Page 109 of A Shade of Myself
A few minutes later, we stepped into a bit of a clearing. The sky darkened and the forest turned gloomy. Shivering, I glanced up to gauge how long before the cloud passed.
It wasn’t a cloud, but a cloak of black, winging across the sky.
I edged up to the wolf, who was snarling, hanging on to his fur for reassurance as the cloak swept overhead then scattered. Dozens of ravens settled themselves on branches, their beady eyes fixated on us.
My mouth was dry and my heart clattered against my ribs, the sound deafening in the unnaturally still woods.
The wolf growled, his ears flattening.
Despite the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end thanks to all the cold, dead eyes trained our way, I cocked a hand on my hip. “While I appreciate the Hitchcock homage, you’re not going to scare us off that easily.”
Big words from the woman barely holding her bladder in check.
“I want Poe,” I said. “Now.”
“You’ve got me.”
I cough-choked, startled by the soft voice from behind.
Poe sat on a stump, their hands in their lap, watching me with a look of mild disinterest.
My partner prowled toward the raven shifter, his canines looking particularly sharp.
I waved a hand at the bird-laden branches. “More games?”
“No, just a little ambience.”
“Wonderful. Now that the scene is set, I’m going to ask you a question and you’re going to answer honestly. It’ll be fun.”
“That doesn’t sound fun.” Poe flapped a ruffled wrist in dismissal.
Laurent lunged and knocked the bird shifter off their perch.
The other ravens shook their wings in agitation.
Poe pecked at the wolf with the razor-sharp beak they had morphed, attempting to beat the animal with one wing, but Laurent dodged the attacks and pinned Poe to the ground.
A sensation of feathers scratched along my back, a sharp threat rather than a velvet caress. The raven shifter had pushed me too far, and this warning only served to harden my resolve to get the answer I’d come for.
“I should have clarified,” I said. “The fun part is that if you don’t, Laurent will play his own game with you, right now. And I don’t like your odds.”
The harder Poe fought to get free, the more bored the wolf looked as he added yet more weight to restrain his captive.
Poe cawed in distress, the other ravens answering as one. Their collective call bounced off the trees, making my flesh crawl.
“Enough!” My cry shocked them back into a still silence.
One wrong move and it felt like the air itself might draw blood, but I had shadows in my veins. I was the nightmare relishing her time in the sun.
“You stole my blood to put your augury into motion.” Poe blinked in surprise at my growled words. “Yeah, I know all about you ravens. I also know you sent me on the Succubus expecting I’d be killed and sparing you any consequences. But now it’s my turn to collect.” I held up the token I’d won from the raven shifter, sunlight glinting off the silver disc. “I either trade you this for a question.” I flipped the disc up in the air and caught it. “Or, well…”
I nodded at the wolf, who slowly and thoroughly ripped Poe’s sleeve with a claw, drawing a thin line of blood along their one still-human arm.
Laurent and I really did have a special relationship.
“Get him off me first,” Poe croaked out.
Laurent looked for my agreement before stepping back.
