Page 53 of Raven

"Is this why you pushed me away?"

I felt her trembling against me. "I was going to get rid of the baby and not tell you," she said, the words trailing off. "I thought ... If you didn't know then I could just set you free. But I couldn't. I looked at you and I know that I'm not saying I'm ..."

"It doesn’t matter. You told me now.” I lifted my hand to her face and brushed her hair back, exposing the bruise. “Who did that? Who did this?"

She stared into my eyes, hers roving over mine. "I live in a very patriarchal family. And one girl in the family ... brothers ... they couldn't hide it from them."

"Your brother did this?"

"He didn't mean it. He just lost his temper."

And my panther was raging again, rising up and ready to kill. Brother or not, he'd put his hands on her, and Tia felt that because she held onto me. "Don't," she said. "It's just my brother being a dick and it got out of hand."

"He hurt you." The growl was barely contained in my throat.

She heaved in a breath. "It doesn't matter. What matters is here, us. Okay? I'm afraid, Raven."

"You have nothing to be afraid of, I'll take care of you."

"And we'll mate?" She said. "You and me? We'll go to society and ask to be mated."

TWENTY-TWO

My mother wasn't home when I got back, which wasn't unusual. She was probably still at the underground working, which was fine, so I headed straight to the bathroom and had a quick shower. The hot water cascaded over me, but did little to wash away the chaos swirling in my head.

I really should have gone and done some work; I had an assignment due, but honestly, my head just was not in that. With everything from Tia, the baby, Anika, my mother—the whole thing in my head was a jumbled mess, so I just went straight to bed and flopped down, every muscle in my body protesting.

I was convinced I wasn't going to be able to sleep, but the moment I closed my eyes, boom—I was out cold, oblivion claiming me.

I must've slept deeply because I didn't hear my mother coming home. When I woke, the place was silent, the quiet pressing in on me. I rolled onto my back, yawning and stretching. My panther stretched with me, having slept just as peacefully. The flat was so quiet; my mother was probably asleep on the sofa.

I hauled myself out of bed, grabbing my lounge pants and putting them on. I eased my bedroom door open, not wantingto wake my mother, and tiptoed out to the lounge. I had a few hours before class, and with the assignment due, the library was calling my name. Still, I wasn't so sure how much work I'd get done, but it didn't matter. I needed to get onto that, and then I needed to talk to my mother and Malcolm.

My mother was going to be the hard one. If I told her I wanted to mate with Tia, I knew exactly what reaction I was going to get. The walls would slam down faster than I could blink, even if I told her about the baby. Hell, the baby news might make her explode even worse. The thought of that conversation made my stomach churn.

Maybe it was better to talk to Malcolm first, to get things in place. I could explain about Tia and ask about the permission to mate. We wouldn't mention the baby, not just yet. We had to fudge the dates on that; babies came early and late all the time. If we could just get the mating part nailed down, and then I will talk to him about the sentinels. After seeing Anika last night, there was no way I was letting my child have that kind of life. I was going to do everything in my power to look after this baby, no matter what I had to give up. The memory of Anika's haunted eyes flashed through my mind, stealing my resolve.

But also, the ten thousand I owed the humans would get cleared up. Signing up for the sentinels would get that paid off and give us a good start in life. Sure, I would miss out on the first couple of years of my child's life, but with accomplishment always comes sacrifice, and it was the only way I could see for us to get to where we needed to be.

But my mother wasn't home, and she hadn't been home. I glanced at my watch—a little after seven thirty. Not too late, but she was usually home around six-ish. There were only occasionally she was out so late. It was possible she had a client who wanted her to stay longer. Whatever it was, fine. A niggle of worry started to creep in, but I pushed it aside.

I left my mother a small note on the table: "Headed to the library. Can we talk when I get home tonight?" And I grabbed my bag and headed to the door.

The day was just a normal day. I stopped by to see Tia, but she had back-to-back classes, and so we never really got to talk. I asked her how she was, and all those things I was meant to ask. She was nervous to see me, happy maybe. Her eyes were a mix of emotions every time they met mine, making my heart race.

Later, I had my own classes, and after, I went straight to work. Tia and I were going to meet later, and my panther couldn't wait for it. I swear, if he could tell the time, he would have counted down the minutes.

My shift at Spyglass was short. Also non-eventful. I was back home by eight that evening, but the moment I walked in the door ... the place was silent, still. Too still.

"Mum?" But I didn't need to say her name; deep inside, I already knew she wasn't there. My note was still on the table. Now that wasn't right. I could understand my mother being late home in the morning. If she had a client who wanted her to stay, fine. Yes, but she had never, not in my entire remembrance, not come home all day. Even if it was just to leave me a note with instructions, she would nipped home. But nothing had moved. I stared at my note on the table as if that might actually give me some answers and let out a breath.

I had to go to the underground. See where she was. Go and talk to Sue, or my mother. I grabbed my bag—I was going to meet Tia after I checked on my mother—and headed towards the door. But it was as I put my hand on the door handle and got ready to release the lock and open it, something slammed against me, inside me. A wall of anger, a blast of power against my own. I gasped, heaving in another breath, trying to slam my shields quickly into place before they got taken over by whatever this was. The power literally knocked the wind out of me.

I braced my other hand against the door, letting my senses spread out. Using them, small inky tendrils feeling for a presence nearby. I was trying to gauge how close they were when something loud and heavy thumped against my door several times, making it vibrate.

"Open the door," a male voice demanded from the other side, the words dripping with barely contained violence.

My panther rushed to the surface, eyes shifting, ready to protect. I unlatched the door, opened it, and braced myself.

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