Page 58 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

I’d seen these arrows before. “The arrows are tipped with poison,” I called out, seeing Raven’s silhouette flying above us in his full bird form. I sensed the heaviness within each beat of his wings; his heart was beating erratically. Something felt off, but Ryder’s words pulled me from thought.

“I need to get you to Earth’s Fall,” Ryder said, calling out to his horse to ride faster.

“No!” I yelled, squeezing his sides. “I’m not leaving Pa.”

“He told you to never look back.”

But I did, and he was nowhere in sight. Pain seared my eyes. I blinked back the tears that fogged my vision as the urgency for me to go back swelled in my chest. “We need to go back. My gods, Ryder, if you don’t turn back, I will end you,” I said.

I felt the hesitation in his thoughts, racing through a thousand scenarios before he finally bit out a curse. Raven disappeared between the trees as Ryder and I veered off the path and disappeared into the haze.

In the distance,I heard the blunt force of arrows blasting into the tree trunks. As we drew near, shards of bark littered the ground in passing.

“These arrows belong to the Earth Fae,” I said. We braced ourselves as Ryder’s stallion jumped a fallen log.

“Friends of yours?” he called out, gripping the reins.

Once upon a time, maybe. I couldn’t remember, but now, seeing their arrows doused in poison aiming for us, “No.”

I knew they could kill from a distance. Their arrows could surpass my shadows’ reach. With a call to the power ofAno, I held on to Ryder as I leaned down, reaching for a satchel full of arrows and a lost bow as tendrils lifted it to my grip. I strapped the satchel to my back as he leaned forward. I saw an Earth Fae garbed in emerald green but wearing a hat like men in the city, which told me they worked for Fang. They weren’t known for being a part of society. Like us, they kept to their own territory, the island north of Black Water Woods. Now, it was evident they wanted to die.

Upon an exhale, I released the arrow, followed by a cry cut short as it protruded between the eyes of the enemy. One by one, I shot them down. Ryder’s lasso pulled them out of their hiding places. The onyx rope yanked them from the brush and into my line of sight. I inflicted them with their own venom, reveling in the sight of their bodies littering the ground, but my heart nearly stopped at what lay ahead.

In the clearing, the silhouette of a man was on his knees, salt-and-pepper hair matted with blood that clung to his neck.

“Vessa, stay back,” Pa yelled in a futile attempt to protect his kin.

I dismounted Ryder’s stallion, feet landing in a plume of fog curling up as shadows coiled around me. Fear jolted down my spine seeing Pa handcuffed with a lawman beside him. I tossed the satchel off my back and narrowed in on the older man. Hewore a gambler’s press to his hat, but the silver star pinned to his dark blue coat drew my attention.

The sheriff.

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, and I paled. The tie around the sheriff’s neck was loosened. His brows sagged as he scowled. Those deep eyes had a claiming look as he glanced down at Pa. His beard was a dark blonde, and he looked like a miserable, grumpy bastard.

“The Umbra herself has finally emerged from the shadows,” the sheriff said. “It looks like somebody just pissed on your grave.” His voice coiled like a snake.

“Well, asshole, I’m about to piss on yours,” I retorted, feeling the sensation of darkness drifting up my wrists. His men stepped into sight, aiming guns and other weapons at us as they chuckled.

The sheriff tsked. “My, my, you have a mouth on you. The name is Sheriff Dawson. You’re under arrest for…Well, let’s see here.” He smirked, giving me a final look before he pulled out a paper marred with blood. His eyes narrowed on the words as he read aloud.

“‘Wanted for the murder of forty-five harmless civilians and counting at Grand Dusk’s Tavern. Wanted for shooting an unarmed man, point blank, in the face. Wanted for larceny, murder, arson, carrying unregistered weapons…’ The list goes on. ‘Last seen heading west in the company of an old man and a pet…blue jay.’” He laughed, flicking the paper before tucking it back into his coat pocket.

“Sounds like someone you shouldn’t be fucking with,” I bit out.

The sheriff’s presence brought a sense of betrayal, one I couldn’t place until I saw Raven step from the shroud of fog behind them. He strolled up to the man on his knees—the onewho had raised him as his own—with a malicious grin on his face. My next breath left my soul as the air around me thinned.

“More of a raven, if you haven’t noticed,” the prick said, squaring his shoulders as sharp feathers still sprawled across them.

Raven looked my way, the truth suddenly unveiling the reason I had always rejected the bond and why my shadows had reacted so violently when he’d caught me falling off my horse.

“Flustered, Vessa?”

My jaw clenched. I couldn’t breathe as my eyes bounced between him and Pa. I felt the heat of Ryder’s body as he stood beside me with a lasso of shadow in his hand.

“An Umbra with Donia’s most wanted bounty hunter. This is going to go down in history,” Sheriff Dawson said.

“Fuck you all,” I spat.

“End’s Wrath needed no guns, arrows, or magic to bring him to his knees. It’s funny when you think about it,” Raven interrupted, sticking his hands into his pockets. “A man can love so hard that it’s the one thing that fails him in the end.”

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