Page 33 of Raven's Dawn

Breaths slowing to a normal pace, Warren unclenched his fists. He ignored Jeremy’s hand on his chest and made his way across the field to Laila. “Where are they? Why can’t I reach their minds?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t know. But I do know.” He opened his mouth to protest, and she held up a pointer finger to motion him to silence. “I don’t know how to describe where they are, but I can feel it. I don’t know why you can’t reach their minds. Best guess, though, is that Graham can, because Graham is telepathic.” She turned to me, arching a brow.

Mentally, I dropped into Rain’s thoughts.

I couldn’t see everything. It was fuzzy, not much different from that broken VCR tape. I could barely make out a dim red light in the darkness. But I heard her voice. I felt Ezra’s hand in hers.

“They’re moving,” I murmured, trying to focus on the other senses. The air was moist against my skin. Water dripped in the background, and when it made contact, it echoed. “In a cave, I think? It looks like they’re in a cave.”

Warren looked at me, breathing slower, eyes full of some combination of fury and pain.

“This isn’t my first rodeo, Warren,” Laila said. “When we were training, Rain cast that spell with all of our blood, remember? At the very least, I can always tell where you guys are. Now watch your fucking attitude and keep your hands to yourself. I can’t deal with a grown ass man acting like a toddler while we’re on a rescue mission.”

“Get the dragons, Amara,” Iliantha said.

A raven dropped down from the sky. Its wings smacked the air furiously. The little shite’s big black eyes burned into mine. Flapping its wings, feet planted atop the soil, it croaked again.

“Least they knew she was gone,” Warren said under his breath.

Jeremy shot him a look. “Get in line for the damn dragons.”

13

WARREN

Graham was pissed.

I tried to apologize, or at least say something. Clarify that I hadn’t realized. That we were in two entirely different headspaces, and that I didn’t mean to lash out––that what I’d done wasn’t fair.

But each time I tried to speak with him, he walked away. He kept close to Jake’s side. They spoke quietly and unceasingly to each other, even ignoring Amara and Laila when they mounted the same dragon.

I tried to listen to what they were saying. We had all discussed boundaries; we had access to one another’s thoughts, but we were only to access them out of necessity. At a time like this, to me, reading Graham’s mind was a necessity.

But he had a lifetime of experience with telepathy. The second I dipped into his thoughts, he thrusted up a wall that I couldn’t get through if my life depended on it. Then he shot me a dirty look for extra measure.

I didn’t blame him.

Like Jeremy had said, the battle had only just ended. He and I were still finishing off the last of our enemies when Graham finally sat down.

It wasn’t what I thought it was. I was wrong. It was never easy for me to admit that, but I was wrong. Graham was right. The problem was, Graham was quick to trust and not so quick to forgive.

If I was upset about something, I addressed it. I didn’t let things fester. Graham? I expected the cold shoulder for quite some time.

Jeremy elbowed me in the ribs.

Shooting him a look, I yanked my soiled hair into a ponytail. Although I was growing to enjoy these dragon-back flights, I wasn’t fond of the wind. “What was that for?”

“Stop staring at him.” Jeremy kept his gaze ahead, gingerly holding the leather reins that wrapped around the beast’s neck. “You look like a stalker.”

I glared.

He was probably right. Ezra always said that my stare was colder than a Russian winter.

“He’ll calm down,” Jeremy said. “Then you guys can kiss and make up. But with all that, you implied that he doesn’t give a shit about the love of his life. He’s pissed. Give him time.”

“You don’t know Graham. There are few things he holds closer than a grudge.”

“He’s Fae. They all do.” He nodded to Laila. “But that’s not what’s important right now. Instead of trying to change how he feels, maybe you should be thinking about how to keep this from happening again.”

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