Page 4 of An Oath at Midnight

I turned to see Payne materializing from a dark corner, shifting into his human form. Crow shifters had several forms: human, shadow, bird, and wings only, and Payne took full advantage of the shadows, looming in dark corners, silently watching…judging. His dark eyes locked on me, his lashes so thick and dark, it looked like he had coal around his eyes.

All four brothers had those lashes. They were all similar in appearance. Black hair and eyes, tall, tattooed, but Bram and Payne were the most alike. Bram wore his hair differently than his brothers, though. They wore theirs tied back and had one or both sides shaved, and all three had a series of lines inked there. I’d asked Bram what it meant, and he’d just shrugged and said it was what their warriors did, that it was tradition.

“Be nice,” Uma said to him.

Payne’s wide chest expanded. “Of course.”

Uma’s eyes narrowed. “I need to check on the meal. If you upset Magnolia while I’m gone, we’ll be having words.”

He inclined his head, and his aunt bustled off. His dark gaze slid from his aunt, and he smiled down at his daughter. “Go help your aunt, little feather.”

Maeve jumped up, doing as he asked, and Payne scooped up the wings Bram had carved, turned it over, pulled out the cork, and dumped the tiny leather pouch filled with herbs and other ingredients for the spell I’d put in it for his daughter over the side of the deck, then put it back. “She doesn’t need your spells. She doesn’t need anything from you.”

Yeah, that hurt, but I wasn’t surprised by it, and I refused to let him see how shitty he’d just made me feel. My anger rose again, and I blew out a breath as I jammed it back down, though I knew from experience, that would only work so long. “You said I don’t need to know about Bram? Why?” I said instead of telling him what a giant asshole he was. I knew Payne wasn’t my biggest fan, he’d never bothered hiding it. I’d never really cared, but for some reason, right then, I kind of hated the resentment I saw in his eyes when he looked at me.

“Because it’s none of your business.”

“Bram’s my best friend, my familiar. We share everything,” I said, and this time there was no controlling the bite of anger in my voice.

“Obviously not,” he said and eyed me for several long, uncomfortable seconds. I’d always had a kind of sixth sense. It had never developed into anything more than that, but I’d always just known things—not like a psychic, but at a gut level. I’d lost touch with that side of myself the last couple of years, but I was slowly getting it back—and there was something wrong about Payne, something off. No, he wasn’t a danger to me, not physically, but looking into his eyes sent a shiver down my spine, always. “You’ve seen the picture of our mother?” he asked cryptically.

“Yes.” I’d seen it many times. Bram had a framed photo of his parents in his room at home.

“Do you know how she got the jagged scars down the side of her face?”

“Fighting with a demon.” Bram didn’t like to talk about his parents. They’d died when he was young, and eighteen-year-old Payne had taken responsibility of his brothers. Things had been tough for all of them. “But I’m not sure what that’s got to do with anything. I want to know what’s going on with Bram…”

The coldness in his black eyes intensified, shutting me up.

He angled his head to the side of the house, telling me without words to follow. He led me around to the other side of the deck and stopped at the railing, his rough, scarred, and inked hands gripping it as he stared out at the large clearing in front of us.

I’d seen it many times, of course, and right now it was covered with wildflowers, a riot of color and sweet perfume. It was beautiful, but I didn’t know why he’d brought me around here.

“She was younger than you are now when it happened.” He pointed to a spot in the distance, on the other side of the clearing. “My father told me that was where she burst from the trees, a hoard of demons behind her. One tackled her, taking her down. She fought and killed it, then kept on running.”

I stared at him stunned. “Why didn’t she fly away? Why didn’t anyone help her?”

He turned to me, and I forced myself to stand my ground and not retreat when his black eyes locked on mine. “Because she was determined to pass the test, to win our father. She’d known he was hers since she was fifteen. My father knew it as well, but he had to wait until she was old enough, and because of who he was, he waited for her to make the first move. She needed to decide what she was willing to risk to be with him. But she’d decided as soon as she realized he was fated to be hers. My mother trained hard, and when she turned eighteen, she was finally ready to claim my father, to become his mate. She went to him and told him she was leaving, and that she’d be back in two days.”

I frowned. “I don’t understand. What test? Ready for what?”

“She told him to wait for her right there,” he said, ignoring my questions, and motioned to the edge of the clearing below us, to the chain-link fence across it. “He knew what she was about to do, what she had to do if they were going to be together. He also knew there was a chance she wouldn’t make it, but there was no stopping her. He told me he’d never been more terrified in his life or more proud. When she broke through the trees that day, he was waiting, like she’d asked him to.” Payne’s Adam’s apple slid up and down. “It killed him to stand by while she fought, but if he’d helped her, she would’ve failed. Our people would’ve seen her as weak, someone in need of rescuing, and not a fitting mate for their future leader.”

I stared out toward the forest filled with demons and other creatures. Holy shit. “I had no idea.”

He gripped the railing tighter. “It’s called the demon run.”

“Jesus,” I muttered. “Why would anyone do that?”

His nostrils flared, his knuckles turning white. “Our people are strong. Fierce. There’s a reason others avoid us and why we keep to ourselves. We are predators, without mercy or remorse. It’s in our blood, it’s the way we’re made.” He looked down at me. “We don’t have kings and queens, but my father led and protected his people until the day he died. They look to me and my brothers to lead them now. And whoever my brothers mate, will need to be just as strong as our mother was. They’ll need to be resilient, courageous…merciless. They need to be willing to risk everything to be with us.”

The way he was looking at me—an uneasy feeling settled in my belly. I quickly looked away. “Does every mated couple do the demon run?”

“Only those who want to mate a warrior. Not many can handle a male with that kind of strength. We may try to fight our true natures…” I felt his gaze burning into me now. “But it always comes to the fore. Being with a male like that is not for the faint of heart. Our mates need to be as strong as us, and the demon run is how they prove it.”

Bram called my name from the other side of the tree house, and there was an edge to his voice. He hated when he didn’t know where I was, and no matter how irrational it was, there was no missing his concern. Pretty ironic, since he did the same to me all the time.

I turned to go, but Payne stopped me. I turned back and he stared at me for several uncomfortable seconds. Whatever he was going to say, I wasn’t going to like it.