Life Straight Up (reposted - feedback wanted)

Chapter Twenty Three

Ray's POV

I was sat cross legged on the bed with Helena sat opposite me. We had been sitting here for a couple of hours now, seemingly going around in circles. No matter what we did, we just couldn't come up with any reasonable ideas as to who was threatening the pack. Well apart from the obvious. We knew with great certainty that Jude was behind all of this, but he was still currently at large. That though did not explain who this mystery female was, the only clue we had was that she was mated, but that made it almost impossible.

"Who would want to hurt us?" I asked as I put my head in my hands, feeling beyond defeated.

A sinking feeling was slowly creeping through my body and fear was starting to take over. From the stinging in my eyes, I knew I was on the brink of tears. Sensing my sadness almost immediately Helena embraced me tightly, enjoying the comfort she gave, I hugged her back.

"It's ok Ray, I promise we'll figure this out," she reassured me as she stroked my hair. "We just have to think a little harder, the tiniest thing could give us the answer. Even the tiniest gesture or action," she continued.

"What like Precious's performance at my birthday party?" I replied, pulling away from her and wiping my eyes.

My mind kept drifting back to that moment, but I knew it wasn't the answer.

"Exactly, she was all over Cole, she always was," she said excitedly, before quietening down towards the end.

"Were they close, Cole and Precious?" I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer, but I needed to know.

"Ray come on, you shouldn't be asking questions like that," she replied, fidgeting and refusing to look at me.

"Helena, I need to know," I begged.

"Fine, but don't think too much into it. Cole and Precious had an on off relationship for years, of course she wasn't the only one, but she was the most frequent," my heart sank a little at her words. "Let's not go into this now Ray, it's only going to upset you," she said, placing her hand on mine.

"Did he love her?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Helena remained silent and quickly looked down at her hands. Her actions gave me my answer, but I needed to hear her say it.

"Helena did he love her?" I asked again, a little more forcefully this time.

"Yes, at one time I think he did, but he never loved her the way he loves you," she answered quickly.

"It's her," I said as a single tear ran down my cheek. "She's the one who wants to take my family, she wants to take my life from me."

"It can't be Ray, she isn't mated, she always hoped that one day Cole would choose her," Helena said shaking her head.

"Who else could it be? Who else would try to ruin everything?" I cried.

Helena wrapped her arms around me once more, letting me sob freely on her shoulder.

"You know, I have heard there is research being done, trying to find a way to trigger the shifting hormone in a female without mating," I heard a familiar female voice say.

Lifting my head from Helena's shoulder I saw Grace standing in the doorway. I hadn't even heard her come in and wasn't entirely sure how much she had heard.

"Sorry if I scared you, I heard what happened and thought it best to see if you were ok. You know, give you a quick once over," she said with a small, sad smile on her face as she walked in the room and closed the door.