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He carefully sidestepped closer to my wrist, and I tried to stop my arm from trembling. Holy shit there’s a big ass bird on my arm. Holy shit. The last thing I expected was for him to gently rub his beak against my skin, but that’s exactly what he did.

Then he looked up at me, expectantly. “That’s, uh, that’s my wrist.” He glared at me. “Okay, so you know it is. Um. Shit. I wish I knew what you were trying to say.”

He lightly pecked at my skin and then swiveled his head back to me. “We already established you’re not going to eat me, so...”

A little bit harder this time, followed by a loud squawk. Next, he opened his mouth a fraction and rubbed it against my flesh. Recklessly, I leaned in for a closer look. He was tracing a path directly over one of my veins.

“Blood!” I exclaimed. “That’s what you’re saying. Blood.” The crow’s head bobbed. “I’m not letting you drink my blood.”

Today was the day I learned that crows could roll their eyes at you.

It was impossible to know what the bird actually meant, so I plopped myself down on a bench and kept asking questions, taking the dirty looks as definitive no’s.

“Okay, so we’ve established we’re not drinking each other’s blood and that you’re not a vampire bird. That’s good. We know Kiam already drank my blood. Do I need to drink his blood to understand you? I’m not so sure he’d want me to.”

The crow was right beside me on the bench, and he bowed his head before lowering himself closer to the seat. We remained silent for a while and then suddenly, he started screeching and flapping his wings. I sprang up from the seat as he lifted into the air. A hand clasped my shoulder and as I spun around, I watched him dive toward Leander. He only missed him by a hair.

Leander swatted the air while the bird circled him closely, squawking and screeching. Then, the crow aimed toward me, a wing catching my shoulder before it flew past the man.

The Fae.

The damned crow wants me to drink Fae blood.

CHAPTER 20

Brittney

Leander straightened his long, fancy suit jacket. “Obnoxious creatures. Our snowbirds would devour them.”

“What’s a snowbird?” I asked.

“Nothing your mind could comprehend,” he snapped at me. Whatever. “Come with me, you’re going inside.”

The crows were gone, and I kept searching for them while Leander tapped his foot against the bricks. “Now,” he said.

“Why?” I held my pretty stick, leaning some weight against it. He thrust his hand toward the staff, and I moved it out of his way. “Don’t touch my stick or I’ll shove the flowers down your throat.”

He rolled his eyes. “There’s an emergency and I need you indoors.”

“Oh.” What that could be, I had no idea, but I wanted to find out. “Okay, fine.”

Adrian was pacing back and forth when we got back inside. His head was tilted towards the floor, and he kept shoving his hand through his hair. He stopped when he spotted the two of us and glared at me. “From now on, you will notify one of us before you make use of the gardens.”

I snorted and sat down; they both ignored me.

“I strengthened the wards, no one can come in or out, no supplies,” Adrian announced to his friend.

Leander glanced at me, eyeing my makeshift weapon. “The demon woman will feed her; don’t worry about her. There’s enough here,” he remarked and turned back toward Adrian again.

“I have a bad feeling about this. Of all the things that could happen...” Adrian pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the redhead. “Read it again.”

“This is a disaster. She put it directly in his heart.” Leander’s eyes watered as I watched, clearly shaken by whatever they were talking about.

I fussed with my skirt, hoping they’d continue to talk.

Adrian stood with his hands on his hips while the redhead wiped tears from his cheeks. He had his back to me, but I imagined that’s what he was doing.

“Couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” Adrian swung his hand toward me, and Leander swiveled on his heel.