The Raven Queen

by Emma Jayne Mills

  Allowing his canines to extend, Jax bent to bite into the skin at the place where her neck and shoulder met.

  “For the rest of my days, I am yours…”

  “Yours,” Aurora roused briefly and croaked the final word of the mate vow with him in unison.

  Had she been conscious, they would have recited the whole thing together and she would have accepted his claim, but that one word was enough for him. That was her acceptance, she had allowed his claim on her. She was his.

  Her body convulsed, she let out a painful hiss and her eyelids fluttered as their souls began to entwine, binding them together for eternity. An electric current ran over Jax’s skin and the spark that had ignited in them as children grew into a flame that would never burn out. He felt his strength flow into her through the bite and held her tight to him, while her body drew on his power to heal itself.

  “I’ll be fast!” Cole understood the intense feelings of possession Jax would now have as a newly bonded wolf and dashed across the floor towards Aurora, speedily checking her vitals. Jax drew back slightly, fisting his hands and fighting the urge to tear his teammate apart. The primal instinct to protect his mate had grown to immeasurable levels in the brief moments since he had bitten her.

  “Her body is healing. Her wounds are closed, she’s starting to breath normally. The collar won’t allow her to shift and fix the minor injuries, so she’ll carry a few scrapes until we can get it off her. She’s going to be all right.” Cole breathed a sigh of relief and sat back heavily against the wall of the chopper, smiling at Jax.

  “Thank, God!” Melaina let out a breath they had all been holding and discreetly wiped away the tears that had spilled from her eyes.

  Life had never shown Melaina a love as real as the one Jax felt for Aurora. There was nothing quiet about his feelings for his mate, they roared loudly in every action he took, every movement he made and every word he spoke. He was hers and he wanted the world to know. It was beautiful.

  The shifters watched Aurora’s body fix itself in stunned silence, the colour slowly returning to her skin and her ragged breathing stabilising. Marco moved forwards slightly and stroked the hair away from her forehead. The action provoked a snarl from Jax, Marco laughed and moved away.

  “Do you feel that?” Cole whispered to Hunter, who nodded in response, a mix of confusion and wonder on his face.

  “What?” Marco wanted to know.

  “I don’t know. Hard to explain. I feel connected to her, somehow. I felt something liked it when we saw her in Dublin, but this is stronger.” Cole tried to explain and Marco nodded his understanding. He had shared a deeper bond than regular siblings with Aurora all their lives. Since Jax found the prophecy, he now knew it to be the connection between the queen and her warriors.

  “Me too,” Hunter fixed his gaze on Aurora, causing Jax to throw another snarl in his direction. “Like something just clicked into place.”

  “I think it’s safe to say we all feel it, fellas. Jax is going to be extremely possessive where she’s concerned for a while though. Let’s give him some space, yeah?” Zane ordered, hiding the emotion he felt as his own bond clicked into place and his relief at Aurora’s survival threatened to overpower him.

  What felt like days passed in mere minutes, before Aurora regained consciousness and spoke.

  “Jax?” she whispered, hoarsely. Although raspy and weak, her voice was music to his ears.

  “I’m here.” He lifted her head, stretched his legs out beneath her and gently lowered it to rest in his lap.

  “Four years, you prick!” she scratched out. “Four fucking years. Nothing. Not once in all that time. You weren’t even that far away! You piece of shit!”

  “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, baby.” He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face when she abused him. It was confirmation that she was going to be just fine. The men around them gave low chuckles of their own.

  “I hate you...” she rasped, “...but I’m glad you came.”

  “Me too, Rory. Me too.” Jax rested his head back against the wall and heaved a sigh of relief. Aurora closed her eyes again.

  They still had a whole world of shit to face, but he had her with him. He would gladly take all the crap she could dish out. He’d take it for the rest of his life, because she was his at last.

  Chapter Nine

  When your heart is caught betwixt and between,

  dig deeply for the truth.

  The vampire king approached the messenger, his silent steps threatening in their approach. Snapping out an arm, he wrapped his long fingers around the messenger’s throat, not squeezing tightly enough to steal breath, but the intention was very clearly there.

  “You dare to stand before me to report of failure again?” Leo’s rage filled the room, his onlookers both afraid and eager to see the messenger’s blood spill.

  “My lord,” the messenger kept a strong voice. “I work alone, some things are beyond my control. I am strong, but I cannot go against an entire pack and a team of Laignach Faelad.”

  “You will do whatever needs to be done to bring her to me!”

  “I fear she is dead, my lord. The blood loss was too much for even the strongest shifter to recover from.”

  “You believe this?”

  “I have no reason not to.”

  The witch stepped from the shadows, seeking permission to speak.

  “Impart your wisdom, please,” Leo released the messenger and waved a hand, sarcasm staining his tone.

  “She lives, I feel her presence still. Her mate has healed her. She will come to you of her own accord, if you can be patient,” the witch said.

  “Do you see this?” Leo turned to the messenger and pointed at the witch. “He gives me information I can use. You bring me nothing but failure. Tell me why I should let you live?”

  “The messenger has the raven queen’s ear, my lord,” the witch spoke up again.

  “It is true, my lord, she trusts me.” The messenger resorted to begging, knowing time was running out.

  “Fine. Find her. Watch her. Keep me informed. Make certain I know every move she makes.”

  “My lord,” the messenger bowed and backed out of the room.

  Aurora groaned and turned in the crisp, fresh sheets of the bed. Her body ached. No, it was more than aches, it was sore, unhealed wounds making themselves known. Wounds that should have healed when she shifted, but she hadn’t shifted.

  Why hadn’t she shifted?

  Because she couldn’t.

  But, why not?

  Her mind, swaddled in fog, searched for answers to the questions it had, while she dragged her protesting body into wakefulness. Stretching out her hand, it hit a warm, hard body. Her eyes flew open and her suspicious stare was met with sparkling, deep brown eyes, filled with humour and love.

  Jax.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded, suddenly wide awake.

  “Waking up with my mate.” His voice was warm, still rough from sleep, and it wrapped a familiar blanket of warmth around her. It was a painful familiarity; one she’d fought hard to erase from her memories.

  He reached for her and as he moved the sheets pooled around his waist, showing off his clearly defined abs. Boy, correction, man, definitely man, had done some growing since he left.

  He left!

  Her eyes took control, shoving her mind back into the foggy haze and wandered over every bare piece of skin she could see. Involuntarily, her fingers reached out, skating across his shoulder. His breath hitched at the current that ran through their physical connection. Their eyes met briefly, snapping up to silently acknowledge the spark, before hers were drawn back to his shoulder. Some kind of black design feathered over the top and disappeared down his back. The markings looked Celtic, but she couldn’t quite make it out. His touch, gently on her hip, startled her with the pulse that ran over her skin again.

  “C’mere.”

  “Are you nuts? I’m not coming anywhere near you, Jax!”r />
  She slapped his hand away and shuffled her body across the bed, as far away as she could get. The door flew open, crashing into the wall behind it and a man she vaguely recognised shot through the opening, followed closely by Melaina.

  “Are you all right, Aurora? I heard shouting...” the man’s black eyes scanned what he could see of her body, which wasn’t much since she had pulled the sheets up to her chin.

  “Who the fuck are you?” She struggled to remember why or how she knew him.

  Another man entered the room. This one was bigger, slightly older with a short salt and pepper beard covering his face. Definitely a bear, she recognised him too. Both men eyed her and she scrutinised them in return. She felt no malice from them, only a powerful need to protect her.

  “She’s good,” Melaina winked at her and left the room with a smile on her face.

  -Why is Melaina here? Where is here?

  -Relax, Rory.

  Aurora snapped her head back around to glare at Jax. His voice inside her head had been unexpected, unwelcome and yet a murmur inside her somewhere told her it was right. His eyes met hers briefly before he turned to the others in the room.

  “She’s fine, just a little confused. Would you all get out of our room?” Jax barked.

  “Our room? What the fuck, Jax?”

  “Aurora, my name is Cole,” the younger, pretty man, with the dark chocolate eyes lowered his long, lean body to sit on the edge of the bed.

  “I know you.” Aurora moved towards him, an invisible pull letting her know she could trust him. There was that connection again, she’d felt it before, with someone else. Someone she hadn’t wanted to explore it with. She was now feeling that same connection stretching between her and both the men who had entered the room. Who had she felt it with? What was it?

  “We met a few days ago, in Dublin,” Cole reminded her. She nodded, as the days leading up to this moment came back to her.

  Jax’s possessive streak kicked in, his low growl grew louder with every inch closer his mate moved to Cole. His wolf snarled at him to get her away from the other man. Jax fought it, knowing that Cole posed no threat. He needed to get his primal instincts under control, find a balance between mate and warrior, so that he could function and do his job properly. His teammates were there to protect her, he knew that, but his wolf needed to understand it too.

  “Suck it up wolf, I’m the closest thing she has to a doctor and I need to make sure she’s ok.” Cole wasn’t fazed by the reaction.

  Cole’s eyes met Aurora’s and she tried to pick up on his animal because he was a shifter. His body type suggested he was bigger than a wolf, but not burly like a bear. Distracted, she looked at the other man in the room.

  “Zane,” he reminded her of his name. “You knocked me clean off my feet in Dublin, haven’t lived it down with this lot since. Let Cole look you over and we can talk soon. Jax.”

  Zane nodded once at Jax, silently issuing an order. Jax groaned quietly and got out of the bed. Thankfully, he had only been naked from the waist up and was wearing grey sweatpants. Not that they hid much.

  Turning to look at his mate, who was now biting her lip and staring at him again, Jax smiled. “You can stare at me all you want later, wild thing. I’ll even let you touch. I’m going to get you some breakfast ready, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

  She cocked her head to one side and looked at him. Was he serious? She’d woken up in bed with him, events of the night before blurred and hazy and he was talking about breakfast, like it was any other normal day of the week?

  “Get the fuck out of my sight, Jax!” Her whisper was ferocious. Cole raised his eyebrows at Jax, who just laughed.

  “She’ll be fine once she’s eaten,” Jax stated. Her dazed reactions weren’t quick enough to register his movement, so she couldn’t avoid the forehead kiss he leant forward to plant on her before he left. “I’ll see you soon, wild thing.”

  “Calm down for me, Aurora. I can’t tell how you are while you’re worked up like this,” Cole pleaded and she turned her attention to him. He held her wrist lightly in his hand and appeared to be checking her pulse.

  “What. The hell. Is going. On?” Her demanded was met with an amused smirk, which did nothing to help her mood.

  “What do you remember?” he asked gently, while looking at the watch on his wrist.

  “Nothing!” She snapped, then shook her head. “No, that’s not true, there are bits and pieces. I remember you and the others in Dublin. I remember taking the rogue in, you were arguing with my Dad over him.” She smiled, wickedly. “I remember shooting Jax.”

  “Yeah, he took that well, given the circumstances. We need to talk about your father and the rogue, but not now. What else? Imagine a jigsaw puzzle in your mind, but the corners are missing. Breathe deeply, relax and just let your mind wander, until you find them.” Cole’s thumb rubbed a gentle circle on the pulse point of her wrist as he urged her to remember.

  Aurora took a deep breath and allowed her thoughts to travel back to Shadow Fen, to home. The pictures formed slowly, morphing in and out- dinner, an explosion, a man, claiming he was her mate, Jax…

  “The collar,” she reached up to touch the metal band around her neck. “I can’t shift,”

  “Good, don’t panic, we’ll get to the collar, keep going.” Cole’s voice was clam, soothing, he continued to rub her wrist.

  “A castle, I was taken to a castle. Lykos!” The name flew from her lips and there was a tug on the bond she felt towards the man who had kidnapped her.

  “He took you from your parent’s house,” Cole supplied and she nodded, remembering.

  Puzzle piece after puzzle piece fit themselves back together, until almost everything was back in place. She had been hurt, badly, almost unconscious, then her brother’s voice filtered through her thoughts. Marco had been there.

  “Marco?” She frowned at Cole, questioningly.

  “He’s here. He’s fine. He was on guard duty when we got here last night, with Hunter. They’re sleeping now but they’ll be around later,” Cole explained. She briefly wondered where “here” was. “Anything else?”

  “Lykos removed the collar. Axel, the pack beta somehow got hold of it and put it back on. He tried to kill me.” She closed her eyes and pieced together the events. Caspian lurked in the background as Axel sliced the blade into her body. “Caspian?”

  “We’re not sure of his part, he was supposed to be on the inside, helping us get you out. We don’t know exactly what went wrong yet. Axel was killed.”

  “Lykos? Did he kill Axel?” She wanted confirmation of the memory she had of the minutes before she lost consciousness. Both Lykos and Caspian in wolf form had been there, then Caspian shifted and looked over her in human form.

  “If his wolf is white, then yes, he killed him,” Cole affirmed.

  “That’s him,” she nodded. “Caspian ran towards me, shouting, when Axel was attacking me. Lykos was already in wolf form, tracking a scent, there was someone watching us. It must’ve been Axel.”

  “We don’t know where Lykos is now. As far as we know, he hasn’t been seen since we picked you up. He was in wolf form when he killed Axel, so he probably took off straight away. Nobody else was seriously hurt, except for you. We didn’t get to you in time...” Cole’s words faded and a pained look came over his features.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” she reassured, meeting his eyes with a smile.

  Turning her hand to thread their fingers, she eased his pain through the connection. Cole’s eyes widened, becoming brighter. The feeling of Aurora’s power flowing into him was both overwhelming and empowering at the same time. His anxiousness at not getting to her in time to prevent her injuries eased, to be replaced with the knowledge that she didn’t blame them and was thankful they had come for her.

  Aurora was equally as surprised at the power she was able to share with Cole, her actions had been instinctual, unexpected but they made sense to her. She already knew she
could shield others from her power. It made sense that she could extend it to someone she shared a bond with. She hadn’t hesitated with Cole the way she had with Lykos, she felt Cole’s intentions were genuine. He had no desire other than to be there for her, to help and protect her.

  Needing the final details, Aurora concentrated on the memory of the knife, opening her body up, piercing her skin. She singled out the pain, remembering the burn that ripped through her body with every slash. With the final pain came clarity. This was all down to Caspian. He had got hold of the collar for Axel. He had allowed Axel to get close to her. He’d fought beside her too though. He had backtracked when he realised Axel’s plans were to kill her, but he still set it all up.

  “He set me up! That little fucking weasel! I secure him a beta position with a powerful pack and he lets a lunatic stab me. I’m going to kill him!” Aurora shot up out of the bed, ready to hunt down Caspian and realised she was dressed in only her underwear. “Where are my clothes?”

  “Ruined. There was a lot of blood, we had to cut them off you, to get to the wounds. There are some sweats over there, but they’ll be a little big. We’ll get you some new clothing as soon as we can. But you really should be resting Aurora. Jax’s bite healed you but...”

  “Bite? What bite? Cole?” She grabbed the black jogging bottoms and yanked them on, pausing to tighten the drawstring on the waistband. Pulling on the sweatshirt, she frowned as she caught the scent on the clothes. “These are his, aren’t they? I can smell him on them.”