Chapter 13

Ididn't see Michael later that day. Not at lunch and not that afternoon. No one gave me pitying looks, either, which meant Ike and Jagger hadn't opened their mouths. My guess? Kennedy threatened them. Shouldn't make me feel warm, but it did. Kennedy was a little—or a lot—messed up, though in her own way, she cared for people. She wouldn't be my alpha's best friend if there wasn't anything redeeming.

The snow continued to fall, and the power flickered on and off all day. Our generator was getting a workout. Currently, the electricity was on, and while I should go for an early dinner, I had too much on my mind.

Neither Michael nor I were great with pretty words. At least he was trying. I'd locked down my emotions and reactions so tight that I hadn't looked for solutions. One thing was clear to me now—he meant what he said. I didn't feel good he'd cut off his family, but it also wasn't my place to make that decision for him. And not all families were worth keeping. Mine a perfect example.

No, I needed to think through my questions, answer the ones I could, and bring the others to him. If he was serious about making this work—and I still wasn't a hundred percent sure we could do it—I wanted to approach it head on. Before we mated.

I didn't normally shy away from hard discussions, and it bothered me that I'd basically been doing that this last week because of the trauma caused by my family of origin. I hated that they still affected me so strongly, even though they'd been out of my life way longer than they'd been in it. It'd been easy to pretend I was all healed up when I didn't have a stubborn wolf holding his heart out hoping I'd take it.

I sent him a quick text.

Thinking of you.

Like I'd said, I was no poet. Hopefully he'd understand I was trying.

No response. Not that I expected one if Kennedy was as annoyed with him as he said.

Needing some fresh air, I pulled on my boots, coat, scarf, and gloves, and wrapped my hair. I left my room and headed to a private staircase leading to the roof and the dome that sat on top. I climbed the steps and entered the code to unlock the door and then I was outside.

The snow had picked up again, blowing down in large, sticky flakes. The wind howled and lashed against me. With all the snow, the visibility was limited, and a good several inches already coated the roof.

Baltimore got the occasional hard snow but not often. Looked like BNN had called it correctly this time. I brushed off a patch of the roof ledge and sat down, my feet dangling. Ravens didn't fear heights, and even in the frigid evening air, there was peace to be found in the wind's calling.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, letting doubt fall away. When I opened them, a familiar shimmery form sat next to me.

Molly.

Always surprised me she didn't avoid where she'd lost her life, but I didn't mind the company tonight. So, I told her stories my grams used to tell, and she listened, occasionally cracking a smile. The snow continued to pour down from the sky. The streets had cleared of traffic, and parts of the city were already losing power again, neighborhoods winking into darkness. Judging by the rate of snowfall, the business district would probably shut down for a couple days.

I shivered. Should probably go back inside and warm up.

My cell rang. My heart sped up. Maybe Michael was finally free to talk. I pulled the phone from a pocket and checked the caller ID. Shandra, one of the raven teens in the roost. She'd recently turned sixteen and had her first shift. I'd taken her and a bunch of her friends to the movies to celebrate. An ache blossomed in my chest. I missed my roost.

I answered, a little gruffly. "Hey, Shandra, what's up?"

"Abe? Oh thank gods you picked up." Her voice came out high pitched and frightened.

"What is it? You okay?" I sat up straighter.

"We're in trouble." She lowered her voice. "We need your help."

"Who's ‘we'? What kind of trouble?" I kept my voice level. I often made myself available to the teens in the roost so Poe could focus on the bigger picture.

"Me, Nyia, Alex, and Kai. We, uh, sort of borrowed a car and it got stuck in the snow."

"Borrowed." Uh-huh.

"Yeah, we need to return it."

"From a roost member?"

A long pause.

"No. We found it."

I rubbed a hand over my forehead, a headache coming on. We ravens liked our shiny things and—if not checked—had the tendency to have sticky fingers. I'd worked on discouraging that habit among our youth, but it was fighting our natures.

"Where exactly did you find it?" I tried my best not to sound exasperated. I wasn't overly successful.

"Fells Point."

Kennedy's territory then. Good. If it had been in Josephine Jones' Neighborhood, we'd have had a big problem. Might still have a problem depending on where the car's owner came from. At least Kennedy would have final say on the matter.

"And where are you now?"

"Chiapparelli's."

"In Little Italy?"

"Yeah."

Without the snowfall, I could fly there in under ten minutes. I glanced at the sky, snow instantly sticking to my lashes. Hell, on another evening, I'd see if they had an open table. Their calamari was terrific. Tonight wouldn't be a pleasant flight.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Stay put. And don't try to get the car out."

"We won't. But hurry. The block lost power, and we're sitting in the car. It's creepy."

"Fine. Expect us to have a long talk once we get the car back to its owner."

"You're not going to tell Poe, are you?" Shandra said in a near whisper.

"I should."

"Abe—"

"Don't you try sweet-talking me, Shandra. I'll take care of it, but you don't steal cars and not expect your alpha to know. You've been told what you do reflects on him and on Tommy."

I swore I heard a whimper right before I disconnected. They should worry. Poe was pretty laid back, but he wouldn't be happy finding out what these kids were getting up to. Baltimore was hella dangerous. Piss off the wrong Roger and your life would be forfeit.

"Gotta go," I said to Molly.

She nodded and disappeared.

I sent a quick text to Kennedy to let her know I'd be out tonight on roost business. Then I transformed into a raven, my clothes and items magically disappearing.

I wasn't twice the size of a regular raven though pretty close. Gray tipped my wings, and I shook off the snow.

I launched myself in the air, careful of the billowing wind currents and flew toward trouble.