by T. S. Joyce
Vina stared at the door. Three or four men were yelling now, and she couldn’t even make out what they were saying. There was a roaring in her ears.
“But…I just wanted to help him. I wanted to make him okay. For him to be happy.” Tears prickled in her eyes. “He just said he had a meeting, and that he would call me after. We were supposed to go out tonight. I wanted…” Vina swallowed hard. “I wanted someone I could hang out with after work. I wanted Ramsey.” She looked at Momma Crow with wide eyes. “Am I…am I ruining his life?”
There was a banging on the front door, and even through the frosted glass, she could see the crowd of reporters. Why now? Shifters had been exposed months ago. It had been a slow leak, and now it was a tornado? A tornado focused on Red Dead Mayhem? It didn’t make any sense.
Her phone dinged with a text message. And another. And another. Wiping her eyes on the shoulder of her blouse, she set the cupcakes on the pool table and pulled her bejeweled phone from her purse. It was her dad.
You’re on the news.
Your mom and I just saw you on the news.
What’s happening?
Do we call you?
You never pick up.
You cussed on TV.
You never cuss.
Are you okay?
Oh, geez. “That snippet of me already made it to the news,” she told Momma Crow, who immediately jogged to the big flat screen television behind the bar and started poking buttons on the remote. “My parents are worried.”
“Well, honey, they probably should be,” Momma Crow murmured. “Look.”
On the TV was a shot of the outside of the clubhouse, apparently live, and the reporter, a saucy brunette, was talking about how there appeared to be some kind of disturbance inside. They were filming the shadows against the meeting room windows, and on TV, it looked like the boys were damn near close to fighting. At least six of them had Changed to crows and were dive-bombing. The sound of shattering glass was deafening. The banging on the front door was getting louder, Vina’s phone was going off too fast for her to even respond to texts, and every news channel Momma Crow flipped to was breaking news of the boys’ rap sheets, talking about how shifters were a menace to society. And yep, on channel four, there was Vina, cussing at the reporter with a dozen chocolate cupcakes clutched to her boobs.
“What do I do?” Vina asked.
Jamming a finger at Vina, Momma Crow ordered, “You go up to Ramsey’s room and don’t come down. Stay there, and don’t come down here no matter what you hear. The shit is hitting the fan, girl.” She jogged to the door of the meeting room, her black stiletto heels clacking against the wood with ever hurried step.
The animal inside of her was getting bigger. She was burning through Vina’s veins at the thought of Ramsey in the middle of that fight, being filmed without his permission as he defended her. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t do anything wrong, and he was going to get hurt because of her. He was going to lose his Clan, or worse.
When Mother Crow threw open the door, the bellowing of men’s voices was so loud the confusing words clanged around in her head.
She could see him. Ramsey. Her Ramsey. He was throwing a punch, his face all cut up by talons, fending off a crowd of his own people as they backed him to the wall.
She had her orders from Momma Crow, but for the life of her, Vina couldn’t take a single step toward the stairs.
The moose in her was no coward. She was a protector, a defender, and her person was bleeding.
Momma Crow was screaming for them to bring the fight into the bar, but the boys weren’t listening. They were too full of bloodlust, lunging, punching, beating each other. Rike was fighting Kasey, and Ethan was throwing his knuckles at Ramsey, who turned and slammed his Second against the wall and returned the pummeling. Crows dove for them, but if Ramsey felt their talons slicing at the back of his neck and shoulders, he showed no sign of pain. Just relentless, merciless fighting.
They would kill each other, those men in there. Those outlaws. Those bikers who were supposed to be bound by allegiance to the King of Crows but had somehow become so broken that their Clan was imploding.
The windows were broken, and she could see the flash of cameras. This was very bad. And it was about to get so much worse because, as the Clan surged toward Ramsey, intent on de-throning their Alpha, Vina doubled over the pain in her middle.
She always felt sick right before a Change and hit the floor on hands and knees. She dry-heaved and then cried out a warning. “Stop!” If they didn’t back off him, she couldn’t control what her animal would do to them.
Dad had taught her to be a hunter, to protect the people she loved, and she loved Ramsey. Loved him. Loved. Him.
His entire Clan needed to back away, or she would paint the floors with their gore.
She screamed in agony as she fought the animal, but it was no use. Never had been. She never did win against a full-grown, aggressive female moose.
That animal ripped out of her cell by cell until her human skin was nothing and her tough, furred hide created her new shape, her eight-foot-tall shape because Dad had passed some gnarly genetics to his only child. He’d made a monster moose just like himself. And sure, she didn’t have his antlers, but she was every bit as powerful, and all these crows hurting her mate were so utterly and uncompromisingly fucked.
She bellowed out her death chant. She roared like a bear when she was pissed, but they should understand what was coming for them. Vina charged the room, her hooves slamming against the wooden floors so hard, they cracked into halves. She was destruction, never meant to Change in a building. That saying “like a bull in a china shop?” That was accurate.
She slammed into the half-closed door and lowered her head and took the crowd with her. Four men were pinned against the opposite wall by the window within moments, and the table where they held their meetings? She barreled right through it to get to another three crows. With a crash, the table was nothing but splinters.
She charged and thrashed her hooves at anything that moved. Her fury was infinite. The boys were yelling now, bleeding. Broken. They were panicking and Changing. Crows were everywhere. Broken glass shone like diamonds across the floor. It looked like it was raining black feathers. Talons sliced at her hide, but she didn’t care. It would take a hundred crows to bleed her out. Six were left, eyes full of murder and trained on Ramsey. He was straddling Ethan, fist blasting across his jaw over and over. His eyes were pitch black and promised death, and as much as Vina wanted to allow it, she couldn’t in front of the cameras. They would use him as an example and lock him away, so she did the only thing she could. She reared up and lashed out with her hooves at the men beating on Ramsey from behind, and then she swung the top of her head against Ramsey hard enough to knock him back into the wall with a bang!
Ramsey was on the kill though, and his eyes hadn’t left Ethan, even when he hit the wall. It was an Alpha challenge, and she’d interrupted. The flashing camera lights were so bright, so irritating to her eyes, she shook her head, her floppy ears slapping at the sides of her face. Momma Crow was pressed up against the wall beside Rike, clutching her chest as she stared at Vina in horror. Her moose had that effect on people.
Ethan and the others were writhing and groaning on the floor in pain, and the crows that had Changed had flown out the broken windows and into the night.
Click, click, click went the cameras. She hated them. Vina looked over her shoulder and bellowed again. She wished she could trample them all.
When she looked back at Ramsey, he’d jerked his focus off Ethan, and his eyes were now locked on her. Black eyes. Shocked eyes. His chest heaved with his ragged breath, and the drip, drip, drip of the blood pitter-pattered onto the floor. It was the only sound other than the clicking of cameras.
I’m sorry. She wished she could talk and say those words out loud. I’m so sorry.
Ramsey looked from her to the flashing cameras that lit up his face then back to Ethan.
&
nbsp; “Everyone who remains, get into the bar,” he demanded in a hoarse yet powerful voice.
A dozen broken men reacted in an instant. She couldn’t even guess how many broken ribs were in this room, but the men dragged their pained bodies to the other room with grunts of agony until only Ramsey and Vina remained.
This was it. This was where he would tell her to leave. To reprimand her for stepping in the middle of an Alpha challenge. This was where he would look at her moose in disgust as he realized what an aggressive, out of control monster she was. This was the moment he would reject her, because how could he not? Every king deserved a queen, and she wasn’t that. Not even close.
He straightened to his full height, his gaze steady on her. She closed her eyes, ready for the words that would hurt the most.
And then he spoke. “My name is Ramsey Hunt. This is my mate, Vina Marsh. We will conduct interviews in three days’ time at the community center in Darby if you give us space and give us peace enough to clean up our home.”
Vina jerked her eyes open. What?
Ramsey wasn’t looking at her, though. He was addressing the people outside.
“You’ve caused enough trouble with my people,” he gritted out. “This is private property, and you are all trespassing. You got what you came for. Now get the fuck out.”
And Vina, the giant moose shifter who’d expected to be rejected, stood there on locked legs, stunned into stillness over what he’d just done.
Ramsey had just told the entire world that she was his mate.
Chapter Eighteen
She was beautiful.
Ramsey watched her saunter through the door she’d busted wide open. The second, the very second, he’d taken his focus off Ethan and laid eyes on her, something had changed. Something inside of him had snapped like a taut rubber band.
His crow had really seen her. Graceful. Lethal. Pure power. Protecting him because he could see exactly what she was doing. He’d figured out her intentions the second the bloodlust ebbed. The instant her light touched him, logic had returned. There were cameras, and he’d been intent on that Alpha Challenge Ethan had called. He’d been focused on the kill so no crow in his Clan would ever Challenge him again.
She’d pushed Ramsey off Ethan in time. She’d saved Ethan. Saved Ramsey in the process because now he wouldn’t rot in some jail cell for a murder reporters would have caught on camera.
She’d pulled the traitorous Clan off him and made the fight fair. Protective mate. And that’s what she was—his mate.
His crow realized that the instant he set his eyes, heart, and soul on her moose.
Fuck, she was gorgeous. Huge, moving slow as she clomped past him and back through the splintered doorway, but he’d seen her. He would never mistake her for slow. She’d been faster than any punch he’d thrown. She’d broken the fuckin’ Clan.
He’d nearly allowed a smile when the Clan dragged their aching bodies out of here.
His lady didn’t play around. Sexy Vina.
On a whim, he reached out and brushed his fingers down her ribs as she passed, tracing old silver claw-mark scars there. The story behind them was right at the tip of his memories. Maybe she’d told The Crow what happened to her.
Mine.
Ramsey did allow the smile now.
Mine, The Crow repeated, the word rattling around in his head.
The poisonous dark that had filled him was just…gone. She’d banished it.
Oh, sure, he could still see the ghosts. They were gathered here where so much death had almost happened. They were drawn to the bad energy that clung to the room. But some were nodding, as though he’d done something right.
Something right.
How long had it been since he’d felt like he’d done anything right?
You picked her right, The Crow whispered.
Chills rippled up his arms as he stood there, watching her make her way to the bar, to Momma Crow and Rike.
The Clan was in tatters. What had happened tonight wasn’t okay. It wouldn’t be okay for a long time. There would have to be big changes in Red Dead Mayhem. And whoever came back, begging to keep their place, their rank, they would have to face the public beside Ram and Vina.
The war with Two Claws was done and gone. His bond with Tenlee? Ramsey stretched his heart out but could no longer find a trace of the shadows she’d left behind.
Vina had fixed him.
She’d fixed him.
She’d repaired an unredeemable, unsalvageable man. She’d stuck with him, knowing he was bonded to another, and she gave him space and loyalty to figure out what he needed.
He needed Vina. Wanted her. Coveted her. And he was going to spend the rest of his life showing her how important she was, because this woman was a true ride-or-die. And she deserved devotion.
She’d given him hope, and he would repay her by giving her the devotion of a crow.
He felt the cameras on his back as he followed what was left of the Clan into the next room, followed his mate into their future. He knew the worst was behind him, and ahead was a future he could work for, covet, and be happy with.
Vina turned and looked at him with soft brown eyes. Worry pooled there. Worry for him. He didn’t know how he’d lucked into her. Big, badass, scarred-up moose, her ears nearly touching the ceiling, and she wasn’t taken with bloodlust or anger. Her eyes said a hundred things that he understood in an instant. That The Crow understood.
And the biggest one of those…the most important…were these:
I’ll have your back always.
I’m yours.
I love you.
And from her soft, relieved sigh, barely audible above the chaos around them, she’d read the same in his eyes.
Chapter Nineteen
“Can I open my eyes yet?” Vina asked over the rumble of the Harley.
Ram had been riding with one hand, holding hers tight to his stomach with the other. It had been two days since he’d seen her animal, and he’d broken all his own rules. Now, he touched her all the time and made her feel safe and cared for. She loved it.
“One more minute. Almost there,” he said.
With a happy smile, Vina rested her cheek against his back. The last two days had been chaos. They’d been hard. Ramsey was in meeting after meeting with the remaining crows, Ethan had disappeared into the night, and Ram thought he was starting a new Clan with the traitors. They’d had to order supplies to repair all the damage she’d done to the clubhouse, and the phone was ringing off the hook with requests for interview spots for tomorrow.
She would be sitting beside her mate in front of the cameras, answering questions about what and who she was in one tiny day. Every time she thought about it, her nerves got the best of her and she felt like Changing.
Tonight, Ramsey had drawn her between his splayed legs as he’d rested against the pool table, kissed her knuckles, and murmured, “You wanna get out of here for a while? Just you and me?”
She was tired from the long day, but it had still been an easy answer. Of course she did.
Tonight was warm wind on her skin, a full moon, and the instruction to close her eyes when Ram had turned off on a dirt road.
The Harley slowed, and she pressed a kiss to his spine just to quell the excitement that bubbled up inside of her. She loved surprises.
Ram cut the engine and gripped her thigh. “Last night, when I was right on the edge of sleep, something really cool happened. The Crow showed me things. Things I’d missed. Things he’d hidden from me. He showed me every moment he’d spent at your house. Even the ones I remember, he gave them to me in detail. As I watched you through these memories, you became more and more beautiful to him. Like this tarnished object that was getting all polished up. And Tenlee, or his memories of her, got dimmer and duller. And then he gave me your story of your parents and the bear, when you got those scars, and I could feel him falling in love with you too, just like I was.”
Vina’s breath hitched as she lost it, and
she gripped his middle closer. “You’re falling in love with me?”
“Yeah,” he whispered. “But bigger. You’re mine, Vina. Mine to protect, mine to go through the ups and downs with, mine to take care of. You don’t have to worry about me leaving. Not anymore. You have me. Open your eyes.”
Vina squeezed them tight, then opened them and waited to adjust to the dark. They were at the entrance to a property. The fence was old and rusted, and the No Trespassing sign had bullet holes in it.
“I bought this place a few years ago when I was wanting to move out of the clubhouse, but I never really did anything with it. It’s just been sitting here.” Ramsey got off the motorcycle and pulled a red and black plaid blanket from one of his storage bags and a paper bag of what smelled like sandwiches from the other. He set them beside the bike and helped her off, unclipped her helmet.
“Ramsey,” she whispered, realizing what he was doing.
“You had this tradition to Change with your family. And I can see it in you. You’re stressed with everything going on, and your eyes change color to your animal’s a lot. So I’m making a new tradition for us. This is our place. Just ours. It’s our escape from everything. When you need to Change, we’ll come here together, and then we’ll eat after. And probably fuck because, let’s face it, I’m still me and I’m still gonna be a C minus in romance.”
“Fucking is good,” she said thickly. She didn’t care what it said about her, but she found this all very romantic.
Ram gripped her hips and dragged her to him, his smile nothing but pure wickedness. “I love when you cuss.”
“You’ve completely corrupted me.”
“I know. It’s sexy.”
She giggled and nuzzled her face against his chest. “Well, I love when you give me sweet surprises. I’m giving you feelings. I’m corrupting you, too.”
