Chapter 9
Corbin
Crow didn’t often “speak” to me. I could read her, for lack of a better word, and I got feelings and impressions from her all the time.
She’d followed Sebbie for shopping, and I could sense her, calm and at ease, for most of the afternoon.
I was working on shaping a piece of banded carnelian I’d found—it was a vibrant orange with rings of paler colors marking the stone—when I felt a vague sense of curiosity from Crow.
I didn’t think too much of it—she was curious about a lot of human things—but I dropped what I was doing when I felt a flash of worry from her.
I was already heading out of my workshop—a shed I worked out of behind the house—when she “spoke” to me.
There was an image of Sebbie, a house, and a pervading feeling of death, along with the thought that I needed to be there NOW.
I was running for the house and the car keys in the same heartbeat.
We had multiple cars between us, and we generally just traded them around.
It usually worked well, but not so well when you weren’t sure which keys to grab and felt the need to be somewhere right away.
I ended up grabbing a handful of key fobs, pressing the lock button on each one as I ran out the door.
When I heard the tell-tale beep from a car in the driveway, I hit unlock and ran over to it, hopping in and heading toward Crow.
I had a vague sense of direction from her as well, but Crow didn’t follow roads, so that didn’t necessarily get me to her in the fastest possible way.
Luckily, we were already close to the local murder, and we had a good level of communication with them.
Between the two of us, we were able to let them know they needed to guide me to Crow by road.
It was slower going than I would have liked, and I was relieved when Crow sent me an image of Toby and Dexter.
If they were there, then I knew they’d take care of Sebbie.
I kept driving, though, and I wasn’t surprised when Liam sent me a message with a gps location.
The nosy asshole was probably tracking all our cars and hacking CCTV footage, but for once I was thankful for his surveillance.
If there was anything that needed to be dealt with, he’d deal with it.
I was only a few minutes out when the phone rang.
“On my way,” I answered.
“Yeah, you might want to hold off on that,” Dexter answered, his voice quiet. “Cops and EMTs just got here. Park somewhere nearby, and you can come pick us up when shit’s settled down. I’ll call you back.”
The line went dead, and I growled in frustration. I could feel Crow’s frustration as well, but there was no sense of urgency anymore. She wanted me there, but Sebbie was safe.
I drove to the neighboring street, pulled over, and parked.
The area was pretty shitty, and I doubted there was any kind of neighborhood watch worrying about random cars hanging out.
I could see flashing lights through the yards of the houses.
Dexter hated involving the police, but at least he wasn’t an idiot like Jude about them.
I tapped the steering wheel as I waited, my normal calm just out of reach. Crow didn’t know exactly what had happened, and curiosity was burning through both of us. Finally, my phone rang.
“What happened?” I asked as soon as I answered.
“Not sure,” Dexter whispered. “We got a ton of cops and emergency personnel here. Sebbie is fine, but they’re checking him out before they question him. He seems a little… out of it. But he’s fine,” Dexter assured me.
“Dexter, what the fuck happened?” I asked again, because that was not a fucking answer.
Dexter sighed. “We were in some shop looking around, and when we turned around, Sebbie was just gone. We didn’t think anything of it at first, but Toby tried his phone, and Sebbie wasn’t answering.
We left the shop, but I had no scent of him nearby.
That’s when I called Liam. He traced the phone, and it looked like Sebbie was just walking, but he was already like a mile away.
The car was blocks away in the opposite direction, and Toby just wanted to get to Sebbie, so we headed after him. ”
I growled low in my throat, frustrated that they hadn’t gotten there sooner.
“Toby’s not a runner,” Dexter said, and I could hear the affection for his mate in his voice. He wasn’t, and this wasn’t Toby’s fault, so I got myself under control.
“I know. Keep going.”
“So we were on with Liam, and he told us Sebbie had stopped at a house and probably gone in, and that’s when we picked up the pace.
When we got here I could tell someone was dead, and I told Liam.
He did his clicky clacky computer typing bullshit and said you were already on your way and he’d send you the address. ”
I nodded, even though Dexter couldn’t see me. I’d known that Toby and Dexter were there, and then I’d gotten the text.
“I made Toby wait on the porch, even though he didn’t want to. I’m not sure… Corbin, I’m not sure what the fuck I walked into,” Dexter admitted.
“Tell me everything you saw,” I answered.
“There was a guy on the floor, bruised and beat up, unconscious, labored breathing, although it seemed to get better the longer we were there. There was another guy on the floor across the room, and Sebbie was standing over him. I said his name, but he didn’t even look up.
I said it again, louder, and at that point Toby barged in.
Before I knew what he was doing, he was grabbing Sebbie’s arm and leading him over to the couch, and then he was trying to talk to him. ”
There was a pause, and I waited.
“I didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t want Toby to touch him, either. It felt… dangerous. But Sebbie was fine. I mean, he seemed confused and out of it, and he said he didn’t know what happened, but it was just Sebbie. When he was standing over that body… It didn’t feel like it was just Sebbie.”
I blew out a breath. Sebbie had unboxed something that couldn’t be put back, wasn’t that what the man in the black suit had told me? And now someone was dead.
“The cops think the younger guy—he was the other guy’s son, apparently, and he had a bad history with drugs and theft—they think he was beating on his dad and had a heart attack, and that Sebbie must have heard and gone into the house to try and help them.
That’s what Sebbie said—that he heard a noise. ”
“Okay. That’s okay. Nothing suspicious about that,” I confirmed. “That shouldn’t cause any trouble with the cops.”
“Yeah.” Dexter’s voice got lower. “Only he said he heard the noise in the shop, Corb, and that’s why he left.
The only problem is that we’re at least a mile and a half away from that little shop.
I don’t think he even knows that. I told him to tell them he heard it when he was taking a walk, and that’s what he did. ”
I heard Toby’s voice calling Dexter’s name through the phone, and it didn’t surprise me when Dexter just hung up without another word. He had never quite mastered basic social skills, although he was getting better now that he was mated to Toby.
Eventually, I got a text that they were ready to head out, and I drove over a street to pick them up.
There were still cops and one first aid squad hanging around, but no one paid much attention as Toby and Dexter led Sebbie to the car.
Crow called out to him, and he looked over, a small smile appearing on his lips.
Dexter helped him into the car, and I think it took him a minute to realize I was driving.
He only put his head back and closed his eyes, though, and Toby climbed in next to him while Dexter got into the front seat.
“Where’s your car? I’ll bring you guys back to it,” I told them as I started driving.
“Oh, well, you can drop Dexter and me off, but would you mind taking Sebbie straight home afterwards? I’m sure he’s really tired,” Toby said, and when I looked in the rearview mirror, he gave such an exaggerated wink that I was glad Sebbie’s eyes were still closed.
Subtle was not Toby’s forte.
I watched as Sebbie gently elbowed him in the side, but he didn’t disagree with Toby’s plan. That was good, because I wasn’t planning on letting Sebbie out of my sight until I knew he was okay.
Dexter led me to their car, and I dropped them off.
Toby gave Sebbie one final pat on the hand, then he climbed out.
He looked at me, concern on his face. I could practically see the desire to take care of his friend warring with the desire to set us up, and it made me want to laugh. Toby was a good packmate.
Sebbie’s eyes were still closed, and I didn’t think he was quite sleeping, but he wasn’t really awake either. He made no move to get out of the car or switch to the front seat, and that was fine. He needed to rest.
“I’ll take care of him,” I promised Toby.
He nodded, and Dexter led him to their car as I drove off.
I knew where Sebbie lived, and the drive back to Paradise Falls seemed much shorter than the drive to find them had been.
When I pulled into Sebbie’s driveway, I shut the car off.
His house was a cute little cottage with a nice front porch.
It was on the outskirts of town, and it reminded me of a mini version of our compound of houses.
It was surrounded by woods and connected to nature, although this patch of woods wasn’t nearly as extensive as ours.
I got out of the car to caws of greeting, and I opened the back door. Sebbie’s head lolled toward me, and he opened his eyes. Despite the exhaustion I saw, there was still such light and joy in his eyes. As if he could sense my thoughts, he gave me a small smile.
“I’ll get up in just a second, I swear. I don’t know why I’m so tired.”
Rather than answer, I scooped him up in my arms. He gave a little meep sound and wrapped his arms around my neck, but he didn’t protest. I walked up onto his porch, and when I got to the door, he said, “It’s unlocked.”
His head was leaning against my shoulder, and I used one hand from underneath him to turn the handle, trying not to jostle him despite the weird maneuver.
When I got inside, I wasn’t surprised to see a warm, inviting home.
I set him down on a comfy-looking gray couch that was covered in colorful afghans and blankets, resting him stretched out along it with his head on a pillow.
“Do you want to come in?” he asked.
I chuckled. It seemed a little late to ask that question.
“I mean,” he said, blushing a bit, “do you want to stay for a bit? Of course, you don’t have to. I’m sure you have things—”
I cut him off. “I’d love to stay. Can I get you anything to drink or eat?”
He smiled again, but it was still tired-looking. “Isn’t that supposed to be my question?”
I bent down and took his shoes off, placing them next to the couch, and then I lifted his feet and sat down with them in my lap. He blushed but didn’t protest.
“You’re tired, and you’ve been through a lot. I’m happy to get you anything you need,” I answered him. “Or I’m happy to just sit with you, if that’s what you’d prefer. You can tell me about it, we can talk about something else, or I can just keep you company. Whatever you want, Sebbie.”
He smiled again—his smile really was like sunshine, so bright and beautiful–and he took a deep breath. His face turned serious, then, his eyes looking out across the room, although I could tell he wasn’t focusing on much.
I looked around as he gathered his thoughts.
His living room had shelves filled with books and little knick-knacks.
There were a few stones that looked familiar—ones that I’d started to work and hadn't finished because they’d disappeared from my workshop.
Apparently, Crow thought they were worthy gifts as they were.
I saw the stuffed crow I’d gifted him sitting on a shelf, too, along with various other things he’d obviously collected.
Little signs, a glass figurine of an octopus, a frog sitting in a chair reading—all cute and quirky things that reminded me of Sebbie’s joyful spirit.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Sebbie said, drawing my attention back to him.
“I think I’d like to talk about it, but it’s all a little crazy.
And If I talk about it with Toby, he’ll be telling me I’m an angel or a warlock or something, and if I tell Josh, he’ll be up all night worrying about me. ”
He was staring at me, almost like he was waiting for me to jump up and run off.
“I know that things happen sometimes that are… unexpected. You can tell me anything, and I won’t judge you or think you’re crazy. Sometimes the natural world is more mystical than people give it credit for.”
I rubbed his feet lightly, and I wondered if now would be a good time to tell him about his true nature.
“I don’t really believe in any of Toby’s stuff, you know? Not to be offensive, because I know you’re, like, Wiccan or a witch or whatever,” he rushed to add. “But that’s different. I’m sure you’re not out there casting magical spells or anything.” He chuckled lightly.
Okay, so clearly not the time to tell him he was actually the grim reaper and a ferryman. I doubted he would believe me if I did.
“I’m not offended,” I told him. “You can tell me anything, and I won’t run off. I promise.”
“People die around me all the time. I mean, it’s just because I’m a nurse and an EMT, but I’m starting to wonder if I have really bad luck,” he said.
It seemed off topic, but Toby and Josh had talked about some of his more disastrous dates. They said most people were scared off by Sebbie’s job.
If they only knew.
I simply smiled at him. “Trust me, I’m really not bothered by death at all. I’m quite comfortable with everything about it.”
That was probably an understatement, since I killed hellbound souls on a regular basis, but I thought we could ease into that.
There was a lot that we needed to ease into, but I was happy to be sitting here with Sebbie, his feet held in my lap, his eyes focused on my face.
We could take things as slow as he needed to, despite what the man in the black suit had said.
I was here. I would protect him. Even if I had to protect him from himself.