Page 147 of White Raven
“It started with you. After I became elder, our coven grew. I was determined to let Dahlia believe she’d outsmarted me. I started silently taking her down, piece-by-piece, and moved my coven to Seattle, spreading some in Oregon, and encouraging them to continue spreading us across the nation. The bigger we became, the more her feathers ruffled. I sent the bird to watch her. I planted spies in her coven. To report her activities, and that of the man who betrayed me. Decclan Reynolds. The raven foundanother.”
CHAPTER 28
KATHERINE
Athan shifted beside his mate, recalling the night that he’d told her about. When Poe found him on the rooftop, and never left his side afterwards.
“His soul found its match within you,” Poe said, staring a hole through him. “There was no reasoning with him. You became his focus. His assignment. It was then that I realized…you would be the sword that struck her down. You already had your hate as the force that would drive her to damn herself. And so, I watched you. I had spies that sat in her very council. I had eyes on you through the bird. I found out about her plans to try to force alignment with werewolves—our natural born enemies. She promised them things she could never give. Experimented with them nearly to extinction with her dream of creating hybrid species strong enough to take me down once she found me, and the coven I’d stolen from her. I had their loyalty. We even adopted the name. The Black Bird coven no longer belonged to the self-proclaimed vampire queen. She failed. And thenyou…” he smiled wider. “You were clever enough to find a way out. To separate yourself from her. By that time, I’d taken in a family of my own that were…refugees, if you will.”
“Ryan Sykes.Herfamily,” Sarah added. He nodded. “Another family that wasn’t yours. Another family you put above yourown.”
“I promised you…you would have every answer you sought before leaving. And you will.”
Athan was inclined to follow her annoyed sigh. But the intrigue drove his attention back to the mystery in the wooden chair before them.
“With Ryan in existence, I realized Dahlia had it wrong from the beginning. The hybrids couldn’t be made. They were to bebred. One of the werewolves who had lived through her experiments…she agreed to assist me. I didn’t need her to breed. She already had a daughter. A wolf who was alone. No pack to speak of.”
“Rhaena,” Athan breathed.
“Yes. Ashina told me where I could find her daughter, and as fate would have it…she was in Boston. We made sure that you found your way to the vacant apartment next door. Initially, we planned to strategize a meeting. But…you found her on your own. Every plan we mustered up was brilliantly thwarted by fate alone. She not only became your partner, but also…yourlover.”
“Fucking stop it,” Athan spat, his jaw tightening to the point of pain.
“Why? Is it not the truth? It was clear that if we left it alone, things would go better than we’d expected. And so, we did just that. We waited. The bird was never an admirer, and for obvious reasons. He knew she wasn’t like us. But then…”
Sarah leaned forward and took Athan’s hand. They met eyes. “Then there was me,” she smiled softly. “Ready to fuck up all your plans.”
The light to his dark…
It didn’t surprise him that every single time he thought about the first moment he saw her, his breath staggered. Every time he looked at hernow, it still did. Poe broke their concentration and continued on.
“I don’t suppose I need to emphasize that part of the story.”
“Thatpart of the story, is none of your fucking business,” Sarah snapped.
He chuckled, shoving his hands back into his pockets. “After you sent Dahlia back to the pits of which she came…I found out that…you knew my name. I have to say I’m perplexed. Not once did I catch word from any of my sources that she’d breathed that name to you. Not until her last breath. You knew itbefore. How?”
Athan glanced at his mate, and the smile that Sarah gave her father was nothing short of despicable. “From mymother.” Poe straightened in his chair. “When Athan turned me, I was knocking on Death’s door for the second time. I found myself in what Mama called ‘The Veil’. She was there. She was with me. I could see her and talk to her. She told me your name before she disappeared, and I woke up a vampire.”
“Katherine,” he whispered. Obvious pain struck his face, and his heavy breath exposed his grief. He’d loved her. “So…sheison the other side.”
“Yes. And while I may have found you, I never found her killer. This might sting, and I couldn’t fucking care less…but I would have rather had his name over yours. I don’t want to know you. I don’t want a relationship with you. Youwilldie. You’ll pay for abandoning me. You’ll pay for what you’ve done to my mate, and you’ll never hurt another person I care about. Our lives aren’t your chessboard.”
Emotion that Athan couldn’t place flickered across Poe’s face, and he stared blankly at his daughter. “Before I address that…let me first explain how you came to be here.”
“Please do,” Athan bit.
“I sent Ryan to keep eyes on you. She was to report back about your whereabouts, confirm that you’d fully turned, and find Decclan Reynolds. I would exact my revenge on him. I couldn’t deliver Dahlia’s lethal blow, but Reynolds—Reynolds,I would have. She was too late. He’d left the country, and my choices were to either pursue you…or pursue the man responsible for my death. I chose you.”
“And what a kind gesture it was,” Sarah added, pursing her lips. “Too little, too late, Pops.”
“Perhaps,” he sighed. “But you were my heir. I’ve come to realize after all these years…what Reynolds injured in my head. My turning did little to eradicate it. I no longer run from Death. I would like to find my peace. All these years. The name of Edgar Allan Poe…that man is still and willalwaysbe…only an insane poet. Someone history will always remember as an unstable, lowlife, drunk. I cannot escape the disease that is my mind. I wish to be freed. I needed to know. Needed to be sure that the only blood I had could lead this coven. That someone strong enough to stand beside her while she did so…was beyond reproach.” He slid his eyes to Athan, who squeezed on Sarah’s hand.
“You tested us. The way you tested the wolves. You tested our strength. Our loyalty. A failed experiment turned into the story of a lifetime,” Athan said.
“The story ofmanylifetimes, Athan Kane. The Black Bird coven will indeed reign. But it will never again belong to Dahlia Van Hausen. It will belong to the two of you. Two people intelligent enough…compassionate enough…and not afflicted with the disease of a tormented mind to lead these people to better. Better than what I’m able to give them.” He peered over at Sarah, who held his stare with confliction. “I did not only pass you a crown, little bird. I passed you a key. A key to freedom. An antidote to the disease.”
“The White Raven,” Athan whispered. She turned her head to look at him, and her mouth dropped open.
