“You’ll be a good leader.”
Eve met her gaze squarely as if to read the truth of it herself, a tinge of magic dusting the air. “You think so?”
“You care. It will make you both soft and ruthless. You know what will happen if things go bad, and you won’t let it happen again.” Raven let the words sink into her mind. It was a warning, and Eve took it as such. “You’ll defend and fight for these people with your life. It’s enough.”
“Thank you.” Eve turned then paused, looking back over her shoulder one last time. “If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.”
Not waiting for a response, Eve strode back toward her people, confidence straightening her spine.
Raven turned, past ready to leave, when she saw Greggory standing off to the side. “What do you plan to do next?”
He hesitated, uncertain for the first time since she’d met him. “It’s still too dangerous for us to return home, not until the kid shifts and learns how to defend himself. Here’s as good a place as any.”
Raven followed his gaze to see the kid shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he could swallow, his bony shoulders and scrawny fame so thin it looked painful. Another day or two in captivity and she doubted he would’ve been able to recover.
When she glanced at Greggory again, she found him watching Taggert speculatively. “He will not be able to control himself. He’ll cause you trouble. Are you sure he’s worth it?”
A shiver ran down her spine at his not so innocent question, and she couldn’t answer him past the lump of fear in her throat. She wasn’t sure if he wanted Taggert for himself or destroyed altogether. Either way, it wasn’t happening. Armor slotted together at the threat, becoming so second nature that Raven barely paid it any attention as she waited for Greggory to make his move.
At her silence, he continued. “I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him at the first opportunity just for the threat he posed, but you see something else when you look at him, don’t you?”
Her hackles rose at his kill-first attitude. “He’s my friend, my pack. He’s not a weapon to be used.”
“I never would’ve believed you could contain him if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.” Greggory turned those deadly eyes on her and smiled for the first time, transforming him into something even more dangerous, a charming man who would do anything to fulfill his own agenda, and she suspected that he was fully capable of shutting down the freak show without her help if it hadn’t been for the boy. “He will guard you well.”
“He’s not some damned guard dog.” Raven’s fiery anger sizzled through the petrifying fear that threated to encase her in stone. She refused to back down and allow anyone to treat him as less than a full member of her pack. “We protect each other.”
It was a warning.
If he went after her men, she would put him down.
He seemed amused by her threat.
“You and your pack appear to be perfectly suited to each other. They’re all incredibly strong. Including you.” His casual tone set her back up.
Too casual.
He wanted something.
She stiffened, more wary than if he’d just outright attacked them. “Just say it.”
“Remember our conversation. Watch and keep on guard. I have a feeling that you and your pack are going to be shaking up the paranormal world soon.” He flashed her another smile, then offered her a formal bow. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to learning what mischief you can get yourselves into. Just be careful. Something out there is very determined that we not survive, and they won’t fight fair. You and yours are the biggest obstacle, which also makes you the biggest targets.”
Stunned by his pronouncement and that he’d actually been trying to be nice, Raven did nothing as he turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness like a ghost.
He reminded her of Randolph, the pack assassin, but worse—he’d slipped under her radar for days without her being aware of the threat.
The idea chilled her to her bones, the sensation so strong she could only describe it as a premonition.
It brought home that he was not her friend, that someone had paid him to spy, and he’d had the whole week to assess her and her pack.
A niggle of worry grew at the back of her mind.
She was on someone else’s radar now.
She couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be before she could expect trouble.
Someone bigger, badder and possibly more dangerous than the council.
The council at least followed a set of rules.
Something told her Greggory only followed his own.
She was tempted to call up a bit of current and tag him, but held herself back, beginning to learn not to poke the beast.
Right now all she wanted was to gather her pack and go home.
Chapter Thirty-one
The skyline lightened, the sun tinging the horizon a pale orange and red. Only a few scattered clouds remained, and Raven was beyond ready to leave. She walked back toward their car, very conscious of the silent men following her.
Something was on their mind, and she was pretty sure she didn’t want to have this conversation now.
Maybe not ever.
“You can’t run forever.” Durant sounded amused … and much too close.
Raven quickened her steps, muttering under her breath. “I can try.”
“You’re going to have to deal with the possessiveness you feel or it will eat you alive.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Raven cringed, clenching her fingers into fists to hide the proof of her lie. She could control her need to touch them.
Jackson maneuvered next to her, easily keeping pace without appearing the least bit winded—the bastard could at least fake it. “You risked yourself needlessly more than once to show your claim on me. You nearly lost control in front of a bunch of strangers and you didn’t care. You told them the truth about yourself, without thinking twice, just to protect us.”
Raven stopped abruptly and threw up her hands in frustration. “I don’t know what you want from me. I’m your alpha. You told me it’s my job to protect you. I did that the best way that I saw fit.”
Durant kept walking until he was up in her face, his wonderful, delicious leather scent wrapping around her, doing a very good job of distracting her from her ire. “What you’re feeling is normal. You’re an alpha, the need to protect is instinctual, but your actions were almost manic. Not the actions of an alpha but those of a woman with her mates. We’ve had this discussion before—you are more important than any member of the pack. We can be replaced. You can’t.”
“I don’t agree. None of you are interchangeable to me.” Raven lifted her chin mutinously. The loss of control still smarted, and she liked it less that he threw it back in her face. She immediately dismissed the second half of his sentence. Unfortunately, she feared he was at least partially right—her reaction couldn’t all be pinned on her being an alpha, but not like he thought. Her dragon considered them part of her hoard, and would do whatever it could to protect what was theirs. “I was just trying to keep you safe.”
Jackson shook his head. “It was more than that and you know it, even if you don’t want to admit it. An alpha would never risk herself for one member of the pack, not like you do.”
She glanced at all of them, more confused than ever. “Maybe you better spit out what you really want to say. Stop pussyfooting around the real issue.”
All the guys exchanged a look that left her uneasy, and she bit her lip, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut.
Suddenly wanting to be anywhere but there, Raven backed away.
Only to have Durant followed her step for step.
Relentless.
Determined.
“Your beast is basically a teenager with all the emotions of one. The only way to ease her is to put a claim on us.”
“I don’t understand.”
Jackson and Taggert circled
around until they were at her back, effectively surrounding her. She didn’t like the pressure, but something about all that manliness left her body tingling. Her thoughts trailed off into a totally inappropriate area, scrambling her ability to concentrate when she needed her wits the most.
“I’ve already claimed you. You’re part of the pack.”
Durant scowled, muttering about her thinking too human.
Taggert swayed with exhaustion, his gentleness crumbling her shield like dust. All her denials evaporated in her throat before he even spoke his first word. “You’re uneasy sleeping with all of us, but humans often date more than one person at a time. Think of us that way.”
“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” An uncomfortable sensation, a wave of heat, sizzled over her every nerve ending. She rubbed her arms, then dropped them when she caught herself wishing it was their hands. She gazed longingly in the direction of the car, tensing to sprint if that was what it took to get away.
Unfortunately, she knew they would only follow her.
She would rather have this conversation here than stuck in the tiny confines of the vehicle with all three men within touching distance and no room to breathe past their intoxicating scents. She ran her fingers over her forehead to ease the gathering ache.
It felt like someone kicked her in the head.
Repeatedly.
She’d almost have preferred that than have this conversation.
Jackson sighed and stepped in front of the others, blunt and no nonsense as always. “You claimed us as part of your pack, but you’re also a female. Your dragon doesn’t feel that we are hers, and until you lay a personal claim on us, she will keep fighting you.”
Raven crossed her arms to stop from reaching for him. She wished what Jackson had said was true, it would be the easy way out, but she’d come to terms that what she felt wasn’t all the dragon’s emotions. Nerves danced through her gut at the prospect of finding a way to fix her possessiveness, and all that it would entail. “What do you suggest?”
They all glanced at each other again, and Taggert spoke. “A few weeks ago you spent time with each of us.”
Raven fought a blush as she remembered, then the reality settled heavily on her shoulders. They were going to ask her to choose. Bile rose at the back of her throat at the thought of picking one and watching the others go on with their life. “The dates.”
Jackson was blunter with his words. “You need the practice to train your beast. You’re not just human anymore.”
He gave her a pointed look, silently reminding her what happened in the trailer between them.
They saw it as a weakness, something others could use to take advantage of her, and they were right.
They were asking her to trust them.
She inhaled deeply and took the plunge, whole battalion of butterflies launching in her stomach. “Tell me what I need to do.”
“Time alone with each of us will help strengthen the bonds with you beast, so you won’t feel so frantic at the thought of losing us. We’ll each choose a day until you grow more comfortable, and we’ll train you in what you can expect now that your beast woke. The rest of the days, we’ll spend it all together as a pack.”
She went lightheaded with relief.
She didn’t have to lose them, not yet.
A kaleidoscope of emotions tumbled through her, and awkwardness smacked her in the face as they all waited for her reaction. Dating three men went against everything she believed, but she couldn’t help admit, if only to herself, that she desperately wanted what he described.
“No man would be satisfied sharing their woman.” She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to let them go if she allowed herself to grow any closer to them. The true reason holding her back. She wouldn’t survive the separation. “You’ll eventually want to find someone special to call your own.”
Raven absently rubbed the ache in her chest.
To watch them fall in love with someone else would destroy her.
Taggert shook his head, seemingly resigned to his fate. “Shifters don’t expect to settle down with one person, much less fall in love. We grow up with the expectation that if we’re lucky enough, we might find a shifter woman who would give us the time of day, much less a lifetime.”
Her heart cracked at the bleak future he sketched out. “It doesn’t have to be like that anymore. Things are different now. ”
Taggert’s face gentled, as if getting ready to tell her some bad news. “It’s already too late. There is only one woman for us. And you wouldn’t react so violently if you weren’t already a little bit in love with us, too.”
No one said anything, none of them bothering to deny it. They watched her unwavering, each one of them way too serious … like she should already know how they felt.
Their confession left her dazed, which seemed to amuse Durant. He wrapped an arm around her waist and steered her toward the car. “Why don’t we give you a little time to think about it on the way home?”
Raven wanted to blurt out her first response—yes, but held back, trying to think past the giddiness and the way the dragon hummed in pleasure.
She needed to make sure that she was not being selfish. She needed to choose the best option for all of them. “And if I turn down your proposition?”
The only indication that Durant wasn’t as collected as he pretended was the hitch in his stride.
It was enough.
Jackson reached the car first, but didn’t open the door, gazing at her over the roof. “The wildness will only increase, your dragon will take control and jealousy will literally eat you alive.”
Taggert ducked into the car, sprawling across the backseat in the boneless way of an animal in a deep sleep. Jackson left her alone with her thoughts and slipped behind the driver’s seat. The car turned over on the first try.
Durant tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nodded to the back. “Why don’t you crawl in next to him and get some rest. Think about what we said.”
She doubted she’d be able to think of anything else. Heat licked up her spine at the innocent touch. He brushed his fingers along her jaw, relishing the touch, before he dropped into the passenger seat.
Taking his advice, Raven crawled into the back, but sleep eluded her. Taggert rolled over and reached under the seat, pulling out a dirty stuffed animal.
Her wolf.
She snatched it close, her eyes stinging as she rubbed the dirt from its fur.
It survived.
It gave her hope that they could do the same.
As if satisfied by her reaction, Taggert wrapped himself around her with a small smile to his lips and fell back asleep. Her body relaxed at his touch, and she dropped into unconsciousness.
The ringing of the phone woke her some hours later.
The whole day had passed, darkness had fallen, and she heard Durant answer the phone. Even with the distance, Raven could hear London on the other end of the line. “Pass the phone to Raven.”
Raven unwrapped herself from the shelter of Taggert’s arms as reality intruded. “What’s wrong?”
“Your vampire has gone missing.”
Raven bolted upright. “Rylan?”
“Your sword returned without you, and he went to investigate. No one has seen him since.”
Rylan often disappeared for weeks or even months at a time, but this time felt different. He was in charge of her pack while she was gone. He wouldn’t have just left.
He had the ability to track her blood or follow the bindings if he allowed himself to admit they were connected. Stubborn jackass. He’d gained enough power, absorbed it through her blood, to force the particles of his body to break down and rematerialize, something only the ancients should be able to do after they spent centuries amassing power.
To work, though, he had to be close enough to lock in on her.
Great distance would stretch him too far, and he’d never be able to gather all the particles to reform his body.
“How long has he been gone?”
“He disappeared last night. We found signs of a struggle. He didn’t return for his first appointment tonight.”
The car began to accelerate, and Jackson’s gaze flickered toward hers in the rearview mirror. “We’ll be there in under an hour. Keep everyone inside.”
London grunted in acknowledgment and hung up.
Raven lowered the phone, but could only stare at it. Taggert gently pried it from her fingers and pushed the off button. “We’ll find him.”
The hour ride home was the longest of her life. No one spoke. The others didn’t care for Rylan. Vampires and shifters had fought wars on and off for years, their hatred bred into them for generations, but they were all trying to get along to please her.
Taggert slept wrapped around her. Every time she so much as twitched, his eyes cracked open to study her. Satisfied she was unharmed and not ready to bolt, he would settle back down again.
Urgency rushed through her as they finally turned down the driveway. Raven could barely sit still. If she thought she could get there faster, she would throw herself out the door and run.
A dark shape lay crumpled across the driveway, and her heart nearly exploded out of her chest. “Jackson?”
But he was already slamming on the brakes. “I see it.”
Raven flung open the door, already stepping out before the vehicle stopped. Magic spilled out of her in a wave, seeking the source of the threat, but found nothing. She darted forward, only to slow when her brain caught up with what she was seeing.
A bloodied corpse.
The metallic smell of blood thickened the air, invaded her mouth and spilled down her throat. A gallon of it saturated the ground, but the majority of it seemed to be missing.
The body had been dumped, dropped face-first on the ground as if pushed out of a vehicle.
No matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn’t pick up a heartbeat.
The chest didn’t move.
“Rylan?” Raven dropped to her knees by the still form, unsure where she could touch him without hurting him more, the body so bloody it looked like they’d skinned him, bits of dirt and pebbles imbedded into the flesh.
Electric series- Raven Investigations BoxSet Page 27