Ravensong: Green Creek Book 2

by T.J. Klune

We breathed. “This isn’t—I can’t . . .” “No,” he whispered. “I don’t suppose you can.” “Mark,” I choked out, struggling for something, anything to say. “I’m coming—we’re coming back. Okay? We’re—” “Is that a promise?” “Yes.” “I don’t believe your promises anymore,” he said. “I haven’t for a very long time. Watch yourself, Gordo. Take care of my nephews.”

I didn’t do much of anything. We all had monsters in our dreams. Some of us had just lived with them longer.

I thought of a boy with eyes of ice telling me that he loved me, that he didn’t want to leave again but he had to, he had to, his Alpha was demanding it, and he would come back for me, Gordo, you have to believe I’ll come back for you. You are my mate, I love you, I love you, I love you. I couldn’t do this.

Later, much, much later, I would think about that moment. The first time we’d held hands. The first time we touched of our own choice. His hand was bigger than mine, his fingers thick and blunt. His skin was darker and warm. The bones felt brittle, and I knew of the blood that thrummed just underneath. My father had made sure of it. I belonged to it, to the Bennetts, because of what was in my own blood. But I was only eleven years old. I didn’t understand then what it meant. He did, though. Which was why he inhaled sharply when I took his hand in mine, why out of the corner of my eye I saw the flash of orange in the dark underneath the hood of the car. He growled a little, deep in his chest, and I swore in that moment the raven took flight. I— “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I dropped his hand, startled at the angry voice coming from behind us.

Don’t you ever think what his life would be like if you hadn’t found him?” Joe laughed bitterly. “All the time. Every day. With everything I have. But it was . . . it was candy canes and pinecones. It was epic and awesome.” Dirt and leaves and rain—

“You’re kind of a dick, Gordo,” Abel said mildly. “When you’re old enough, know that I approve wholeheartedly.”

I wondered how often hope felt like a lie.

I wanted to kill him. I wanted to fuck him. I wanted him to tear me apart. “Gordo,” he said, ever the wolf. “No,” I said, the perfect prey.

“But I swear I’m going to be your last. Fight me. Hit me. Fucking light me up. Hate me all you want—”

don’t want to lose this. This tether.” His smile was shaky. “It’s the only part of you that’s ever been mine.”

“You could have become the villain, Gordo. And it would have been within your rights. Instead you just chose to be an asshole.”

“Goddamn you, you fight it. You aren’t allowed to give up. You aren’t allowed to leave me again. You hear me? Fuck you if you think I’m going to just let you go again. Not now. Not because of this. Not because of something as fucking stupid as this.”

“It’s because I’m scared,” I said, voice breaking. “I love you, and I’m so scared I’m going to lose you.”

“Cry ‘havoc,’” I whispered as the wolves sang their songs around me, “and let slip the dogs of war.”

“I love you so much,” Rico breathed. “I’m going to do so many things to you after I get over the mind-numbing PTSD of almost getting murdered by evil humans and feral werewolves.”

one day I met a boy. A boy who talked and talked and talked of things like candy canes and pinecones. Epic and awesome. A tornado who would never let me go.

“You need to come back to me,” I whispered as the room darkened. “You need to come back to me, because we’ve only just begun. I’m sorry. For all the time I’ve wasted. For all my anger. For everything that’s happened between us. And I know I don’t deserve it after all we’ve been through, but I need you.

looked down at Mark. His eyes were violet as he gazed up at me. “I need you to fight as hard as you can,” I whispered. “Because I’m coming for you.”

Mark Bennett was on his knees, his clothes having been shredded during his shift. His head was tilted back toward the sky, and he held that little box in his hand as he howled at the sun, sang for the hidden moon. It was a song of sorrow, an aria of grief that thundered through the

Once, the moon had loved the sun. Once, there was a boy. Once, there was a wolf. He had sat with his back against a tree. His bare feet were in the grass. The boy leaned forward and kissed the wolf. And knew then that nothing would ever be the same.