Chapter Six
With a raven’s hope at her side
S ebastian was hanging up yet another call as his nephew wandered into the apartment as if he were an invited guest. The building sweep had gone as he feared it would: nothing out of place, no hints of how anyone or anything could be peering in at Ravyn.
With a frown, he saw that the crack in the window had grown. Despite the witch’s assurance that it wasn’t supernatural, he found it difficult to believe. Standing on a chair, he examined it as closely as he could, which wasn’t very well with the tall ceilings. A ladder needed to be brought in; surely there was one around this place somewhere. For a second as he examined it, Bash thought he saw an eye wink into existence inside the reflection of the shatter. It was gone so quickly that he might have imagined it and for a moment, he understood Ravyn’s uncertainty in coming forward with what she thought she saw or what she might have seen.
Toby was in and out of all the apartments and seemed to know when to disappear as well as reappear. Admittedly, Bash wasn’t doing well at keeping tabs on the teen like he’d promised his sister-in-law. He’d tried to explain to her that his job meant that Toby would be on his own a lot, but she didn’t care. She wanted him away from Missouri for a while.
Sighing, Bash hoped that a half-ass male figure in his life was better than none at all, and surely better than roaming with the other half-feral teenage troublemakers in the pack. Thankfully, the other wolves on his team had semi-adopted the youth and filled in in all the ways Bash didn’t. It seemed like time and time again, life wanted to remind him that he wasn’t his brother James; that the gods had taken the wrong son.
“Dude, did Ravyn go out?” Toby lounged back in a chair, propping his feet up on the table in front of him. “You finally letting her out of this place?”
Sebastian looked at him sharply… This kid! Letting out a warning growl, he held himself back from knocking the pup’s feet to the floor. “Ms. Sinclair,” he warned, not for the first time. He deeply regretted the day Ravyn had told his nephew to make himself at home and call her Ravyn.
“Sorry, sorry.” Toby held up his free hand in apology as he removed his feet from the table. “Uncle Bash, did Ms. Sinclair go out?” His enunciation on “Ms. Sinclair” teetered on disrespectful, but Bash had learned to pick his battles.
“Ms. Sinclair is resting. And is all you drink coffee? That will stunt your growth.” Hardly; the lanky “boy” was nearly as tall as him and might even beat him by an inch or two in a few years, just as his father had before him. Sebastian wasn’t a small wolf, but James… James had seemed like a giant. His heart tightened; damn, he missed his older brother. With a flash of guilt, it was easy enough to remind himself that his loss was overshadowed by the loss that James’s mate and children had felt at his death.
“Well, you don’t keep soda at our place, so yes.”
Sebastian had bought a twelve-pack once, and it had been drunk in one day. And the food… dear gods, the food. How had his mother kept two teenage wolves fed? How had Sara kept Tobias, as well as the twins, so well fed? Just a few weeks after having Toby in his household, he’d added to the already generous amount he deposited into the family’s account. Growing pups weren’t cheap!
“Try water sometime.” Bash smiled at the appalled look that filled Toby’s face, but the boy kept quiet. Damn, he looked so much like his brother that Bash’s heart squeezed tightly and painfully when he looked at the youth. He wondered, not for the first time, if perhaps that was why Sara had sent her son to him. It had only been a few years since her mate had died, and it had to hurt looking at his replica each and every day. Despite the trouble the boy had gotten into, there were plenty of men within the pack who could keep the pup in line. His heart twinged a little as he thought of James. If anyone deserved to live a long and happy life it was James, but unfortunately the gods often called their favorites home first. If James watched them now, he surely was disappointed in the lack of parental guidance Bash had been offering his son. He could do better—and he would.
“What have you been up to?” Bash cringed at his own words, but surely it was better than the awkward quiet that so often hung above them. Next, he would be talking about the weather.
“Just talking to the guys back home. Discord.” Toby grunted, suddenly very interested in his coffee.
Something was up. But what trouble could he be getting into half a country apart from the other troublemakers? “And what are ‘the boys’ up to?” Sebastian watched him intently, noticing the rise in his heart rate and breathing.
Sighing, Toby admitted, “There’s video… of… you know.”
Video. Of course there was video. In this day and age, you couldn’t go around scaring campers and hikers without assuming they had a phone on them prepared to record any infraction, any emergency. After all the jump scares the boys had committed and rumors running wild, of course a tourist would come prepared to capture proof of Bigfoot, werewolves, or whatever.
Cringing, Bash pressed on. “How bad and who?”
Toby gulped. “Bad. We were half turned, and all of us, but especially me.”
“Do you have a copy?”
Reluctantly, Toby nodded, finally looking Bash in the eyes. “I’m really sorry, sir. I know I’ve let everyone down, especially Mom, after…”
Bash nodded and brusquely replied, “Just do better.” Coddling him wouldn’t help him, and after his father’s death, he knew how important it was to keep a low profile near the trails and campgrounds of the national park in Missouri where the wolves liked to roam. Their own land was vast enough, but something about the park called to their wolves.
“Send me the video link and I’ll have it scoured.” This much was simple enough. He couldn’t replace Toby’s father, but his job required the ability to wipe away everything, anywhere.
“You can do that?” A hopeful note entered Toby’s voice. He was still so young.
“I can do that. Next time, don’t wait to tell me, so it can be taken care of sooner,” Bash added gruffly, but he was secretly pleased that he could help his nephew. “We can fix this, but we can’t stop people from talking once they’ve seen it.”
Admittedly, the video was bad. Sebastian cringed while he watched it, making Tobias sit across from him while he did. He had some time to kill while Ravyn’s background checks were run and he had others considering possible meet-up locations, assuming the background checks were acceptable.
The accompanying article surrounding the videos were ridiculous, and Bash flinched as he read the headlines: “Strange Reports of ‘Hellhounds’ in Missouri’s Mark Twain Forest,” “Campers Stalked by Beast with Red Eyes in the Forest,” and “Sasquatch or Something More Sinister?”
Scanning the articles, he saw that they pretty much all repeated the same talking points. Hikers and campers reported strange creatures stalking them throughout the Mark Twain Forest—the same area his family had run on for a century, out of sight and, mostly, unheard miles from civilization on private acreage. Except, of course, when foolhardy teenage boys decided to prank the humans and on public land, no less. Basically, the same sort of thing that James, himself, and their friends had done at that age without the technology to capture them. Turning half wolf, standing on back legs to give a drunk local a bit of a fright wasn’t so much a problem fifty-plus years ago as it was now.
Quite the laugh. Of course, until proof in the way of a video was given. Or someone died.
The video started out dark and hazy, with excited voices in the background whispering about the screams they’d just heard. Sure enough, shortly after the video began, a blood-curdling shriek sounded, followed by the shaky recording of claw marks on a nearby tree with a whispered explanation about how the marks were too big to be a bear. Instead of running away from the shrieks, the group ran toward the sounds, fueled by adrenaline, half excited and half afraid. Humans had no sense of self-preservation, Bash thought with disgust.
Despite the jumpy video, flashes of lights and panicked voices, sure enough there was a group of three half-turned werewolves on the screen. The lighting made it difficult to discern their identities but if Toby said it was him, then it was him. Beasts bigger then bears stood upright on elongated back legs, with pointed snouts and red eyes. As expected, hair covered their appendages, long and bushy and, ending on their outstretched “arms,” claws as long as a man’s hand extended from them.
Bash didn’t watch it all; he didn’t need to. He scrolled to the comments and shares. So many shares, and that was just the single app. The comments argued whether it was Bigfoot, werewolves, or simply a fake. Others chimed in, claiming to have seen large, black doglike creatures during their overnight forays, with others retelling stories of similar sightings passed down from their grandparents.
Several commentators argued that the video was completely CGI or AI crap, pointing out their “proof” and disbelief that anyone would believe such an obviously “fake” video. Sebastian wondered how many of the comments actually came from the boys or other wolves trying to cover their literal tracks. Of course it was real, though. Unfortunately.
Bash forwarded the video, as well as instructions, to Oliver’s office. He was the muscle and Oliver’s side was the tech, but within a day or two, each and every copy of the video would be scrubbed from the Internet, including copies held on any device that at any point in time had connected to the Internet. The proof would be gone.
Of course, that wouldn’t stop the true believers, the zealots. These sorts of events brought them out into the forest in droves. They didn’t need proof to believe. Faith fueled the fanatic’s hunt.
“You need to tell your friends to hang low for a while.” A long while, he amended in his head. “I’ll be honest: we all did stupid things like this growing up. But it’s different these days.”
Toby nodded glumly. He knew he’d screwed up. He’d put himself, his siblings, his mom, and his pack all in danger.
“All traces of this video will be gone very soon.” Toby lit up a bit as Bash assured him of this. “But,” Sebastian reminded him, holding up a hand, “people don’t forget, especially the fanatics. They’ll still be out there hunting and looking for any little proof or slip-up. Times are different, and we have to rise to the challenge of them.”
This time, there was more hope in Toby’s eyes as he nodded his agreement. “Thank you, thank you. I won’t go messing around with tricks like that anymore,” he promised. “We’re such idiots. It was fun…” Toby trailed off once again, not quite able to meet Bash’s eyes.
“Until it wasn’t,” Bash finished for him. “Until you realized that this put everyone you know in danger.” It remained unsaid, but heavy between them both, that this very thing had caused the death of Toby’s father a few years ago. Federal land that should have been safe for James to roam on became too much of a temptation for overzealous monster hunters illegally hunting and trapping there. Sure, the hunters got a fine and a short length of jail time for illegally killing a wolf, but they had done much more.
With a lighter step and yet another refill of coffee, Toby took his lanky body back downstairs, probably to let his friends know of this newest development.
“You’re good with him.” Ravyn’s whisper came from directly behind him; another second and her light scent would have given her away. A fragrance almost cherry and almond, but different, tickled his nose after her words. Blue Lotus.
Bash rubbed his head, dropping his shoulders. “I try, but I should try harder. These are different times we live in, and it’s a battle between letting them find their way and protecting the crap out of them. He’s often foolish.”
“Ah, to be so young. Better than a fool, at least one can recover from foolishness. We’ve all been young and we’ve all made poor choices. Thankfully, it sounds like his are still fixable. It’s nice that he has you to guide him. Having that safety net is much better than being alone.” Ravyn silently moved farther into the room. “What happened to the boy’s father, if I may inquire?”
Tilting his head, Bash considered his words, but he still spoke brashly. “Dead. My brother is dead. Illegally killed by hunters, as if it should ever be legal to hunt down a creature that isn’t bothering anyone or anything deep in the forest with no one to help him. Tobias has been hanging out with a few other boys—good boys, sure—but when they’re together, their choices are less than ideal. His mom figured some time away with a good role model might help him out.” Sarcasm laced his voice. What sort of role model had he been? Bury yourself in work? Hide your true feelings?
Looking back at her, he observed, “You didn’t rest long.” The reports said she couldn’t function for most of the daylight hours, but after working closely alongside her for months, he knew that wasn’t true. For whatever reason, she didn’t portray her true strength; yet another secret she held close. Others might not notice, but he did. He noticed everything about her.
Letting out a low laugh, she said, “You know I wasn’t really resting, and thank you for that. But it has been a few hours. You’ve been busy, I assume,” she added as she ran a hand along the back of the sofa across from him. “I owe you an apology for my harshness earlier.”
Ravyn met his eyes and pressed on even as he shook his head no. “I do, and I apologize. You’re only doing what you’re supposed to do, what you’re paid to do. My anger isn’t at you, it’s at myself.” Sighing, she continued, “I’d like to imagine that I’m all powerful, omnipotent, but these last few months have shown how vulnerable I can be and it makes me… it makes me angry and ashamed to feel any sort of helplessness.”
Bash could understand that, but being a part of a pack meant not being alone. “There is nothing that says you have to face everything alone. A pack is stronger together,” he replied gruffly as his wolf pushed forward, frustrated by the weakness of her words.
“But I’m not in a pack,” Ravyn whispered as she closed the distance between the two of them. Laying a cool hand on his chest that he could feel even through his thick tee, she looked up at him, breaking his heart with the seriousness of her words.
His wolf howled inside his head and before Sebastian could even realize what he was doing, he closed the distance between his mouth and hers. Her hand gripped his shirt and pulled him toward her at the same time. He crushed his lips against hers while his hands wrapped around her waist.
Ravyn’s lips were at first immobile, but they soon relaxed against his as she leaned her entire body against him. He might have instigated the kiss, but she immediately took control and he was helpless to do anything but try to keep up.
She nipped his lip hard enough that he could feel the blood swell before she licked it clean with a soft velvet tongue. Ravyn pulled back to examine him. His lower extremities swelled at the sight of her licking her own swollen lips and her dilated eyes. His wolf remained strangely quiet, the first time in days whenever they were around Ravyn.
“Took you long enough,” drawled Ravyn, looking up at him with heavy eyes that promised the world. But even as he reached back for her, she stepped back, smoothly sidestepping his reaching arms. “You need to be sure. I won’t have you looking at me with sad, guilty puppy dog eyes, after.”
She swished from the room so quickly that he could almost make himself believe he’d imagined the encounter. Only the soft, exotic scent of blue lotus proved that she’d been in his arms; well, that and his own frustrations.
Still, Bash found a half-dazed smile crossing his face. Even if it were a mistake… But it wasn’t a mistake.