The Raven Queen

by Emma Jayne Mills

  The bear raised its head sharply and drew back, eyeing the woman with suspicion. Aurora reached out a hand, slowly towards the bear.

  “It’s me, Zane, it’s just me, you know me.” Her hand lingered, palm flat, in the air at the same level as the bear’s nose.

  The bear lifted its nose, scenting the woman. She remained still, not wanting to spook him and allowed him to figure her out. After a few seconds, Aurora inched closer and lowered her body slowly, coming to a kneel beside its head. The bear didn’t react, other than to sniff her again. She shuffled closer. The bear watched. Closer. The bear touched her hand with its muzzle, nudging slightly. She stilled, waiting for the bear’s next move. Its eyes met hers, she didn’t look away in the way an alpha animal would expect, she was also an alpha and the bear had to know that they were equals. After a few seconds staring at each other, the bear lay on the ground and lowered its head into Aurora’s lap, resting its chin on her bare thighs.

  “Well, fuck me,” Hunter let out a long breath.

  “Shut up,” Jax said through gritted teeth, still wary of the situation and the fact that his wolf was desperate to get between Aurora and Zane.

  With slow movements, Aurora lifted her hand and rested it on the bear’s head, rubbing softly. The bear gave a low, contented grumble and closed its eyes.

  “She tamed him, she fucking tamed him! She tamed Zane!” Marco said, in disbelief, lifting a hand to his head.

  Zane’s bear was notoriously wild. While he accepted the men in both animal and human form, he had never allowed himself to be touched. A rush of movement indicated Zane had shifted back to human form and Jax’s wolf reared to the surface at the sight of his mate naked and close to another man, who was also naked.

  “Zane,” he strained. “I’m going to need you to move away from her.”

  Zane and Aurora both turned to Jax, his fists were clenched and they could see he was fighting for dominance over his wolf. Zane rose to his feet and held out a hand to Aurora. She shook her head at him. Understanding her meaning, that Jax’s wolf would see any contact between them as a threat, he raised both hands out towards Jax and backed away slowly.

  “Rory, come here,” Jax growled, holding out a hand towards her.

  Aurora didn’t argue or make any of her usual sarcastic comments, she merely got to her feet and walked over to her mate, who snatched her into his arms as soon as she was within reach. The other men and Melaina silently left the courtyard, granting them the privacy they needed to calm Jax’s wolf. They heard Zane mutedly tell them to join them in the comms room when they were ready.

  “Mark me, Jax,” Aurora whispered.

  Jax yanked off his shirt with a growl and let it slip through his fingers to the ground. Needing his skin on hers, he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her back to him, her soft breasts pressing against his solid chest. Her eyes followed his hands, moving meticulously over her body, mapping every inch of naked skin, and leaving an intense tingle in their wake. He leaned over her and rubbed his darkly stubbled cheeks on her neck, her face, her shoulders. His hands roamed over her breasts, fingers stopping to pinch both nipples. Hearing her moan, he lowered his head to take one in his mouth. His tongue flicked out, circling, then he closed his lips over it and sucked hard. She gifted him with the sound of his name on her lips and their bond crackled in the air as their arousal ignited.

  “Stay still,” he ordered, when her hands began to move over his chest. She did as she was told, his power sending a delicious chill over her body.

  A cool wind began to blow in the air, lifting Aurora’s hair and whipping it around her face. Jax buried his hands in the strands, pushing it back from her cheeks and gripping it between his fingers. He pulled lightly, tilting her head back and bringing her face up to meet his. Her eyes flashed with lust and hunger, only for him. Giving him a lingering, sultry look, she drew her bottom lip into her mouth with her teeth, then averted her eyes; submitting to him and satisfying his wolf’s need for dominance. Then his mouth was on hers. Devouring her with his lips, his teeth, his touch, owning her with his scent, marking her as his.

  “Mine,” he snarled, unable to quiet the beast within any longer. “Mine!”

  The team took a small private jet from an airfield in Valencia to another in Athens. Since the auction was to take place the following evening, Lykos had arranged accommodation for them all at a hotel in the city. Jax and Aurora spent the beginning of the flight tucked into a seat together at the back of the plane. Sensing their need for privacy, the others had taken seats at the front.

  Aurora’s submission during their heated encounter had helped Jax regain control of his temper and reassure him that she was his, but he still wanted her close. He was aware that he needed to work at keeping his emotions under control. They both agreed, however, that even a human man wouldn’t have reacted well in that situation, let alone a shifter with a volatile mate bond. It would become easier once the bond was sealed, but until then it could be a hindrance and dangerous to the team if they didn’t control it.

  “I need to talk to Zane,” Aurora said to Jax, lifting her head from his chest.

  “Okay.” He nodded, relaxing his hold on her, but not letting go.

  “You’ll have to let me up.” She smirked at him, swinging her legs off his lap.

  “Kiss me first,” he demanded, playfully pulling her back onto his lap, so she was straddling him.

  “Jax, I stink of you, you don’t need to mark me anymore than you have. Everyone here gets it, I’m yours.” She let her head fall to rest on his shoulder.

  “Say that again.” He nuzzled her neck and smoothed his hands over her thighs, raising his hips and pushing against her core.

  “I don’t need to say it again, you know it.” She lifted her head to look at him and pushed back against his hardness.

  Her breaths became hot and heavy, fuelling his desire for her as they moved together. Aware that they were far from alone and had to slow things down, Jax stilled. He dropped his head forward to lean on her chest and took a deep breath before he spoke again. She calmed too, regulating her breaths, and allowing their synchronised heartbeats to slow.

  “Doesn’t mean I don’t want to keep hearing it. Besides, kissing isn’t about me marking you, it’s about me liking the taste of you and wanting more. Kissing is a big part of our future, wild thing. Would it kill you to admit you like it too?” He lifted his head and his mouth hovered over hers as he spoke. She smiled and licked her lips for his kiss.

  “Don’t push it, O’Conner.” She broke the kiss before they got carried away again, pulling back and using her hands to loosen his fingers, now on her hips. He stuck out his bottom lip in a sulk he didn’t mean and she laughed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “I’m coming for you if you aren’t,” he joked and lifted his legs to rest on the seat she had vacated.

  Standing in the aisle, she leaned over and kissed the top of his head, appeasing his need for her affection. “I like kissing too,” she whispered, then turned towards the cockpit.

  During the introduction of their animals, Aurora had picked up on something from Zane’s bear that she wanted to address. She had a feeling Jax and the other men knew his story, she wanted it too. Knocking twice on the door of the cockpit, she waited for a response. Muted voices and then a clear “come in” came in reply. She opened the door and entered, Zane was in the pilot’s seat, Hunter the co-pilot. Hunter excused himself, picking up on his alpha’s needs to speak to each other privately. Indicating that Aurora should take his seat, he left the cockpit with a wink in her direction.

  “Got ourselves a head wind, the flight’s going to take longer than expected, but it shouldn’t be much of a delay.” Zane glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow. “What’s up?”

  “Back at the house, when you were in animal form and I shifted to human, there was something…” she began, but couldn’t put into words what she had picked up on, just that there was somethin
g she felt she needed to know.

  “You sensed something with my bear?” Zane guessed.

  “I don’t know what exactly, there wasn’t any real communication, it was kind of like when Jax and I are in animal form.”

  “You two can communicate then too?”

  “Not with words. We can pick up feelings, emotions, intentions, but not words.”

  “And you think you were getting that from my bear?”

  “I think I may be able to with all of you. It never occurred to me before, but with Hunter I sensed playfulness, and a protective feeling towards me. I don’t know if he felt anything in return, Jax can, but we’ve had years to figure that out. We’d have to look at it more closely to find out if it’s a mate bond thing or a warrior bond thing.”

  “Is that what we’re calling it? A warrior bond?”

  “I can’t think of anything else to call it,” she shrugged. “Is it changing for you? Getting stronger the longer we’re together?”

  “Yes, Cole feels it too. I imagine we all do.”

  “Yeah,” she looked out the window at the clouds, deep in thought.

  “What did you pick up from my bear?” Zane wanted to know.

  “It felt like sadness. A deep sadness, it’s been there a long time.”

  “That’s surprising, actually.” Zane frowned and rubbed his chin with one hand.

  “It is? I get sadness from you too, in human form, it would make sense that your animal feels it.”

  “My animal is vicious, not sad. I can’t explain why he reacted so well to you, but I can tell you he has never reacted that way to a woman before.”

  “What happened, Zane?”

  A long, deep sigh heaved from his chest. “I had mate once, she was my everything. That’s how I can tell Jax’s feelings for you are real.”

  “Because you’ve felt them.”

  “Yes,” Zane looked at her briefly and smiled. “The men know my history, you should too.”

  She nodded silently and waited for him to continue. “Her name was Mariola, she was human. Her family were trusted humans, people who know of our existence and can be trusted not to give up our secret. We weren’t true mates, but our love was real.”

  “We were together from being teenagers and I asked her to marry me on her 21st birthday. She accepted. We opened the bond in human form, but we both knew she needed to meet my animal. I’d only been shifting for a few years, still young in that respect and naïve, also arrogant. I believed I had control of my animal. I’d seen enough introductions to know what I was doing, didn’t think we needed to be supervised.”

  Zane flicked a few switches on the control panel of the plane, using the pause to collect his thoughts. Aurora waited patiently.

  “We went out into the woods, a secluded area, far away from my family’s territory.” He took a deep breath in. “The shift came on quickly and my bear surged forward on sight. If I’d been more in tune with him, I would have known he didn’t accept Mariola as our mate long before that day. I was in too much of a hurry to marry her, I didn’t think he needed to be included in the decision. I assumed he would just love her the way I did.”

  “He hurt her,” Aurora whispered.

  “He killed her. We’re conscious during our shifts, inside the animal, we retain the memories, you know this. I fought with everything I had to stop him, tried to force the shift back. By the time I overpowered him, it was too late.”

  “Zane,” Aurora reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

  “My bear has always reacted badly to women. I can’t explain why. I can control him to a certain degree. He won’t attack now unless threatened, but…”

  “It’s not a risk you want to take.”

  “No, it’s not.” Zane reached up and lifted her hand from his shoulder, he moved it to his lips, kissed her fingers and released her hand. “I don’t know why you’re different. The men, he identifies with, sees them as packmates. He felt love for you, the love of a family member. I’ve never experienced that from him before.”

  “I felt it,” she acknowledged, having picked up on those feelings too. “Could it have been because she wasn’t your true mate? Maybe he reacts well to a bond that is formed naturally, like ours, but not a forced one.”

  “It’s a theory I’ve considered,” Zane admitted. It wasn’t a theory he wanted to believe though, because it meant his bear would never have allowed him to be with Mariola.

  “Do you have any sense of him in human form?”

  “Only when he’s angry or irritated, until today I thought that was the only emotion he had.” Zane snorted a sarcastic laugh.

  “He’s sad, I get that more than anything.”

  “So, my animal needs therapy, that’s what you’re saying.” He laughed again, a more real sound this time.

  “Maybe you just need to try and connect with him more. I imagine, consciously or not, that you blocked him after he killed Mariola. You were only young, early in your shifts, perhaps, due to the trauma, your bond with him never fully formed in the way it does for everyone else.”

  “You have an old head on your shoulders, Aurora,” Zane said, with a smile.

  “I have a grandmother who likes to talk and a father who likes to teach.” She returned the smile, suddenly missing her family.

  “You’ll see them again,” he promised.

  “If they can be trusted,” she mused.

  “What do you think about that?”

  “Part of me agrees with Marco, they kept things from me. The wiping of the rogue plays on my mind. Part of me also thinks he’s being over cautious.” She ran both hands through her hair, smoothing it away from her face. “It’s hard to know what to think. I know I can trust all of you, which is odd because I barely know you, but also makes sense with our bond. We’re becoming stronger as a group. I feel it every day.”

  “We are becoming a pack. I sense it too,” he agreed. “Speaking of pack, while we’re alone, there’s an issue with Melaina that I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Her animal?” Aurora guessed.

  “She refuses to shift, says her animal is weak and would be of no use in a fight. Hunter has mentioned it several times. Marco openly distrusts her and I know Cole has noticed. I’m uneasy about her being present if we should come into trouble. The men are likely to put themselves in danger to protect her if they believe her to be weak.”

  “That’s understandable,” Aurora agreed with a nod.

  “I was more afraid for her than you with my bear, but he didn’t pick her up at all. He completely bypassed her, like she had no scent. Can you get a sense of her animal?”

  “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I can see her animal, it’s dormant, as though it’s been suppressed somehow. I haven’t had chance to speak to her, but I will at some point. She’s had enough to think about with the severing of her mate bond and everything we’re caught up in.”

  “Do you think she can shift?”

  “No, I don’t think so. The animal never surges like ours do, it remains still, just watching, no matter what happens around her. It doesn’t become agitated by its circumstances, just accepts it. Mel’s mood changes but the animal stays calm.”

  “How could that happen?”

  “I wish I knew. We’ll find a way to help her,” Aurora concluded and Zane’s concerns about the situation lessened. “I’ve already spoken to Jax about it and I’m certain Lykos knows, so it would be wise to let the others know. Just tell them not to approach her about it. I’ll talk to her when the time is right.”

  “Discretion isn’t Hunter’s strongest quality, but I’ll make sure he gets the message.”

  Zane and Aurora were laughing when Hunter knocked on the door and re-entered, two cans of soft drink gripped in one large hand. “All done with the family bonding session?”

  “For now,” Aurora grinned and stood. “You’re next though, Simba!”

  “Just say the word and I’m all your
s, my queen,” Hunter joked. Aurora slapped his shoulder as she left the cockpit and Hunter took his seat again. “I don’t know what she did, I don’t want to know, but I’m liking this new smiley version of you, boss. The broody, broken man routine was getting old.”

  Zane acknowledged his friend with a smile but remained silent. Aurora had begun healing something that had been broken in him for a very long time.

  Aurora left the two men laughing together and made her way back towards Jax. He was asleep in the seat when she got there. Not feeling tired herself, she turned back down the aircraft, she’d been hoping to chat with her brother, but Marco and Cole were also sleeping, so she flopped down in the seat next to Melaina.

  “You good?” she asked, as she sat down.

  “Doing okay.” Melaina shrugged, acknowledging Aurora’s hint at her severed mate bond. “It’s getting weaker by the day. I didn’t think it would happen this quickly, maybe it’s because he’s dead. Life is starting to feel good for me, finally. How are you doing? You and Jax seem to be getting on.”

  “Getting on was never a problem for us,” Aurora answered, smiling. “We’re working through it all, y’know?”

  “Still don’t trust him, huh?”

  “I’m starting to. I just feel,” Aurora paused. “Apprehensive? I suppose that’s what it is. Scared of being hurt again, there’s a lot of that. I’m getting there though.”

  “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, not where he’s concerned. You were literally made for each other. I’ve never known mates as in tune as you are. What we should all be worried about is how he and Lykos are going to react to each other. Lykos is devoted to his Koraki. I don’t see that going away and I don’t see him being subtle about it.”

  “Yeah, they’ll have to be watched. Lykos will take any opportunity he gets to wind Jax up, despite my warnings and well, Jax doesn’t play games, he’ll just kill him.”

  “They might surprise us and start a bromance,” Melaina laughed.

  “Yeah, and we’re not about to walk into a wolf’s den and steal his dagger to kill a vampire with.”