“Oh.”
“I didn’t know love until now.”
The intensity of his gaze threatened to drown her. He loved her? Had he just said that?
“Don’t send me away from you again, Einin. I don’t have it in me to leave you so vulnerable.” His gaze flicked to the gun resting on the floor to the side of Robert’s body and then the scythe in her hand. His shadows wrapped around her. “You were supposed to wait for me.”
“Robert didn’t get the memo.”
Cole glowered at the body as if contemplating reanimation just for the satisfaction of taking Robert’s life himself.
She slid her hand up his face and turned his attention back to her. “Robert is gone, and I am safe.”
His grip tightened on her arms.
“And you can’t go around making sweet proclamations when I just spewed my guts out. I can’t kiss you right now.”
Cole chuckled and pulled her into the heat of his body. His arms tightened around her. His deep voice fanned her skin as he whispered. “You are everything to me. You are the light chasing the shadows from my heart. You are the reason to my madness and the clarity of my world that’s known only chaos.”
Since kissing was out, she clung to him instead. She closed her eyes and squeezed, pressing her body against his as hard as possible, hopefully expressing everything in her heart since words had apparently failed her. Sure, she had a lot of questions, and a list of things she needed to figure out, but right now, right here, she didn’t need to think. Just feel. Enjoy the press of Cole’s body against hers and let her mind drift and dream of possibilities. Reality would crash back soon enough.
Epilogue
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
~ William Shakespeare
Raven sat with Mike at the boardroom table with Scott O’Halloran, a representative from Worker’s Compensation of British Columbia on one side and Amy Bennet, the superintendent from the school district on the other. Mike wore a long-sleeved shirt to cover his arms. The cast had finally come off, leaving his arm pale with the new skin look. He couldn’t hide the yellowing on his face from his healing black eye but at least the swelling along his cheek and jaw had gone down.
With only a tiny scratch on her face, Raven appeared more presentable in dress pants and shirt, but inside she was a mess. Reality had crashed back the moment Cole left her in her basement bedroom. She’d taken another life, she possessed a rare diamond that protected her in some way, and she needed to figure out how to block portals for Bane. When and how she’d find a way to understand or deal with any of these things was very much up in the air, but she had to press pause on that part of her life and deal with the current situation first.
Kelly Clementine walked into the room wearing a blazer, matching skirt and flats. She opted for a fresh makeup free face, probably hoping the bags under her eyes would help her case. The designer perfume she wore filled the room and her union representative trailed into the boardroom behind her.
The WCBC official stood and waved at the seats across from them. “Ms. Clementine.” He turned to the union rep. “Max, good to see you again.”
“I don’t know why you’ve dragged us to this meeting,” the union rep said. “As per Article G.111.1 of the collective agreement, Kelly is entitled to benefits while on medical leave and she dutifully reported the workplace incident.”
They sat down. The plastic creaked and the wheels rolled on the protective mat under the table. Kelly winced and squirmed in her chair as if the action hurt her “bad” back. What an actress.
Maybe her ass hurt from all the twerking over the weekend.
Kelly scanned her audience. Her gaze snagged on Raven and her expression darkened. What the hell? Why did Kelly look like she recognized Raven? They’d never met. Had the teacher-stripper spotted her when she was on stake-out? Maybe Raven had lost her touch.
“Yes, she is,” Amy said. “But only if the injury and workplace claim is legitimate.”
Kelly and Max stiffened.
The union worker glanced at Kelly. “You need proof. You can’t enforce a baseless allegation.”
“You are correct again.” Scott smiled but didn’t convey any warm, fuzzy feelings. “Let me introduce Raven and Mike Crawford from Crawford Investigations, a reputable private investigative firm from Burnaby.”
Raven and Mike nodded in unison and turned to Kelly. The woman had pulled out her necklace to play with the Othila rune, a slight smirk playing on her lips.
“Raven, can you please outline what you and your colleague discovered over the course of your investigation?” Scott asked.
Raven let her grin escape and spread across her face. “Gladly.”
It took Raven about ten minutes to detail the investigation and the evidence collected—ten minutes to expose Kelly Clementine’s lies and bring her world of deceit toppling down. Normally, causing the look of utter devastation across someone’s face would inspire empathy and remorse, but Raven had zero fucks to give this Other-hating, resource-leaching bigot.
Kelly’s smirk had disappeared.
The superintendent’s face fell. Her mouth gaped open and when Raven concluded her summary, Amy turned to Kelly. “Why?”
“What?” Kelly dropped the hands she’d cried behind and sniffed.
“We pay our teachers well.”
Kelly snorted. “Our province provides the second lowest pay for teachers across Canada and we have the highest cost of living.”
“But still…” Amy looked down at her hands. “I’ve heard of picking up serving shifts, but stripping…”
“I like it, okay?” Kelly crossed her arms. “I’m good at it, and I make more dancing than I do teaching.”
Max, the union rep, looked speechless and horrified at the same time. He hadn’t anticipated the breadth and extent of Kelly’s betrayal and double life.
“Why not quit, then? Why make a fraudulent claim?” Scott asked. “This is an indictable offense.”
Um, duh. The money, dude.
“The money.” Kelly swiped at her tears, gaze turning cold. “And I wanted to keep the extended teacher benefits.”
The superintendent shook her head.
“I would’ve got away with it, too, if you hadn’t set these disgusting Others on me.”
Raven stiffened. How the hell did this bitch know?
Mike laughed. “I’m a shifter, and I didn’t need to be in fox form to figure out how dirty you are.”
Raven winced.
“For the record, I stayed in human form the entire time,” Mike quickly added. “I’ve had a cast recently removed and medical records will show I was human-bound for the entire duration of this case.”
Oh thank goodness he snuck in that tidbit. The last thing they needed was to get dragged into court for the defence to try to discount Mike’s testimony and evidence.
“I wasn’t talking about you, pest.” Kelly sneered and jabbed a finger in the air at Raven. “We know all about you and what you are. We know what you did, and we have the book. We will bring you down.”
Raven rolled her eyes and leaned forward. “You’ll find that difficult to do when you’re in jail.”
Raven and Mike pushed away from the table and stood. The WCBC rep and superintendent stood as well to shake their hands.
“Thank you for your services,” the WCBC Rep said. “We will forward the payment as agreed upon.”
Raven and Mike said farewell and made their way out of the building, leaving Kelly to her fate.
The crisp air greeted Raven as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. Her heels clacked against the stone steps. Though she kept it together in the boardroom, her mind still reeled. They knew what she did? They knew she killed Robert? What if they had surveillance footage? What if she ended up sharing a jail cell with Kelly? What would her parents say? How could she face them if they knew what she did?
“Raven!” Megan waved at her from across the street. Her friend looked both ways and jogged towar
d them. A necklace slipped from inside her shirt. The sunlight reflected off the metallic surface.
Raven froze. She’d know that rune anywhere.
Her best friend wore the symbol of Othila.
~ The End ~
“And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!”
~ Excerpt from The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe
Did you enjoy reading Nevermore? Please help this author out and tell someone or leave a review. Your support is much appreciated.
Raven and Cole’s story continues in
Queen of Corvids
A Raven Crawford Novel, Book Three.
Raven’s List of Server Pet Peeves
1. Campers
2. Split cheques for large groups
3. Seagulls
4. Finger snappers and wavers
5. Unwanted comments about appearance
6. Old people with bags of coins
7. Vegans
8. Mysterious gem-toting men
9. Customers grabbing or tugging on serving apron
10. The Smoker Card
11. Penny Tips
GLOSSARY Of TERMS
Mortal: any inhabitant of the Mortal Realm. Note: All entities of all the realms can be killed, but this term is reserved for anyone who is not an Other. Used as a derogatory slur by Others.
Other: Any inhabitant NOT from the Mortal Realm. Any inhabitant from the Realm of Light, the Underworld or the Shadow Realm. Mortal, but not a mortal.
Reg: A “regular” human being from the Mortal Realm without any supernatural powers or skills.
Regulators: An organized group of regs who despise Others and hold meetings to bitch about the unfairness of life.
ROL: Realm of Light. An Other realm full of rollers who look down on everyone else.
Rollers: supernatural beings from the Realm of Light
Underworld: An Other realm, often in direct conflict with the Realm of Light. Contains multiple, smaller realms, such as the realms of War and Lust.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’m aware the regulatory branch responsible for managing workplace injury claims is NOT called the WCBC. I changed the name because this is a made-up world and although I try to mirror reality and make events and organizations realistic, they’re not actually real. And I don’t want to get sued.
I’d like to thank [redacted] for WorkSafeBC for advice and information on how fraudulent claims are handled and how claims are paid via the employer. None of the information provided was confidential or private, but the name of the employee has been redacted to protect them from anyone assuming they conducted themselves unprofessionally. Any liberties I took with portraying the WCBC were exactly that—liberties. I filled in the gaps with what made sense for my world and storyline.
I’d like to thank Karilyn Bentley and Wendy P for beta reading, Lara Parker for her ever-fabulous editing and Tammy Payne for proofreading. I’m so very grateful to this team of supporters who help me improve my stories.
Any errors contained in this book are my own, despite my best efforts to research and consult experts, and everyone’s best efforts to steer me in the correct direction.
A HUGE thank you to Anna L. Spies at Eerilyfair Design. I’m pretty sure the majority of my sales are due to her gorgeous artwork, and Nevermore happens to be my personal favourite of the three covers.
Most of all, thank you to you, the reader, for trusting me with your precious reading time. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
About the Author
J. C. McKenzie is a book-loving, gumboot-wearing, unapologetic science geek. She’s the author of the Carus Series, the Obsidian Flame Series and the Raven Crawford Series. Born and raised on the West Coast, J. C. sets the majority of her books in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance with sassy heroines and brutish, alpha-type men.
Visit her at www.jcmckenzie.ca
Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/jcmckenzie
Blog: jcmckenzie.blogspot.ca
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/JCMcKenzie
Twitter: twitter.com/JC_McKenzie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/j.c.mckenzie.author
Instagram: www.instagram.com/j.c.mckenzie
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