Once Scorched Always Safe

Sunshine in California

Five years later

Rayne

Bodega Bay, California

Rayne stood on the porch of her little beach house watching the ocean. Most of her mornings started this way, a cup of coffee, and her thoughts on the world. It had taken her longer to get here than she originally thought it would, with a few detours along the way. She had been here for almost two years, making it more of a home than anywhere else she had stopped along the way. She was thankful for all the places she had stopped, all the people she had met, and the chance to see that not every person out there was‘ bad. Be it wolf or human, she had met some of the nicest people on her journey to her eventual destination.

She could hear one of those people now grumbling in the kitchen about no bacon. She laughed but continued to stare at the rising sun paint the sky beautiful pinks, purples and blues. The sound of the waves hitting the beach was soothing to her tired mind. She had a long night at Shadows Retreat, her bar that catered solely to the supernatural.

Werewolves were just one of many supernatural species in the world. Learning that had been an eye–opener for her. Her grumbling roommate Parker was a shifter. A species that could shift into just about any animal it chose. Rayne met Parker one night while taking shelter from a storm while passing through southern California. She had stopped just outside of a little town called Drewster, she had been hitch–hiking but needed rest and a break from the road. She spent a little of her stash of money to get a hotel room, and while relaxing in her room the door was rudely kicked in by Parker.

There he stood soaked to the skin from the rain, one eye sporting a nasty black–eye, a grimace on his face, and a knife in one hand. He had been under the assumption that the room he so rudely barged into was of his current girlfriend’s new lover. When he saw Rayne standing in the middle of the room in only her towel, he again made the wrong assumption and began demanding to know where Kylee was. When Rayne growled at him, he assessed the situation and realized he was most definitely in the wrong room.

Parker swiftly turned around, closed her door on his way out, and continued on his task. The sounds of glass breaking, a man yelping in pain, and the shrill screaming of a woman found in a compromising position, came from the room next door to Rayne’s. She figured he found what he meant to find. She got dressed and went to find food at the little dinner that she passed on her way to the hotel.

As she was ordering, Parker slid into her booth with an icepack on his eye and a small sheepish grin on his face. They talked through the night and into the morning. Since he was going in the same direction she was, he offered her a ride. She took it, and from that night on they had been friends, travel companions, and occasional lovers.

When she finally found the place where she wanted to call her home, Parker stayed with her. He had no home to go back to as he burned the bridge of his last relationship the night they met. He ran the floor of the bar while she ran the day–to–day operations. They made a solid business team, fairly good roommates, great lovers, and overall best friends. He had her back when things were tough, when they first opened the bar. She would be forever grateful for the night that the storm that is Parker came into her life.

Even if he was a big pain in her ass most of the time.

“Hey Ray, we are out of bacon!” Parker poked his head out of the kitchen window to tell her this. His shaggy red hair, wet from his morning shower, was loose to dry. He looked at her with a frantic look on his face, like their world would end without bacon for breakfast.

“We are not out of bacon Parker, there is some in the freezer. You can go a single morning without bacon.” Rayne turned to him and just laughed at the pained expression on his face at the thought of no bacon. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“No, I can’t. So, get dressed, we are going out for breakfast my dear.” Parker disappeared from the window leaving her alone again.

She knew better than to argue with Parker when he was hungry, so she finished her coffee then made her way inside to get dressed. If she was being dragged from the house at sunrise for breakfast, he was paying for it. She made her way to her room, laughing at Parker as he was singing to himself as he dressed. They shared an attached bathroom and often left the connecting doors open. Having been lovers, neither was shy with their bodies anymore, so she just walked into her closet and dropped her robe.

“Wear that little yellow sundress, you know the one,” Parker called out to her from his room.

“I can get dressed on my own, you know.” Damn the man and his taste in women’s clothing. It was good, and he knew it. She reached for the dress despite herself. He was right, it was cute yet sexy, so she would humor him and wear it. She grabbed a pair of white sandals, slipped them on, and called herself dressed.

Parker walked into her room and stood there for a moment. He dressed in a white button–up shirt he left unbuttoned at the top three buttons, revealing a hint of his bare chest. He had the shirt loosely tucked into a pair of khaki pants that hugged him in all the right places. His ass was a fine one, he

Sunshine in California

loved to wear pants that flattered it well. He pulled his curly hair back into a short tail at the nape of his neck. He looked better with it free and framing his face, but Rayne decided to not say anything.

“Well, that looks just like I said it would,” He made an almost purring noise in his throat as he looked her over. “Yes, sexy as ever, my dear. Now please let’s go get breakfast”

“Fine, but you get to pay this time.”

“Fair enough” He grabbed her hand pulling her out the bedroom door then towards the door of the house.

“Car keys, Parker.” She leaned back in the house, grabbing the keys off the little table to the left of the door.

“Yes, yes, car keys are a must, unless you want to walk?”

“Not in these shoes, buddy.” She threw him the keys. They had a brief argument on what vehicle to take, but decided on the motorcycle instead.

After they both had their helmets on, they were off and on their way to the little all–night diner a few blocks from the bar. They would head there after breakfast, him to go over the liquor count, other stock, and to look for a new bartender. Marvin, their previous bartender, quit after Parker caught him selling drugs while he was meant to be selling booze for them. They didn’t allow drugs in their bar. Parker went a little ballistic and threw him out the back door telling him never to come back.

As they arrived at the diner, the parking lot that was normally fairly empty at this time of the morning, had three shiny new sports cars. That got Parker’s attention instantly, but sent chills up Rayne’s spine. Nothing good ever came from people who drove such flashy cars. They were either drug dealers or rich kids looking for a good time. Breakfast was going to be interesting this morning.

“Is that an Audi? Damn, all three of them are. Wowowee baby.” Parker eyed the sports cars as they walked across the parking lot. He had a weakness for cars, loved to look at them, dreamed of buying a Ferrari one day.

“Bacon is inside the diner, Parker.”

He whipped his head in her direction and grinned, “Let’s go get that bacon”

The bell chimed as they entered the diner, Rayne looked around the interior to see three men in black suits sitting at the counter. Their scent hit her and she knew that all three of them were werewolves. She continued to scan the diner as they made their way to the corner booth that was their normal table. Nothing else stood out, but she knew by the purse on the counter that there was a fourth person in the diner with them. This could prove interesting depending on what they were in town for, or it could bad if Parker got a hint that they were mafia of any kind.

They took their seats to wait for the diner’s only waitress on staff at this time of the morning. The waitress was also the owner, Lynn. As they waited Parker gave the three men at the counter a thorough look over. He tapped his fingers idly on the table to a tune in his head, then laid his hand on the table with three fingers spread out. Rayne looked at his hand, then assessed the three men on her own. Her eyes observing the cut of their suit jackets, the slightly visible lines of all three shoulder holsters. All three men were armed. Who was the woman they were traveling with that all three men needed to be armed?

“Well, if it isn’t my best tippers!” Lynn exclaimed as she strolled up to their booth. Her brown hair was plastered to her forehead from the heat of the kitchen, her blue eyes lit up with pure joy at the sight of the two of them.

Lynn was an elderly human, and from the first moment that she had met Rayne and Parker, she took them under her care. That was a little over two years ago. She took them in, letting Rayne work at the dinner as a waitress, Parker as a busboy, or whatever needed to be done throughout the day. They were both grateful for her help, for her to take in two total strangers and taking the chance that no harm would come to her. She had once said that she could tell by their auras that neither of them was a bad person.

Rayne did not understand what she meant by auras until later when she learned that Lynn was a natural witch, born with her abilities from her mother’s family. She had attempted to teach Rayne some simple magic, saying that there was a natural latent talent lying dormant within her, but Rayne had failed to pick anything up other than a simple conjure fire spell. She didn’t know if that was a path that she would ever want to learn more of. She was happy just being her plain wolf, Ruby had resurfaced after they left the pack territory, though she was never super vocal about anything that they did.

“Yes, Miss Lynn. We are here for that glorious bacon.” Parker grinned at her as she leaned in to hug him.

“The usual I would assume then?” She moved over to hug Rayne as she asked.

Rayne embraced her, inhaled her strawberry scent as she smiled at her, nodding her head in answer to the question.

“Alright, I will get that order put in with Matthew, and will be back with your drinks.”

Sunshine in California

“Lynn, how long have those four been here?” Parker nudged his head in the counter’s direction.

“About an hour now, they have already finished their meal. I think they are waiting for something.” She shrugged her shoulders, then turned to go about her task of getting their order started.

“Now what could they be….” Parker spoke but Rayne cut him off by just looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“It isn’t our concern, Parker. Nor do I want to know. We don’t want with anything they are into.”

Parker grumbled to himself about wanting some action, but didn’t push to know more for now. Rayne patted him on the shoulder. She too wanted to know more about these people, but she didn’t want to draw attention to them. Rayne being a rogue wolf and Parker being a shifter. She could tell by the way that the men communicated with each other they were in a pack.

For a rogue wolf and single shifter, this could go sideways fast. Most pack wolves hated rogues, they hated shifters even more. Why? Rayne never could understand the dislike that werewolves had for other species or the dislike for wolves who chose to be packless. She could understand the dislike for those wolves that became rogues because of banishment. Being kicked from a pack was a severe judgment from an Alpha or the Elders. Murder is one crime that most banishments were given.

Those that were rogue because of punishable crimes were different in scent, the appearance of their eyes, than those who went rogue willingly. Their eyes turned a feral red, their scent went to an acidic quality of their normal scent. It was like the Moon Goddess’s way of letting other wolves know that these wolves had gone astray of her plans.

There were rogue packs all over the world, not all of them were bad ones. Some of them were rogues that left their packs of their own free will and found like–minded wolves to form new ones with. That idea appealed to Rayne greatly. A pack to call home again was something that she had been thinking of for the last six months.

Rayne was torn from her thoughts when a scent hit her nose that gave her flashbacks of childhood. Her eyes widened as she looked to the door of the ladies‘ room. There standing frozen in the doorway was Bridgette, her tormentor from her childhood. She hadn’t seen or even thought about her since that night five years ago when she fled Jade Moon territory. Not once was she sad that she left without a word to anyone in that pack. Except Alec. If she saw none of them again for the rest of her life, she would be happy, but sadly her luck had run its course. Here was her past staring at her with equal surprise.

“Well, isn’t that a picture of perfection the best money can buy,” Parker whistled softly as he followed the direction that Rayne was looking. “She looks . surprised by something.”

“Yeah, me.”

“What the hell? You know little miss fashion barbie over there?” He looked concerned immediately at the tone of Rayne’s voice.

“She was my old Alpha’s daughter. One of my many tormentors throughout my miserable childhood.”

“Want me to scare her away?”

“No, there is no need for that. She has no power over me anymore.” Rayne’s eyes flashed gold as Ruby let her know that she was not happy to see Bridgette at all.

Bridgette shook her head to one man at the counter as she made her way to Rayne’s table. Her eyes were softer than they ever had been. As she got closer, Rayne noticed that she had a small baby bump, and her scent was mixed with another’s, her mate’s it would seem. Bridgette was watched by the three men at the counter, Rayne was sure now that they were Bridgette’s guards, meaning her mate was an Alpha.

The thought of mates had Rayne thinking for the first time in five years. Their bond was still there. He never broke it by formally rejecting her, but it was weak after all this time. Rayne never wanted him in the first place. She was happy that the bod was weak and fading. She shook the thoughts of him from her mind, looking up at Bridgette as she reached their table. The sadness in her eyes was the first thing that Rayne noticed, then the bandage over her left temple.

“Rayne.” Bridgette’s voice was hoarse, and she had fresh tears on her face.

Rayne stood motioning for Bridgette to take a seat, moving to sit next to Parker so Bridgette could have room to herself. “What happened Bridgette?”

“Alec is dead”

Hello readers

Hope you are enjoying Her Returned Mate so far

Sunshine in California

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no I was hoping Alec would be her second chance