Conspiracy of Ravens (Crawford Investigations Book 1)

by J. C. McKenzie

  Bane’s gaze briefly cut to Bear, who stood frozen with Chloe. “Consider him safe from retribution.”

  A deep sigh escaped her lips.

  “My mercy is payment for a favor owed.”

  She nodded, not trusting her voice.

  Without a goodbye, Bane walked into the portal and disappeared. It snapped shut behind him.

  “That was a mistake,” Cole grumbled.

  “Could you have kept Bear safe indefinitely from the Lord of War if he wanted him dead?”

  Cole’s jaw clenched.

  Relief flooded her. She’d made the right choice. Now, alone in the dead queen’s moon-illuminated hall with only her brother, Cole and Chloe, Raven’s shoulders dropped. Tension eased from her muscles.

  When were these Others going to make sense? Bane had wanted the Claíomh Solais to defeat Cole. He didn’t leave with her, and Cole stood nearby perfectly healthy, so why… Her gaze drifted down again to the pile of gore on the black floor. Her stomach rolled again. Understanding clicked in place. Bane’s ultimate target hadn’t been Chloe or Cole at all. It was Lloth. He’d wanted to use Chloe to force Cole to kill the Corvid Queen, and Raven had unknowingly completed his dirty work for him. Maybe he should’ve spared Bear’s life as payment for her taking care of his business.

  But why would the Lord of War want to kill Lloth? And why wouldn’t he just kill her himself? He was more than capable, wasn’t he? He cleared the guards with Cole in the time it took her to regain consciousness. The more she figured out about the Underworld, the more unanswered questions she had.

  Cole’s hand fell on her shoulder—large, warm and oddly reassuring.

  “Come,” he said. “I need to get you and Chloe to safety.”

  A half-naked man streaked through the air and slammed into Cole. The two large men tumbled over one another. Their bodies hit the hard floor with a loud thump. Bear snarled and threw punches at Cole’s body. The impact thudded in the empty hall. Cole growled and shifted his weight to one side, throwing Bear over his shoulder. Her brother’s body slapped the blood slathered tiles. Cole rolled with him to land on top of Bear.

  “You can’t have her!” Bear roared.

  “She’s my sister, you idiot.” Cole’s jabs hit Bear’s sides with loud thumps. “I was protecting her, not caging her.”

  “Oomph.” The air from her twin’s lungs rushed out. Bear curled up and groaned.

  Cole continued to pound his fists into Bear’s body.

  Bear covered up and grunted, attempting to dodge and shift away from the hard impact of Cole’s strikes.

  “Cole!” Raven shrieked. The sound came out two-toned. Raven spun around.

  Chloe stood with her arms crossed and glared at the men. “That’s enough.”

  Cole stalled his fist and paused. In one swift movement, he stood and loomed over Raven’s twin.

  Bear scowled and slowly stood. Although his name gave nothing away of his supernatural abilities, it fit his physical prowess perfectly. Tall, broad, and heavy with bulky muscles, his shoulders were twice the width of hers, and his trunk three times as thick. Her brother was a massive hulk of a man. Now that she’d met Huginn Muninn, Mom’s Scandinavian god-like blast from the past, his physical features made more sense. The likeness between Bear and Odin’s spawn was striking, and a little unsettling.

  Bear brushed off the dirt from his skin. Blood streaked his chest and the paste used to draw the runes had smeared, making war-like stripes along his torso.

  Raven’s headache returned. Her mouth throbbed and her limbs grew heavy as if she carried fifty-pound dumbbells in each hand. When would this be over?

  “I love Chloe,” Bear announced.

  Raven blinked. Say what?

  “You can’t take her from me,” her brother said.

  Chloe and Raven sighed in unison.

  Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Like I said, I’m her brother. I have no intention of fighting you, nor any plans to harm my sister.”

  Deflated, Bear stepped back. “Why’d you keep hitting me then?”

  Cole’s lips spread into a nasty smile. “Those shots were for your sister.”

  Bear turned to Raven. The creases around his eyes relaxed. He took three giant steps and held her in his strong arms. His wooded glen scent wrapped around them and the dark energy inside her hummed. He spoke into her hair, his voice muffled. “Rayray.”

  With that one word spoken in the soft tone he reserved for her, Bear apologized.

  “Brother Bear.” She accepted and squeezed her brother before releasing him.

  “You’re a shitty brother,” Cole said.

  Bear nodded, his expression drawn. He stepped away from Raven, leaving her cold, to face Cole again. “I am. I hadn’t realized how much I hurt her or myself with my absence. I will make it up to her.”

  Raven started to tremble, then shake. Her vision started to dance. She grit her teeth and fought through the light headedness.

  “You better.” The shadows drew around Cole, surrounding him like a liquid threat.

  Bear straightened and pulled his shoulders back to face Cole.

  “How about instead of posturing with one another, you take us home?” Chloe stood with her hands on her hips. “I want to scrub off your psycho ex’s doodles, and Bear’s sister looks like she’s about to fall over.”

  They all turned to Raven. The light in the room intensified and flared, receding to black. Raven’s mind drifted and her body went limp. Instead of hitting the hard, blood-coated stones, the familiar touch of Cole’s shadows surrounded her.

  Epilogue

  “According to a recent survey, men say the first thing they notice about women is their eyes. And women say the first thing they notice about men is they're a bunch of liars.”

  ~Jay Leno

  After dropping off Bear, Cole took her home without a word and after assuring him she was “just fine,” he promptly disappeared. She might’ve told him to fuck off. Her memory of the drop-off was still a little hazy.

  Now, showered, fed and too amped on adrenaline to sleep, Raven made tea and settled in her dark living room. Alone.

  Raven still didn’t know what to think about Cole. The mere thought of the Lord of Shadows sent heat racing through her veins. On the one hand, he’d kept the full extent of his relationship with the queen secret. On the other hand, he’d tried to warn her, and he’d risked his sister’s life and his own to plunge a dagger into Lloth. The queen’s last-minute distraction proved to be the opening Raven needed.

  Her heart warmed at Cole’s act to protect her. If their roles had been reversed, she wasn’t sure she’d risk Bear to save the Lord of Shadows.

  Memories of their time together streamed through her mind. Her body clenched.

  Ugh. Why did her mind have to contradict what her body and heart wanted? Why couldn’t she just feel and live in the moment like Cole apparently did?

  Maybe because she only had one human life span to get things right?

  She grabbed her mug and stood abruptly. Her baggy pajamas whispered against the worn fabric of the sofa. Rain pinged on the metal roof and splattered hard against the road and her small deck outside. Her top floor apartment was far from a penthouse, but it allowed her easy access to the sky with relative privacy. Sure, she normally drove to remote locations to shift, but emergencies happened.

  The steam lifted from the fragrant water in her mug. She inhaled deeply and let the tension ease from her shoulders.

  The shadows in her apartment shifted. Her skin warmed as the dark curled around her. The feeling of seclusion dissipated.

  Once, she’d beckoned Cole to step out of the shadows and drive her loneliness away.

  Now?

  Now, she wanted to reach into the shadows and haul Cole to her. But she hesitated. Her ignorance of the Underworld had almost taken her life and her brother’s freedom. As much as she wanted to melt into Cole’s strong embrace and the world of dark pleasure the Lord of Shadows offered, she couldn’t.
A little voice kept nagging her of the potential costs. She knew too little about Cole and his world.

  The Underworld was her world, too, the world she’d been born into.

  The niggling voice continued to poke her brain. If she had a truly honest moment, she also didn’t fully trust Cole’s reasons for being with her. He could have his pick of fae women, powerful or otherwise, and mortal women alike. Why would he settle for an out-of-shape, over-worked, broke waitress with a history of making poor decisions? His choice made no sense.

  Lloth had said he swore to serve the Compeller of Corvids and somehow changed his allegiance to Raven, or as Lloth referred to her—the little hatchling. Is that why Cole showed interest? To form some sort of bond that allowed him to escape Lloth’s shackles? Was she a means to an end or something more?

  And why was her attraction to the Lord of Shadows so strong? Did it have to do with Cole switching allegiance to her or did twin nature create some sort of weird twin attraction? Bear’s adoration of Cole’s sister couldn’t be a coincidence. Had Cole used some sort of Underworld love potion on her? Or had her heart jumped in with two feet…brain and past lessons be damned?

  The shadows caressed her skin, a voiceless request.

  “No,” she whispered. “You’re not invited. Please leave.”

  The shadows withdrew, pulling away from the room and from where she stood. Leaving her. A light caress, much like the pressure of a lover’s fingers, ran gently along her face.

  She whirled at Cole’s touch. Only her apartment’s regular shadows remained. The feeling of company faded. Cole had left as requested.

  She placed her half-finished tea on the kitchen counter and sighed. Time for bed. Her dad had texted regarding a new job in the morning. Life went on. Bills kept coming.

  With heavy feet, she padded to her bedroom. She froze in the doorway. There, placed on her pillow, lay the Scythe of Lloth. The soft bedroom light glinted off the skull pattern etched into the metal surface.

  The scythe not only held painful memories, it carried a silent promise.

  Cole would be back.

  ~The End~

  Did you enjoy reading Conspiracy of Ravens? Please help this author out and tell someone or leave a review. Your support is much appreciated.

  Raven and Cole’s story continues in

  Nevermore

  A Raven Crawford Novel, Book Two.

  Raven’s List of Server Pet Peeves

  Campers

  Split cheques for large groups

  Seagulls

  Finger snappers and wavers

  Unwanted comments about appearance

  Old people with bags of coins

  Vegans

  GLOSSARY Of TERMS

  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

  The 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’d like to thank Katie and Nathan Guskjolen for all the fantastic trapping information, Alicia P.W. and Meredith M. for their help with Gaelic pronunciation, and the ever-fabulous Cindy RN for the nursing and hospital information. Though this book contains scenes involving a few nurses, one of whom demonstrates less-than-professional etiquette, I personally have only love and respect for nurses.

  I’d also like to thank Karilyn Bentley, Katie O’Sullivan, Charlotte Copper, Nicole Flockton, and Hannah Myles for beta reading, Lara Parker, as always, for editing and putting up with my Canadian ways, and Tammy Payne for proofreading.

  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.

  Thank you to Eerilyfair Design for the incredible cover, and 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, an urban fantasy five-book saga published by the Wild Rose Press. 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

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