Page 29 of Raven

Malcolm nodded. "Well, none of that matters now. This is what they have on you."

"Can’t you do something?" I wanted to say, 'You’re the alpha,' but that was disrespectful. He could easily have walked right out of here, and me getting to Tia would be a 'one day, someday' thing. I wasn't sure my panther and I had the patience to wait.

"This is something. They had a lot more on here, including trying to get you for attempted murder."

"What? No ..." As I moved, pain shot through me, the chains reminding me they were there. I had to catch my breath, pant, and let the pain wash through my body. It wasn't as bad, though. Maybe that was Malcolm doing that. "Get the CCTV. You'll see it there."

"CCTV didn’t record. A malfunction with the system."

"Malfunction. No. That’s bullshit and you know it."

"It doesn’t matter what I know, or even what you know. What matters is what this says. I got the charges down and that’s about as far as I could get them. Believe me, this is you getting off easy. Now, I don’t know what went on this evening, and really, it won’t matter. They have witnesses, and unless you can get someone of moral standing to corroborate your side of things, there is little we can do about it." I was about to protest, but he raised his hand to silence me. "It is what it is, Raven. Take this. Don’t push it."

I bit my bottom lip, head down again, and nodded. "Does my mother know?" Then I paused, looked at him again. "How did you know I was here?"

"I had to sign the forms that came through for a court appearance at the DSA. It was sent to me because you were being held here, and no representative."

DSA was the Department of Supernatural Affairs, which was the governing body for anyone not human. They dealt with everything and had a subsection for all: DSA police, DSA medical, DSA taxes. Anything that was legal and governed was run by them in one way or another.

"You said I am free to go."

"With conditions. They’ve fined you the sum of ten thousand pounds."

I let out a breath. "Ten thousand. I don't have that kind of money." I didn't need to total up what I did have. That figure was far out of my reach. In my bank, I had thousands, but not that much. Not even close. My mother had a little. We lived low and below our means, but that much? Even if we did have it, it would wipe us out. It'd wipe my mother out. "I don't have any way of getting that kind of money."

"I know. I could loan it to you, but there would be a paper trail and they'd deem it biassed."

"Can I work it off? Pay it off in part?" My mind raced with it, but I didn't have a clue. Even paying it off a little at a time, it'd cost me so much more.

"If you even try to pay it off, the interest alone would cripple you." Because that would be how they got me. Keep me in debt, never free of them. But there was something else. I could see it in the way Malcolm was looking at me.

"There's something else?"

"You're only seventeen, so you're classed as a minor. They've given you until your eighteenth to pay it off."

"That's in three weeks."

"But you'll be an adult then. A man." Malcolm heaved in his own breath and for a moment, he looked behind me to the room,my cell. He didn't say anything about it, or all the mess in there. Why would he? But it was probably a distraction for him, a way to gather his thoughts, maybe. Not that I ever imagined Malcolm Davies needed to gather anything. "Your mother came to me a week or so ago. She's concerned about you."

"She's my mother. She's concerned about everything."

"Sure, and as your parent, that is her right. Don't scoff at that, Raven. Not everyone has a parent who cares."

I wanted to sneer, to chide about it because sometimes, that care of hers didn’t seem so caring. It was control and oppression. It was ... I didn’t even know what it was. All my seventeen-year-old brain knew was that I wanted to do things, to live my life, and the main wall I kept hitting, above everything else, was my mother. I knew that she’d had some bad times. I got that, even if she didn’t talk to me about them. But the past couldn’t dictate our future—my future.

Except this. When she finds out about this, I'll be locked up, and I'll never see the light of day again—not as punishment, but because this would be a lesson she'd try to teach me. She'd tell me this is exactly why I should keep to myself, stay out of everyone's way, and focus on my work and studies only.

"I know she cares." I had never doubted that, but I didn't raise it. It wasn't the time or the place, and he wasn't the right audience. Getting through to my mother was the real issue.

"None of this is like you. When I came in, I asked what was going on, and I mean it. Not just here, in this cell," he gestured around to emphasise, "but all of it. This girl. Your studies. Your work."

"I—"

"No. Your scores at college have dropped, and I know you're going to tell me they're still in the range you need and you're not failing, but you used to hit higher than you are at the moment. Consistently. Honestly, I wish my own son would knuckle downthe way you do, but he tells me he passes too. So do you. But there might come a time when you don't. When you look back and wonder why the hell you threw this all away. You've missed the odd class too, which is not like you either. Don't throw your future away on a girl, Raven. It would be the most stupid thing you'd ever done."

"What if she's my mate?"

"What if she isn't?"

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