Chapter 3 El

Raveena is a total flirt. For an hour, I have watched her charm the pants off the bartender. That explains the endless flow of alcohol on my side. Not that I am complaining but that is not the reason we came to this bar.

A source told us that Ciella was spotted in here last night. There are only a few motels around the place. This hunt is going to be easier than I thought. When a waft of a foreign scent hits my nose, I smirk. Immediately I lift my gaze to the entrance locking eyes with her.

Raveena suddenly stops her flirting when I mindlink her.

"Target is here."

Slowly placing the glass down at the counter, I watch her carefully plan her escape. Raveena stares at me and then back at her little friend before flashing him a smile and a little flirty wink.

"Gotta go. Big brother is so strict about curfew."

I grunt under my breath letting her comment slide as now might not be the right time to raise my concerns. When we reach out of the bar, I signal for Raveena to take the other route and I take the opposite one.

She stands no chance at all. First of all she is outnumbered even for a bounty hunter. I catch sight of her when she takes another alley. I am pretty sure Raveena is at the end of it. Now she is stuck between the two of us in a small dark alley. She is not foolish to try anything stupid.

"Give up Cielle. There is no where else to escape." I mutter. She stares between Raveena and I before she jumps to a railing on the building. This supports her to another bar until she is up the three story roof top.

"In your dre..."

She is hit back down before she has chance to finish her sentence. We look up to see Riley who sends us a small shrug. Cielle's limp body lies on the ground. I am hoping she is not dead because we need the information she has.

A sigh of relief leaves my lips when I find a pulse. She is our hope at getting at the bottom of Elis' attack. I retrieve the ropes for tying her and get on with containing her hands and feet.

"That was easy, wasn't it? It didn't need to invite everyone back for a little reunion." Raveena mocks.

"Not now." I warn.

A car stops at the end of the alley. Our getaway car is here. I flip Cielle's body over to my shoulders following Riley and Raveena. I howl it into the back of the car and get to the passenger seat at the front.

"I hope she didn't give you any trouble." Elis fires the engine.

"It still baffles me why she attacked you of all people." I voice.

"Maybe it is a trap." Riley contributes.

"Perhaps Aaron planned all this to bring us back together."

The death glares Raveena receives from everyone in the car makes her shut up. I can't believe she had to go there. Thankfully the rest of the ride is eerily quiet. When we reach home, Jonathan is waiting. I am happy to see him back here. I had lost hopes about his return. In fact my next agenda was to hunt him down to whatever ditch he dug himself into. Him being here lessens my load.

It is now six of us back to the only place where we can be ourselves. Others might hate to admit it but I know that deep down they know that I am right. There is no place like home.

"Need help with her." Jonathan stares down at Cielle's body at the back. She hasn't woken up yet but she will in a few hours.

"Help yourself out." Jonathan carries Cielle's body inside the house.

I move to the foyer where Aaron watches the vast carefully.

"We've got Cielle." I murmur.

"I see that. I only hope we can get all the information she has."

"Jonathan can do that pretty great." I say.

"When did he arrive anyway?" I ask curiously.

"This evening when you left for the hunt."

"I thought he wasn't coming."

"That's what I thought too. However I am happy that we are back here. We needed this reunion more than we imagined."

"I agree."

There is so much unspoken, unresolved feelings and tension going around the pack and it is ugly. Once upon a time, we were a happy pack. Something tells me we can go back to the way things where.

"Raveena." Aaron starts.

"What about her?" I calmly intervene.

"You don't have to worry about..."

"Is she still mad about Ethan?"

Aaron's concern catches me offguard. For so long, I haven't heard him mention his name even once in our conversations.

"Pretty much but that is expected." I sadly reply. If one thing I know about Raveena, she is still so much hurt about how things went down.

"I wish that night had turned out differently." Aaron mutters. I lightly touch his shoulder.

"There is nothing you could have done to save him. Raveena will get over it."

"You think?" He casts me a look.

"Yes. She will let it go eventually."

"Okay. Tell Jonathan to get as much information as he can."

"I will." Aaron gets inside the house. I huff. The incident that happened two years back has caused so much of a shift to our pack. I just wish it is not too late to mend things for all of us.

After my night run, I am surprised to find Raveena awake watching TV, a bottle of vodka in her hand.

"I am surprised you kept up one original habit of yours." She is drunk by the way she slurs her words.

"Go to bed." I wave her off.

"I can't. I will dream of him." She turns her stare from the TV back to where I stand.

"Raveena."

"Don't." She stops my attempt to get near her.

"You are drunk Raveena and tired. You need to rest." I reason.

"You are starting to act like him." she mentions.

"You remind me of Ethan sometimes."

That is it. One more word out of her mouth and I will be done for. I force my way into her space taking the bottle from her hand and switching off the TV despite her drunk protests.

"I hate you." Raveena glares.

"Go to bed." I say calmly.

"I can't wait to leave this place. I hate you all."

At least she makes it up the stairs with a little stagger but she still goes to her room. She is hurting but so is everyone. And why does she say I remind her of her brother?

If anything, I am nothing like Ethan. That reminds me of the same comment she made to the bartender. She and I have been best friends since Aaron welcomed them to our pack. Raveena was only thirteen years old then. I still remember how petite she looked in her little sundress.

The girl back then and the woman right now might be different but they have one thing in common, they are still fierce.

My fifteen year old self couldn't help himself out then. I had to show her to adventures in our pack. I had to teach her how we did things in our pack.. I remember how eager she was eager to learn everything.

Best friends for all eleven years and I promise not a single one of them have I seen her as my sister. It won't start now.