Chapter Four

Gayle paced back and forth the hallway of the large mansion, her thoughts in a jam. This couldn’t be happening to her, no, it couldn’t. She swore she was finally making headway with Caleb, she was so close to achieving her aim, he had begun to yield to her charms and just a week ago, she had been counting down the days to when she would finally be introduced to the pack as their Alpha-bitch, everything had been falling in place like she planned. Hell, she had already started to wield her power amongst the lower pack members and they were obeying her albeit begrudgingly, but she had been respected.

   And then she came along.

   The day it happened, she felt the change in the entire house, not just felt it, but the entire house had shown her she had no place after all. The woman had barely been in the house, hell, she was still unconscious when they started giving her attitude. Even the omegas wouldn’t listen to her now.

   They said she was his mate. How ridiculous! He was almost two hundred years old, he had long given up on finding this elusive mate and was set on doing the reasonable thing, there was no chance in hell that this female was his mate. He hadn’t even recognized her initially, how was she his mate when he didn’t detect her scent? Maybe it was a fluke, of course, it would only be a matter of time before Caleb would realise she wasn’t who he thought she was and then she would be kicked out like the stray puppy she was and he would return to his rightful place- beside her.

   The sound of the large door opening down the hallway pulled her attention. Just the wolf she was looking for.

   Rinaldi walked down the hallway with the usual swagger in his steps, one hand shoved into the pocket of his gym pants and his slick, dark hair, tousled like he had just gotten out of bed. Rinaldi Salvatore was very attractive, and he knew that. He wasn’t modest about anything, reminding her of a peacock in his ways, he liked to play to his strengths- which was mostly his looks and his tongue, he had a sugar-coated tongue that he used on everyone and everything, and it had never failed him. Be it in a boardroom or a bedroom, Rinaldi was known to capture anyone’s attention and get his way with little persuasion. It was why Caleb had put him in charge of all business dealings related to the pack.

   Before she got access to Caleb, Gayle had once been a regular visitor to Rinaldi’s chamber, then Caleb had been much too buried in a pile of anger and resentment to even be approached and Rinaldi had been with them for a couple of years. A younger Gayle had been taken by the handsome, smooth-talking, well dressed gentleman and her ambitious side had been drawn to the tales of how he was supposed to be an Alpha in Cuba, but his pack had been attacked when he was younger and he was working towards getting them back from those who had taken away his land and his people. She had seen an opportunity, a chance to somehow become an Alpha-bitch, and initially, she had been willing to worm her way into his heart and become his mate even though he had only been looking to have fun.

She had succeeded and Rinaldi had fallen for her, but her impatience caused her to look elsewhere and it was just at the time Caleb was leaving the shell he had built around himself. She took her chance when it came and dropped Rinaldi without a second look. He never did forgive her for that, but she hadn’t cared, she was going to be Caleb’s Luna and Rinaldi was still a beta. But now that her plans were looking bleak, she had to return to her old flame and pull out some information from him.

   Rinaldi stopped in his tracks when he sighted her and then allowed a smirk grace his features. How typical, he knew it would only be a matter of time before Gayle would bring her skinny, calculating, manipulative behind crawling like a disease-stricken refugee to his door. Since he had heard of Caleb’s mate, he had just been waiting for her, the leopard never changed its spots, he wondered if it even slightly disturbed her how utterly predictable she was.

   Damned, arrogant dog! If she didn’t need to hear it from him, Gayle knew she wouldn’t even be here an extra second after that disgusting smirk lit up his face, but desperate times didn’t give one choices. She would just swallow his insults for now, “So, you must know why I’m here” she began saucily.

   He arched a brow at her, “Considering you haven’t been here in over a year, should I?” he retorted.

   She frowned, he wasn’t going to make this any easier for her, “Is it true?”

   “Is what true?”

   “The woman, is she who they say she is?” she blurted out, unable to maintain her calm in the face of his taunt

   Rinaldi smiled, “Oh, you mean has your one chance to be someone who matters been dashed away by the discovery of the one who truly merits her position? Has the temporary spell you cast on Caleb with your evil magic been rendered impotent by a much more powerful, pure one? You want to know if your time in his chambers has come to a sad, pathetic end? Well, I’m most pleased to inform you that yes, you’re back to your much more familiar and deserving position of a nobody around here. You must be ecstatic.” He replied, his eyes gleaming with mirth.

   Gayle glared at him, her large green eyes literally smoldering with barely held in anger, she had greatly underestimated how petty Rinaldi could be, she approached him till she was standing mere inches away, her nose just barely grazing his strong chin, “Just because you couldn’t have me, doesn’t mean you get to groan about who I choose to be with.” She spoke darkly.

   He maintained his smug grin, “Just because my friend was lonely enough to settle for my sloppy seconds, doesn’t mean you were ever worth shit.”

   His words stung more than she let her expression show, yes, Gayle did do some dirty things to get to where she was, but she was still a proud woman and she only bent to the will of the most powerful men. The fact that Rinaldi never regarded her even while she had Caleb hooked disturbed her greatly and she had always planned to turn Caleb against him when they did mate, by doing so, Rinaldi would eventually be out of the compound and she wouldn’t have to face his taunts, but the presence of this woman had changed the dynamics of things. If truly she was who they said she was, Gayle knew she would have to take drastic measures and in a short amount of time. She wouldn’t stand for this show of disrespect from Rinaldi.

   “Gloat while you can Rinaldi, but I can assure you that this impostor will only last for a brief period, and then I’ll take back my place next to your Alpha.”

Rinaldi’s face dropped and he lost his smile, Gayle couldn’t help but smile at his reaction, yes, this was a much better look on him. she turned her back on him, but before she could move, he grasped her by the neck and slammed her back to his front, “Listen here you calculating little bitch, if anything happens to Caleb’s mate, I can assure you that you will not live to see even two hours after her death. I will hunt you down and end you like the despicable dog you are, comprende?” he asked as he tightened his hold on her neck.

   Gayle clawed at his fingers, but her efforts were futile as Rinaldi maintained his hold against her neck, choking her till she could only gasp for air, “You’re ki...lling me.” She choked out.

   He flung her to the floor, “Know your place.” He warned and walked past her without a final glance.

   Gayle massaged her neck as she watched her ex-lover walk away, she had almost forgotten how violent Rinaldi could get. If she didn’t do something fast, he was going to get even more daring with his blatant disrespect and humiliation. She wouldn’t be able to survive in this compound much longer if she didn’t find a way to curb his audaciousness. It didn’t matter what he said, she was going to get that woman out of this house and out of Caleb’s life, even if she had to call in some old friends to do the dirty work for her.

*****

 This was ridiculous.

   The entire bedroom was littered with everything from books to memorabilia, maps and journals all on the supernatural. Suffice it to say, Kennedy didn’t believe in any of these things; as far as she was concerned, all of these were products of some people’s overactive imaginations and there was nothing solid to prove the existence of any of these things. Sure, a few people claimed to have witnessed these things, but no one had pictures, they had never brought forward anything substantial to back up their claims, so yes, Kennedy thought she had the right to not believe any of these jargons.

   But Kylie believed them.

   Her sister had been upbeat since she agreed to follow her lead, her mood had been the brightest she had seen of her since Cassandra went missing and Kennedy simply didn’t have it in her to kill such excitement. She would go along with it for now, she would let Kylie take the lead and hopefully, her little sister would come to the realization that none of these things; werewolves, vampires, elves, witches, none of them existed. Sure, it would take some time to convince her, but Kennedy would make sure she didn’t force her opinion on her sister. Kylie would learn.

   Speaking of Kylie….

   She had gone to the library a couple of hours ago to get more of this junk, why she needed more information on things that were just about as real as aliens baffled Kennedy. Didn’t they have enough of this crap to kill the average person’s brain? She picked up her phone and dialed Kylie’s number, it rang a couple of times before Kylie answered

   “What’s up?” she asked in a chirpy voice.

   “Are you still at the library?”

   “Nope, I’m actually on our street already, just a couple of houses away, what do you…..”

   Kylie’s voice trailed off causing Kennedy to raise her brows, “Kylie?” there was no response from the other line, “Kylie, are you there?” she could still hear her breathing, so she was there, but Kennedy couldn’t figure out why her sister wasn’t responding

   “Kenny, why are three black cars parking in front of our house?” Kylie asked.

   “What?” Kennedy asked as she got off the couch. Three cars? There was no way in hell any car was even parking at their house. Maybe someone had the wrong address or something, “Kylie, just stay where you are, okay? You can come home when I get rid of them.” Kennedy said. She didn’t want to take any chances. Just in case the people in these cars were dangerous, no harm would come to Kylie. Since the disappearance of Cassandra, Kennedy had admittedly become a little paranoid in her ways. If someone out there had somehow gotten to their cousin, there was no telling if this person or people were aware of their existence and coming for them as well. If she couldn’t save herself, she would make damn sure Kylie was safe.

   “Are you sure Kenny? I should be with you….”

   “Don’t argue with me Kylie, stay put!” she ordered as she neared the window and opened up the curtain to look outside. Sure enough there were three cars parked outside, three really expensive looking cars. Kennedy wasn’t really a car person- Cassandra was their car connoisseur, but she could tell just by the look when something was expensive, and those sleek rides parked in front of their house were most certainly worth more than her annual salary.

   She watched two huge men dressed in dark suits and shades emerge from the first car, they looked like bodyguards with their mean faces. They had to be in the wrong house, either that, or these were some pretty bad men and she needed to get to her shotgun before they got to her door.

   The men moved to the second car and opened the back door. She supposed whoever was in that car was their boss, well, she might as well see who this person was before going for her gun, at least she would know who to aim for if she had to shoot. No one emerged from the car immediately, causing her to wonder if anyone was even in there, and if yes, why was he taking so much time to get out? Was he paralysed? It seemed he finally made his decision, because he placed a booted foot onto the ground after almost five minutes. When Kennedy finally caught her first glimpse of the man, she lost all train of thought. He was gorgeous.