Chapter 10 – RAVEN
Chapter
Ten
RAVEN
" A re we there yet?" I drawl, propping my boots up on the console of Geo's beat-up SUV.
The leather of my shoes is scuffed and worn, much like the rest of me after the past week.
I crunch down on another stale cracker I stole from a vending machine at the last gas station we stopped at, savoring the salt on my tongue.
It's not exactly gourmet cuisine, but it's something to focus on besides the gnawing ache in my chest.
Geo's knuckles whiten on the steering wheel and his eye—the one not hidden beneath that patch that wasn't there the last time I saw him—narrows. "I swear to all that's unholy, Raven, if you ask me that one more time, I'll stop this car and tie you to the roof."
"Don't tempt me," I scoff. "It's been months since anyone's tied me up. I'm starting to feel neglected."
Geo grimaces, his gaze fixed firmly on the dusty road ahead. "You're impossible."
"So I've been told," I quip, but my heart's not really in it.
My mind keeps drifting back to her . Those violet eyes fluttering open briefly before they rolled back into her head as those mongrels carried her off. I shake my head, trying to focus on the task at hand. Sustaining my weakening body.
"So, this dream girl of yours," Geo resumes after a few minutes. Usually, I'm the one filling the silence. He must be nervous about meeting the Ghosts. "She know about your little… problem?"
"You're making it sound like I can't get a fucking erection," I snap.
"More like you've had one so long it's melted your common sense."
I flip him off.
He has a point, though. Not about the erection, but my… issues. They're not exactly common for an alpha, and there's a chance she'll reject me outright when she finds out just how fucked in the head I am, but it doesn't matter.
Okay, so it matters and I'll probably throw myself in a well, but at least she'll be away from those grungy barbarians.
"How much longer?" I ask, suddenly in a mood as sour as the irradiated sky.
"Soon," Geo grunts. "You sure this is worth it? It'll be five against one."
I can't help but scoff. "No, it won't. It'll be two on two."
Geo's brow furrows, confusion etched across his weathered features. "How the hell do you know that?"
His features are more weathered now with that damn eye patch, but I know if I ask him about it, he'll be sulking the rest of the trip. He likes to pretend he doesn't care about that kind of thing, but he does. He likes to pretend he doesn't care about a lot of things.
I'm holding my tongue on mentioning the flecks of gray hair he's getting around his temples and in his short beard, too.
Probably thinks it isn't obvious now that he's got rakish post- apocalyptic rogue hair.
Which just so happens to be styled so a few strands "accidentally" come down over his eye patch.
Yep. He cares.
I sigh, tossing the empty cracker package out the window.
A small act of rebellion against a world that's already come to an end.
"It's simple, really. Valek's coming, obviously.
He's an escaped serial killer, so they're certainly not sending him alone.
That soldier—Thane, was it?—will insist on keeping an eye on him.
You can tell from his body language he trusts him the least."
"And the others?" Geo presses, his tone wary.
I roll my eyes. "Please. They wouldn't risk bringing that scrappy little redhead into the presence of Outer Reaches deviants unnecessarily.
The giant one that growls all the time is surgically grafted to her like a shadow, so he's not going anywhere.
I doubt the others would leave her alone with him , either. "
"Which leaves..."
"The prince and the cute one," I finish. "And they'll want to stick together. One glance back at the Alpha's Alpha and I knew those two were fucking."
Geo does a double-take, swerving a bit. "Wait, which one's the 'cute one'?"
"Whiskey, of course," I reply. "Abs are overrated."
Geo just curls his lip back and focuses on the road. Guess he isn’t wild about finding out he’s more of my type than he previously thought.
I gave up on trying to get into his pants eons ago, and if I'm being honest, the fact that I never could makes him more charming.
Not many people in this world who haven't wanted to use me for something, and Geo is one of them.
He's straight as an arrow—genuinely straight, not the type that's possible to bend with enough incentive. Monetary or otherwise.
But he's fun to fluster. I like when the vein pops out in his forehead because he's pissed.
Reminds me of…
No one.
"You got all that from a ten-minute showdown?" Geo asks, doubt coloring his gruff voice.
I shrug, turning to look out the window at the barren landscape rushing by. "You don't grow up in a brothel without learning how to read people."
Geo falls into an awkward silence, his eye fixed on the road ahead. I can practically see the gears turning in that thick skull of his. Finally, he clears his throat. "How old were you when Nikolai pulled you out of that shithole, anyway?"
Ah, there it is. I can't help the smirk that tugs at my lips. "Your fatherly concern is showing, Daddy."
He mutters something that sounds suspiciously like "forget I asked" and grips the steering wheel tighter. I turn back to the window, watching the desolate landscape blur past. The silence stretches between us, and eventually, it's more awkward than the unspoken words.
"Nineteen," I murmur after a moment, surprising myself with the admission.
I feel Geo's gaze on me, searching for something. What, I'm not sure. Pity, maybe? I've never been that good at reading him . It's part of his charm.
"That's rough," he finally grunts, his knuckles white on the wheel. "Hope he burned that place to the ground."
A small smile plays at my lips as I toy with the necklace hidden beneath my shirt. The bronzed remnants of the first match. "We did."
The memory washes over me, still vivid and visceral. The stench of smoke and burning flesh, the heat of the flames licking at my skin, Nikolai's hand on my shoulder as we watched it all crumble to ash.
It was the first time I felt truly alive.
Truly free.
It's the only gift he ever gave me, besides a sawed-off shotgun and a lifetime of trust issues. I wonder, briefly, if he kept the gift I gave him. The thought sends a familiar ache through my chest, and I push it away. No use dwelling on the past.
Not when I have a brand new obsession to crush the remnants of my soul out of existence.
"That's it," Geo announces, pulling me from my thoughts.
I look up, blinking away the phantom smell of smoke. We're approaching a small settlement, and I have to do a double-take. It's nowhere near shitty enough to be in the Outer Reaches. The buildings are rudimentary but nice , like they've been freshly painted over and renovated.
There's no fucking way a place like this has been around more than a week without getting gutted by raiders and mercs.
"You weren't kidding about their spa towns," I mutter as we pull to a stop. It has Surhiira written all over it. "How did they even have time to do all this?"
Geo kills the engine and steps out, stretching his massive frame. "'New Reinmich' is just a proxy state for Surhiira now," he says with a grimace. "Of course, they'll be trying to close the gap. Less space for rats like us to scurry around in."
He's probably right, but I'm not worried. My habitat has been burned down before, and I survived.
I always do.
I slide out of the SUV, my boots kicking up dust as they hit the ground. The air here smells different. Cleaner. It sets my teeth on edge. I prefer being the gilding on a dirt pile, not the scum at the bottom of a castle.
"So, where's this meeting supposed to go down?
" I ask, scanning the area for potential threats.
The Surhiiran guards sprinkled around the quiet streets aren't wearing their usual finery, but they stick out like a sore thumb.
Anyone who showers more than once a week in the Outer Reaches has a way of doing that.
Geo jerks his head toward a nondescript building at the edge of town. "There. Neutral ground, or so they say."
I snort. "Neutral. Right. And I'm a virgin goddess."
"You're about as far from a virgin or a goddess as it gets," Geo mutters, but there's no real heat behind it.
We make our way toward the building, and I can't shake the feeling that we're being watched. The fact that I can't see who's watching us has me even more on edge. My hand drifts to the revolver at my hip, a comforting weight against my thigh.
"You sure about this?" Geo asks as we approach the door. "Last chance to back out."
I think of violet eyes and hair like moonlight.
Of a scent that haunts my dreams.
"I'm sure."
Geo sighs, reaching for the door handle. "Your funeral."
Possibly his, too. But he's here, for all his protests.
Probably just for the skull.
The door swings open, and we step into the dim interior. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when they do, I see them.
Valek, lounging against the far wall like a coiled snake ready to strike.
Instantly recognizable even though he's wearing a white scarf with little silver patterns on it.
And beside him, looking as out of place as a rose in a garbage dump, is the big surly one with a stick wedged permanently up his ass.
Thane. He's even wearing a white Surhiiran military jacket even though I know for a fact they all recently retired.
Maybe they gave him an honorary position to keep him occupied.
Like when Geo tried to start an employee of the month program at the club.
That shit went south quick. Literally, considering one of the girls spiked the competition's drinks with laxatives.
Good times. I almost miss that place.
I glance around casually, but there's no sign of the others. Looks like I was right after all.
"Son of a bitch," Geo mutters.