Chapter 15
Bones
Pinched between my thumb and forefinger, I rubbed circles over the off-white metacarpal bone in my hand like a worry stone. This particular bone was special, a favorite I used when I needed to remain calm and rein in the rage that had lived deep inside me since I was ten years old. They called me Bones because when I sent a man to El Diablo, I made a trade: for the sliver of my soul that was lost with every death, I kept a piece of the dead. They weren’t trophies. They were my talismans. One day, I’d be judged. If I went to heaven, I’d be able to show God proof of the evil I wiped from the Earth, and if I went to hell…well, I’d be able to show El Diablo exactly who he was fucking with when I got there. I was a child the first time I watched the light in someone’s eyes fade to nothingness. Since that fateful night, my purpose had been to protect those who needed it from the men who wished to drown the world in evil. It was all I was good for and could offer the people around me. I would always do what needed to be done to spare others from staining their souls.
The soul in front of me was perhaps as fractured and stained as my own, but an inner light shone from her that spoke to a resilience of spirit that I knew I’d never be able to recreate with my own soul. Maybe that was why I felt a connection to her, a camaraderie that allowed me to understand her better than my brothers. In Indigo, I saw a person who lived encompassed by sin but had not allowed that sin to taint the heart of who she was. Priest watched her obsessively while keeping her at arm's length; if he would just get to know her, he’d see she wasn’t a threat to the Crows. Threats surrounded her, yes, but she herself posed no danger to our family.
Duke settled back into his chair, steepling his inked fingers under his chin as he regarded the girl across the table. Her shaking had stopped, her small hands clutching the blanket that Cricket had placed around her shoulders after Ratched realized that she was going into shock. We’d all seen the recording of Priest interrogating her in the confessional, and her easy-breezy attitude in the face of pain earned her more than a bit of respect from the brothers who hadn’t gotten to know her yet. Watching her reaction to my words about the people who hurt her proved to us all exactly how grave the threat against her must be to garner such a reaction from such a strong person.
“Indigo, darlin’,” Duke said in a soothing tone I’d heard him use with Ellis when she was upset but hadn’t heard in years, “I think it’s time for us to talk. I understand that you’ve been through your own personal hell, but I want you to know that you’re safe here with us.” Indigo looked up from her hands where they were clenched in her blanket. “We want to help you, but we can’t do that if we don’t know where the threat is comin’ from.”
“I…” Indigo’s voice shook as she tried to calm the panic trying to take control of her again. “I can’t tell you, Duke. I’m trying to protect you. You have no idea the reach they have, the power. Los Cuervos is…” She bit her lip while she searched for words. “I don’t want to be rude to you, President Duke. Los Cuervos is amazing, but you have to know that you’re big fish in a small pond.” She winced as she said that she didn’t believe we had the power to protect her .
“These people, the family that raised me…they operate on a much much larger scale. I escaped them two years ago, and I’ve been running ever since. Priest was right; if they found me here, they’d think you were harboring me or using me in some way, and they’d decimate you. It wouldn’t even be hard. Do you get what I’m trying to tell you? I really like you guys…well, most of you. I’d never get over it if something happened to you because of me. That’s why I wanted to leave with Sheila right away. The best thing you could do is let Sheila and me go. We’ll leave, and we won’t bother you again. I promise I won’t ever tell Unc… them about you. I’ll pinky swear.” Her slightly tremulous hand emerged from the blanket, pinky finger extended to make an oath.
Duke took her small hand with his big, calloused one and held it like it was fragile. “Darlin’, you really know how to cut a man to the quick. I’ll give you that.” He smiled kindly at her—one of his rare, sweet smiles reserved only for Lorna now that Ellis was gone. He looked at me, his sergeant at arms, with a question in his eyes. Duke was our leader, and his word was law for Los Cuervos quite literally, but in important matters he took the thoughts of his trusted men under serious consideration. It was part of what made him such an effective leader. I knew what he was silently communicating, and I solemnly considered the gravity of our situation for several heartbeats before I swallowed and gave him a grave nod in agreement. Goose bumps rose on my arms, and I felt a shift in the air. What was about to happen would change things irrevocably, and I had faith that Indigo could help us on a mission that had spanned generations.
“Indigo, darlin’, have you heard anything about how the Crows came to be?” Duke’s cerulean eyes were trained on her face, looking for minute shifts that act as tells. She shook her head slowly. “Well, I think it’s time you learned about how we came to be and what we really do here. Settle in with that flask, darlin’; it’s story time. Before we start, though. Bones, go get Cricket. I have an idea.”