Novak Raven (Harper's Mountains #4)(60)

The blood drained from Weston’s face, and he stood straighter. “I promise I’ll wait. I know you can do this, Avery.” He gripped her shoulders tightly and leaned down to her eye level. “I can’t explain how right now, but I’ll be there with you.”

And she understood. He would be there with her. He would be in her mind, in the letters he’d written as a boy. In the words she would recite when The Box swallowed her up. And she loved him even more for it.

“Go now,” she murmured. “I’ll go home with my parents. I’ll get the evidence you need.”

Weston straightened, lifted his chin, and smiled proudly at her. “Push the button on the back of the camera. The green light on the side will flash twice to tell you it’s working. It’ll store three hours of video and will pick up the audio. As soon as you have enough, get out of there. Come to the gate. Come to me, and I’ll take you home, and everything will be okay.”

Everything will be okay. Oh, what a beautiful promise that was.

Her voice would shake if she used it, and she wanted to be strong for Weston, so she nodded once.

His lips crashed against hers, and he plunged his tongue past her lips. A soft whimper escaped her because she understood the desperation in this connection. If something went wrong… No, she couldn’t think like that. This wasn’t it. She didn’t go her whole life in darkness only to reach the light and then fall. Her time with Weston wasn’t done. Her time in Harper’s Mountains wasn’t done. She just needed to tie up the loose ends with the people who had hurt her. She had work to do. And when it was through, she would claw and fight to get back to her Weston, her mate, her life, her love.

Weston pulled away abruptly at a knock on the door. Ryder shoved open the cracked door. “We have to go now.” He looked panicked, but still took a moment to look at Avery. “I like your dress.”

Avery looked down at her thin hospital gown. It was nearly see-through, hung crooked, and fit like a burlap sack. “Um…thanks?”

“You’re welcome.” Ryder yanked Weston’s arm, and they bolted out the door. And just before it swung closed behind them, Weston shot her one last look that said so many things without the use of a single word. Be careful. I’ll wait for you. You can do this. I love you.

She ran to the door as it clicked shut and watched him and Ryder bolt down the empty hallway. The panic was flaring in her chest at being in a white room with the door closed, but this was just the warm-up. Soon, things would be so much worse.

Patty was coming down the hall from the opposite end, checking doors, so Avery ran to the bed, sat down, and pulled up the hem of her dress. There was a thick stitching at the bottom, but she ripped the thread viciously for an inch until there was a little pocket right near her left ankle. She secured the camera inside and settled the fabric over her lap as the door lock turned.

“Are you okay?” Patty asked.

Avery nodded her head Jerkily. “I’ve had time to think.”

“Okay.” Patty looked flushed and distracted and glanced down the hallway in the direction Weston and Ryder had disappeared. “What did you think about?”

Avery blew out a steadying breath. This was the point of no return. This was her making the decision officially to volunteer for The Box. Be brave, little phoenix.

“I want to see my parents. I’m ready to go home.”





Chapter Twenty-Three


“This wasn’t how it was supposed to be for you,” Dad said.

Mom had been angry, crying intermittently, but she hadn’t said a word since Avery had been released from the hospital. It was shocking that Dad was the one who broke the silence.

“You mean I wasn’t born to bring the Novak Raven here?” Avery asked sarcastically.

“You’ve lost your damn mind if you think you’re going to talk to me like that, Avery Marie Foley. You’ve spent too much time out there with those animals—”

“I’m an animal—”

“You’re a civilized shifter—”

“I’m just like them!” Avery barked out. How had she said “Yes, sir” to all the bullshit he’d spewed over the years? Everything was different now. Everything. The way she felt about herself, the way she felt about other shifters and humans. The way she saw the world.

The ravens of The Hollow were jaded. The men were so domineering, the women so demure, and no one had challenged them enough. So here they were, a community cut off from the world, treating women like shit. Fucking barbarians.

“You will have to change your clothes before we enter the gates,” Dad said.

“Hard pass, these are comfortable.”

“Shorts up your ass and your chest hanging out for everyone to see. That’s not how the mate of a future council member should dress.”

“Stan,” Mom warned in a soft voice.

“Oh don’t you f*ckin’ argue with me, too—”

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Avery said, resting her forehead against the back window.

Mom was crying again in the passenger seat, her shoulders shaking with silent sobbing. Avery had forgotten what it was like for a little while, but now seeing Dad put Mom in her place made her sick. Weston would never, ever treat her like that.