Page 21 of Shadow of Fury
Her sister frowned at her instead, “You want me to blame you? To make you feel guilty? I’m sorry, but I’m not going to do that.”
“Ray…” she warned.
“We don’t get to choose our mate.” Raven scoffed. “That’s like, the first thing they teach us about the bond when we’re kids. We don’t have any say in who fate decides is our other half.”
“But Logan was Lark’s.”
“And Lark is gone which is horrible and sad, but the truth is, if she’d lived until her birthday, we’d all have known a long time ago that Logan was never meant to be hers to begin with.”
Wren shook her head, “But he might have killed her. He might have hurt her or helped cover it up or… He might be the reason Lark is dead and my wolf doesn’t care. All she wants is to claim him and I can’t do that.”
Raven’s face softened, “I get it now.”
“You do?”
“You have to go to work today and find the evidence you’ve been looking for because you’re out of time. You have to know if he was involved before you can let yourself be open to the bond.”
Was that what she was doing? Wren shuddered out a breath. Maybe. She’d thought she was going to work to find the evidence and prove that she’d been right all along about Logan and his father but maybe Raven understood her even better than she understood herself. She’d already admitted that she couldn’t be rational when it came to Lark’s death but Raven had perspective on it, and on Logan. Was Wren really still hoping to find evidence Logan had murdered her sister or was she hoping to find evidence that he hadn’t now?
In the end, she told herself it didn’t matter. The truth was what mattered. Everything else would work itself out once she knew the truth.
If Logan hadn’t been involved in Lark’s death, maybe she could find a way to accept the bond, to let the past go and be happy. And if it turned out that he had killed her sister, whether on purpose or accident, then Wren would take justice into her own hands and end him, and the possibility of the bond between them.
“Thank you for telling me the truth.” Raven touched her arm softly, bringing her back to the moment.
“You didn’t give me much choice.”
Her younger sister smiled, “I know. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for worrying about me. I appreciate it. Even when we fight.”
“Love you sis.” Raven opened her arms to offer a hug and despite her earlier words Wren stepped into the embrace and hugged her back.
“Love you too.”
When Raven released her she looked her in the eye, calm and serious, “The deal we made yesterday still stands. Whatever you find, you bring it to me before making any decisions on your own, okay?”
Wren nodded, “I think I need you to be the rational one about this more than ever.”
“Okay then, go to work. Keep up your usual act of everything being fine and normal. And if you find something, you get it and you get out of that office and call me.” Raven squeezed her shoulders, “I’ll see you for dinner with Mom and Dad tonight, but if you need anything before then I’ll have my phone on me no matter where I am.”
She felt sick at the reminder that she’d completely forgotten her mother’s birthday. They didn’t do much celebrating in their family after Lark died but they still tried to get together and at least have dinner. Raven was the one who insisted, and she might not feel like celebrating but she wouldn’t let her sister down.
“I’ll be there, but Ray, don’t tell Mom that I…”
“Hey.” Her sister smiled, “I would never. You can tell her, or not, whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, just… don’t let the Alpha catch you snooping, okay?”
“Promise.”
“Oh, and one more thing…”
“Yeah?”
“Did you tell Gia something about her old pack?”