Novak Raven (Harper's Mountains #4)(56)

“You’re wrong,” Harper said. “She’s tougher than you think she is. You just dumped her in a terrifying scenario.”

“Court will be terrifying for her,” Sutton whispered. “She could hurt a case against them so much more than help. But if we had proof along with her testimony. Concrete. Proof. We could get Raven’s Hollow busted up and those women out of there. We could put away the people who hurt Avery. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

Weston swallowed hard and nodded. “You can’t get the evidence. You’ve already tried and failed.”

Sutton dipped his chin once.

“You need evidence to fall into your lap. Real, undeniable proof of abuse.”

Another nod, and now Weston’s vision made sense.

He’d thought his death must be imminent since that was the only way he would let Avery end up in The Box again. He’d been wrong. He was the one who would send her in there.

To save her from looking over her shoulder all her life. To save the Bloodrunner’s name. To save himself from that video going straight to national news. To save the women of Raven’s Hollow from further tyranny.

Weston couldn’t save Avery. That wasn’t his destiny.

The vision wouldn’t have happened if there was another way.

Avery was going to have to save herself and everyone else instead.





Chapter Twenty-Two


Avery had been wearing the same clothes in the vision that she’d been wearing tonight when the police had taken her away. What did that mean? It meant she wouldn’t come home before she ended up in The Box.

Shit, think. Weston had never used a vision like this. He was more of the fight-it-and-try-to-change-fate kind of guy. That wouldn’t work here and now, though. This one needed to happen.

What if something happened to her after the dream? It had cut off, and he didn’t know the outcome, so what if he let her go in and something awful happened to her? Did he trust the Fates?

Fuck if he knew, but he couldn’t change the future. If he did f*ck with destiny, it would just happen anyway, but worse.

Rubbing his wrists where the handcuffs had cut into him, he followed Harper out of the precinct. Times like these made him wish raven shifter healing was as good as the bear shifters. The rawness on his wrists was bothering him, taking up space in his head that should belong only to Avery right now.

Even though the police believed Weston, she’d panicked in the car and then in the precinct interrogation room. They’d transferred her to a hospital where she wouldn’t get out early on good behavior. No matter how much he raged, she was on a twenty-four-hour hold, which meant they had one day to figure out how to get her straight from the psych ward to Raven’s Hollow. One day where every second would feel like an hour to Avery. She was probably so scared right now.

Twenty-four hours, but it wasn’t enough time, and way too much all at once.

“Who are we f*cking up tonight?” Wyatt asked, hellfire in his eyes. He was standing around the back of his truck with the other Bloodrunners under the single streetlight of the precinct parking lot. The whole crew was here for him.

Aaron ran his hand through his blond hair and looked like a demon in the harsh light. “Look, Harper is out on this one, but she isn’t the only dragon we know. I can call Rowan.”

“Aaron, you know she won’t come out of Damon’s Mountains,” Harper said low. “She won’t leave the Gray Backs.”

Aaron crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, Dark Kane then.”

Wyatt made a ticking sound behind his teeth. “Kane won’t help us.”

“Why not?” Aaron asked, his voice cracking across the parking lot. “Because he’s a Blackwing? Fuck that. He knows us. He knows we’d help him if he needed it. And you know he’s hiding a titan inside of him. We’ll bring war to the ravens for what they’ve done to Avery, and show every other crew in the world to keep their f*cking treachery to themselves. Aren’t you tired of this?” Aaron looked from face to face, his lips pulled back, teeth bared, eyes blazing green-gold, looking like a battle-ready Viking warrior. “Aren’t you tired of people coming for us? Vamps, wolves, ravens. We’ve handled everything quietly, but maybe we were wrong. Maybe we should’ve made a statement. Maybe we should’ve erected a giant f*cking sign written in their blood that tells the world, ‘Don’t f*ck with the Bloodrunners.’” He stank of fur and dominance, and he was ready. Aaron was poised for vengeance like a fiery arrow drawn back on a bow string, aimed for the heart of Raven’s Hollow. But hunting the ravens wouldn’t work for this one.

Weston rested his arms on the bed of the truck. “We aren’t going to war, as much as I want to. Harper is out of commission and you called Kane Dark Kane for a reason, Aaron. He’s a Blackwing and could burn the whole damn world if we let his dragon taste blood. I was there when he went after Ryder’s dad. He was going to rip him limb from limb in a bar full of humans, and his eyes were completely empty. He’s too big a risk, and not a weapon we want to use, trust me. This one’s on us, and the ravens have numbers. Not to mention the people who live in Raven’s Hollow aren’t all bad. Brainwashed, sure, but they’re sheltered and convinced they’re right. They have a corrupt few in power, and that creates the worst situation, not only for their people, but for ours. Ryder?” he asked the somber redhead leaning quietly against the side of Wyatt’s truck. “I need our old spy kit. I need one of the cameras out of it. The smallest one.”