Page 6 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

Irritated by his presence, my eyes darted around the room. He was not like other fae. I realized he had the power of illusion, something I had never seen in all my years of living.

Who are you?I rubbed the scruff of my beard.

Aggravation fluttered my damn jaw as I clenched the glass of whiskey until it cracked; the sound reminding me to get a fucking grip.

Damn the hells.

How could I have missed this big fucking detail? One they’d kept so well hidden while riding into town. One I hadn’t seen as I’d stalked their route from the mountain or when I’d watched them rest.

She gave him a knowing smile and eyes that might have lingered for far too long, stirring the urgency for me to see what shade of red this fucker bled. The soft sweep of her dark lashes sent an unexpected surge through me. The two Umbra Fae had always been alone. Whoever this bastard was, he was another barrier to her. I paused for a moment, looking at her father, who had just won another hand at poker, unaffected by the carcass that now warmed the empty seat beside her. As my eyes bounced back and forth between the two, I finally put it together. He was their sentinel, which meant he was a shadow shifter.

The raven.

With a simple wave of my hand, I summoned the power ofNaibeneath my fingertips and blew into the air.

A soft light emerged from my palm, a faint wind swaying between the crowd. Within seconds, a bond appeared between them. My suspicions had been confirmed.

Interestingly, the bond had been forced and not bound by love.

This type of bond was a bodyguard, entrusted by their elders. I’d read about this after spending too many days in a library, back then, when I didn’t have a home.

This raven was a complicated mass of annoyance to me.

She was her father’s shadow, and this male of a bird was hers. But as I studied their connection through my own power, thatbondwas not well received on her end. I could tell in the speckle of stars woven through the magic that bound them. His was brighter, matching a star-filled sky, while hers ended in mute black, stark and void of any inkling of acceptance. She was a black hole, sucking up the life of those who had fallen by her beauty.

The raven followed her every step as if she were an extension of his heart. One I wished to sever if I could harness enough toexpose the filth for what it truly was. If it weren’t for the elders, she would have been easier to obtain.

I had to plan out my next move methodically. I was ready to ravage her and make her undone. I needed to get to her, really get inside the head of a hellion like herself and see what I could draw out.

4

Vessa

The saloon smelled of sweet bread and meats, coating the air to hide the stagnant stench of the sweaty bodies of brute men. My presence garnered some curious stares as their eyes lowered to the swells of my breasts. I remained calm, eyes forward, not even sparing any of these assholes a glance as I made my way toward the bar. There was a warrant out for my arrest, and I happened to have the pretty picture in my pocket. So far, this night was going pretty well.

I knew I was beautiful, and I’d used that to my advantage many times, but tonight, with my other pocket lined with nara coins, I could relax knowing what awaited me. A lady deserved a nice warm fucking bed once in a while. My shoulders slightly dropped, easing the tension from riding as I waited for my drink.

It wasn’t long before I heard Pa’s gruff voice as he settled into a poker game. A smile drew my lips, knowing he would end up robbing each fool blind.

Within minutes, I shuddered along the bond as the silhouette of a too-large asshole appeared beside me.

I turned my head and was met by a pair of dark and deep-set eyes, maybe charming on some days.

“Hello, bird,” I coaxed, faintly smirking as I took in the sight of Raven to see where his emotions were drifting. The corner of his mouth quirked up, drawing out a dimple on the side of his face with only half a day’s worth of scruff. Where he went to manicure himself was none of my fucking business. But when his stare seared down the side of my face, it became my problem.

“I don’t need the bond to sense you’re irritated that I’m at the bar having a drink,” I said, taking a longer sip of my whiskey just to spite him. Had he forgotten fae could drink twice as much as humans and still only get a buzz?

He leaned in closer, a grinning acceptance to the silent challenge of who controlled who tonight. The ebb and flow of an unwanted relationship.

Though we were tethered, I couldn’t feel a lot of things. His presence, yes—but anything that had to do with love or emotion, I gripped that part of the bond by the balls and castrated it. I was too powerful to fully accept it. A bond was supposed to connect a couple, body, mind and soul. I had the power to manipulate it, weave it into what I thought was acceptable. Which meant I was in control of how far it wove. We could speak to one another through this union, but only whenIchose to. Which bothered him and was, in fact, the very reason he drifted into the saloon a heaving mess, because I had refused to answer him.

“You know, you’re less of an asshole when you’re a bird,” I said.

“Raven,” he corrected, unamused with how I had started this unwanted conversation. “I don’t feel like babysitting you while you drink yourself into oblivion.”

My head rolled in his direction. “You have to be kidding me,” I drawled. Apparently, the men in my life had forgotten I was seventy-five, though I looked to be in my late-twenties. I could have had a few dead husbands by now if this world hadn’t been on the brink of destruction. “Is there somewhere else you wouldrather be? There’s finally good liquor and a handsome chap that actually knows how to play piano, and you would rather roam the skies alone, throwing yourself a pity party?” I huffed, taking another sip.

“I don’t have time for this.” He deeply exhaled.

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