The Rogue Mate

Chapter Nineteen.

I bounded the stairs, boots in hand as the smell of bacon filed the air. Kate hummed at the stove, flipping bacon, scrambling eggs and buttering toast. I don’t know how she does it, I can’t even microwave soup without burning it; without her I’d probably starve. I was surprised that Giz wasn’t whining and begging her for a rash of bacon as usual, usually she’d cave when he turned his big eyes on her.

“Good morning Evan, how’d you sleep?” She chirped, turning to me with a bright smile. 

I returned it as I took a seat at the breakfast bar. “Amazing.” The treatments Jenna’s doctors had given me was finally working. Things were slowly getting better and after four months of treatment things were back to the way they had been before I’d been attacked by that wolf. This was the best I’d felt in so long. “What about you?”

I knew that Taylor kept them up at night, hell sometimes I could hear her wailing through the thick walls; even without supernatural hearing. Honestly I don’t know how Yiannis slept, since he’d moved into the house to watch over me and administer the treatments in the first few days. “She was good last night, Lennox and I actually got some time to ourselves.” With a saucy wink she turned back to the stove and I chuckled; she looked like the cat that got the cream.

“Mail came in this morning.” Kate said as she laid a plate loaded with food in front of me, setting my coffee down next to a wad of envelopes.

I took a sip of the steaming hot coffee and opened the first envelope- bills, as per usual. The next few were identical- gas, water, electricity, until I reached a thick yellow envelope with no return address.

I ran my thumb under the lip and pulled out the contents. Almost immediately I felt my breakfast resurface as I stared at images that had haunted me for years; the murder scene. The photos were in black and white but the large black pools that covered the table and their clothes were unmistakable. Blood.

I gagged as I crumpled the image and picked up the rest. They were different; various pictures of me. As I studied them I realised that they had been taken before my uncle’s murder trial, during my time in prison and many were from after I got out. There were ones of me sleeping, doing chores, riding Obi, eating and even talking to Chev, Mads, Kate and Yiannis.

Each photo was in black and white, just like the first but each had a long, jagged red line through my face. On some threats had been scrawled across the photo. ‘Should have stayed where you belong’, ‘You’re next’.

My hands were shaking as I tucked the photos back into the envelope. Someone had been watching me. I couldn’t lie and say that I wasn’t scared, because I was; I was terrified. This person had killed my uncle and three of our employees, sent me to death row and had been stalking me for years… without my knowledge.

“Hey Evan are you alright? You look really pale; do you want me to get Yiannis?”

I shook my head as tears welled up behind my eyes and I lost the capability to talk. Stumbling away from the breakfast bar, the chair scraping loudly against the floor, I ran to the door. I needed fresh air.

The pictures, the threats made me think over all the weird things that’d happened in the last week and I just knew that they were related; strange noises at night, animals turning up dead around and inside the house, the feelings of being watched and house’s wiring and phones acting faulty.

I pushed open the door only to be greeted by the metallic scent of blood. I tripped over a mass in front of the door and went flying face first down the stairs, a sharp rock imbedding itself into my cheek. The pain disappeared though when I turned around to see what I’d tripped on. All I could see were big, brown eyes- one was clouded over but both were lifeless.

Giz.

He was gone. He was dead.

He’d been gutted from top to bottom, his body mutilated; worse than anything I’d ever seen. I couldn’t breathe as I stared at his body, couldn’t move or scream or run. Giz was gone; yet another thing I’d lost.

I don’t think I could handle anymore.

“Evan! Oh my god!” Kate screamed, loudly. But I ignored her; I couldn’t look away from Giz. He was such a kind, loving little dog, always looking for affection. Now he was dead because some psychopath was after me.

It was all my fault.

I felt someone pick me up but as they forcibly jerked me away from his body, my eyes saw what had been written on the door in… blood.

‘You’re next.’

The place that’d always been my safe haven wasn’t anymore; it hadn’t been for a long time. But now someone wanted to physically hurt me, go far enough to send threats, kill my pet and threaten me. They’d already killed four people and I knew that they weren’t joking about me being next.

“Evan. Evan!” I blinked as someone lay me down on a soft surface and faces appeared above me. Yiannis, Maddox and Chev. “Are you alright?”

“No.” The word escaped my lips as a whisper. I rolled to my side, tucking my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around my legs. I wasn’t alright. This wasn’t alright; nothing about this situation was alright.

I could hear them talking in the background as I felt someone move to curl around me, weaving their long, thick arms around my body. “It’ll be ok Ev, we’ll go down to the police station to sort it out and then we’ll find this sick bastard.”

I heard the door slam open and I slowly lifted my head to see Ernest stride through. “Evan what happened?”

Chev pulled him to the side and explained as I pulled myself together. I was done though; done with this thing hanging over my head. It was clear that the person who’d instigated this was the same person who’d killed my family and framed me; I would find them and when I did it wouldn’t be pretty.

I immediately pushed away from Yiannis, ran through the door and to the kitchen where I grabbed the letters and pictures. “No one touches Giz; no one washes away his blood.” I ordered the shocked people standing in my kitchen. It was evidence and I knew the cops would want to come and do whatever the hell they did; lift prints or something.

I whirled around to see Chev, Maddox, Yiannis and Ernest all watching me wearily. “You to come with me,” I saw pointing to Yiannis and Maddox. “Chev you make sure nothing touches Giz and Ernest take care of the livestock.”

“Evan.”

“No!” I cut off whatever Ernest had been about to say. “This has to end; today. I am sick of this shit.” He knew that better than anyone else.

I grabbed the keys to my truck and took the front door with Yiannis and Mads trailing close behind. “Evan I don’t think you should be driving right now.” Mads said.

I knew that an argument would just take time I didn’t have so without a word I handed him the keys and climbed into shotgun.

-

Twenty minutes into the drive it felt like something wasn’t right. I was proved correct when a truck appeared out of nowhere, speeding head first towards us. Maddox jerked the wheel but the car made contact in an explosion of shattering glass and bending steel.

My vision was blurred as the seat belt dug into my side and my head pounded. The airbags had inflated so I hadn’t hit my head but it felt like I’d cracked a few ribs.

Beside me Maddox growled as my door was wrenched open. I felt someone click me out of my seat belt and then drag me out of the car. I was dazed and injured but not stupid, so I fought. I could hear Yiannis and Maddox’s growls as they dragged me away, until I felt pressure at the back of my head and everything went black.

So I know I haven't been on here much and that's probably not going to change but I'll try to get the next chapter up within the month. This book is almost at an end and I'm still not sure if I'll finish the series with three other novella or just end it here. If you find any mistakes please tell me since this is unedited.

Anyway thank you for reading and supporting my work, I appreciate it!