How It Will Be by T. S. Joyce
Chapter Seven
Ding.
The sound of Aurora’s phone sounded loud in the quiet moment. She picked it up with a murmured apology, and frowned as she read the text silently. “Hey Bron? Krome is looking for you.”
Moore perked up and cast a quick glance back to the cabin. “My phone just went off, too.”
In an instant, Bron was gone. He bunched his muscles and disappeared into a cloud of black smoke that said he’d changed into his crow. When Ren looked skyward, he was headed straight up to the clouds, beating his wings hard against the breeze. Uh oh.
“It was nice to meet you,” she rushed out, and then she was feathered, too, and pushing her wings hard to catch up with Bron. He looked back to make sure she was coming, and then aimed straight for Krome’s territory.
Ren didn’t understand the chaos below them when the trees cleared. All around Krome’s cabin trucks and cars were parked or in the process of parking. People, predominantly men, were filing from the woods. Krome was standing in the yard, in a yelling match with two giant men. What the hell? It was war! She knew this would happen when the crows found out Krome and Bron had allied with the bears.
She’d told him this was a horrible idea, but did he listen? No. He continued with this dumb plan, and now look. Fear spread through her middle like slow rolling smoke. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to Bron. Not anymore.
“Caw!” she cried out in warning. Stop!
Bron ignored her, tucked his wings and dove for his king.
“Caw, caw!” she screamed, to no avail.
This wasn’t her fight. It wasn’t hers! She wanted to live! She’d just decided she wanted to live a full life and now there was this battle and the man she cared about…the only man she cared about…had to fight. And she couldn’t blame him. Bron was loyal. He was loyal to Krome.
She could leave.
Ren circled. She could fly away and let the Murder settle how it settled. Let destiny have them, but it was Bron.
She couldn’t live with herself if she ran.
Shhhhit. Ren pulled her wings against her sides and dove for the giant Bron was shoving away from Krome.
Closer and closer she drew, the wind whistling past her, and when she was close enough, she raked her claws across his face before she changed back in a moment and hit the ground hard next to Bron. She fell to her knees with the impact. “Get back!” she yelled.
The man with the bleeding face surged forward toward Ren, and Bron slammed a fist against his face. He flew backward and landed on his side, moved to stand back up with fiery rage pooling in his too bright green eyes.
Bron stood over him. “She’s with us. You touch her, you have no chance for this Murder. You heard her!” Bron jammed his finger toward the others forming a half circle in front of them. “Get. Back.” Whoooo, Bron sounded scary when he was mad, and waves of dominance rolled off his shoulders, thickening the air she was trying to drag into her lungs.
Krome stepped forward and addressed the crowd. “You aren’t here to fight.”
“That’s exactly why we’re here, and I’m first,” a long-haired man the size of a freaking barn said, stepping forward.
“Quiet!” Power crackled from Krome’s voice.
Right now, Ren was stuck. She was stuck in the grass on her knees, the weight of Bron and Krome’s power weighing her down.
It stank of fur here. Of shifters. She scanned the crowd, and there were so many unnaturally colored eyes trained on them. She only saw two pair of pitch-black eyes, which meant these men were shifters, but they sure as hell weren’t Crow Blooded.
Horror took over her as the shifters stepped closer. Bron reached behind him and helped her up. He eased her behind his massive frame. Something touched her hand, and she flinched hard. It was a woman who had come to stand beside her.
“I’m Cora,” the woman whispered. “I think they’re here to pledge. It’ll be okay.”
She didn’t know why, but Cora’s words settled her. She had this easy smile that reached her eyes. This was Krome’s human mate, and she didn’t seem scared at all. She was either very brave, or not-that-bright, or her survival instincts were broken, or she honestly believed they would survive this. Please, let it be the last one.
“They’re here to pledge?” Ren whisper screamed as she scanned the masses. “All of them?”
“I think so.”
Krome was tall and built like a brick house. Short black hair was all messy on top of his head and his neck and arms were covered in tattoos. He scratched the short scruff on his face and looked from shifter to shifter. “Give us a minute to organize this.”
“Is it true you are allies with the bears?” A shorter man with a barrel chest yelled from where he stood at the edge of the crater Bron had made with his fall.
“It’s true,” a bearded, silver-eyed man said from where he leaned against a tree near the house.
Ren startled. She hadn’t even realized he was there and standing so close to them. He was only ten yards away and she hadn’t sensed him at all. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve thought it was Moore, but he didn’t have a scar down his face, and he wasn’t wearing the same clothes. Plus, there was no possible way for Moore and Aurora to get here so fast. Bear shifters were quick, but not like crows. It must’ve been one of Moore’s brothers.
Which would’ve terrified her an hour ago, if she hadn’t met Moore-the-terrifying-Bane-brother.
The feel of dominance was choking her and she took a step back in panic, but Bron reached back and gripped her hip, holding her in place right behind him.
“This is Auxor Bane,” Krome introduced the bear.
The crowd erupted into murmurs. A few in the back melted back into the trees, and the masses took a collective few steps back from Auxor. And she got it. He was looking at them like he could eat every single one of them. And perhaps he could. Bear shifters were the apex of predator shifters—top of the food chain, so to say.
“Okay, so do we fight you?” the barrel-chested man called out.
“I’d rather you not,” Krome told him. “Killing all of you would make Aux a little…”
“Crazy,” Aux finished for him.
“Then how to we pledge to the Murder?”
“How will you choose?” another asked.
“We can’t all be in this territory,” another said.
“I’m not pledging to a Murder with this dipshit in it,” the long-haired man growled out. Ren recognized him. That was Amos, the bald eagle shifter.
“Fighting makes the most sense. Strongest wins a pledge spot,” another yelled from the back.
“Enough!” Bron yelled. His booming voice silenced everyone.
Ren came from behind to stand beside him, and just for comfort, she hooked her finger through the belt loop of his jeans. She wasn’t asking to hold his hand, just to connect in some way that settled her galloping heart. The man she’d clawed was staring at her.
Krome crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his voice. “I trust you’re all fighters. That’s why you came here ready to brawl for a pledge spot, and while I appreciate that quality and it will definitely come in handy, it’s not the only one that matters to me. We had a Murder of War Birds, and they turned out to be fuckin’ traitors who used their knowledge of violence against their own king.” Krome looked around. “They aren’t here anymore, as you can see. Now, I’m the type of man who likes to think I can learn from past mistakes, and I’ve been thinking about the new Murder I want to build since we formed an alliance with the bears. I want members who are tough, who don’t piss and moan about everything, who appreciate the Murder, and over time, develop a loyalty to what we’re building. Together. I don’t give a shit if y’all fight, so long as you squash your disagreements and keep your eyes on building up. I need a Murder who can get through a disagreement, but when it comes down to it? Will have each other’s backs. Do you understand?”
“Sooo…” Claw Face drawled out. “No punching?”
It was Aux who responded. “My mate is on her way over here right now with a better idea.”
“What kind of idea?” Amos asked warily.
Ren could’ve sworn she saw a real-life smile crack the very corners of Aux-the-fearsome-bear-shifter’s lips, but it faded so fast she might’ve just imagined it.
“Oh, you’ll see,” he said.
