The Raven Four Books 1-3 - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,58

to stare him down, he adds, “Fine, I got it. We come before her.”

“Good.” I glance at Zay in the rearview mirror. “What about you?”

He gives a nonchalant shrug, his hand resting on his arm where more than likely he cut himself. “You guys are more important to me than some girl will ever be.”

For the most part, I believe him. Except one small thing makes me hesitant. Zay saved her today, which was weird but not completely out of the realm of reality. No, what was completely insane was that he was the one to share his body heat with her. He said he had to do it because he was cold, but I think, deep down, he feels slightly connected to Raven because of her scars. Zay has scars too that run deep, both invisible ones and ones that mark his flesh.

But while he said he could handle it, it’s pretty fucking clear he couldn’t, since he’s cradling his arm now.

He probably cut a little too deep.

Fuck, this isn’t good.

And I want to say something to him, but again, remind myself that now isn’t the time.

When I don’t say anything, Zay glares at me. “If I say I got it, then I got it,” he snaps, slumping back in the seat.

“Okay.” I let it drop for now and direct my attention back to the road. “And rule number four—”

“God, there’s another one?” Hunter groans, pinching the brim of his nose.

I ignore him, continuing, “We need to look more into her past. Zay, I know you got some information on her, but I want to know everything about her.” I flip on the blinker to make a turn onto a driveway. “If we’re going to let her into our inner circle, we need to make sure she is who she says she is. Because, if she ends up somehow tied to one of our enemies, she could mess up our freedom waiting for us at the end of the school year. And that’s not something I’m willing to risk just to help some girl make it through a year here. I’ll feed her to the wolves if it means we get our freedom, understand?”

“That’s harsh, man,” Hunter mutters.

“Harsh is what I need to be,” I say, feeling a hint of guilt over what I’m saying, but I shove it down with the rest of my feelings.

Feelings I never let out. It’s what I’ve been trained to do. To bottle up everything inside me. To be in control. I spent a lot of my childhood not being in control, my father controlling my every move. When Zay, Hunter, and I moved in together and I got a taste of freedom, I took all of the control back that was taken from me. Now, I’m the one that does the controlling.

Hunter heaves a sigh. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. We come first. We always have.”

As silence skips by, I glance back at Zay. “You good with these rules and looking into her more?” I ask as I slow to a stop in front of the gate to my father’s three-story house.

All the porch lights are on, lighting up the night, yet the place carries so much darkness for me.

Zay nods, but for a crazy second, I swear I see him hesitate.

What the hell?

“You didn’t find something out about her already, did you?” I question as I put the car into park, but I don’t buzz us in right away.

Instead I take out my flask and down a few gulps, knowing I’m going to need it to stay calm. Because I need to stay calm or else I’ll lose control. And when I lose control bad shit happens, which is why I’ll do anything not to lose my control.

Zay wavers. “The place Raven and her family lived when she was younger was in Kingsley’s territory, but I couldn’t find any connection between them and Raven’s family, so I think it’s okay. Plus, her last name is Wilowwynter, which I’ve never heard of before.”

“I hope so. But we should look into it more just to be safe.” Because if Raven is somehow connected to the Kingsley name, she’s definitely not going to be a part of our circle since the Kingsleys are the Capperellies’ number one and pretty much only constant rival.

The used to be a part of our town until they moved to the city. It was right after… Well, this thing we refer to a “The Game” stopped happening. We