The Raven Four Books 1-3 - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,146

is deep,” Jax mutters, skimming his finger along the inside of my wrist.

I glance down, and my eyes widen at the split open flesh of my forearm. Blood is seeping out and trickling onto the floor, causing the dripping noise.

“One of those shadowed blood feeders cut me,” I inform him. “It doesn’t really hurt.”

“That might be because you’re in shock.” Hunter steps toward me and leans over to get a look at the wound. “Shit, that is deep.”

As they continue to examine the cut, Zay moves over beside me. He’s not looking at the cut, though, his gaze is glued to my side.

“Did they cut your side, too?” he asks. “There’s blood all over your shirt.” He reaches out and lifts the side of my shirt before I can react. You know, the side that has all those ugly words carved into my flesh. And the most current one has split back open, hence the blood all over my shirt.

“Don’t look at that,” I sputter, yanking my shirt down. But it’s too late. He’s seen it. So has Jax.

Shame and embarrassment wash over me, which pisses me off.

“That’s what your uncle did to you?” Zay bites out, his body trembling as he folds his fingers into fists.

“No,” I try to lie. “I did it to myself.” Of course, when I say the words aloud, I become aware that that doesn’t sound much better.

His gaze drops to my wrists where my other scars are hidden beneath a series of leather bands. Only, those scars are self-inflicted. Zay discovered them while we shared body heat.

“You didn’t carve those words into your side.” He carries my gaze. “Your uncle did this to you, and he’s going to pay for it.” He reaches up and brushes his knuckles across my cheekbone.

For a breathless moment, contentment sweeps through me. It’s weird, though, just like how Zay is touching me is. Everyone seems to think the same thing, too, since Jax and Hunter are staring at Zay with questioning expressions.

Exhaling shakily, Zay steps back. “I’m going to check around and make sure all the shadowed blood feeders are gone,” he mutters then spins around to bolt.

“Zay,” Hunter calls after him, his words echoing in my head.

He says something else, but I can’t tell what, my head swirling with fogginess.

“I feel weird,” I whisper, stumbling forward as dizziness swims through my brain.

Jax catches me, looping his arms around my waist. He holds me against his chest, hooking his finger beneath my chin and tilting my head up to look at him. His eyes search mine, and then panic flashes across his features.

“When the shadowed blood feeder cut you, was it with a knife?” he asks.

I lazily shake my head from side to side. “No … One of its claw things nicked me.”

His eyes fill with that look again, that one I don’t recognize yet feel like I do. He used to look at me the same way when we were younger.

“I always thought you had such sad, pretty eyes,” I mumble as my eyelids start to lower. “Oh … that’s what that look is … Sadness … Sorry I smacked your cheek. It’s all red …”

With that, darkness wraps around me and drags me under.

Jax

My heart is so fucking loud today. Usually, it’s quieter. So is my mind. I fucking hate it.

“I need a drink,” I mumble as I stand near the sofa, staring down at Raven.

She passed out and, for a fucking horrifying moment, I thought she was dead. But she’s still breathing, and her pulse is steady, which leaves the question of …

“What do you think’s wrong with her?” Hunter moves up beside me and hands me a glass of whiskey.

The air is chilly due to a lot of the windows in the house having been shattered when the shadowed blood feeders broke in here. The alarm never went off, so someone had to have hacked into it. More than likely someone who works for our fathers.

“It has to do with being clawed.” I take the drink from him and down half of it.

He rubs his nose a few times, probably because he snuck away to do a few lines. It’s a bad habit of his, just like alcohol is for me, and for Zay, it’s cutting and his anger. Although, anger is probably an issue for all of us. We just have different ways of releasing it, and Zay is more violent about it.

“I just can’t remember what.” I gulp down the rest of