Novak Raven (Harper's Mountains #4)(62)

Avery hugged her mom. She wished she could hang onto her anger, but Mom had tried to save her in her own way. She’d encouraged her to go out in the real world and grow roots near the Novak Raven. Maybe that was all part of some f*cked-up revenge plan on Aviana, but Avery was clinging to the thought that Mom also wanted to protect her from the life she hated. She clung to the idea that Mom wanted better for her.

Mom hugged her shoulders tight and didn’t let go until Dad pried them apart. “People are watching,” he muttered, tugging her hand hard.

“Where is Caden?” she asked. Usually he was the one to do the honors.

“He’ll be here any minute. He and Benjamin gave an extra statement at the station before they began their drive.”

Avery was panicking. With every step through the sprawling entryway, down the hall, down the basement stairs, her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest.

Dad stopped in front of the door of The Box. Inside, the single hanging lightbulb was already turned on, swinging gently in the frigid air from the vent above.

The tendrils of frosty air stretched into the hallway and surrounded her, beckoning her inside as if the room had missed her warmth. “How long do I have to stay down here?” Avery whispered meekly. She wished her voice was stronger.

Dad looked like the grim reaper in the swaying, harsh light. “As long as it takes.”





Chapter Twenty-Four


“Me and Ryder bought a whole box of spy stuff and put the cameras all around Willa’s Wormshack. She’s a Gray Back like me, and really funny. You would like her. If she caught us, she would just laugh, so that’s why we picked her to spy on first, but all we got is three straight hours of video footage of her working with her worms. She sells them to bait shops and for people who make fancy gardens. She makes a stupid amount of money at it, but that’s not why she does it. She loves worms. Like…she LOVES worms. We did catch funny audio of her talking to them, though. She called them her babies, and named one of them Dingleberry. And I swear she thought of kissing one when he wiggled extra cute in her hand. Ryder and me were laughing so hard.” Avery’s voice hitched with emotion, and another tear streamed down her face. It was so cold in here, chilling her blood, freezing her bones. She wanted to be out of here, but she was supposed to stick to the plan. Only she couldn’t do this without Weston here. She needed his letters. “The spy cameras are so small we’ll never get caught. Never get caught. Never. Never. So small, we’ll never get caught.”

She’d drawn her knees up to conserve warmth and was clutching the spy camera like a life-line. When the time came, she needed to be ready. Ready to let the letter go, ready to accept that she was in The Box again, ready to move. Come on, Avery. You can do this.

She dropped her chin to her chest and sobbed because the letters weren’t keeping the walls from closing in. Not like they used to. She’d had the real Weston, and now the letters had lost their potency.

“So small, we’ll never get caught,” she whimpered.

“Darlin’.”

Avery’s sob froze in her throat. That had sounded like Weston. It was just the whisp of a word, but it was his voice. She smiled as another tear dripped off her chin and onto her Big Flight tank top. Weston was here, and even if it was just in her imagination, it counted. He’d come when the letters stopped working. “I knew you would come.”

“What?” The breathy voice was so faint, so soft, but she would know it anywhere. Her mate. Her Weston. Her Novak Raven had kept his promise.

And when she looked up, she sighed in relief. He was there, barely, on his knees right in front of her. His body flickered and wavered, and the air around him seemed to move, but his eyes held hers. Black like his raven’s and full of emotion. He was so handsome, even in the harsh light, but he looked confused. Strange. His confusion made no sense because this was all part of the plan.

“You said you would be here with me, and you are.” She opened her hand and showed him the spy camera so he would remember, and recognition flickered through his troubled gaze. “I’m stronger now,” she reassured him. And she was. She hadn’t lost her mind or clawed at the walls. She hadn’t gotten so lost in the letters that she’d forgotten her job here—to protect the ones she loved. She was scared and shaking, but she could do this.

He reached out, and she gasped as his fingertips warmed her skin. He seemed so real. So solid. Weston grabbed her wrist and pulled. “Avery, I can save you. I can get you out of here. Look, I can touch you. Come on.”

But that wouldn’t work. She’d already gotten video of the room, the claw marks, and the bucket in the corner, and the lightbulb swaying in the frigid draft, but she needed concrete evidence against Caden. Against his abuse of power and control over an entire race of shifters. As tempting as it was to try and let Weston save her, Avery’s job wasn’t done. Not yet.

“Weston,” she whispered. “This is the way it’s supposed to be. I can do this.” The two tears dislodged and streamed down her cheeks, but those were the last two she would allow since he’d come just as he’d promised. He was here with her. “You make me stronger.” She smiled because she knew that somehow, someway, she was going to see him soon. “Wait for me.”

Weston flickered out of existence, but his rushed words remained, filling her head and her heart. “I love you, Ave.”