Chapter 17
“Here.” Ash plopped a bag of warm bulz in my hand. The scent of ham and cheese grilled inside the polenta had my dweller clawing at the surface, desperate for protein. “Eat. I can hear your stomach from here.” He winked.
While Ash waited for the rest of our order, I attacked the food, scarfing down several at a time. My tongue barely tasted the delicious flavors before I shoved another one in my mouth, forgoing all etiquette and manners.
Mid-bite, a hum crawled up the back of my neck, tugging in my chest, slowing my chewing as my attention went to the large square. I knew the sensation better than my own heartbeat, but my brain did not want to accept it.
No. It can’t be .
Swallowing, I struggled to get the polenta down my throat, my pulse rising in my ears, my gaze darting around, scanning every face.
He can’t be here.
“What’s wrong?” Ash stood in front of me, holding two coffees, his attention darting out, trying to find what was upsetting me.
“Nothing.” I turned back to him, putting a smile on my face.
“You know that won’t work on me,” he replied. “You can lie to everyone else, but not me. I feel you, little beak.”
“It’s just—”
Raven?
It was barely a whisper in my mind, but it sounded like a shout, whipping my head to the side. Everything blurred around me except the lone figure far across the square, which was sharp, the black of his cloak vivid against the snowy ground.
The bag of bulz slipped from my fingers, dropping onto the cobbled ground, a harsh inhale piercing the back of my throat.
“What?” Ash went into defense mode. “What is it?”
The hooded form lifted his head, his identical eyes landing on mine across the distance, locating each other as if we were magnets.
He was here. He found me.
My twin.
“Rook…” I whispered his name, knowing he would hear me when no others could. The familiarity of him, the feeling of being whole, made my eyes tear up.
Rook and I were close, but we never had that deep twin thing—probably because I was messed up—though we still shared more than I did with anyone else. In proximity to each other, he was the only one I could sort of link to, unlike the rest of the dark dwellers, who could all communicate with each other through a network without talking out loud.
I didn’t have to hear or feel him to sense his anger, his confusion… his hurt. But none of it mattered in the moment. My heart let out a small cry and I took off running toward Rook.
“Raven?” I heard Ash call me, but I didn’t stop, my brother jogging for me too. He was such a mix of mom and dad. Dark hair, green eyes, and the stature of our father, but he had mom’s fine bones and high cheeks. He was a blend of rugged and refined prince, and he could flip the switch on either in a blink. He was just as comfortable in a tux, shmoozing with elites, as he was in jeans hunting with our uncles. Charming, funny, and slightly arrogant, my brother had been fawned over his whole life by girls and guys alike.
“Roo,” I muttered the pet name I gave him when I was a baby, his arms wrapping around me, his tall build towering over me, lifting me off the ground.
“Ravy.” His voice croaked, pulling me in tight, squeezing me with a heavy exhale. “You’re all right,” he whispered over and over, like he needed to reassure himself. “You’re alive.”
“I’m sorry,” I hiccupped, my guard coming down with my brother, my heart realizing how homesick I was for my family. “I’m so sorry.”
My apology triggered him. Pulling back, he dropped me back down, his gaze rolling over me, his lids narrowing.
“What the actual fuck, Raven?” His head wagged, anger washing out the worry now that he knew I was okay. “We have been losing our minds thinking you were kidnapped or killed! You have mom and dad so sick with worry. She hasn’t slept in a month!” His voice rose. “She is having episodes again, thinking she sees you running for your life! That bull-like monsters are holding you hostage!”
Mom was a powerful seer Druid and occasionally would have dreams of the future, outcomes that could possibly happen. They usually struck when she was stressed or something horrible was about to happen. When she got them, it took her a while to get out of them. Dad was the only one who could bring her back and settle her. Their bond and love were something I always wished to have. I thought I did with Wyatt, but now I see I was forcing it to be that when it never was.
“I’m so sorry.” I swallowed. Guilt over what I had been putting everyone through finally hit me.
“Sorry? Are you kidding me? Sorry is not enough.” He threw out his hands. “What the hell happened? We got intel about Reid being killed and you possibly being taken! But Uncle Lars and mom never received any ransom messages. I’ve been out searching for you this whole time!” He peered around, seeing I was perfectly free and didn’t even have the cuff on my arm. “Why didn’t you contact anyone… call me?” He motioned to himself. “ Me of all people, Rav.”
“I know. I should have—”
“But you didn’t!”
“Hey.” Ash’s deep voice cut between us, stepping close to me, his head scanning around. “This is not the place for this.”
“Who the hell are you?” Rook’s attention snapped to Ash, a flash of red flickering in Rook’s eyes, his chest puffing at the intruder.
“Rook.” I said his name in warning. Rook’s eyes snapped back to mine, then darted between me and Ash, taking in the way his body touched mine, his nearness, reading me like no one else could. “This is Ash. Ash, this is my brother Rook.”
“Seriously, Rav?” Rook nose wrinkled, his forehead furrowing, his expression reminding me so much of dad when he was furious. His anger and disappointment curled his lip, and I knew what he smelled on me. Sex.
“I can’t believe you…” He wagged his head. “Here we’ve all been worried sick. Uncle Lars and mom have spies scouring the earth. Dad, Uncle Eli, and Aunt Ember are out searching. Wyatt has been jumping every place we could think of around Switzerland to find a shred of where you might have gone, and here you are—” He motioned to Ash. “In Romania, the most dangerous country to be in right now… getting laid?”
“Hey. Enough.” Ash stepped between us, his shoulders rolling back. Rook’s eyes flashed red, his teeth snapping as he silently stepped into Ash. Ash was still about an inch taller, but my brother could shift into a dweller on a dime, slaughter the entire piazza in minutes.
“You do not get to tell me what is enough. She is my sister. Who the fuck are you?”
“Rook. Stop.” I wiggled between them, pushing them both back. “Ash, can you give us a moment?” My eyes pleaded with him.
“I don’t think—”
“Please. I just need a moment.”
Ash jaw clenched, but he nodded, “I’ll get you something more to eat,” he mumbled, not happy to leave me, but strolled off for the food wagon.
“Rook.” I faced my brother.
“Who the hell is that?” He jerked his arm toward Ash’s retreating figure. “He’s acting all possessive, like he needs to protect you from me?”
“No, he’s just trying to keep me safe, period, which isn’t easy to do.”
“Don’t I know it.” Rook folded his arms.
“I know you are mad at me. You have every right to be, but this is not the place to discuss it.” I glanced around at the people milling about the plaza. Any of them could be a spy, and we were bringing too much attention to ourselves. Even hooded, it wouldn’t be long before someone spotted the prince and princess of the Unified Nations right in front of them. “I have a lot to tell you. You don’t know everything. The reasons I ran off. Why I couldn’t contact you.”
Hurt twitched Rook’s cheek. I knew I was such a soft spot for him, someone he grew up wanting to protect, to shield from the world, afraid the press or people outside our bubble would find out about me. Discover I was fucked up and wrong. A monster. It was why he always stepped up and took the lead on the royal duties, pulling focus to him. He loved it, but he also did it to keep the press from looking too hard at me.
“Rook.” I took his hand in mine, peering up at him. “I am so sorry. And I swear I will tell you everything, but not here, okay? It’s too dangerous.”
He huffed, but dipped his head. “You are such a pain in the ass.”
“You too, little brother.”
“Three minutes, Ravy… by three fucking minutes.” It was a point of contention our whole lives and I loved teasing him about it.
Starting to turn toward Ash to get his attention, I paused. “ How did you find me, anyway?”
“Oh—” Rook glanced over his shoulder, right as someone stepped up beside him.
My world stopped.
“Me.” My body went still as a blonde moved in next to him, her smile curving up her face. “So good to see you, Raven. We’ve been so worried about you since you disappeared. Since the night we were attacked, and I lost you.”
Rook nodded to her. “Eve’s been a real help—”
“Get the fuck away from him.” My teeth gnashed together, and I grabbed for my brother’s arm.
“Missed you too.” Eve tilted her head, her smile turning more malicious.
“Raven, what the hell?” He stumbled as I yanked him closer to me, keeping Eve in my sight, but at the same time scouring the plaza for Nikolay.
“You can’t trust her, Rook. She’s one of them.”
“One of who? What are you talking about? This is Eve.” He shook his head in confusion, pulling away, almost madder at me. Because this was the Eve he knew as my bodyguard, someone who had been in our lives since we were twelve. A friend. Someone we trusted.
I was stupid to think she wouldn’t have the gumption to go straight back to them and play the worried bodyguard, using my brother to get close to me. To find me.
“Rook, she’s not who—”
“You’ve been such a help, gorgeous.” Eve winked at Rook, cutting me off. “Not only bringing me right to her, but now I have two royals instead of one.”
“What?” He barely got the word out before Eve clutched his arm, slapping a goblin cuff over his wrists.
“Nooo!” I heard myself scream as my brother dropped to the ground, agony and shock twisting his features as the goblin metal tore magic from his body. She quickly gagged him, knowing his Druid powers needed to be spoken out loud to work.
Though my magic was not fully back, it buzzed under my skin, my fear calling it up to the surface. I lurched toward Eve.
“Don’t!” In a blink, a gun was pointed at my brother’s head, cementing my feet to the ground, stopping dead in my tracks. “I wouldn’t test me, Raven,” she sneered. “You have no idea the lengths I will go to.”
My gaze dropped to my brother. Torment and confusion swam in his eyes, the pain from the metal almost doubling him over.
He was my twin. My everything. And in one moment, she could take him from me. The notion bowed my legs, my throat closing up.
“Eve, don’t do this.” I pleaded, my frame vibrating against the need to shift to protect my family. “Please.”
“Then don’t make me.” She pushed the barrel deeper into my brother’s temple. “You come with me, and I won’t hurt him.”
Figures encroached around me, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Nikolay. The feel of being circled around like prey had a deep growl rumbling up.
“You make one move, Raven, and I will shoot him. Make no mistake. And no one here will even blink an eye.”
They wouldn’t. When you lived under a suppressive government, you learned to keep your head down to survive.
“You understand?”
I nodded my acceptance, my body shaking with savagery.
“No,” my brother muffled around his gag, his eyes going to me. I could read them so clearly, knew what he was thinking.
Fucking fight, Raven.
But I couldn’t. Not when his life was on the line.
“Just kill me.” He struggled to speak over the cloth, sneering at Eve. She knew us, knew how our powers worked.
“Aww… so sweet.” Eve rolled her eyes. “So easy to be a martyr when you have no idea what true sacrifice is. I have watched you two grow up in privilege and wealth. So fucking pampered and bubble-wrapped in your little world. You imagine yourself so strong when you wouldn’t survive a single day in the life I grew up in.”
“Is that what this is about?” I snapped. “We happened to be born into our family and had parents who loved us? Is this all about jealousy?”
“Americans.” She snorted derisively. “Your arrogance will always be your failing.” She grabbed the back of my brother’s neck, trying to pull him up. “Now move.”
It was a split second, but my twin’s gaze shifted to me, his intention clear. I opened my mouth to stop him. He had no idea of the brutal lengths Eve would go to. She was not fibbing. She would shoot him without a thought.
His elbow rammed into Eve as hard as his limited energy would allow him, stumbling her back with a cry. Her shriek was like a bell through the plaza, triggering her faithful dogs.
“Raven!” I spun toward Ash’s cry, seeing him run for me just as Nikolay and the other men came upon me, carrying goblin cuffs, their guns held high, pointed at me and Rook.
POP!
A single bullet fired, the shrill sound tearing away any reservations. My mind blurred as instinct kicked in, driving my predator. I had no say, no control. Only the need to protect my family and kill everything that stood in my way.
With a savage roar, my dweller sprang to the surface, blades shredding through my clothes. My fingers twisted into claws, my teeth gnashing together.
“Raven!” Ash yelled again, but I was no longer listening. The obscurer gurgled in the back of my throat, yet I couldn’t seem to get any spell off my tongue. Trails of blood already dripped from my eyes and nose, energy draining quickly from me. My teeth snapped out for a man in front of me, nails cutting through his chest, dropping him to the ground. His scream bounced off the cobblestones as I stepped over him.
I tried to keep my sight on Eve, her blood a craving on my tongue, but more of the mafia moved in for me, blocking both her and my brother from view.
“Muzzle her!” Nikolay barked at his men, pointing at me, pulling my attention to him. Setting him as my target to hunt. His eyes widened when he felt my attention on him, his gun pointing at me.
My eyes flared with death, pitching for him, craving his blood.
Bang! Bang!
“Raven!” Ash’s voice was the blast in my ears, ringing with warning and fear.
Warmth trailed down my legs, blood oozing from my stomach where two bullets went through.
“Noooooooo!” Ash bellowed, firing at Nikolay, the plaza turning into a war zone.
Everything hazed around me and I took a step, my body crumbling to the ground. A symphony of violence was performing in the air, a sonata of screams and bellows between the spray of bullets. Locals hid behind anything they could find nearby, children crying.
“Rook…” His name clawed up my throat, my head lifting enough to see Eve yanking him with her. He tried to fight, but his body was too weak, his vocals cut off by the gag. The men covered her as she and another man got Rook into a jeep. I tried to push myself up, but my arms collapsed under me, and the jeep peeled away. “Noooo!” The scream of terror barely made it through my lips as I tried to pull myself across the cobbles, still denying my brother was gone.
Blackness filled my mind and sight like a swamp.
“Raven?” Ash was suddenly next to me, rolling me over onto my back, his expression pinched with terror. “Stay awake, dziubu?. ” Panic reverberated in every word, his eyes wild. “You will be fine.”
I blinked, wondering why he sounded so frantic. I felt no pain.
“Rook,” I croaked out.
Ash crushed his jaw together, not answering me. He shoved his arms underneath me, picking me up.
“Stay with me, dziubu?. Please,” he muttered, more to himself. He rushed us out of the square, leaving families cowering and my victim’s dead body bleeding out, his final breath long over.
Once again, my mark stained the ground, leaving debris of violence in my wake.
?
“Stay awake, little beak.” His timbre weaved along the outskirts of my consciousness, pinning me back down, when all I wanted was to let go, fall into the peaceful darkness. “Please, Raven. Open your eyes.”
I tried, but my body wouldn’t respond, exhaustion pulling me down deeper, trying to keep me numb to the pain.
As if I floated just outside my body, I could smell the snow he had laid me in, the tang of the trees, and the sharp dampness of the earth.
It was a quiet, peaceful place to die.
“ Szar ,” Ash hissed. “Raven. Don’t you dare leave me. Wake up!”
I wanted to, for him, but I could feel nothing left inside to fight, my energy and blood almost completely drained.
“No!” he shouted.
I felt the faraway sensation of pressure on my mouth, the understanding that his lips were on mine.
In one moment, it went from peace to the most excruciating agony. A scream exploded inside my body, shaking through each bone as he shoved his magic into my body. Energy lashed through me like barbed wire, the pain robbing me of breath, ramming me back into the brutality of life. I tried to scream again, move away from the onslaught of magic burning from the inside out, but his mouth only poured more fuel into the fire, creating so much agony, I finally bowed to it, letting it inside me.
The pain was my tormentor, my solace, my anchor, dragging me back across glass, bleeding and shredded. The inferno of magic charred my vocals, melted my muscles, and seared my veins, and he only urged more into my body, reminding me I was alive. Like dripping water on your tongue when you were perishing in the desert.
Every fiber of my being reacted, consuming him in return with an unrelenting hunger.
Ash’s groan hit me like a spiked whip as his invading magic forced each bullet from my gut, reopening the wounds that had tried to heal, more blood spilling out of me in sacrifice like we were part of a ritual, calling upon the gods and goddess.
My blood trailed down my stomach, slipping between my folds, my eyes bursting open with a different cry.
The magic and blood summoned the demented gods, and they demanded our sacrifice. Magic crackled at the edges, overpowering my system and shaking me violently. It was too much.
“Ash…” I whimpered, knowing he would understand. He knew what I needed. What they required of us.
“I got you.” There was no fanfare before he pushed his cock inside me, coating himself in the blood dripping from my wound. Acting as a conduit, it sparked the magic already blistering around us. “What the fuck?” he barked, slamming inside me again. My lips parted as he thrust again into me. Pain shook my muscles, but I no longer was the victim of it.
I was the fire.
And even though I felt every lick of the flames, I welcomed it, my hips meeting his as he fucked me deeper into the snow.
“ Mroczny .” He groaned against my mouth, moving inside me, his magic settling in, scorching my soul as it branded his name inside.
“Oh gods!” The air was ripped from my lungs, bowing my back. His magic had healed me before, but not like this. This time, he was imprinting it on me, making it part of me.
My dweller and obscurer eagerly welcomed him in, feeling him go further than just the physical, penetrating so deeply that a torrent of Latin flew from my lips. Spells I couldn’t even identify.
“ASH!” I think I screamed. I didn’t know.
Using the energy he was pumping into me, I flipped him under me, riding him with everything I had, branding my magic inside him as well.
“FUCCCKK!!!” His hips bucked up, his hands clasping my hips, pumping me harder up and down his shaft, watching my blood cover his cock, seeping into his skin. Sweeping up a bit of snow, he rubbed at my clit, his other hand wrapping around my neck, pushing another surge of magic into me.
I couldn’t cry out or breathe, my vision going black as the magic finally broke into pieces, raining down on us. My body twitched and convulsed as he filled me with his cum. Knotting so tightly around him, he convulsed under me.
“Raven…” he choked out.
My muscles went limp, and I fell over him with a whimper.
“Fuck the gods,” he heaved out, his arms wrapping around me, both of us gulping for air.
“I think we just did.”
He snorted, kissing my head. We didn’t move or speak for a long time, reality melting in like the snow we laid on. An awareness filled me that something had shifted between us once more, and we shared magic… we shared blood.
His heart pounded against my ear, sounding like home. A million threads strung between us, linking us in a way that was no longer refutable.
My dark dweller growled at the idea he was anything but hers, still knotted, like she was making sure he knew who owned him.
I knew no one else was for me. Ever. Even if he walked away, I would follow, and that terrified me. I fell for a man who I thought was my forever, and he broke my heart. Ash wouldn’t just break my heart; he would demolish it. I did not like giving anyone that sort of power over me.
“Are you cold?” He rubbed my shivering back, drawing me back to the present. The cold was not why I was shaking.
Looking up, I realized he had taken us to a wooded area close to the square, with paved trails and an out-of-order gondola nearby that went up the mountain. A public park. Anyone could have walked by. Not that it would have stopped us. I seemed to forget everything when I was near Ash.
Like my brother being kidnapped.
“Fuck.” I sat up with a jolt, and Ash bit down on his lip, his cock still inside me, a grunt huffing from his nose from my abrupt movement.
Reality barreled into me without slowing down.
We just fucked in the middle of the park after my brother was taken prisoner by the Russian Mafia.
“Oh my gods,” I gritted through my teeth, trying to move off him.
Ash hissed, his cum oozing from me as I stood up, yanking up my pants. “I can’t believe this.”
“Can’t believe what?” He followed me up, pulling his own pants up.
“This!” I motioned between us. “Eve just took my brother!” I stressed. “The Russian Mafia has him and they will probably hand him over to Dimitri Kozlov! Or even worse, to Sonya! He’s being held prisoner while I’m fucking you in the woods not ten minutes later.”
“Raven.” He finished buckling his pants. “Ten minutes ago, you were bleeding out and about to die.” He nodded at my stomach, which was healing back up, the two shells on the ground in the snow. “Fucking me saved your life.”
“Seriously?” I popped an eyebrow with a huff. “You think you’re that fucking good?”
“I know I am.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me to him. “But that’s not what I am saying and you know it, little beak.”
I rolled my jaw.
“You’re scared and angry.”
“Don’t—”
“Don’t what, Raven? Act like I know you?” He let go of my arm, but only moved closer. “Because I do. You can get as mad as you want, but it doesn’t change the fact I probably know you better than anyone else.” He leaned over me. “To watch Nikolay shoot you, to not be able to get to you in time…” He rolled his hands into balls, his expression deadly. “I almost lost you. So I don’t give a fuck if you’re scared or mad. Lash out at me, but I am going nowhere. You understand me?” He waited until I nodded. “What is between us”—he motioned between us—”is fucking terrifying. It scares me too, but there is no running from it. Not ever.” He slid his hand through my hair, curling his hand around the back of my neck. “I know you felt what I did, and there is no backing away unscathed now.”
“I know.” I swallowed, my eyes watering. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever be sorry.” He exhaled, his shoulders lowering at my admission.
“What if something happens to Rook? It will be my fault.”
“Coming here was his own choice.”
“But he did it for me! And Eve must have my family still believing she’s on their side.” I wiped quickly at my eyes, anxiety dancing my feet. “I have to find him. We must track him down!”
“Raven.” He clutched my arm before I could move. “You can’t. They are long gone by now.”
“My dweller can track him.” I wasn’t as good at tracking as my family, especially since he was in a car, the goblin metal cutting him off from me, but I knew the bond to my brother would lead me to him like he’d found me.
“Raven, stop. You are still weak. We need a moment to regroup.”
“No! Every moment I waste, he gets further from me. They will hurt him, Ash.”
Ash gripped my face, trying to talk reason into me. “There is no way I’m letting you get hurt again. We need to come up with a plan.”
“This is all my fault. I can’t lose my brother…” My voice broke. “If this was your sister? What would you do to keep her alive?”
His spine went straight, and he sucked in sharply, his head bowing in acquiescence. “Okay.” He curled his fingers into my head, pulling me into him. “Then we go after him.”
“Try to keep up,” I told him. “When the beast finds the scent to lock on, nothing else matters.”
“You can’t lose me.” He cupped my cheek. “No matter where you go on this earth. I will follow.”