Raven Chapter 28 Antique Trauma and New Sounds 349 #2
Forrest holds the far end of the massive sectional like a grim king on his throne.
He’s also the only one who still looks like he’s attending a crisis meeting.
Ki-ki and Dre, on the other hand, are giving off the exact opposite vibes as they sit in the corner of the L-shaped couch.
They’re leaning in and deep in what looks like a conspiracy by the whispering, furtive glances, and wild gesturing.
Em has, per usual, claimed a large armchair in the reading nook, a leather-bound notebook open on his knee, his gaze as sharp and calculating as ever.
Anik stands by the fireplace, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes track my entrance with a focus so intense it feels physical.
There’s no anger or regret, but there is a whole bucket full of a simmering, possessive hunger that makes my skin tingle.
He looks like a man who's just marked his territory and is admiring the view.
I give him ten more minutes before he's mentally pinning me down.
I really want him to do just that. I also want him to use his words and just tell me how he feels, but I’m probably more likely to climb Everest than get him to admit his feelings.
Well then, I have a new rule. He can take that big, delicious bite once he’s willing to actually confide in me what his feelings for me are , not just his duties. No feelings, no life-long unbreakable commitment. Seems fair.
Decision made, I do a little nod to myself before I clock the empty loveseat that is off to the left of the entrance—directly in the line of sight of everyone.
It’s also where Selena is dragging me to apparently.
She stops at the console table behind the little couch where the champagne is chilling in a bucket of ice.
Pulling it out, she smiles widely, “Who’s ready to celebrate?”
I flinch a little as she uses her thumbs to push a round, rubbery, wood looking thing out of the end of the bottle with a loud pop.
She starts pouring the bubbly looking liquid, and I grab the cork quickly and give it a little squeeze.
The texture is weird and I love it. It’s like a wood sponge, and I’m shocked it keeps anything in a bottle without liquid escaping.
When Selena shoves the glass in my face, I drop the cork and grab it without question.
I take a sip. Sweet, bubbly, like sunshine in a glass.
If sunshine had a yacht and was also champagne.
I eye my glass before downing it quickly and, as Selena brings Kieran and Miriam a glass, I reach back and snatch it from the ice bucket, cradling it protectively in my arms.
"Mine," I say, cradling it like a dragon with her first piece of gold. Who needs to be a demi-god when you can hoard happiness in a bottle? Wait. That sounds like something an alcoholic would say.
I scoff. I'm not an alcoholic. I'm just… aggressively appreciative of quality beverages.
When I finally look up, I see everyone grinning at me except for Forrest, who is doing his classic nose pinching move and groaning.
“Who is taking responsibility for taking care of her tomorrow?” He sighs, then explains, “If you don’t want me to take that bottle from her, then someone needs to take responsibility.”
Dre, the saint he is, raises his hand immediately. “I’m always willing to nurse a patient back to health,” he says, giving me a wink.
I smile at him and blow him a kiss, then take a long swig straight from the bottle. This thing houses pure happiness. I'm sure of it.
I should pace myself. I can totally do that.
Maybe.
Fuck it. One more sip.
Someone mentions food, and my focus snaps to them like a starving dog hearing a can opener.
“So what is your favorite food then, Raven?” Miriam asks.
I sigh and stare off dreamily, “Chocolate. Definitely chocolate. It was first on my list, you know.”
I smile proudly, still staring off into space as I picture a giant piece of chocolate cake floating right in front of me. It looks delicious. Maybe I can bribe Miriam into making me some while we're here? Surely she can't be as into a well-rounded diet as her son.
My eyes flick to said son before skimming over the rest of them as my mind wanders to other things I want to check off my list. A part of me feels like all of us have been stacking up like dominoes since I popped into their lives, and now that Anik has fallen, the rest are not far behind.
Which is good because I fell so long ago, I don’t even know what it feels like to be upright anymore. The toughest nut to crack is going to be Forrest for sure, but I can even feel him softening.
No need to soften him up completely though . I think to myself as I picture him using his bossy voice while I’m naked and, preferably, tied to a bed or something.
The thought makes me start to pull up list items and start compiling them from most likely to least likely.
Most likely? Getting hunted by my Ani-bear and absolutely ravaged in the best way possible.
Second most likely? I’d be tempted to put money on Ki-ki or Dre, but the way Em looks at me is way too intense for him to just sit back and wait any longer than he has to. Or that would be my assumption.
Unless he’s into watching. I gasp a little, my mind taking off with the thought and running with it.
I don’t even hear Miriam asking me a question through the barrage of dirty images flashing through my mind, but eventually, I’m able to pull myself out of the fantasy and back to earth.
“What?” I ask her without an ounce of shame. I don’t think it’s possible to feel shame where the guys are involved, especially if they also happen to be naked.
“I was just asking about this list that you mentioned,” She reminds me with a smile.
“Oh yeah, I have a whole lot of great ideas on that list.” I hear Kieran choke in the background, but ignore it for now, choosing to keep eye contact with Miriam.
Pointing to Anik first, I explain, “Hunted through a forest, obviously.” I roll my eyes because that one really should be self explanatory.
Then my finger moves to Forrest, who’s the next closest: “Up against a wall, any wall, and the bossy voice is definitely invited to the party.” Next is Kieran.
“My instincts are screaming marathon session behind a locked door or some exhibitionism.” I pause for a second when my finger hits Dre due to the unmasked hunger in his eyes.
He looks ready to complete this list right now, so I happily continue because it’s good to rally them to the cause.
“So many possibilities and all of them involve being thoroughly taken care of.” I then swing my finger to meet Emerson, who looks ready to kidnap me and drag me into a lair somewhere.
“Unrestrained and, preferably, at knife point.”
I watch him stand up and take a single step towards me as his glamour falters for a second.
My eyes snap back to Miriam as I hear a weird wheezing coming from where she is.
She’s bent in half while sitting at the end of the sectional closest to us, her champagne flute sitting on the coffee table in front of her, and she laughing as hard as I’ve ever seen anyone laugh.
“Oh, Pyt?'y,” she says after she gets herself under control. “That is quite the list, but I’m sure, if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”
Poo-too-oo. I try to say whatever she called me in my own head, but can’t quite get the sad owl call noises down.
I have no idea what it means, but by the way she said it, all soft and sure, makes my heart do a weird squeeze.
When my eyes cut to Anik to try and see his reaction, I come up empty; he’s just staring at the floor.
No idea what to make of that, but it’s Miriam, so I have to assume it’s an endearment.
To show her my appreciation, I walk over and sit next to her, graciously filling up her glass as she, like the wizard she totally is, pulls some of that delicious papaya stuff out.
For a moment, I just sit next to her in Miriam made nirvana before the question that’s been niggling at me gets blurted out.
“So, you don’t have a mate?” I ask her, and as the words are coming out of my mouth, I’m glowering down at the bottle of bubbly sunshine.
She’s going to hate me now, and it’s all your fault. I scold it internally.
“I’m not going to hate you, dear one,” she assures me, and I just decide, fuck it, why not chug directly from the bottle? Maybe it’ll save me from vomiting my every thought into existence.
She reaches up and grabs the bottle, setting it down before taking my hand and settling back. I settle with her, and she looks across the room to where Selena is talking animatedly to Anik—the unmovable mountain made flesh.
“Their father was not my true mate,” she sighs at my look of confusion.
“We shifters age slowly, Che Sy'y. This was… a very long time ago. Our shadow—our jaguar tribe—was deep in the forests where the air was wet and the trees were the only gods we knew. Travel to the outside world took months, if you dared. Most of us did not.”
She smiles, a faint, fond little smile. “Except for Tupa. He was different. More progressive. He was cast out of his own pack for disturbing the power structure and instead, made his own. He came to my village as a child, and he and my father, the alpha, struck a deal.”
Ooh, am I finally going to get to find out how old Ani-Bear really is?
“He was good to me,” she continues, her voice softening. “Let me fight. Gave me freedoms that most women of that time could only dream of. When my father died—he never had a son—by pack law, his pack was now mine. Or, technically, my husband’s.”
Her grip tightens. The faraway look in her eyes turns glassy, and my instincts told me she is an expert at holding pain at a distance. “It was the elders of my childhood village who showed the men in. The ones whose clothing smelled of metal and smoke.”
My own breath catches. I know where this is going. I can feel it, cold, in the pit of my stomach.
“One day, when Tupa went out with the young men to hunt, those men were waiting. They ambushed them, hoping to take the alpha.” Her voice cracks, just once. “But because my son is too loyal for his own good, they took him instead.”
She takes a deep breath, and I take one with her, knowing this story was going to get worse before it gets better.
“He was only seventeen.” The words are raw. “The loss gutted us. The alpha and the heir? It left only Selena and me as bargaining chips.”
She squeezes my hand, anchoring herself in the now. “I don’t think they meant to take my son. I think they wanted Tupa gone and a boy left to influence. It was the biggest mistake they ever made.”
“No, Syju.”
Anik is suddenly next to us. Or maybe not so suddenly—the man moves like one of his shadows.
"They died because they thought you were nothing. Their pride isn't your fault."
She looks up at him, eyes glassy with old pain she’s letting rise to the surface. “You were only a child, and they caged you, took you away from me.”
He moves until he’s on one knee in front of her and gathers her up in his arms. She lets go of my hand to hug Anik, and not knowing what else to do, I simply reach forward and take another long drink of bubbly sunshine because right now, I really need a little dose of sunshine.
“So how old are you then?” I finally ask as Anik pulls away with a kiss to his mother’s cheek.
He shrugs, “About 300.”
My jaw drops. “Holy god balls, you’re old!”
Kieran laughs loudly at that, dragging Leandre over. “Wisp if you think 300 is old then dinnae ever ask Henny here how old he is.”
I’m about to ask exactly that when Selena claps and comes bounding over. “We need music! My phone has finally charged enough, and I have it hooked up. What does everyone want to listen to?”
The question I was about to ask fades away. "Can we listen to one of those songs that has all the low wobbles? I want to see if I can feel it in my chest."
Everyone stares at me like I've grown a second head.
"You know—wub wub? And then people make that face." I demonstrate, scrunching my nose like I've just smelled something offensive but kind of great.
Selena's face lights up. "Oh, I've got exactly what you need."
I’m dragged across the room to a more open space as she pulls out her phone, taps a few times, and hits play. A voice comes through the speaker, talking about computers and reality and something about a program. I glance at Selena, confused. This isn't music. This is just a guy being weird.
Then the bottom drops out.
A pulse—deep and massive—rumbles up from the floor. It travels through my feet, up my legs, settles right in the center of my chest and vibrates. My ribs are buzzing. My bones are happy. The wobbles hit one after another, each one punching through me in the best way.
"This is it!" Selena makes the face—nose scrunched, eyes wild. "Bass face!"
Across the room, Anik’s watchful gaze hasn’t left me. He doesn’t have a glass—he never does—but he lifts his chin in a slow, deliberate nod. The hunger in his eyes has banked into a simmering watchfulness.
In the reading nook, Emerson has his leather-bound sketchbook open beside a glowing laptop, his gaze flicking between the screen, his drawing, and me with terrifying focus. Documenting. Always documenting.
Kieran has an arm slung around Leandre’s shoulders, teasing him about his stiff posture until the vampire finally shoves him off with a long-suffering sigh that doesn’t hide his smile.
Forrest is missing. Which means he's either having a silent meltdown in a closet or planning our next move down to the millisecond. Either way, I’d rather he was here.
Miriam kisses my forehead and excuses herself as teh song ends, a soft smile on her lips.
I lift my bottle of bubbly sunshine in a silent toast to the room.
No gods, no missions, no looming dread. Just this: a mother’s love, a sister’s joy, a family’s chaos, and some seriously delicious sexual tension. The night hums with it, low and deep and alive.
For the first time since I crashed into this existence, I don’t feel like a ghost, or a weapon, or a liability.
I feel found.