Wings of the Raven by Cindy Spencer Pape Read Free Book Online

generations—nobody to talk to about how the gift reacted with the female physiology. “We know my grandfather’s sister lost a baby after shifting, but she was sick before that and didn’t live long after, so we’re not sure about the causality.” Popular opinion had been that she gave up hope and died after losing her husband to tuberculosis, but no one was entirely certain.
    “Shit.” He buried his head in his hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck .” He kicked hard at the cot, shattering one end of it to pieces, even though he was barefoot.
    I could see the pulse throbbing in his neck and hear his shallow breathing. The trickle of dread turned into a fucking waterfall. “Will, what do you know ?”
    He swallowed hard, as if he was trying not to throw up. Of course, that thought made me nauseous, too. Finally he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I hate asking you to take the chance, sweetheart. It kills me to think of you risking our baby, but you have to. It’s the only option.”
    “Tell me.” I bit hard on my lip to keep both tears and stomach under control.
    He inhaled deeply through his nostrils, his lips a thin white line.
    “I’ve seen this place.” His voice was so low I almost missed it. I leaned closer to catch his words. “That last night in San Francisco . The dream that woke me up.”
    “The nightmare.” The one that had shaken him so badly I’d been afraid someone was dead.
    “Yeah. Worst nightmare ever.” He laughed hoarsely and wiped his forearm across his face. Horrified, I realised his eyes were damp. Good gods, Will was crying. “I saw you die, Carys . Three men walked in through that door, right there. One grabbed you, the other two got me cuffed to this wall.” He jerked his thumb, and for the first time I noticed an iron ring set into the adobe over his head.
    “They doped us with something else—something that kept us from moving, but didn’t knock us out. Then they took turns with you, while one of them kept hitting me to make sure I watched.”
    “Oh, Will!” I went to my knees in front of him. “I’ll go, honey. It’ll be all right.” I hoped to hell I was telling the truth, but Will’s visions were never wrong. They could, however, be subverted.
    “There’s more.”
    Apparently once he’d started, he needed to get the rest off his chest, though I didn’t really want to hear it.
    “Go on.”
    “After they’d all…raped you, they left, laughing, saying they’d be back for more, later. I still couldn’t move, couldn’t go to you. As soon as I could, I started yanking on the ring, hoping the adobe would give. I could see the tears rolling down your cheeks, and then the blood…”
    His voice broke then, but he took a few deep breaths and kept going. “I thought they’d torn something inside you, you were bleeding so badly. Now I think it was the baby. But by the time I yanked the ring out of the wall and got to you…” He took one more shuddering breath as I held him tight. His voice dropped to a ragged whisper, “You were gone.”
    “Goddess.” I clasped him close in my arms, rocking him as we both wept. “I’m so sorry, Will. No wonder you were so freaked out.” I couldn’t imagine having to watch him bleed out in front of me. And I was sure that he’d been a battered, bloody mess by the time he’d freed himself, which had to hurt, even in a vision. Now I understood why he hadn’t been happy to see me when I arrived.
    “That’s part of why I left so abruptly,” he said a few minutes later when we’d both gotten our emotions back under control. “I thought if I just stayed away from you, then it might not happen. I didn’t count on you coming to find me.”
    “Sorry.” I kissed his damp cheek, rasping my lips on the black stubble growing in. “I’m going. Promise.”
    I moved to stand, to start taking off my clothes, but he stopped me with a kiss, so loving and sweet I almost started crying all over again.
    “Be very careful,” he whispered.