Raven's Blood

by Cassandra Lawson

Chapter Thirty-Six

  It was no surprise to Raven that Norah was the only one left training with the eskrima sticks by the end of the week. It also didn’t surprise her that Norah was quickly moving toward being an expert with them. Despite her sore muscles, Norah continued to train every day and would keep at it for hours. She always seemed disappointed when Raven had to stop. Raven had almost missed her shift at the school more than once. Luckily, they’d started using Norah’s yard, which was only a few blocks from the school.

  Raven wasn’t working at the school that day, so she’d brought Fang with her. He was watching them with only mild curiosity. Actually, he was pouting because Raven had scolded him when he’d tried to fight Norah to get one of her sticks. Norah had insisted he was just playing, but Raven could understand his thoughts well enough to know he was definitely not in a playful mood. He didn’t consider Norah part of his pack, and he’d taken offense to her landing a blow to Raven’s back. Apparently, Fang didn’t know what training was, so one of Norah’s sticks now teeth marks. Had Connor been there, Fang would have released the stick immediately. It annoyed Raven that he behaved better with Connor around.

  Raven knew Connor was coming when Fang jumped up and ran to the gate. Sure enough, within moments Connor came through the gate. Raven had been dreading his return, not because she didn’t want to see him. She just couldn’t shake the sense of impending doom she’d been feeling since he’d left before dawn. He’d gone into the city to see Dr. Moon about Mitchell’s lab results. To be honest, Raven had struggled all week with what she was hoping for. Part of her still desperately wanted to return to her old life, but that would mean leaving Connor, and it would also mean her friends were in danger.

  Based on Connor’s grim expression, the news was bad, but Raven knew that could mean many things. He nodded to Norah, which must have been some hidden message.

  “I’m going inside for a bag since I skipped breakfast,” Norah told them. “Can I bring anything out to either of you?”

  “No, but thank you,” Raven replied without taking her eyes off Connor.

  “I’m good,” Connor said as he absently patted Fang.

  When they heard the door close, Connor walked over and lifted Raven so he could kiss her without bending down. Raven immediately wrapped her legs around his waist and completely surrendered to the moment. All the tension his arrival had brought was lost as the heat built inside her. It was always this way with Connor.

  Finally, he released her mouth, but he didn’t set her down right away. “You weigh next to nothing, but you are probably the strongest woman I know.”

  Raven laughed. “I wonder what Shelby would say if I told her that.”

  Connor cringed. “Don’t tell her. It’s true, but she’s still scarier than you are.” He finally set her down and went to sit with his back against Norah’s pine tree. He’d become much more comfortable with the nature around him since they’d met.

  Raven sat beside him, and then Fang joined them, resting his head on Connor’s lap.

  “You’re going to get sap on you if you spend too much time close to a pine tree,” she warned.

  “Then I guess we’ll both be trying to get sap out of our hair together,” he said with a smile.

  “Not me,” she told him. “Sap soaks right into my hair.”

  “Ah, another great wood nymph talent,” he remarked and then fell silent for a short time. “Dr. Moon is convinced someone intentionally mutated the virus so the turned vampires aren’t as crazed.”

  “You already knew that,” Raven reminded him. “Mitchell told you when you interrogated him.”

  “We weren’t sure we could trust the information we got from Mitchell,” Connor explained. “Mitchell’s pretty confused and doesn’t remember a lot of details.”

  “This could be good, right?” Raven asked. “I mean, this could make the turned vampires less dangerous.”

  Connor looked away and watched Fang stalk a bird. “They’re being told who to attack. They’re being sent out to kill. Someone is trying to build an army they can control. The vampires are given something to make them obey orders. Dr. Moon found something in their blood, but he can’t identify it. These vampires are actually more dangerous because they only do what they’re told. Mitchell remembers experiments and others being sent out. He remembers being human and kept in a cage with other humans. Someone is rounding up humans to infect with this new virus. I still don’t know who, but I have to assume vampires are responsible.”

  “I have to warn my friends,” she said desperately.

  He let out a deep sigh. “I know. It’s killing me because I really want to go with you. I hate sending you back there without knowing if they’ll hurt you.”

  She placed a hand his chest. “These are my friends. They trust me, and they won’t hurt me. How will this impact your power struggle here?”

  “Simon isn’t happy about you leaving, but it’s because he’s worried about you. He agreed to support my decision. Well, your decision. Ian is still on the fence, but Simon can change his mind. We’ll play it off as my decision, but I love you too much to make this choice for you. At first, you were just a problem I didn’t want to deal with. You also made me really hard, but I was still wishing you’d gotten away. Then you were almost an obsession. I wanted nothing more than to find a way to keep you with me always. Now, I just want you to be happy. If you told me you would be happiest if we never saw each other again, I’d let you go. At least, I think I’d let you go,” he admitted. “This situation is different. You’d never forgive me if your friends were hurt when we could have prevented it.”

  Raven pressed her face against his chest, fighting back tears. “I could never be happier without you. I don’t want to leave you, but I have to do this.”

  He let out a weary sigh. “I know, and it’s one of the things I love about you. You’re brave, strong, and loyal. I was so fucking jealous of your loyalty to your friends at first. I didn’t know that was what I was feeling. I thought it was just that I believed your loyalty was foolish. Finally, it hit me—I wanted that from you.”

  “You have it,” Raven assured him as she looked into his eyes. “I won’t betray you to my friends. I would never betray you or your people.”

  “That’s going to make it even harder for you to convince your friends you’re still on their side. They’ll want information about how to take us down.”

  Raven shrugged. “I don’t care about the danger to me. I still won’t betray you. Besides, I really do believe my friends won’t hurt me.”

  “I hate this,” Connor muttered, resting his head against the tree and closing his eyes. “I wish there was another way to send the warning to them. Actually, I wish you would just let them deal with it on their own. I don’t care about those humans. I’m only doing this for you.”

  “I didn’t want to say this because I knew it was going to make it harder. I still shouldn’t.” She hesitated.

  “What is it, little nymph?” he asked as he stroked her cheek with his calloused finger tips.

  “I love you,” she told him. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to make it back to you. Maybe Fang will become your spirit animal, and I can really show you my world.”

  Connor opened his mouth to speak, but a soft knock on the gate interrupted him, making him smile fondly. “Only my mother would knock on Norah’s gate. Come on in, Mom,” he called out.

  Eloise walked slowly through the gate, looking a little embarrassed about interrupting them. “I’m sorry about disturbing you, Raven.”

  “It’s okay, Eloise,” Raven assured her. “Did you need me for something?”

  “I called all over and finally someone told me you were here. Would you mind sitting in with the first grade class? Their instructor lost her brother in the recent attack. We’ve been trying to cover her class, but I don’t have anyone this afternoon.”

  Raven looked at Connor, hoping he would finish what he was about to say.

  “Go ahe
ad,” he said and helped her to her feet. “I’ll pick you up in a few hours.”

  He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and left. Raven had never felt so alone. She knew, much like her, he wanted to put off discussing the details of her return to the human settlement.

  With great effort, she forced a smile and walked to the school for what might be her last day there.