Raven Investigation 04 - Electric Legend (19 page)

The dragon grumbled at being smothered in another shifter’s stink,
not ready to trust him just because he’d helped her. Greggory’s loyalty wasn’t
easily given, and she didn’t have it yet. Without that boy, his allegiance
would always be to his owner.

Greggory headed toward the door, the muscles of his back
tense as his hand clenched on the latch, but he didn’t open it. “You need to
leave.”

He was telling her it was okay to leave him and the boy
behind. His gruff tone, his lowered eyes were deferential to her … a female
shifter. It gave her a little peek into his past. He’d grown up as part of a
pack, with all the rules and structure instilled into him from birth.

“You’re worried about us being forced to pledge to Clancy.” The
dragon perked up, breathing down her neck and she swallowed hard, needing to
know how much he’d discovered about them. A prickle of unease slithered down
her back, and the dragon sank its claws in her guts at the thought of someone
else trying to claim what was hers.

Greggory’s nearly black eyes lifted toward hers. “I suspect
that even if he tried, the binds wouldn’t form. All of your men have a prior
claim that would prove too strong to break by the likes of him.”

Raven stilled, all sounds faded as her world became centered
on the man before her.

He knew.

Well, knew enough to get them killed if he told the wrong
people.

“You—”

“Don’t be a fool. I won’t have to say anything. If you stay,
they’ll find out the truth on their own and kill you and your pack to protect
themselves. If you were any other female, they might be tempted to keep you,
but a rare alpha female is just too dangerous.”

A trickle of breath escaped her. He was right. Her mind
quickly switched track, plotting the best escape routes. “More than half of the
hunters were missing at the tent.”

“There are no scheduled hunts.” Greggory scratched his jaw,
the scruff of his beard rasped in the silence. “They’ve been searching the
woods for the missing lion.”

“Can’t leave evidence behind, not to mention losing a
payday.” Then her attention sharpened. “Have they been going off in pairs and
maybe not returning?”

From Taggert’s description of the mauled body he had found
and the timing, Raven had a very good suspicion who was leaving the bodies.

Their very own king of the jungle.

Greggory’s eyes widened, a grin tugged at his lips, but
warned, “That doesn’t mean that they’re all dead.”

But it did mean that more than half of them were not there
to guard the circus.

Raven no longer cared.

They were leaving.

She’d given the dragon the benefit of the doubt, but if they
continued to stay, she feared that none of her pack would survive.

The dragon didn’t protest this time, and that only made her
apprehensive, wondering if she’d waited too long already.

T
wo guards deposited Raven outside her trailer
after her interesting exchange with Greggory. He was right. Today was the
perfect time to leave, but that didn’t mean they would sneak out quietly like
thieves.

As she reached for the knob, her spine tingled, and she
froze.

Someone was watching her.

She turned, a twinge shooting down her back, when she spied
Taggert lurking between two small trailers. His gaze raked over her from top to
bottom, almost clinical as he searched for weaknesses like she were prey.
Wildness poured off him in waves, but he seemed to be in charge if by the skin
of his teeth. She took a step toward him, wanting to lay her hands on him and
calm him, but he retreated, blending into the shadows without a word.

His slim form moved so graceful and fast she could barely
track him. She expected him to pick a place to hide and watch her. Instead, he
headed toward the woods and vanished into the trees from one step to the next.

Heading after the boy.

Warmth filled her chest, and she curled her fingers into
fists, missing not being able to touch him. She turned and entered her trailer—and
stumbled to a stop to see Veronica coming out of the bathroom.

The wounds on her back tugged again, and Raven winced. Her
beast sank into her bones, weighting them down, hiding until she couldn’t even
feel a single thought from the creature. In the space of seconds, half her
senses died, nearly doubling her over with the loss.

All the scents she’d relied upon vanished, the air losing
taste, leaving her floundering for balance.

“Here.” Veronica opened a drawer and handed her a small
bottle of lotion, her voice soft. “If you spread this on your skin, it should
prevent scars.”

“You…”

A bitter smile twisted her lips, her thin blond hair
appearing dull and lank out of water. “Just because I’m Clancy’s lover doesn’t
exclude me from his punishments.”

Right then, Raven was sure she’d been placed with Veronica
so the mermaid could spy and report back to her lover.

She needed to tread carefully.

Raven accepted the bottle, then eased down on a stool. “Then
why?”

Veronica perched herself in front of her dresser, fussing
with her hair and makeup. “Being at his beck-and-call allows me more freedom.
Plus the perks. I get more food, my own place and the more time he spends with
me, the less time he spends…”

She trailed off, fiddling with the brush she held, and Raven
picked up the thread. “With your hostage.”

“Exactly.” A sad smile lifted her lips. She sighed and
pushed to her feet, her beauty queen fake smile back in place. “Time to get
back to work. I believe you’ll be with Eve today until your back has healed.”

“But the animals—”

“Will be handled. Until you’ve had a chance to heal, the
smell of your blood will only provoke them.”

Effectively separating her from her whole pack, including
Durant.

Raven stared at the door long after the woman left, but the
dragon never returned.

Almost like she was afraid.

Two hours later, she sat next to the gypsy, watching her
work the crowd. A light energy floated in the air around the witch, threaded through
the person’s aura … as if she could really read their future from it, and Raven
wondered if it were actually possible. The process must leave her exhausted by
the end of the day. “You give them honest reads.”

A scowl scrunched up her face. “Of course.”

The tension between the two of them hadn’t dissipated. They
had an unsteady truce, but Raven didn’t know how much longer it would last. Two
men wove their way through the crowd toward them, people she recognized from
the circus. One of the men dropped off a picture then walked away without a
word.

Targets.

Eve paled, the starch beaten right out of her, resigned to
her job.

Raven picked up the picture of a small family with a boy no
more than four years old. “And just what are you supposed to do?”

She couldn’t keep the accusation out of her words, and Eve
flinched before straightening and lifting her chin. “Whatever I have to in
order to keep my son alive.”

Even with all the people milling about, Raven easily spotted
the family. The woman was human, but the father and child were pure shifter.
Love shone on their faces. Raven blinked her eyes, dropping into her second
sight. Swirls of energy that made up the world flared to life.

When she locked on the family, her shoulders drooped.

They were not a part of a pack.

The truth knocked her out of her special sight, the world
rushing back in a crashing wave of sounds and colors.

Eve stood and smiled, working her way through the crowd. Panic
built up in Raven’s chest like a crushing weight. If lucky, the boy would be
sold into the pack, at worst, he’d become nothing more than a slave … just like
she had been at that age.

She couldn’t allow it.

Raven pushed through the crowd, beyond caring if anyone got
too close and received a nasty shock.

Eve spoke to the parents, laughing and reading their palms.

All lies.

Raven bent toward the kid and dropped every shield that
she’d spent a lifetime building. The dragon roared toward the surface with the
force of a volcano erupting, nearly knocking her on her ass. Sparks crackled
along her skin, scorching her flesh until tiny platelets slid into place.

The kid jumped, then froze, unable to move as she pinned him
under her gaze. “You’re in danger. You must take your family and run.”

Power swelled as she spoke, changing the plain words into a
command. The young kid looked scared shitless, but nodded.

Since Raven was a female alpha, he had no choice but to
obey. “Now.”

The kid opened his mouth and screamed bloody murder. Both
parents immediately stopped talking and surrounded him, trying to get the kid
to hush, but nothing they did helped.

“I’m so sorry.” Embarrassment and concern tinged the parents’
apology. “The show must be too much for him.”

Raven quickly retreated, releasing the beast from her hold,
swaying as all the lovely energy dissipated. The lashes on her back throbbed at
the influx of energy, forcing her body to heal faster than it could handle all
at once, as if someone had taken a blowtorch to seal her wounds.

The world spun wickedly, and she focused on the family
making their way toward the exit. The boy gazed at her over his shoulder. Terror
was etched on his face, but also a dangerous amount of awe, the kid not even fazed
by her beast.

“What the hell did you do?” Eve grabbed her arm and spun
Raven around and pain seared through her. “Do you even know what you’ve done?
Clancy’s going to be after you now for defying him again. He can’t let it go or
it will make him appear weak.”

The gypsy spoke from experience. And they were both going to
be blamed for chasing the kid away. “I’m sorry to drag you into this.”

Eve’s lips compressed, but she didn’t protest further, her
focus trailing after the small family, her brows pinched together. “He’s never targeted
children before.”

Raven’s attention sharpened. “So you think it was a test?”

She lifted a brow as if to say what an idiotic question.
“You don’t?”

And Raven had clearly failed.

Eve rolled up her sleeve, revealing a silvery mess of scars,
not an inch of her skin unmarked. “Each time I let someone slip away, I get
marked, a constant reminder of my failure. When I run out of room, my boy is
next.”

Fury pierced Raven that they’d threaten to mark a child in
such a way.

“Don’t say a word. Let me do the talking.”

Uncertainty lightened Eve’s eyes, a speck of hope glimmering
there before she brutally crushed it. “Sure. Whatever.”

The commotion drew attention, especially from the two men
who’d dropped off the picture, and they sliced their way through the crowd
toward them like crocodiles closing in on wounded prey. They drew to a halt in
front of Raven, purposefully edging into her personal space. A good
intimidation factor if she’d been human. Both men towered over her, each inches
over six feet. Their bodies were lean, but not trained for fighting like pack
members were from birth. “Follow us.”

Eve nodded like a well-behaved pet, giving into the
inevitable without a fight.

They were once again directed toward the Big Top. Clancy
barked out orders, the people inside scrambling to get ready for the next show.
When his eyes landed on them, he fell silent, a gleam of annoyance at being
defied flashing in their depths. He let out a piercing whistle and everyone
stopped and fell silent.

“You were given one task and failed.”

Panic swirled around Eve, her eyes shimmered with tears, but
Raven had to give her credit when they didn’t fall.

There was no use denying anything, not since it was a set-up
from the beginning.

Raven stepped forward, ducking her head, not meeting his
eyes, a pure submissive gesture that took everything in her to perform. “My
fault. I came on too strong. The kid got scared before we could learn more.”

Clancy’s face scrunched up in displeasure as if she’d taken
away his favorite toy. He wanted her to fight so he could punish her.

“Do you have anything to add, Eve?”

Raven kept her head down, not daring to even breathe as she
waited for the gypsy to turn her over. Despite the distance between them, she
felt Eve tremble, smelled the stench of fear emanating from her skin. “No.”

Raven peered up to catch Clancy’s scowl, clearly undecided
if he was being played.

Then a smile tipped the corner of his lips, and her heart
shriveled at the malicious pleasure. “Very well. For your reward, after the
show, you and your men will have the honor of joining my pack. We’ll make it
official.”

Bile rose in the back of her throat. The thought of being
forced into service stabbed deep in her gut, pinning her in place with a sharp
blade. Her mind flashed back to Jackson, and she wondered if that was how he’d
felt when she’d taken him from his prestigious pack and dropped him into her
messy life. It wasn’t as if she really gave him a choice. A vice clamped around
her chest at the resentment he must feel.

 As if her thoughts conjured him, Jackson appeared at the
back of the crowd, moving into place as he waited for her signal. Their eyes
clashed, and she looked away in shame.

Everyone deserved a choice.

The bindings holding the pack together might keep the men
safe, but she wasn’t willing to risk their lives on a gamble. “And if we
decline?”

Jackson tensed and crept farther into the crowd, heading
toward one of the armed hunters.

He would cover her back even knowing it would be a suicide
mission.

She shook her head.

Now was not the time to make a move. The pack was too
separated. They would move tonight.

Satisfaction coursed through her veins at the decision.

Jackson hesitated for a fraction of a second then backed away,
blending into the crowd.

Instead of getting angry, Clancy’s smile only grew. “You
have until tonight to decide. I won’t force you to join the pack. We’re not
monsters.”

Anticipation surged around him, and it didn’t take a genius
to figure out why. If they didn’t join, they died. “Why don’t you go to your
trailer to decide?”

It wasn’t a suggestion.

She’d be a virtual prisoner until the main event. Once
Taggert returned, the pack would need to be ready to move and fast.

“Don’t worry about your little wolf.”

Raven snapped up straight as if she’d been shot and whirled
to face Clancy, horror piercing her soul.

Taggert.

The ruthless pack leader stared back at her. “I sent my
hunters to follow him and drag him back. It wouldn’t do for him to miss the
honor.”

They were going to hunt him down like some animal, not
caring that he couldn’t shift. When she lunged for Clancy’s throat, a man
lifted his rifle and locked her firmly in his sights.

Raven didn’t care.

Only when the dragon gave a warning thump in her chest did she
hear a shell click into the chamber of a second rifle.

She froze and cranked her head back.

A second shooter stood in an aerial booth thirty feet in the
air, his gun pointed straight at Jackson.

No way could she reach them both in time.

Impotent rage thickened the air around her, until she felt
stuck in quicksand and sinking fast.

“Put a guard on that cat of hers. If she leaves the
hospitality of the trailer, kill him.” Smugness oozed from Clancy as he turned
his back on her … an insult in the shifter community. He didn’t consider her a
threat.

It would be the last mistake he made.

“Take her away.”