Page 16 of The Raven
I nodded, unable to form any words. She closed her eyes and pressed herhands against either side of my head, her palms surprisingly warm against my temples.
In a heartbeat, the alley around us disappeared, replaced with a montage ofscenes from the night my life changed.
Grim and the others shooting past me in their car as I pulled up outside herapartment.
Blood.
The stench of smoke.
Eric, dead on the floor.
Ripping the bag covering Raven’s face open and starting CPR.
The piercing screams of police and ambulance sirens.
The machine flatlining as doctors desperately fought to save her life.
When a sob echoed around me, bringing me back to the dimly lit alley,Raven dropped her hands and stepped back, her breath coming in short gasps as her body tremored violently.
“You…stayed with me,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.
“Yes,” I replied, ignoring the lump of emotion painfully clogging mythroat.
“Why?”
I shook my head; the grief I’d experienced every minute since I foundher naked and lifeless resurfacing and preventing me from speaking.
“Mason,” she whispered, her tone filled with sympathy. She reachedher hand out to me again, but this time, she cupped my cheek. My eyes closed as I nuzzled against her soft palm, embracing a moment I never thought I would experience. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to find me.”
Every part of me wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her howsorry I was that she’d had to endure what they put her through. How sorry I was that I hadn’t been able to lock the cunts up.
I stepped forward, ready to do exactly that, when the shrill tone ofmy phone pierced the air and halted my movements. Raven pulled her hand away, and the warmth that had flooded my body at her touch instantly disappeared.
“You should get that,” she said, her tone hardening as she tore her gaze away and looked down at the ground.
Silently cursing, I turned and pulled my phone frommy pocket to find Nick was calling me. “Yeah?”
“Boss, I’m just checking in. Brenner has fucked off; the coast is clear.”
“Right. I’ll be back soon.”
I hung up and spun back to Raven, not in the least bit surprised to findshe’d vanished into thin air.
Again.
DeadMan Walking
The Criminal
Red mist clouded myvision as I paced the warehouse floor, my headchurning. Whoever the fuck was messing with us was a dead man walking. The sentiment was echoed by Butch, who was intently focused on his task of sharpening his knives, and Pyro, who was flicking his lighter and staring absently at the flame.
Boogie was dead.
And now, so was Ziggy.
I wanted blood.
A sharp beeping rang throughout the warehouse, the telltale sign thatsomeone was coming in. A second later, the huge iron door slid open, and Buck stormed in, his face as white as a sheet.
