The Raven Game by Jessica Sorensen

Zay

I’m trying not to freak out, but I’m not really good at it. Never have been. I’ve always been the most unstable of The Raven Four. The anxious one. The possessive one. It’s been a while, though, since I’ve had anything I wanted to be possessive over.

Over a decade, to be exact.

Ravenlee. I thought she died. I thought our fathers killed her, like they did my pet raven. Yet, here she is again, lying in my arms. I just wish she wasn’t unconscious and we weren’t running for our lives, through a forest.

“Do you still see the trail?” Hunter asks in a panicked voice as we search for its path.

Jax jogs up beside him, retrieves his flashlight, and shines it onto the ground. “It goes right.”

We all start moving again, Hunter and Jax occasionally glancing back at me. Or, more specifically, Raven in my arms.

We don’t know what happened to her, why she passed out. And it’s taking every ounce of strength I have not to set her down and check her pulse again, just to make sure her heart is still beating. I may have if it weren’t for the fact that we were being hunted by some sort of howling creatures that we haven’t seen yet. But, from the body Raven and I saw, I know they have to be lethal.

We quicken our pace as the trail of blood moves quicker through the trees.

“How do you even think this is working?” Hunter asks as we rush down the flattened dirt path.

“I’m not sure,” Jax mutters. “But, with what Raven has told us, and now this, my father has clearly gotten deeper into experimental drugs. It makes me wonder what we’re about to face at this game.”

“I know,” I agree.

And while I’m scared, I know that deep down, I’ll do anything to protect Raven.

I may come off as a cold and uncaring asshole that doesn’t care about much—and most of that is right. But I have cared about one thing in my life.

And she’s currently lying in my arms.

I make a silent vow to protect her no matter what it takes.