Page 40 of Raven's Dawn

Laila told us to be quiet, I said into her mind, using my hand to guide her ahead. She clenched her jaw, but resumed her pace. We can talk about it later.

We can talk about it now.

Rain—

If you keep avoiding it, I’m gonna go talk to him instead, because this can’t happen. There can’t be conflict between a few of us that we don’t address with the others. If there’s tension here, I need to know how to handle it.

Rubbing down the bridge of my nose, I let out another deep breath. He was angry that I didn’t realize you to were gone. We got into it a little bit. The others broke it up, but… Yeah, I don’t know.

Wait, broke it up? Her eyes widened. As in, you guys fought. You physically fought.

Not really, no. He grabbed me by my shirt, and I shoved him, and then Jeremy broke it up.

Her jaw dropped.

This was between us. Don’t fight with him about it. Me and Warren, we’ll work it out.

She looked ready to fight me about that, but then remembered we had to stay quiet. Silence sat between us for a few footsteps. Eventually, she thought, Are you sure? I’ll talk to him if you need me to. Out of all of us, you’re already in the most unfair situation, and I don’t want you to think anybody is ganging up on you.

I chuckled. The thought was sweet, but I never worried about that. Did I see where she was coming from? Sure. I knew the potential of being a fourth wheel. Warren and Ezra had been married for decades, and they were both as in love with Rain as I was. Yes, it was a logical thought.

But it had never been an issue. All four of us were adults, capable of recognizing when we were wrong, and when the ones we loved were wrong. Above all else, we were friends.

Friends didn’t dance around their opinions. We were honest with each other, sometimes too much so with Ezra’s sensitive nature. But we were also fair. And anyone with a set of eyes could recognize that the way Warren behaved was unfair. Even if, on a moral level, he was right, his behavior was still wrong.

I expected Ezra to react the same way Rain had. Warren must’ve felt similarly, since he’d already attempted to apologize multiple times.

If anything, I was worried about him being ganged up on.

I’ll handle it. Another squeeze of her hand. But thank you for worrying.

Always.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jeremy said ahead of us.

“I said the same thing,” Ezra muttered.

“Did you really?” I glanced behind me to meet his gaze. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you curse.”

“On occasion,” Warren said.

“Just about any reaction to this is rational,” Rain said.

“Is that—Ah, fuck?” Disgust rippled through Laila’s voice. “Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

I couldn’t tell her anything, because Jeremy was an inch or two taller than me and had a big head with an even bigger volume of hair.

“I think it is,” Ezra said. “I think it also explains the… odd odor.”

A few steps forward, and we were in an opening. Couldn’t have been more than eight feet high, as my head wasn’t too far from hitting the ceiling. Large enough to stand comfortably, but I couldn’t call it a living space. More like a teenage hangout spot. The bare minimum of necessities. A roof that kept the weather away, a few benches, a fire pit, and a?—

“What the fuck is that?” I asked.

No one answered.

Meat. It looked like nothing more than meat, dangling from the ceiling like a pig in a butcher’s shop.

Then I saw the skin. The pale white, dark hair dusted skin. Skin not too different from my own.