“I know what would make me happy,” Laurel put in.
“Oh?” I smiled at her, though weary. We were all waiting for the next shoe to drop.
“I haven’t seen you in your bird form without it being in a battle in ages. Come on, fly a bit. I know you want to feel the wind beneath your wings.” She teased at the joke of the song, and I flipped her off playfully.
“I don’t need to preen for you like some peacock.”
“No, you’re a beautiful hawk shifter,” she soothed. “But it’s been a few days since you’ve flown for yourself, hasn’t it? I can feel the tension.”
Even as she said the words, I knew they were a mistake. Because there would only be one reason for Laurel to feel that tension.
Nelle’s eyes widened. “You can feel the tension? As in a mating bond?” she asked as she clapped her hands together.
She looked between the two of us, and I sighed.
I leaned down and pressed a kiss to Laurel’s cheek. “Yes, but we’re keeping it between us for now. The town has other things to worry about.”
My sister looked ready to celebrate or throw her hands up in the air, but one look from Aspen, who seemed to know her as a soulmate would, and she calmed down. “I’ll keep the celebrations to a minimum, but as soon as you tell everybody, I’m planning the mating ceremony.”
“You are, are you?” I teased.
“What? If you go with the wing, everything’s going to be airy, flowy, and white. And the coven is busy with other things, so let me do it.”
Laurel grinned. “You know, a goth mating ceremony might be fun. I look amazing in black.”
“See? I may be the goth mermaid, but I will totally make sure that your mating ceremony is classy, a little goth, a little sparkle, and a little flame.”
I couldn’t say no to the looks on Laurel’s and Nelle’s faces, and they knew it. “Okay, dear sister. You can help.”
“I’ll take it. Now, go fly. I know you need to.”
I looked between my sister, my mate, and the fae king and sighed.
“Okay, but then I’m going to be hungry. Make sure you save me some food.”
“Of course. I’ll take care of you.”
Laurel’s words soothed my soul, and I stood and stripped off my shirt.
Nelle made a gagging sound before she leaped into Aspen’s arms, and I shook my head before going into the copse of trees to strip down. While nudity wasn’t a big deal with shifters, my sister didn’t need to see. Mermaids could use their natural magic to shift their clothes into their tails. However, as a hawk, I didn’t have that option.
I pulled on the anchor that was my hawk, and it called with joy as my bones broke and shifted. The agony of peace, pure joy, and ecstasy filled me. I didn’t even need to touch the ground before I was soaring into the air, my wings outstretched as I found a current. I flew over my mate and family, and Laurel grinned widely as she leaned back, cradling her head with her hands as she looked up at me. Nelle leaned into Aspen as she waved, and I began to fly again. Maybe I would preen like a peacock, but all that mattered was that my mate and my sister were happy, and I knew I had to hope that this mating bond that fate had forced upon us would mean that there could be a future. That this wasn’t the end that would change everything.
Even as I thought that, a flame licked down the mating bond. I felt the pain and sorrow in Laurel’s soul. The curse was ramping up, and our frayed mating bond wasn’t yet complete. It wasn’t enough.
For now, we would ignore it. Just for this afternoon, at least. Just for this picnic where we could pretend.
Later, we would find a way to solve it. We would find Oriel, and our town would be safe. In this moment, I let my hawk rise to the surface, and I flew.
Chapter
Sixteen
Oriel
Oriel should have realized that this fae king would turn to the coven for help. He should have realized that the coven was far sneakier and more conniving when it came to finding their allies. But it was no matter. Though evading the fae king’s trackers wouldn’t be easy.
He would find a way. He hadn’t been overjoyed to find that the fae king’s men had nearly caught him that morning while doing his own layered spells. He’d been out in the forest, doing what he did best. He altered the secrecy and shadowed spells that would slowly deteriorate the strength and power of the so-called female witch leader. It was like acid dropping on a surface of their futures one drop at a time.
Oriel was the greatest necromancer of all time, the most powerful witch Ravenwood and the world had ever seen—would ever see—and he had to hide because of the fae?
Never again.
He had magic to elude them. He was good at what he did. Oriel had just been cocky. Or perhaps it was because the devious so-called leader of the witches had thought to out-think him. Oriel tapped his chin, annoyance wrapping around the immense and powerful magic in his body. Rowen’s cunning wouldn’t be a problem in the future. He wouldn’t allow it to be a problem.
With a held-back sigh of impatience, he looked over as the hawk shifter landed in front of him and watched as William shifted back into his human form. Oriel detested shifters of any kind. They were so much harder to work with because they needed to deal with their animal forms. It never failed to annoy him that he needed to deal with their inbreeding and animalistic natures. However, William did come with an insider’s knowledge to the powerful hawk wing and their determined leader, Jaxton.
When Oriel’s lieutenant Renee had shown up with a mate, he’d nearly killed her right then. How dare she show up with a bond to someone else that was not him? Not that he wanted to bed her or mate with her. He wasn’t that obscene. However, he had needed her unending loyalty, and he needed to control her actions. Since her loyalties would now be divided between her mate and him, he ensured that every moment of her time was devoted to him.
If she went outside of the box in any way with that flame of hers, Oriel would strip the wings off the bastard in front of her.
He had done it once, just the feathers to see what would happen, and William had screamed in his hawk form and then again in his human form during the weeks it took him to heal. He only lived to serve Oriel, and that was something that Renee and William would know until the end of time.
Now, William was whole and healed, and Oriel’s spy. He could evade the other hawks because he had history with them. William was his spy to get through the wards of the dying Ravenwood town. Once Renee and William took the next step with the revenants, he would be that much closer to taking the town.
Oriel wanted control, wanted Ravenwood’s essence, because then he would be at his final stasis. The immortal he truly needed to be, to be the greatest necromancer of all time.
There was only one standing in his way. One that would have to be taken out. But he’d save her for last. He would enjoy stripping her magic from her, one morsel at a time. But first, he needed to take down those who would come against him.
First, it would have to be the dying witch and her precious hawk.
They had nearly gotten him before, but it seemed they had tricks up their sleeves. That was no bother. They would do it again and again and again. They would be no match for them.
And if that didn’t work right away, they would take those who were closest to them. They would soon learn what happened when you went against Oriel and the plans in front of them.
The battle would continue, and he would be the man he needed to be. He leaned against his chair, the dead witch in front of him beginning to smell. He hated the stench of death, even though he raised the dead and controlled death itself.
“Renee,” Oriel barked with a snap of his fingers. “Dispose of this one.”
It was a young witch, one who had wanted to find power. They may not have wanted his type of powers, but they needed something. They had been on their way to Ravenwood, the legacy of the powerful air witch and coven too much to resist.
Oriel sneered at that. It w
ould soon be his town they would be coming to, and they would cower before him. Rowen didn’t deserve the power she held within her veins. He would be the one in control. That, he promised himself.
“Would you like her with the other bodies? So she’s ready to be a revenant?”
He nodded, shooing her away. “Yes, yes. You know what to do. Bring your mate over here. I have questions.”
Renee nodded, flames dancing in her eyes. She loved to torture, enjoyed pain as much as he did, though she did nothing for him like Faith did. He missed Faith, missed how she was close to him. The way she understood him, even if she hadn’t been powerful enough.
It was a pity that she was dead, but it had to happen. The prophecy said so.
At least what he knew of it. The town would fall, and he would rule. That was what the prophecy stated. The words recorded long ago at the founding of the town.
Renee dragged the girl out of the room, and Oriel looked at William.
“Tell me more about your cousin.”
“What do you need to know?” William asked readily.
“I want to know how to get into the wing and how to take out Jaxton. Because once he’s out, I can get the fire witch, and that’s one step closer to Rowen.”
William nodded, not even a moment’s hesitation in giving Oriel all the details of the territory and what he thought Jaxton would do to fight.
Oriel grinned as Renee walked back in, and the battle plans commenced. The town would burn, and then the power would be his. The world would soon know what happened when they ignored Oriel for too long.
It would all burn.
And then it would bow.
Chapter
Seventeen
Laurel
I had known the peace wouldn’t last, but some part of me had wanted the time to extend. In the past two weeks, four more graveyards near the town had been ransacked. It had taken all of Jaxton’s knowledge of the trade and a good deal of Rowen’s magic to keep the news of the graverobbing away from the humans and media.
Oriel, William, and Renee didn’t seem to care that they were endangering the secrets and lives of an entire magical civilization to get to the power and magic woven beneath the wards of Ravenwood. I wasn’t sure how we would be able to keep our people safe for much longer with the constant revenant attacks.
Not only were the graves dug up, but their former occupants—at least those not cleansed by magic in the first place—were finding their way into town and terrorizing all in their path.
Renee’s magic was far stronger than Faith’s, and we were on the losing side of an already uphill battle.
And through it all, I could only use my sword.
The mating bond between Jaxton and I wasn’t complete, and I wasn’t sure it would ever be. I knew I couldn’t let it, however. Not when I knew that I’d take Jaxton down this fiery path with me.
“You’re in your head again.”
I looked over at Nelle as she sat on the yoga mat next to mine and let out a small sigh. “When am I not in my head these days?” I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry. We’re supposed to be here, in the practice, focusing on our strengths and what we can do for the future.”
“We are also supposed to be meditating so we can breathe through whatever might be on our minds. Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head at Jaxton’s sister. Since the attack on Jaxton and subsequently our partial mating, Nelle and I had gotten closer. It wasn’t that Nelle and I had been adversaries before this. It was more that I had done my best not to focus on what I couldn’t have, so the two of us hadn’t truly been friends before this, other than liking one another. Now, it seemed as if we were both running out of time, though I didn’t know what was on Nelle’s mind, nor what was troubling her. I worried that it was something she was keeping from Jaxton. Jaxton knew his little sister was worried about something, and not just the constant battles or what might be coming next for the town. But Jaxton was unlike any other big brother that I knew. He purposely stayed out of Nelle’s way until she needed him. I had watched just the night before when Nelle came up to him without any words, and he had held her close. Words weren’t needed. His little sister had wanted a hug but didn’t want to talk about what was on her mind. And yet, I knew the moment Nelle looked as if she were ready to open up, he would pry out any needs she had.
Because that was the kind of man he was. The type who wouldn’t push or take but would always be there.
At least until my mating bond with him killed him.
Fire slid up my arm, and I let out a cooling breath, telling myself I needed to be stronger than this.
“Your fire is acting up again. Do you need me to get Rowen?”
Resentment bubbled up, and I told myself I needed to stop those feelings. I didn’t hate Rowen. I never had. And I couldn’t be jealous of her power or her control because my lack of both was what was slowly killing my oldest friend.
I shook my head, ignoring the pain in my heart that had nothing to do with the flames. “No, I’m controlling it for now. But this is probably why I need to meditate.”
Nelle searched my face for answers, though I didn’t have any. That was the whole reason we were in this mess, wasn’t it?
“Okay, then. We’re going to close our eyes, focus on the practice. Deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.”
I did as Nelle instructed, the two of us focusing on what we could.
The fact that we were doing this on the wing grounds rather than closer to her pond or even my home worried me. It wasn’t that I was afraid, not when Jaxton was near and nobody in the wing would harm either of us. It was more that things felt off now. Ever since the attack on Jaxton by his own cousin and the fire witch necromancer, the wing had been treating me as if I were a leper.
Perhaps I was. After all, I was dying, and they all knew it. They were just afraid that I would take their beloved wing leader with me.
Too bad for them I was far more afraid of doing that than they could ever be.
I had to hope that I would be stronger than they believed so I could protect Jaxton.
Flames licked at my fingertips, and I let out another cooling breath, telling myself I needed to focus. Not on the wing, or the resentment, and not on the ending.
I tugged on my power, wrapping it like a tight coil around my soul as it slowly eased in and out. I sensed a wild energy there, not of flame and fire, but of earth and air.
It was Jaxton, and he was mine.
My lips quirked into a smile as I felt his hot anchor glide up the bond, just a tease at the flames. My power didn’t hurt him but rather tangled with his hawk without touching, and then the two separated.
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, and I told myself that this was fine. This could be all I needed.
It wasn’t that I wanted anything more. I couldn’t have anything more.
But this was my future. Or it could have been.
Now, I didn’t know what it was or who I would be.
In through the nose and out through the mouth with the pain and the breath.
I focused on what I could and could not hold and what I could and could not be. Nelle lay beside me as we moved into our next pose, and she talked me through the motions.
Nelle had her own steadiness, her own focus, but she didn’t belong on these grounds as much as I didn’t.
She was the daughter of a hawk, and those that were not. That meant she would never belong. And here I was, a witch of uncontrolled flame. One who was supposed to somehow belong to a wing who didn’t allow outsiders. I knew it wasn’t all hawks, and Jaxton did his best to keep the elders at bay, but the resentment of the others ached.
Something needed to change and soon, but I was afraid it would all happen at once. I worried the change would overcome us, and it would be Jaxton lying in agony as the revenants came and Oriel finally showed his face.
“Let out one last breath, and then you can open your eyes and tell me exactly w
hy you kept growling through our meditation.”
I heard the smile in Nelle’s voice, even through the grumble, and I let out one more breath as she instructed and slowly lifted my lids to see the woman with kohl-ringed eyes and a wicked smile on her face. “You are so pretty.”
Nelle rolled her eyes. “Stop hitting on me. You’re taken.”
I raised a brow. “Oh? You’re taken as well, aren’t you?” I hadn’t broached the subject before, and I didn’t know if now was the correct time, but I would try. I wanted to know what was happening between Nelle and Aspen. Not that I thought she would actually tell me.
I rolled my shoulders back and then got to my feet, rolling up my yoga mat before opening my arms. Nelle grinned and held me close. I kissed her cheek. “Thank you for that.”
“Thank you. But I’m still not going to tell you about Aspen.”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t think you would. But thank you for pretending to indulge me for a moment.” I paused. “If you need anything, I’m here for you.”
“I know you are. I do like how you make Jaxton smile, though.”
My heart twisted, and then I smiled. “I’m doing my best. I’m not always great at it, but I’m trying.”
“Well, we can be misfits within this wing together if you’d like. I’m learning the best ways to thrive in a wing that doesn’t understand me.”
I winced. “We are still on their grounds. And those hawks have very keen ears.”
“What do we have?” Jaxton asked as he came through the trees towards us. We were on the ground floor below the canopy of trees where the wing buildings were.
I hadn’t expected to see Jaxton today since he had a meeting with the elders, as well as training for the older hatchlings’ flight. Then he was on patrol and on cleanup duty thanks to a revenant attack the day before. I had opened the shop, worked the desk, did inventory, and then let my staff take care of closing. I had needed a moment to breathe and hadn’t wanted to deal with coven issues or magic. I’d just needed to focus. So, when Nelle offered to do some meditation with me, I jumped at the chance, needing some time for myself. Something I used to do often, yet it felt like I hadn’t been doing much at all for too long now.
Dusk Unveiled (Ravenwood Coven Book 2) Page 13
