Page 21 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

“You were shivering in your sleep last night, so I covered you. But then that didn’t work. So here I am, in the flesh, beside you,” he said in a low, raspy tone that sent another wave of heat down my body.

“Lies,” I teased. The threat in my eyes diminished. His little sliver of a dimple raised up in a smirk, causing my shoulders to loosen.

He rested on one elbow and leaned into the shell of my ear, his lips but a breath away from me. “One thing about me is that I don’t lie, Vessa.”

When I glanced at him, his eyes bored over my shoulder in Ryder’s direction before he got up. He took his hat from the ground and stood over the ledge outside the cave. Misted shadows curled around his boots until he was enveloped in darkness. Before he disappeared, he turned back and tipped his hat toward me as a satisfied smirk curved his lips. His body fell away into onyx clouds, and when he emerged, he was in the form of a raven.

Both last nightand this morning were a continual shit show. I gazed at the golden band on my finger, and a wicked grin widened, remembering many of my one-night stands. Raven had never given a damn about any of them, so why was it different with Ryder? We might be bound, but we were not tied to one another romantically. His constant influx of men and women didn’t affect me, and I had never cared to ask where he went in the middle of the night. We minded our own damn business.

Now, he was nowhere in sight. He hadn’t been with us for most of the day, flying miles ahead as if he couldn’t stand to be in my proximity.

“He’ll get over it,” Pa said, breaking the silence as we rode side by side with Ryder far behind us.

“If what I do plagues him that bad, I’ll hear it one way or another. So I guess we’ll just have to see.”

Pa responded with a nod. Truth was, we wouldn’t have been in this situation if it weren’t for the old man. He had damned our entire existence.

Moments with Ryder came and went throughout the day, thinking about what he’d shared last night, but I had to cut off those thoughts.

All I cared about now was the smoked herb in this pipe, hoping it would chase away those looming thoughts. Pa had given me more of his special blend than usual, enough to pack another for this evening.

“Looks like you need it,” he had said.

We continued north as the sun beamed down upon us. It wouldn’t be long until we would see Ash Dunes on the horizon. Itwas hard to miss. A pain tinged my chest thinking of the stories that had come out of it. Those dunes had been built on top of the bones of fae, a place to dispose the remnants of their burnt bodies. A shudder swept down my spine as anger and vengeance coiled through me.

“We are riding into the beginning of their end,” Ryder called out as if sensing my thoughts. He clicked his tongue as he rode alongside me and jerked his chin forward. Calloused to what lay ahead, he flashed a pearly yet mischievous smile. I looked ahead and squinted my eyes, and all I could see were the peaks of that hellish place cresting the expanse of the desert.

“The sands are white.” I surveyed, bringing the pipe to my lips. I needed to feel that burn, anything to evade thinking of how those dunes had been made.

“That’s an interesting-looking pipe you have there,” Ryder stated.

I lifted my chin. “Oh yeah, cowboy? Here, take a puff if you fancy.”

His fingertips gently brushed the top of my hand as he took it.

He held the ivory pipe close to his face and to the side, upside down, and all around. The fool was immersed in its design.

He huffed out a laugh, astonished while taking a hit, coughing and laughing at the same time with a cloud of smoke puffing out as he handed it back to me.

“Is that pipe made out of bone?”

“Sure is,” I boasted. “Let it be a warning. If you ever decide to cross us, I’ll be smoking out of your bones too. Maybe make a few necklaces out of them, who knows.” I smirked. “Depends how creative I feel at the moment.”

“Well, gods-damn woman.” Ryder grinned from ear to ear.

I let the threat ride, keeping eye contact, and smiled with a shrug. “Fuck around and you’ll find out.”

There was an ache in the depths of my mind trying to take root as a silhouette cast between us.

I peered up to find Raven coasting on a gust of wind.

“Just in time.”I opened the bond. “I thought you were going to miss our run.”

“Now why would I do that?”he asked.

I hesitated for a moment. Silence filled that awkward space. Like Pa, I didn’t want to talk about it.

He gently glided down and perched on my arm, his claws digging into the coat. Thank goodness there was another layer of cloth to cover my scars. It was my strongest arm of the two, shockingly.

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