AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stands tall, looking down his beak at me as he cocks his head to the side. A sudden tug in my gut makes me yelp, dropping me to my knees with a gasp as my hands clutch my stomach. I can’t explain it. The pull is right where my connection to him always is, where his emotions swirl inside of me, but there’s never been anything like that before.
I don’t get a chance to question it before it happens again, my palms slamming into the ground as the wind is blown from my lungs.
“Whatever the fuck you’re doing to her, stop. Now,” Brax snaps, his hand landing on my back as he stands protectively over me. It won’t do any good, though, not if he can cause me pain like this. But why?
“Raven?” My name on his tongue settles everything inside me as I peer up at him. The harshness to his gaze vanishes as he takes a step toward me.
“Ari,” I rasp, and he cuts the remaining distance between us.
Crouching before me, he tucks his beak under my chin, forcing me to stand as I place my hand against his feathers. “It’s you.”
His words hang heavily between us and I feel the emotion in his eyes. Now isn’t the time to be vulnerable. Forcing a smirk to my lips, I give him a pointed look. “I said it was. What makes you think it wasn’t?”
He draws me closer, so I’m pressed in a warm embrace against his feathers, and sighs. “The skinwalker.”
“A skinwalker showed up here… as me?” I clarify, disbelief rippling through me.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t trust our mind bond after that and blocked my thoughts from yours,” he offers, making complete sense of the total disconnect I’ve felt from him, but the reality doesn’t ease the pain that it’s caused me.
“And apparently, you’ve now decided to start talking out loud instead,” I grumble, leaning back so I can see him properly. I sense Gia moving closer to us, but I keep my gaze locked on my familiar, too scared to let him out of my sight.
“I always could.”
My jaw falls slack as I blink up at him. Fucker. Wasn’t he the one to say he couldn’t? Asshole. With a shake of my head, I sigh. “Of course you could. Here I am, panicked and worried because I can’t reach out to you, and here you are, causing mayhem.”
“You’re welcome.” I’m certain he’s smiling, but the beak makes it impossible to know.
“Raven,” Gia murmurs, calling out my name as she leans into her love, and Ari nuzzles against her.
“Gia,” I breathe, relieved to see that she’s still okay.
“If it really is you, why are you on the inside of the compound?” she asks, and I sense Ari stiffen with worry as I smile brightly.
“To get you out,” I explain, taking a step back to intertwine my fingers with Brax’s while Figgins gapes at all of us with a sad longing in her eyes. Her need for her own familiar must be driving her insane. I can’t even imagine.
“You know that’s not possible,” Ari states, pulling me from my concerns, and I wag my eyebrows at him.
“Are you underestimating me?” Before he has the chance to lecture me on it, I take another step back. “Where is the closest barrier to the compound from here?”
He glances over me for a moment before reluctantly nodding behind him. I take off in that direction, Brax right beside me and Figgins trying her best to keep up as I hurry over the fallen trees and protruding roots sticking out of the ground.
“Where are you going?” Ari asks, the ground vibrating slightly with his steps. I ignore him, remaining focused on getting to the edge of the compound. “Raven, where are we going?” he prods again, but I continue to ignore him. I feel it the second he’s no longer on the ground, and a moment later, he lands in front of me, blocking my path with his wings flung out wide at his sides. “Raven.”
I ignore the warning tone of his words as I beam at him. “The silent treatment isn’t so nice now, is it?” I snark, cocking a brow at him before I practically skip around him. I’m certain I hear what almost sounds like a chuckle from Gia, but I’m too fixated on the compound wards to double-check.
“You’ve made your point,” Ari grumbles, turning to keep beside me, and I look up at him with another pointed look.
“Have I? I’m not sure.”
Thankfully, I avoid another lecture when the area grows lighter and I spot the perimeter of the compound. Brax starts running before I do and I cling to him as we eliminate the distance, coming to a stop beside the barely visible ward that shimmers ever so slightly from the glow falling from the sky.
“Raven, before you attempt whatever you think you know here, I think we need to catch each other up to speed, don’t you?” Ari asks, making a valid point, but uncertainty wars inside of me. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I turn to face him.
“Honestly, Ari, I trust you with my life, but I don’t know who or what may lurk in our surroundings and I refuse to give anyone the upper hand on us right now when everything is crumbling to the ground.”
