16. Raven

RAVEN

The cusp of my dream escapes me as I seep back into reality. Stretching out my limbs, I yawn. My muscles ache in the best possible way as the feeling of contentment welling in my gut extends throughout my body.

Memories of last night flood my mind, reminding me where the feeling of serene calmness is coming from.

Eldon. Audience. Orgasm…

Rejection?

Was it rejection? I don’t know, but I do know I was desperate to taste his cock and he refused. Yet he declared that he was mine with my essence still on his tongue. I’m so confused. The calmness I was basking in moments ago is depleting as I spiral.

“I can literally hear your brain ticking from here.”

I startle, rolling to face the direction of the voice, but it all happens so quickly that I’m tumbling from the bed with a squeak before I can catch myself.

“Ahh, shit,” I hiss, rubbing my hip as Eldon peers down from the bed at me with a grin. His eyes rake over me from head to toe and I remember that I’m only wearing an oversized tee and panties. Which means my pebbled nipples are visible through the material and he’s enjoying the view.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I glare at him. “Why are you in my room?”

He lies down on his front, offering me his hand as I continue to stare at him. “Because I didn’t want you to wake up and decide to hide out in here for the rest of the day.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Tell me that’s not what you were just thinking about when you woke up,” he retorts, raising a brow at me, and I shrug. “You’re that predictable, Raven.”

“I am not.” I bristle, still sitting on the floor like I’m not wishing to bury my head in my sheets and hide away from him.

“Maybe not to everyone else, but to me, it’s like I already know you.” He grins like it all makes perfect sense while I feel more confused than I did moments ago. Why would he say that? He barely knows me, just as I barely know any of them. “Come on, let’s go discuss all of the things we have going on like grown-ups.” He stands beside me, offering me his hand again. This time, I take it.

“I don’t want to be a grown-up.” I huff as I climb back to my feet. “What do we even have to discuss?”

He turns to face me, hands falling to my waist as he crowds my space, and I finally notice that he’s in a pair of black shorts and nothing else. Sweat clings to his temple, his hair brushed back off his face, and the veins in his arms protrude as if he’s just finished a workout.

Damn, that’s hot. And distracting. Very distracting.

“Remember, Raven. Today is still our day. Which means I get whatever I want, just like you promised. But as much as I would like to dive beneath the sheets with you, you also promised the others, and they insist on learning more about this Void business.”

Fuck, I forgot about that.

Sighing, I nod toward the door. “Fine, let’s get this over with.”

I move to step around him, but his grip on my waist tightens. “We’re not going anywhere until you kiss me though. Show me last night was real.”

My eyes widen. Who the hell is this guy? He went from zero to asshole to the man before me and I’m not sure if I’m struggling with whiplash or the swoon factor.

Clearing my throat, I subtly shake my head. “I told you, your friends are hot too.”

“And I told you I don’t care. Sharing is caring in these four walls, Raven. The quicker you learn that, the more fun we’ll have.” His gaze cuts to my mouth as I drag my tongue along my bottom lip.

Sharing is caring? Share me? Is that even a possibility? My thighs clench with excitement at the thought and I irritate myself with how easily distracted I am. A lot is happening around me and I’m more concerned about getting some dick.

“You’re jumbling my thoughts.” I press my fingers into my temples as a headache threatens to consume me.

Eldon places his finger under my chin and tips my head back slightly. “Stop overthinking everything and it will go away.” His lips descend on mine in a soft caress and my hands drop to his chest. My heart lurches as I forget to breathe, my body warming from his touch. All too soon, he pulls back, leaving me chasing after his lips, and he smirks. “So fucking addicting,” he mutters before grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the door.

I’m nowhere near ready to leave my room to see Zane, Creed, and Brax spread out on the sofas. I expect to see tainted looks after what transpired last night, but they’re looking at me the same as usual. The issue is they’re all shirtless like Eldon and I can’t be trusted with all the hotness on display.

Zane leans forward, bracing his arms on his knees as his gaze trails over me from head to toe. “Whose t-shirt is that?”

My eyebrows pinch in confusion as I glance down.

“Uh, it’s one I brought with me.”

“Has it always been yours?”

I look back at him, noting the frown taking over his face. Why does any of this even matter?

“Uhh, no. What are you getting at?”

Creed cocks a brow at me, waving his hand in my direction. “Who did it belong to?”

I feel the muscles in my face drop as I slowly start to understand where this is going. Lying isn’t my thing, so I tell them the truth.

“I think I kept it from a guy I used to be friends with.”

“Friends as in ‘let’s braid each other’s hair,’ or friends like ‘let me stick my dick in you’?” Creed pushes, and I feel my cheeks heat. I can’t actually remember who it belonged to, if I’m honest, but it was definitely option two. Something tells me they'd only wind up dead if I did remember.

“Change,” Brax blurts, eyes fixed on mine. His tone is deadly, catching me off-guard as I shake my head.

“What? No.”

Before another word is even spoken, Eldon twirls his fingers in front of me, repeating the same magic Leila used, and the t-shirt I’m wearing transforms before my eyes. “There, you can wear one of mine,” Eldon states, like it’s completely okay to just change my outfit.

I whirl around to face him head-on, finger aimed at him, when a breeze brushes over my skin again and the t-shirt morphs before my very eyes.

“What the actual fuck is going on right now?”

“You can wear one of mine,” Zane announces with a shrug. “Just don’t ever wear another man’s clothes again.”

Gaping at him, I’m at a total loss for words. I don’t know who to yell at first. Tearing my hand from Eldon’s, I step back and glare at each of them.

“No more changing my fucking clothes without my say-so, assholes.”

Brax leans back in his seat like I’m boring him. “So, who else knows you’re void of magic?”

That’s it? Conversation dismissed?

I purse my lips, considering whether I should continue to push my original argument or accept the change in subject. The fact that he doesn’t outright call me a Void has me swinging in his favor.

“My mama knows. And I yelled it at Abel when he showed up out of the blue, forcing me to come here, but he didn’t seem to think that was possible. Otherwise, it’s mostly the people in Shadowmoor that are aware. Voids are common there and it’s clear when you don’t start using powers as soon as you turn eighteen if you are one or not.”

“This has to be because of the suppression,” Creed states as I let Eldon lead me to a free spot on the sofa.

“What do you mean?”

“You heard the lesson the other day, right? They purposely keep Shadowmoor in the dire state that it’s in as a false front to ward off other realms. A lot of that is done by using some kind of magic or potion to suppress the inhabitants and the surrounding environment,” Creed explains, but as much as it’s making sense, it doesn’t at the same time.

“What does that mean, though?”

“It means that you might not be void of magic,” Brax clarifies, and my body freezes.

“How?” I breathe, too nervous to speak any louder as I look at him. Hope threatens to blossom inside of me but I tamp it back down, refusing to let myself feel it.

“I don’t know, but not being in Shadowmoor could definitely be a big help,” Eldon murmurs, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “Have you ever had any inkling or momentary feeling in your gut that you couldn’t explain?

I consider his question for a moment, digging deep into my soul, hoping for a moment I know doesn’t exist. “No.”

The thought of magic running through me is all I used to dream about. It consumed my every waking breath until my eighteenth birthday rolled around and nothing came to me. Nothing has pained me more than realizing there was no magic in me, nothing to help me escape the world I was trapped in.

“But if Eldon’s vision was right, there is something within you,” Zane says so casually that it almost doesn’t register.

“Wait, what?”

“Fuck, Zane. We said to keep your mouth shut,” Brax admonishes, and I’m almost pleased to see him be irritated with someone other than me.

Turning my attention to Eldon, I immediately see the guilt in his eyes.

“I thought your magic was heat related.” My cheeks warm at the memory of last night, the inferno burning from his fingertips as he watched me explode. He holds his hand out between us and a ball of fire appears just above his skin. I can feel the heat instantly.

“Fire is my nature-based magic, but I also have sight.”

“You have two magical abilities?” Fuck, here he is with two and I can’t even manage one.

Creed wasn’t joking the other day when he explained some people have more than one ability.

“I’m assuming your sight has something to do with a vision?”

The ball of fire goes out in his hand as he shrugs. “I get them sometimes, but they’re hard to decipher. It could be nothing.”

“No, you said—”

“Shut. Up. Zane,” Brax shouts, interrupting whatever he was about to say, and it pisses me off that they’re keeping something hidden from me.

Zane sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, head down as he looks anywhere but at me, and I’m not surprised to find Creed avoiding my gaze too. Brax glares at me like it’s all my fault while Eldon intently stares at me.

“It was a raven.”

“For fuck’s sake, Eldon, we agreed we weren’t going to bring it up,” Brax growls, his scathing glare turning toward his friend. Ignoring him, I grab Eldon’s chin, just as he has with mine numerous times over the past twenty-four hours, and I draw his attention to me.

“As in the bird?”

“Yeah.”

“What does that have to do with me?” A raven is a raven. I’m not stupid, but seeing a bird isn’t the same as seeing a vision of me.

“It had pink feathers,” he explains, pointing to my hair, and my eyes widen.

“Apart from the hair, what else made you think it has something to do with me?”

He rakes his teeth over his bottom lip, considering whether to answer or not. “Eldon, please. I’m already completely out of my depth here. If you want me to trust you at all, that will mean no secrets.”

“There was a map and the raven’s claw was placed on Shadowmoor.” That could just be another coincidence, but my heart gallops like a herd of horses running free.

“What else?”

“Nothing.” I can see the denial in his eyes.

“What else, Eldon? What else did the raven have or do that could possibly make you think it was me?”

He glances at his friends the second my hand drops to my lap.

“I don’t know. I just know that in my vision, a war was coming, a war across realms, threatening all of existence. And the raven…she saved us all.”