The Broken Raven - A Paradox Of Two Worlds Series Book 1

Chapter 41 - Raven

I mentally replay the entire day while we wait for the guys to get back; the thought of what transpired makes me shudder. I inhale deeply as pain shoots down my back. Since I've been here, my life has been completely upside down.

"Where are these damn boys?" Brie says with frustration.

"I don't know..." The door opens, and our handsome guys walk in – covered in blood. I jump up. "What happened?" I ask, panicking.

"It's not our blood, don't worry," Clay says, looking down at his shirt.

"That doesn't explain what happened." Brie states, I cross my arms. "She's right." My eyes narrow at Clay. "What did you do?"

"Alec and Alessandro won't be bothering you anymore," Logan says. "You didn't?" I say, shocked. Looking at his blood-covered hands.

"I told you I was going to." Clay's response is calm in demeanour, like he didn't care what he had just done.

"Are you kidding me?" I yell, throwing my hands up in the air.

"What the hell did you want me to do? Let them be so that they could continue Sloane's dirty work? I told you already, anyone who hurts you, I will kill!" He snaps.

Brie makes no comment; why isn't she panicking like I am? "You're okay with this?" I ask her. "No, but vampires deal with things on their terms; I've learned to live with that," she tells me.

I take a deep breath and sigh. "Fine, put your bags in my room," I tell Clay as I walk away. Trying to hold my anger in, I focus on happiness, so I don't blow up anything in the apartment.

"Both of you need to clean up," Brie tells them, then looks at Logan. "Let's go upstairs." Clay follows me to my room and places his bag on the floor. "That dresser right there is empty. You can put your clothes in there." I show him.

After unpacking, I take his empty bag and throw it into my closet; he grabs clean clothes and heads to the bathroom. "Are you coming?" He asks.

"What?" I say, confused. He exits the bathroom and approaches me, saying, "Shower with me." A nice shower would be nice to wash away the events of the day. Why can't I say no when he kisses my neck? We enter the bathroom, stumble, and get undressed. He switches on the water and jumps in; It's chilly at first but warms up quickly. All of our issues vanish as he kisses me and caresses my body, giving me goosebumps. It feels fantastic when he finds my spot.

"Come for me, baby," He whispers. I kiss him more passionately while engulfing his length in my hand. He makes me weak at the knees. I pump until he releases as he moans. We stay there till the water gets chilly, and he continues kissing me.

Once dried off and dressed, we start to head back to the living room. Before I can step out of the bedroom door, he wraps his hand around my arm and turns me to face him; he pulls me to his chest.

"Nothing is ever going to come between us again." He promises me. "I can't promise I won't be an asshole all the time, but I'll try for you because I love you." He kisses my hair, and I melt in his arms.

I look into his eyes. "I'm here to testify for the fact that you are the only person to whom I truly belong and that you are both mine and mine alone. Your face is the first thing I want to see when I get up in the morning," I say. He leans down and kisses me, not hard like usual but soft, and the world stops for a moment.

⁂

I'm exhausted and hungry; we walk into the living room to find Brie and Logan bickering about what to eat. "Chinese food!" Brie argues.

"I second that." Jumping into their little argument. "I can't argue with them." Clay chimes in, and I smile.

"Fine." Logan sighs. Forty minutes later, our food arrives. We force the boys to watch a sappy movie with us; they both grunt, and I can't help but laugh at them.

After eating, I ask Brie to help me clean up. We walk into the kitchen, and I calmly whisper,

"Claudere,"

"Clay, Logan, I think you guys should make sure your cars are locked. Just with what happened today, we need to be more careful." I calmly tell them, hoping they will leave.

They both nod, pulling their keys out of their pockets, and head toward the door.

"Okay, what is it? You obviously didn't want vamp hearing to know what you're about to say." Brie looks at me for answers.

"With everything that has happened, I need to know. Did you or Logan explain the vampire side to Clay? Does he know about it?"

"No, we haven't said anything. We won't because we know what needs to be done."

"Okay, good." The boys are back, and Clay wraps his arms around me, bringing me to the sofa. I cuddle up to Clay while Brie and Logan take up the other sofa. I wake up to Clay's arms wrapped around me; he carries me to bed. I can't sleep like this, so I undress, and he hands me his shirt; he knows I love sleeping in it. I lay down, and he wraps me in his arms.

"I love you, baby," He tells me.

"I love you," I say as he kisses my temple. Within minutes, I drift into a deep sleep.

Ravens, fire, and screams; darkness

I jump up from my sleep; Clay wakes up. "What's wrong?" he asks, still holding me tightly. "Babe, you're sweating. Are you okay?" He asks carefully.

"It was just a nightmare." I explain. "I'll be fine," I say, but the images of the ravens, fire, screams, and darkness still haunt me. I don't know how much longer I can keep pretending everything is fine.

"Are you sure? You were pretty scared." He looks at me, concerned. I force a smile and nod, hoping he doesn't see through my façade.

"Yes," I reassure him, placing my head on his chest; I don't want to fall asleep. I'm scared to close my eyes, but I'm too tired to fight it. I drift off into a restless sleep, my mind plagued with nightmares.

The snow crunches beneath my feet as screams reverberate throughout the forest. As ravens soar in the night sky, the moon beams brightly over the woods.

My breathing deepens as my eyes flutter open. Given that the prior ones involved Clay, I assumed the nightmares would stop. Now, what are they attempting to tell me? I turn to face Clay, who is soundly asleep. I get out of bed in the hopes that he won't wake up again, and head to the kitchen for some water.

My face is dripping with sweat as my hands are on the counter. This is not how my life is supposed to be. I envisioned myself as a typical girl having fun. So why do I feel like I'm gearing up for my biggest battle yet?

"Babe, are you okay?" I drop the glass and watch it shatter as Clay makes me jump. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's okay." I bend down and start picking up the glass. "Ouch," I say, dropping a piece as it slices my hand.

Clay quickly cleans up the mess and escorts me to the bathroom. With my hand under the faucet, I watch the blood run down the drain. I'm exhausted, my eyes start to flicker, and my head starts to pound.

Oh no!

"Thank you for the help, but I'm feeling a little nauseous. Can you give me a moment, please?" He kisses my head and walks out. I lock the door to the bathroom and drop to my knees as the pounding becomes more complex and unbearable. I grab a towel and bite down on it, so Clay doesn't hear my screams of agony. I hold in the agony that consumes my head.

"Let me out, Raven; you need me now more than ever." The voice inside me echoes.

Not yet; it isn't time. I know what needs to be done, but Clay will never allow our plan to go forward. I'm also scared that a war will break out if it happens now, and I'm not ready for that.

I splash water on my face and finally head to bed. Clay wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to his chest. "Are you sure you're okay?" He whispers with worry.

"Yes, thank you." He kisses my hair, and I lay there, dreading the nightmares that are waiting for me in my sleep.