How It Will Be by T. S. Joyce
Chapter Two
Ren, Ren, we know your sins.
Lauren Tobias closed out of the text from her old King and set her phone down.
He’d deserved what she’d done to him, but being right didn’t make her any safer. Going against the grain as a female crow shifter was the most dangerous thing she could do.
And she’d done it.
She’d really done it.
How long would it take for him to track her down? So far she’d been on the run for 8 weeks and three days. She had to change hotels daily though, and her savings was running out at an alarming rate. Manning was always right there, breathing down her neck. She could feel him closing in, and she hated it. Hated being hunted.
She had run from him, but she hadn’t really gotten away.
Ren, Ren, we know your sins.
Crap. She leaned her head back against the wall. She’d sunk down beside her twin bed in her tiny hotel room the second the text had come through from Manning.
She’d never felt quite this alone, but that was also part of her fate. From the day she’d been born a crow, and a female, it was always going to come to this.
Her phone rang, and her heart sank to the floor. She sat her with her legs crossed, gripping the ringing phone, wishing she could ignore Manning’s call.
She couldn’t run forever though.
“What?” she answered.
“That’s a crappy greeting for an old friend.”
Ren frowned and pulled the phone from her ear to check the caller ID. Couldn’t be.
“Bron?” she asked in shock.
His chuckle was as familiar as the back of her hand. “Long time, no talk.”
“Yeah. Listen, I’m sorry about that,” she stammered out, trying to switch her head around from her problems with Manning’s Murder to the dozen reasons she’d stopped talking to Bron fifteen years ago. “I just…I needed to…”
“Get space. I get it. Your brother’s a little rough.” His voice had darkened on that last part.
“H-how is Laken doing?” she asked, trying to sound as if she cared.
“Uuuuuum.”
Ren sighed. “What did the dipshit do now?”
“He’s no longer with Krome’s Murder.”
“What? Why? I thought for sure he was a lifer.”
“It’s a long story. Listen, I called you for a reason. I need some information to leak.”
“Oh, I don’t do that anymore.”
“I have two thousand dollars to pay you. It’s all my savings. You can have it if you help me out.”
Okay, now he had her interest piqued. She sat up straighter and frowned at the wall in front of her. “What information do you need leaked?”
“We’re looking to expand the Murder.”
“Krome is?”
“Krome and I both.”
“Huh.” They already had a massive Murder under Krome. “Why?”
“We’re down a few members. You know how it is. Safety in numbers and all.”
“So you want me to put the word out that you are open for applications and challenges?”
“Nah. I want you to put the word out that we are now allies with the Bane brothers.”
“Whaaaaat the what?” she murmured, blinking hard.
“We…are allies and have the protection…of the Bane Brothers. And in turn, we will protect them. Tell everyone.”
All she could do was breathe. Breathe and stare at the wall. The Bane brothers were the last bear shifters on earth. Bear shifters had been at war with the Crow Blooded since there were bear and crow shifters. Rumor was they were pairing up with mates. Maybe even breeding. That was very bad for the Crow Blooded and all humankind, and Bron was turning traitor? He and Krome and their Murder were betraying the crows? Betraying their oath to keep the bear shifters in line?
“Bron, what’s happening?” she asked. “Are you in trouble? Are they threatening you? Threatening your Murder?”
“No,” he said with such a tone of truth in his voice, she couldn’t deny it. “What’s your address? I can send you the check for your fee.”
She didn’t understand. Didn’t understand what would make a Murder of crows form an alliance with bear shifters. It had never, ever been done before.
But…
Two thousand dollars was life changing money for a crow on the run. She could disappear much more easily with those funds.
If it was anyone but Bron she would snatch the money, leak the information, and mind her own business. But he’d been a friend once. The least she could do was warn him.
“If I do this, it won’t bring your Murder more crows. At least not quality crows. Not War Birds, and not crows who mind the rules. It will bring you the outsiders.”
“Good. That’s what we want.”
She sighed and shook her head. She couldn’t believe she was going to do this. Couldn’t believe she would utter the words Murder, alliance, and Bane brothers to her connections. The words would taste like poison.
Did Bron realize he was in bed with the devil? Or had something so awful happened that he didn’t care anymore? Maybe Bron was different than she remembered.
“I’ll come pick the check up myself. I’m not too far away. You still live in the same house?”
“No. I live at the edge of Krome’s property.”
Wait, what? “Why? Only the ranked live that close to the King.”
“I’m ranked now. I’ll text you the address. It’ll…” Bron cleared his throat. “It’ll be good to see you.”
And then the line went dead, and Bron left her to wonder what the hell had happened to push a submissive crow into a ranked position in one of the most volatile Murders in the world.
Bron wouldn’t be the man she remembered.
He wouldn’t be anything close.
That’s what happened to her people though.
Murders killed the good in Crow Blooded men.
