose. "Hungry?"

Raine chuckled when she heard his question. "Starving." She remembered that she didn't eat anything last night. She was stubbornly waiting for Torak inside the room.

"Let's eat, after that I will take you somewhere." Torak patted her back, and got off from the bed. Meanwhile, Raine who just woke up, wrapped herself inside the blanket again. 

"I need more sleep…" She whined when Torak nudged her cheek. "It's too early for breakfast." She mumbled.

"Come on, we have to leave early. If not, we have to wait until tomorrow." Torak sat back on the edge of the bed, coaxing her in an attempt to wake her up. 

Today was Saturday, the weekend. And it meant that Raine was free, no school. Torak thought that it was just the perfect time to take her somewhere a bit far from this place. 

"Hmm? Where are we going?" Raine blinked her eyes, fighting back her sleepiness. "Is it going to be far?"

"Yes, it's a far place." Torak nodded. "We need to leave early if you still want to attend your lesson on Monday. Or you can just skip it." He shrugged. Study was Raine's own choice, thus he didn't mind if she wanted to skip it. 

"Where will we go?" Raine sat herself down. She then rubbed her eyes, and yawned. Once her body felt like it was awakened, she looked at Torak. She was feeling a little bit sober now. 

"A place that will tell you a story about what happened centuries ago." Torak said. The way he said it was so mysterious. One thing for sure, he knew that Raine would like it.

"Is this story about you?" Just like what Torak had thought, Raine's eyes were beaming with excitement. 

"Yes, this is a story about me." Torak nodded. 

============== 

Raine was wearing a blue slouchy sweater, and a pair of denim colored baggy pants. She wore a blue beanie hat that matched the color of her sweater. She let her long, black hair cascaded down on her shoulders, knowing that Torak would always play with her hair. That was why she never tied her hair whenever she was with him.0

Raine and Torak got in the car, right when the sun had just appeared on the horizon. The sunrise illuminated the street ahead of them with such a beautiful scene of golden light. Gregory was driving the car. Unlike any other days, this time Raine couldn't see the other car that usually would follow behind their car. It could only mean that Torak didn't bring Raphael, or Calleb along on this trip. 

"What about Raphael, and Calleb? Would they be joining us?" Raine looked at the empty shotgun seat. 

"Why do they need to come with us?" Torak asked. A hint of displeasure that he felt, was made clear for her to hear. Why would she have to ask anything about other men, in my presence?—he thought, wondering, feeling annoyed. But then, he added, "This trip is only for the two of us."

"Nothing, I'm just curious. Because normally, they would follow you to wherever it is you were going." Raine shook her head, and she grinned. "I think it's much better this way."

"Yes, I couldn't agree more." Torak smiled as well.

At first, Raine thought that it would only take, at least, twenty minutes to half an hour before they reached their destination. Because Torak simply refused to tell her where they would go. Thus, it surprised her when the car drove to a runway, near the airport. There was a private plane with a big 'Donovan Enterprise, Inc.' written on it, waiting for them.

"Torak, where are we going seriously?" Raine asked when he helped her to get out of the car. She looked puzzled at the private plane in front of her. She remembered the last time Torak brought her to his pack house from the orphanage. It was the same private plane from that last time. Would he bring her back to the pack? To his own territory?

Raine didn't mind if Torak brought her back to the pack house. She liked being there, regardless of what had happened when she was there. 

"Are we going back to your pack?" Raine kept asking while Torak helped her to get on the plane. 

"No, we will go somewhere even further than that." Torak still refused to tell her their destination. "It'll only take a few hours. You can sleep during this trip." He kissed her forehead, and strapped the seatbelt on her. 

When the sign turned green, only then, they were allowed to walk inside the plane. Torak took Raine to the bedroom, as he opened the door to the main room inside the private plane. This was the same room that she had been the last time she was here. It was only a couple months ago, and now Raine's condition had gotten even better. 

Compared to then, now she had a place that she could call home. Not only that, she was now preparing herself to enter university like any other girl around her age. But, the most important thing was that she had someone who looked after her now.

"Torak…" Raine held his arms, and looked at him. "Is this trip related to your past?" 

"Yes." Torak sat down beside her. 

"By any chance, are you planning to tell me about your past?"

"Yes, my love." 

pqdm.com