Chapter 20 Raven
Raven
Alaric made my head hurt, a bit like the ice cream I’d scarfed down in the pizzeria. One minute he acted all nice, and the next, his mood flipped and he was back to being Alar-dick.
I hated it.
The snow soaked through my boots, turning my feet into ice blocks. The coat Maverick bought me before we left college kept the worst of the cold at bay, but it didn’t stop the wind from blowing freezing ice flakes into my face.
The storm currently raging above us was Alaric and his stupid magic. He needed his face shoved into a snowdrift. Maybe then he’d stop acting like a toddler. Honestly, it was pathetic.
I understood he didn’t want or need me as his mate. I was a mediocre witch at best, one with serious control issues, but did he have to be so mean about it? No!
And as for the incubus, well, he could go fuck a cactus for all I cared. He’d left me without a second thought after sealing the mate bond without my permission, and it stung.
I still didn’t understand how it had even happened. Dreams weren’t supposed to be real.
Hang on…
When the vampire drank my blood that time while I was dreaming of him, did that really happen?
I shivered at the memory of how pleasurable it had been when his fangs pierced my skin. Perhaps I had a pain kink. It was the only explanation.
But I wasn’t thinking about that now. I had more immediate issues to worry about. Namely, the fact Alaric was behaving like a complete tool.
“Witch!” The human’s scream shocked me to the core, making me stumble. When I turned, a human couple stood sheltering in a doorway staring at me. Or more accurately, staring at the magical embers floating down around me like colorful fireflies.
Alaric spun around and took in the scene. His jaw tightened in irritation as he stormed back to grab me. The human woman pulled out a small handgun from her purse and pointed at me.
Adam had warned me many times that humans feared what they didn’t understand.
Humans tolerated witches, shifters, and other supernatural creatures as long as they didn’t attract too much attention or act differently. The minute we did something that made our otherness stand out, we became targets.
Laws were in place to protect both sides from antagonistic douches, but this human clearly hadn’t got the memo.
“Evil walks among us!” The woman’s aura turned a nasty shade of murky green. Her partner glanced nervously at her and then at me, probably waiting for me to retaliate. But I raised my hands in a show of good faith.
“I’m not evil, just pissed off.” I figured humor might defuse the situation, but the woman didn’t smile or even lower her gun.
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” The woman’s eyes lit up with religious fervor. She bared her teeth at me before her finger squeezed the trigger and the gun discharged.
Magic blasted over me as the woman flew sideways, ending face down in a snowdrift. I felt a sharp pain in my left bicep, and when I looked down, the sleeve of my jacket bloomed scarlet.
Blood pooled at my feet.
Kenji appeared in front of me, his nose twitching.
“It takes real skill to find trouble in a town like this,” he remarked.
“The woman doesn’t like witches,” I choked out before slumping to my knees and falling sideways. Cold, wet snow cooled my burning cheeks while I rested.
Being shot sucked. A nap might help. Maybe if I closed my eyes for a few minutes, I’d feel better.
Kenji licked my face, making me grimace. The little shit had probably been licking his butt a few minutes ago.
“Don’t fall asleep, witch. It’s only a flesh wound.”
“I have her.” Zane’s voice startled me before the world disappeared and we arrived in the bedroom at the inn. I heard him say something to Alaric, and then darkness swallowed me whole.
Shouting dragged me back. Something hit the wall and smashed, and I winced. My head throbbed, and when I tried to move, my arm hurt. Had I slipped and fallen on ice?
“I told you to protect her!” Maverick’s angry yell hurt my head. Thunder crashed outside the window, causing the glass to rattle in its frame. A second later, a flash of lightning flared so bright it nearly blinded me.
Something told me Alaric’s storm had escalated.
A furry head nudged my hand. I unglued my eyelids to see Kenji staring at me. For once, there was no snark.
“Why are they shouting at each other?”
“Because they lack emotional intelligence.”
I huffed. Getting a straight answer from my familiar was like expecting a friendly hello from Demelza.
Kenji shuffled up the bed and squeezed his way under my good arm. The arm that didn’t hurt.
“The bear’s mad because the mage didn’t keep you safe, and he’s also mad that the incubus is being a dick. But he’s less mad about that because the incubus blinked you away from an active crime scene.”
“Crime scene?” Stars, did I burn someone to a crisp?
“The human who shot you got zapped by lightning that may or may not have been magical in origin. Her companion too. So now that you’re awake, we need to leave before the cops start questioning us.”
“Someone shot me?”
I sifted through my memories and found nothing but a black hole. The last thing I recalled was eating ice cream at the pizzeria. There was more. I knew it. But for now, the memories were just out of reach. Nebulous, like tendrils of mist floating across the pasture in the hour before dawn.
“Yeah. But the mage removed the bullet and put you to sleep to finish the healing process. Unfortunately, he hadn’t quite finished when the bear returned.”
I pulled Kenji closer, needing comfort and his body heat because I couldn’t stop shivering, despite the thick blanket covering me.
My emotions must have broadcast around the room because Maverick stopped his verbal assault on Alaric and turned to check on me. I peeked at him through my lashes, and his face softened.
“Little mate. How are you feeling?”
When I tried to sit up, my arm ached with phantom pain, even though there was no sign of injury.
“How do you think she’s feeling?” Alaric muttered. “She got shot.”
“Thanks to your negligence!” Maverick’s fingernails lengthened into claws as his shoulders bulged.
Stars. If I didn’t do something, Alaric would lose his shit and the hotel would burn down in a mysterious lightning strike, which would draw even more unwanted attention to us.
“I’m fine,” I said brightly. “Just tired. What time is it anyway?”
“Dawn. We need to leave.” Maverick moved around the bed and sat down next to me. He took my hand in his giant paw and squeezed. “Let’s get you dressed, and then we’ll set off.”
Alaric rolled his eyes. He probably thought Maverick’s need to take care of me was pathetic, but I ignored him and scanned the room.
“Where are Zane and Kai?” The bond told me Zane was nearby, but I had no way of telling where Kai was.
He’d barely interacted with any of us since we left campus, so it was possible he’d gone his own way.
In one more day, we’d reach the coast, and from there he was close to his homeland.
“Kai’s fetching his stuff, and Zane went to get rid of the humans.”
“Are the humans… dead?”
“Yep.” Maverick threw the mage a look that promised pain later.
“Oh.” I tried not to care but failed miserably. The thought of being linked to yet another murder made me deeply uncomfortable. I wasn’t a criminal. Or murderous. Just a witch who liked pancakes and silly human movies.
“Little mate, it’s not your fault,” my bear said, reading my mind. “The humans tried to kill you. If I’d been there, my bear would have torn them limb from limb, so at least we were spared a bloodbath. Not that electrocuting a human is much better in terms of destroying the evidence.”
“All done,” Zane announced when he blinked into sight, his shoulders covered in snow and his hands black. Black? I tried to sit up again and was promptly pulled into Maverick’s arms.
“Why are your hands black?” I asked the incubus.
“From burning the corpses.”
“Clean up so we can get going.” Zane nodded and disappeared into the bathroom while I tried not to vomit over the pink patchwork bedspread.
Another day. Another car ride.
This time, Kai rode shotgun while I sat sandwiched between Zane and the grumpy mage with Kenji on my lap. He’d fallen asleep the minute we left town.
My memories from last night still hadn’t returned, and I wondered whether Alaric had messed with them, perhaps to hide something mean he’d said or done. From what I could recall, he’d been unhappy about Maverick leaving me with him while he went to deal with a feral shifter.
“Why did the human shoot me?” I asked eventually. That was the part that made no sense. The weather had cleared early this morning and the mountain pass remained open for now. All being well, we’d cross the summit in the next hour.
“She realized you were a witch and panicked.”
I frowned. “How? Did my magic go haywire again?” Most humans couldn’t tell the difference between magicals and humans unless they used magic or shifted. That was why many humans didn’t trust us. They hated that some magicals deliberately concealed their true nature.
Social media called it cloaking or stealthing, and there were loads of videos and posts about humans getting stealthed by horny shifters on a full moon and then waking up to find a wolf in their bed.
“Yeah. Your magic exploded.”
“But why? It never does that unless someone upsets or threatens me.”
Alaric shrugged. “The human said some shit.”
“The mage probably upset you,” Zane said. “He has form for that.”
If only I could remember.
“He’s not the only one,” I replied while stroking Kenji’s soft fur.
When we pulled up outside a rustic cabin, I blinked in surprise. Was this Maverick’s place?
“It belongs to a friend,” my bear said while I stood shivering in the frigid wind blowing down the mountain. Thick snow had begun to fall once again, and if it carried on like this, we’d be snowed in for sure.
Kai stood knee-deep in the snow, wearing nothing but a tee and some jeans, his jacket in one hand and a bag in the other. Snow clung to his braids and dusted his shoulders. He’d been quiet for most of the trip, but I’d caught him watching me a few times.
“Are you not cold?”
He half smiled. “No. I don’t really feel the cold. If I did, I’d struggle to survive underwater in the ocean.”
Ugh, I was so stupid at times. I knew this.
“You look cold, though. Here, have my jacket.” He wrapped his coat around me. It smelled of brine and frost. Fresh and intoxicating.
Alaric rolled his eyes at Kai’s chivalrous display and stomped off toward the cabin. Kai saw my shoulders slump and frowned.
“He does care, even if he refuses to admit it,” he told me.
“Really? I’m having a hard time believing that.” Kenji did his usual trick of rolling in the snow before shaking ice crystals from his thick coat. I watched as he trotted over to the deck and peed on a support post.
“Gotta keep the local wildlife away,” he explained.
“Pretty sure they’ll be more terrified of a bear shifter than you, dude.”
He huffed indignantly before throwing me some side-eye. “You have no idea what I’m capable of!”
“No, because you refuse to tell me!”
When I focused on Kai again, he stared between me and Kenji and then shook his head.
“Sorry, that was rude. Kenji was being annoying in my head.”
“It’s fine. You don’t need to talk to me.” Wait…what? Why would he think that?
“Of course I do! You’re part of the fun crew. I like you, Kai!”
He seemed surprised that I liked him. Zane rolled his eyes.
“She more than likes you, fish boy.”
Kai flushed with embarrassment, and I spun to face Zane, who stood smirking, his hands tucked in his jeans’ pockets.
“Don’t be a dick, Zane. At least Kai isn’t emotionally stunted!”
Zane’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“We shared a weird sex dream last night, and you’ve ignored me ever since!” My voice cracked, and I fought back tears. Kai looked even more embarrassed now, although I wasn’t sure why. He’d not been naked in my dream. At least I didn’t think so.
“I…” For once, Zane didn’t try to flirt his way out of my bad books or confuse me with lust magic. I couldn’t read his emotions because my shield remained locked in place, but his aura dimmed.
Before I could launch another salvo, he grabbed my arm and blinked us away from the cabin.