Page 79 of White Raven (Nevermore Duet #2)

Rhaena stared at her in disgust. “How do you eat that shit, Wren?” Brent snorted from the kitchen table and stirred his coffee.

Wren only took a bigger bite, and intentionally smacked on the candy.

It was about as bad as the noise Athan’s desk chair made at the precinct.

“I don’t know what to believe anymore. If Foster says she’s my blood…

then she likely is. That doesn’t mean I wanna see her.

Or help her. I don’t even know that I wanna see my mom. ”

Brent raised his face up at her, lowering his brows. “Not to be curt, but…some would do just about anything to see their mother again.”

It did little to make her feel different about it. Even if she did sound like an inconsiderate asshole. “My mom wasn’t like yours, Brent. Your mother loved you. Mine abandoned me and hasn’t done a single thing to reach out. Why should I give a shit where she is?”

“Rhaena,” Wren urged from the edge of the counter. “I don’t think she left because she didn’t care about you. What if she left to protect you? Have you considered that?”

“She left me with her brother. Left him to raise me, and then he died. She didn’t care enough to make sure he had a burial. Didn’t care what happened to me after. If she had good enough sense, then why put herself in a position like that with the experiments Dahlia was doing on werewolf blood?”

“Your uncle did it too, Rhaena. Do you not judge him for it?” Brent asked. Wren eyed her and cocked her head to the side in agreement.

“I didn’t ask for any of this,” Rhaena nearly whispered, dragging her eyes down to the kitchen floor.

“None of us did, Rhae. Not us, not Sarah…Athan. When I refused to come out of the house, every single one of you did everything you could to pull me back to normal life. This is as normal as it’ll ever be.

I’ve had to learn how to accept that. You will too.

In time.” Wren stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Could be worse. You could have found out your sperm donor was an undead poet you spent half your life addicted to.”

Brent shook his head. “I still have trouble putting stock into this shit. We’ve all known Edgar Allan Poe’s daughter …I always knew she was different in the craziest of ways, but this? This is…damn.”

“And you boinked her,” Wren snorted. Brent whacked her in the leg.

Rhaena smirked, but the battle inside her raged. Brandon had taken off to go find Leigh, after several failed attempts to reach her by phone. “I don’t know how to face her, Wren.”

“Leigh?” Wren asked.

“No…Sykes. I felt so off about her from the beginning. I’ve been anything but kind. After what she’s done to Athan…all I feel is rage.”

“Family drama. There’s always one,” Brent added, sipping his coffee. “Just ask Wren about her mom.”

“God…please don’t talk Peggy Vintorri up.

Nobody needs that shit right now.” Wren poured a mug of coffee and passed it to Rhaena.

It felt like a warm blanket to her soul.

“I spent too much time worrying about Sarah and Athan. I’ve only recently realized how pointless that is.

Especially when they’re together. Sarah is a fighter all by herself.

Put those two in close proximity and they’re a force to be fucking reckoned with.

That’s the only reason I’m not out there helping dig up a grave.

But Leigh? Leigh is just a fool caught up in her feels with absolutely no clue about the whole other world she’s dealing with.

If you don’t face Sykes for the sake of finding out the truth about who you really are, then face her for the cop you became.

You’re still Detective Northwood. Regardless of whatever other hats you’re wearing now.

” Wren leaned into her space, forcing Rhaena to look at her.

“You swore an oath to protect and serve. Leigh needs us. She needs you .”

“For what it’s worth, Rhaena,” Brent said, raising from his chair. “We’re all eventually gonna answer for the choices we’ve made. There’s always gonna be a few we wish we could take back. But being in therapy did help me realize one thing.”

Rhaena raised her head. “And what’s that?”

Brent smiled softly. “Even the shitty choices helped shape who we are. It doesn’t really matter whether or not we assumed they were mistakes.

I may not have become the person I am today if not for my awful father.

You may not have become the cop, or the friend you are if not for your mom.

Can you really say who you’d be if she’d raised you instead? ”

Clever. Ten points for Stratford.

“You’re right. Athan thought that killing Sarah would be the biggest mistake of his life. I’m sure he never expected all that happened after.”

“That’s an understatement,” Wren offered, rolling her eyes. “I don’t think any of us expected it. But just look at all we wouldn’t have, had he not bitten her neck that night. None of us would be standing in this kitchen. None of us would even notice each other in passing.”

“One of you would still hate my guts,” Brent jabbed.

“And one of us would still be a tight-ass prick.” Wren returned.

“I wouldn’t have dated Brandon,” Rhaena affirmed.

Wren nodded. They all stared at one another. “See? Face her for the what-if’s, Rhaena. Just another ripple in the pond. Maybe she’s got one hell of a story, herself.”

The door unlocked, and they turned to see Brandon coming through it, with a puff of pink hair following in behind him. Wren wasted no time when she met eyes with her friend, and they gripped each other’s fists and hugged. Leigh glanced over Wren’s shoulder at Rhaena, and her eyes raked over her.

“Detective,” she dipped her chin. “Still boss as ever.”

“Good to see you too, Erickson.”

Leigh’s eyes were pleading. “She’s not a bad person, detective. Your boy-toy filled me in. While I find it really fucking hard to believe, I’ve still only known who she was when she was with me. Please don’t hurt her. Promise me you won’t.”

Brent stepped to Rhaena’s side, and nudged her with an elbow, and she locked eyes with Brandon, who gave her a supporting smile.

Rhaena crossed her arms. “Fine. I promise. Please don’t make me regret it.

She’s done a lot of harm, Leigh. My partner is rotting in somebody else’s grave right now because of her. ”

Leigh frowned. “Ryan isn’t the type of person to do that on her own.

We may have been sleeping together, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get to know her.

She’s not some sick asshole. If she’s in trouble, and you won’t help her…

then I’m—I’m asking for a chance to help her disappear. You won’t be bothered by her anymore.”

“You’d leave with her, Leigh?” Wren asked. Leigh nodded.

“If she asked me to, yeah. If she cares enough to come back here for me, then I care enough to run away with her. The hopeless romantic that I am. Everybody deserves a chance at the white picket fence, don’t they?”

Rhaena didn’t miss the look Wren and Brent gave each other.

It was longing, and…deep. Like they knew something they weren’t telling her.

She didn’t push, but instead held Leigh’s desperate stare.

“Let’s wait and see what she does. If she comes back, or if she calls you…

then…” Rhaena turned her head to look at Brent.

“Then we’ll see what choices she’s made. ”

Brent smirked and nodded. Wren did the same.

Leigh exhaled her relief, and Brandon looked on at Rhaena proudly.

Flashbacks of that little spat with him at the precinct before everything went to hell in a handbasket, sprang up.

Rhaena had made a lot of poor choices. A lot of ill-considered opinions.

She’d been wrong about the nature of some and decided against acknowledging that short-fused animal inside her.

The mistrustful one that acted impulsively, and scratched gaping holes in the struggles that others may have been going through.

That wasn’t her nature, and Brandon and Brent had reminded her of that.

“So…” Wren shrugged. “Now what?”

Rhaena breathed a long sigh. “Now we wait. For word from Sarah and Athan, or from Sykes. Everybody get comfortable. The shit show’s about to start.”