All Hail (Queen Crow, #1)

by J. Bree

I know Lips and the guys will be raising hell to find me. I just need to hold out until then.

She’s leaving in the morning. They all are. I refuse to let the panic bubbling in my chest show on my face. They’re going to go out and enjoy their lives together for a few months, they deserve that at the very least.

Lips deserves that and so much more after what she sacrificed for us all. She tried to die for us… succeeded too, only to have her brother save her.

They all just look so… relaxed now. These past few years of fighting to be together and alive and whole really was like a boulder sitting on our chests and now we’re free.

Except I don’t really feel free. I feel lost and tired and traumatized.

I can’t think about what happened in the vault in the Jackal’s lair.

Lips watches me a little too closely so I already know that she’s suspicious but the guys all miss it. They always have.

The relief of knowing she trusts me to get through this my own way is overwhelming. This is why she’s my family.

Ash Beaumont is chivalry in the most arrogant and snarling package. I adore him.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to live under his ridiculous rules just to ensure nothing could ever possibly happen to me again. He’d smother me in under a week and I might have complied while we were at Hannaford but things have changed.

Thank God for the sound-proofing I thought to put into this place. There’s things a girl doesn’t need to hear her brother doing and my bestie is one of those things.

“Ash isn’t the only one who breathes for you, Floss. I’d level fucking cities for you, any of us would. If you need some quiet then it’s yours, just… just don’t drown in it.”

I’m saying goodbye to the last four years of living and breathing my family, these four people who have occupied every second of my time and energy.

It’s six months away from each other. Six tiny months but it might as well be all of eternity, my heart breaks the same way.

I wait until I’m inside the foyer before I confront them. “If Harley put you both up to following me around while he’s gone then you can leave, I want some peace and quiet.”

Jack scoffs and mumbles, “I think he meant that you look like sex on heels and he’s a little fucking worried about taking you into the party like that. We’re going to be working overtime keeping hands the fuck off of you.” I glance down and smile at the long lines of my exposed legs. “Good. There’s no point going out if you’re not ruining someone’s life.”

Aodhan tips back his head and laughs. “There she is! There’s the Ice Queen. I thought we lost her for a second, my cousin would’ve been pissed.”

I roll my eyes at him again and then I take his arm. He looks a little shocked that I’m touching him but I’ve always been a tactile person. There’s never been a shortage in family that would hold me or take my hand when I nee...

I refuse to get weepy over Lips trusting me. I refuse to cry over her finally feeling comfortable telling me she loves me, that we’re as close as blood these days and the universe brought us together to start this rag-tag family together.

Aodhan grins and I’m tempted to ruin his life. They’re both baiting me to convince me that this is a good idea. They want me angry and fighting back about going out so I enjoy my night but… I’m still on the fence about it.

I wish I wanted to act my age for a minute but really I just want to stay home and plan out how to take control of the Bay completely.

“Get your hand off of her before you fucking lose it. Fuck, you might lose it anyway, I’m not in the mood for dealing with political bullshit.” Oh thank God. I turn to find Illi leaning against Atticus’s car, a cleaver already in his hand and a savage smirk across his face.

There’s a crunching sound and then Atticus says from behind us, “Get in the car, Avery.” I refuse to turn back and look at him so I miss Aodhan arriving and taking him to the ground in a single move,

I can’t keep relying on him for everything and if he really is intent on giving me up then I’d like to cut all ties with him.

The fact that he’s another member on the Twelve and someone who may be a danger to Lips in the future means that unless he’s voted into the family then he’s a risk. I can’t let my heart get one of us killed.

I’m not saying I’ll be able to let my love for him go… I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do that. Loving Atticus Crawford is so ingra...

I think I could give up breathing easier than giving him up and, though he refuses to do anything about it, I know he feels the same way. There’s somethin...

But loving Atticus doesn’t mean that I can’t live a fulfilling and gr...

He was trying to keep his distance as much as possible so no one would ever find out about me.

I can hear his irritation at me using his Twelve name and mentally I give myself a point for it.

I am no one’s pawn, not even yours.”

Why is everyone I’m surrounded by in love and happy and complete while I’m desperately trying to scrap together the pieces of myself so I can just exist in peace?

Everyone is looking at Atticus like he’s some sort of messiah now, the man who survived the Jackal’s many attempts on his life.

If Lips has siblings out there I will know each and every one of them. I’ll study them until I know exactly who they are and what threats they pose to her.

If only he trusted me to stand by his side.

Cold steely gray, his gaze cuts through me until I find the last bit of my courage is sliced away and my tether to this moment is gone.

She’s as safe with me as she is with you.” Atticus’s lip curls all over again, blood coating his teeth, but he doesn’t get the chance to say a word.

He didn’t scream once, matter how deep I pushed the knife in. Even with the sweat on his brow he’s still staring at me with clear eyes, like he wants me to do whatever I have to do to survive.

“I’ll fucking gut him for this, Queenie.” He murmurs against my lips before he kisses me, cradling me close like I really am some precious girl to him.

“The Crow is going to bleed you out for this, Stag.” I swallow against the lump in my throat but Aodhan doesn’t react at all, just runs his hand up and down my back like he can’t hear the threats.

“You speak to her like that again and I’ll fucking kill you. I don’t care who you belong to, I’ll take you the fuck out.”

The man is a fucking machine, bigger and more deadly than the three of us put together, but Luca still looks ready enough to jump in for his boss so I guess that’s something.

I never gave a shit about power. Not until I saw the girl who wields it like a weapon.

every last one of them is on my radar now because I need to be sure that she’s safe.

“You’re lucky the Wolf taught her where to aim. She wouldn’t have hit anything important by accident.” I smirk back. “I’ll remember to thank her when they all get home.”

Is he… are we about to be working together? What the hell has my life become that the most infamous killer in the Bay is making plans with me about taking people out?

Oh, I wish they would. I wish they would break down my eight thousand dollar custom door because the hellfire I would rage down onto them for daring would be so satisfying.

Half of the men standing there in riot gear look a little dazed at the sight of me. I know exactly which ones are dirty cops, they all gulp at the sight of the Wolf’s most trusted confidant standing before them dressed entirely in white, but the others are not expecting to be here to search the house of someone like me.

A nineteen year old girl, dripping with old money and good breeding.

Their Police Chief might not see it, but the men all seem to know who the real danger here is.