How It Will Be by T. S. Joyce

Chapter Six

 

Montana was truly majestic.

Flying over the mountains with Bron revealed a breathtaking landscape below.

He’d done good this morning to make conversation easy and light, and neither had mentioned sleeping beside each other last night. They’d just gotten up in the morning, she’d showered and he’d had some biscuits and coffee made when she got out. He’d teased her and joked just like old times, and she was grateful he was so good at that. Things felt so…sooo…normal.

God, how long had it been since she felt normal?

He’d invited her to see what his day job was, and she was kind of excited! Bron had built this entire life she knew nothing about, and now he was giving her the behind-the-scenes tour. Today, she didn’t have to find a new cheap hotel in another town, or be terrified that every knock on the door would be Manning or his Murder. Today, she could just…be.

Bron was creating a safe spot for her, and he didn’t realize how much she appreciated it. She would find a way to tell him somehow, someway.

He flew right next to her, big scarred-up crow. She’d flown with him when they were younger, but this was different. She was hyperaware of him—every movement, every flit of his wings, every time he aimed for a new air current. She loved just flying across the clear blue sky with him. No strings attached. She liked how he kept reminding her she didn’t owe him anything.

He looked over at her, then dipped down toward earth, and she pumped her wings and followed. Down to the pines that covered a small mountain. There was a clearing with a cabin in the middle. He must work there.

Bron was ahead of her, and slowed by expanding his wings, then changed to his human form just in time to land on both feet. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and dark jeans that hugged his powerful thighs. He turned and waited for her.

She didn’t know how this part worked. No one had ever been able to explain it to her in any logical way she understood. Most of the Crow Blooded just said it was magic. Whatever clothes she put on in the mornings disappeared into her feathers when she changed, and then reappeared when she changed back. Not all shifters worked like that, so she was lucky, she guessed.

Ren spread her wings wider and slowed her plummet to earth, then let the other form have her. It hurt, but only for a few seconds. Her feathers disappeared and her human skin reappeared, clothed by her white tank top, cut-off denim shorts, and flip flops. It was a little crisp up here in the mountains, but she was good in the cold. She’d always run hot.

Bron was smiling.

“What?” she asked.

He shook his head. “It’s fun watching your change. You always make it look so smooth.”

“Oh yes, that’s me. Always smooth and never awkward.”

Bron snorted, and gestured to the cabin before them. There was a woman standing on the porch with two steaming coffee mugs in her hands and a messy bun of dark hair that had flopped over onto the left side of her head. She wore glasses and had dark eyes, and a warm smile.

“I like your hair,” she called across the clearing.

A compliment. Ren liked her already. She’d always been a firm believer that if you thought something nice about someone, you should say it out loud to them. A genuine compliment could turn a rough day around, and she could tell that this woman was genuine. She could hear it in the clear tone of her voice.

This must be Cora, Krome’s mate.

Ren smiled and made her way to the porch. Cora met her halfway and handed her a mug of coffee before offering her free hand for a shake. “Bron said y’all would show up early this morning, so I’ve been waiting out here for you.”

“Ren,” Bron said from beside them as Ren blew on the offered coffee. “These are the people I wanted you to meet.”

“Hi, Cora,” Ren said. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

The woman frowned slightly. “Oh, I’m not Cora. My name is Aurora.”

Ren looked to Bron and back. Had she really forgotten the name? She could’ve sworn he’d said Krome’s mate was named Cora.

Aurora gestured to the door, where a towering man with a thick beard and silver eyes ducked under the open doorframe.

Oh. Shit.

She knew him. Bear shifters had silver eyes. He was one of the Bane brothers.

“Th-that’s…” she stammered, backing up.

“This is my mate, Moore,” Aurora introduced him, looking concerned.

“You’re one of the Bane brothers,” Ren said. Back up, back up, back up. Change! “You’re the worst one!”

“Wait!” Bron yelled as the coffee cup fell from her hands, and she bunched her muscles to get sky-bound.

“I won’t hurt you,” the bear shifter growled, holding his hands out like he was trying to settle a wild mustang.

“He really won’t hurt you,” Aurora called as Ren lifted into the air and let the crow take her.

“They’re my friends!” Bron called as she aimed for the sky.

Fury filled her, and Ren swooped back and changed quick, landed on her knees in the dirt and scrambled up. “They’re your friends?” she yelled. “I was your friend once, and where did that get me? You betray your own people by calling bear shifters friends.”

“I’m human!” Aurora said. “I’m human and Moore doesn’t hurt me. He protects me. He loves me!”

“They came to help the night your brother did this to me!” Bron yelled, gesturing to his body. “My own people tried to kill me and they were on their way to give us backup. So yeah, I guess I’m going to betray my own people if it means I can get any of the loyalty I give to the people I care about!” His voice crackled through the woods with power and Ren’s angry words got trapped in her throat. “Moore has brought me a six pack three different nights since my fall. Doesn’t make me talk about anything, just brings me beer and asks to hang out with me on the porch, and then he goes home to his human mate, who has made me two casseroles so I eat something. My own people dropped me from the fuckin’ sky for being loyal to my king. So yeah. I’m gonna call them friends. And if I bring you to meet them, it means I think you’re pretty important, too.”

The rage inside of her faded like a wildfire under rain. She looked from Moore’s terrifying face, to Aurora, to the coffee cup on the ground, and there it stayed because she couldn’t bring herself to look up at Bron.

He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her attention to his dark eyes. “My own people haven’t done much for you either, Ren.”

“Did Bron say it was your brother who hurt him?” Aurora asked quietly. “You’re Laken’s sister?”

She flinched away from Bron’s touch. Not because it didn’t feel good, but because she couldn’t hold his gaze anymore. Not when her eyes were filling with stupid traitor tears. She wasn’t a crier, but her emotions had been high since she’d come to see Bron yesterday.

“Yes, but I don’t talk to him anymore. I haven’t talked to him in years. I don’t even know who he is anymore.”

“Why did you stop talking to him?” Aurora asked.

And the clearing was silent. Not a leaf stirred, not a bird made a peep, not a blade of grass swished in the dying breeze. She’d never said this out loud. Not to anyone. She’d never admitted how dumb she had been, and here she was, considering uttering it to a bear shifter and his mate. Right in front of Bron.

“Say it,” Bron murmured. “I always wanted to know why you were so angry.”

Say it strong. Ren sniffed and ran her knuckles under her cheek fast, lifted her face and looked Bron dead in the eyes. “Laken sold me to that first Murder.”

His face went slack. His frown disappeared and a blank look took his eyes. Blank, and then confused. “What?”

“That Murder paid him ten thousand dollars to convince me they were the best Murder for me.” She swallowed hard and hated everything. “They were not. My brother created this snowball effect on my life that will never improve, and all because of money.”

“No,” Bron murmured. He shook his head and she could see the rage slowly simmering into his expression. “There’s no way.”

“I didn’t want to believe it either, but the Murder had to train me. Part of training a confident personality to be submissive is alienating them from everything they love. And I did love my brother. They told me about the money. They showed me a copy of the check they wrote and the bank statement that showed the exact day he cashed it. I have them saved to my phone in case I ever forget to keep people at a distance.” Every word felt awful to say. Awful because they were completely true.

Bron backed up a step and ran his hand down his face. “I want to see.”

“I sent you a copy in the letters I wrote you. I wanted you to…”

“To what?” he asked.

“Save me,” she squeaked out. Those stupid tears couldn’t be held back now.

“Fuck!” Bron yelled, his voice echoing through the woods. He grabbed the back of his short hair and paced away, then back. “I would’ve. I would’ve if I’d known. I would’ve yanked you out of that Murder, and ripped Laken’s goddamn wings off years ago. I didn’t know.”

“I thought you did. I thought you just didn’t come for me. I thought your choice was Laken.” And she’d hated Bron for it. Hated him. And he hadn’t even known.

Moore knelt down and shredded a blade of grass between his fingers. His unsettling silver eyes stayed on Bron. “I can find him.” No four words had ever been said with such confidence. Moore Bane could absolutely track down Laken. “If you want vengeance, I can find him for you.”

Aurora ran her hands through her mate’s hair as he knelt beside her. “He can’t kill him, but he can find him.”

“What do you want me to do?” Bron asked.

And she knew she had a choice. He was giving it to her. He would hunt Laken and kill him if she wanted, and oh, she was tempted. That long simmering rage at her brother’s betrayal was so easy to access…but…he was living as a crow shifter with no wings, and no sky.

That was punishment enough for his bad deeds.

“I want you to let him be. It was a long time ago, and I just want to move forward.” She gestured to Bron. “You deserve to move forward, too. Let Laken live his half-life. What do I want from you? I want you to live a whole life.” She sniffed and lifted her chin higher in the air. “I want to live a whole life, too.”

Bron nodded. He nodded and nodded, eyes locked on hers, and full of emotion. “Then you’ll do it here.”

“What?” she asked.

“You’ll do it in this Murder.”

“No.” She looked at Moore and then back to Bron. “No, no, no. I’m not pledging to any more Murders.”

“Yes you will and you know it. Except all those Murders are the same. They will treat you the same. Here, you will be protected. You won’t be pressured. You don’t have to get a damn tattoo or do anything you don’t want to do. You can breathe, and then when you’re ready, you can contribute to our Murder.”

She laughed and waited for the punchline, but it didn’t come. “Okay. Okay, let me get this straight. You want me to pledge to a Murder with bear shifters as allies? When you are about to have pledges like Whats-His-Face-Probably-A-Tiger-Shifter and Famous Amos the literal psychopath who is also not a crow shifter, by the way. He’s a fucking bald eagle.” She arched her eyebrows, and waited for Bron’s reaction, which was glorious. His frown was awesome. “Yep, those exist, and if you think crows are fun to fight? You should fight a fucking bald eagle shifter. They have no chill.” She gestured to Moore. “This is a mess, no offense.”

“I’ve been called worse,” Moore muttered.

“And you want to add a female crow to your ranks?” Ren continued.

Bron shrugged. “Why not?”

She just stared. Juuuuust stared. What else could she do in crazy land, where none of her logic would make sense to anyone but her—the sane one.

“Why the hell not,” she asked, then stooped to grabbed the discarded mug. “I’m sorry I dumped out the nice cup of coffee you made.”

Aurora took the offered empty mug from her and said, “It’s okay. That actually went better than I thought it would. And your crow is very pretty. She had blue eyes. That was unexpected.”

“Yeah, I’m a freak,” she said with a plastered smile.

“Then also no offense,” Aurora murmured, scrunching up her face, “But you would probably fit in just fine with the Murder. We might be a little crazy, but we know how to party, and we show up when our people need us. You could do worse than a few psychos in your Crew.”

Now, Ren didn’t know why she found this a laughing matter, but the way Aurora had said it loosened something inside of her she didn’t know was tight. She snorted at first, then giggled, then laughed. Bron chuckled and even Moore cracked a thin-lipped smile.

“Ummm, okay I’ll think about it.”

“For how long?” Bron asked.

“For as long as it takes me to determine whether you and Krome are gonna get snuffed out of existence by the freak show coming to fight for pledge spots.” Ren grinned.

Bron canted his head, and the smile actually reached the rest of his face. “Challenge accepted. If me and Krome survive it, you hang out with us.” He stuck his hand out for a shake. “Deal?”

Really, what harm could it do to shake it? Bron and Krome were two Crow Blooded about to attempt wrangling what was lining up to be the worst Murder in history. Chances of success were slim. Chances of survival were slim.

At this point, Ren was just along for the show.

She shook Bron’s hand, and said, “Deal.”