Raven The Fire Blood Amulet

Chapter 7

Junaid quietly enters the kitchen, he would often find Raven next to the old hearth, staring into the empty cavity which used to hold a huge old cast iron pot after a session with Markus. Markus and Gizelle have gone into the forest and he was feeling apprehensive about it. He knows Markus is an adept warlock and his reputation precedes him, so he knew Gizelle would be safe with him. It still did not stop him from being restless. His need to be close to Raven was overwhelming and he had gone in search of her.

“Raven?”

It was but a whisper as Junaid came to stand behind her where she was sitting on the wooden stoel. His one hand squeezing her shoulder affectionately. Raven looks up to smile at him, placing her hand on his.

“Have I been gone too long again?”

“Janelle was getting worried,” he nods, “and so was I.”

“I am sorry,” she apologizes, looking down and dropping her hand to her lap.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes…no,” she gives a little laugh, “not easy to learn that you are a magical being responsible for the end of the world.”

Junaid groans, he understood the urgency surrounding Raven, and the quicker she learned who she was, the quicker her magic abilities could be shaped.

“You did not end the world, your ancestors did…and even then they were being manipulated by evil.”

Raven gives a little laugh, “I can understand that.”

“It is not the same as what Ducreux did to you,” Junaid says, her body tensing beneath his hand.

“Isn’t it?”

Junaid groans and moves around to kneel down before her, taking her hands into his.

“No, did he make you do anything you did not want to do?”

“No, but…”

“You were simply a punching bag, something he could take his frustrations out on, don’t confuse that with manipulation…you are too strong for that,” Junaid expresses forcefully. Closing his eyes just for a few seconds as he remembers Ducreux’s bone chilling scream as he had ripped his head from his body.

Raven pulls a hand out to touch his cheek, her hand smoothing over the faint stubble on his jaw. Junaid was a ruggedly handsome and muscular man, his golden bronze skin beautified by several tribal markings including the White Oaks mark on his left forearm. Every time she was around him she would have a faint fluttering in her stomach, but when she was this close, it was much more intense, and sometimes it felt like she could not breathe. She did not understand what it meant. At first she had thought it was because she had imprinted on him. She had honestly never meant for it to happen, it had been an accident, and the moment it had happened she had become fully aware of exactly what she had done. But this was something different.

Her thumb touches his bottom lip and Junaid opens his eyes.

“Raven” the word was not a question or a warning, but just a whisper. Raven shifts slightly some instinct guiding her, as she leans forward to bring her lips close to his. Junaid’s wolf growls unexpectedly, snapping Junaid out of his trance and he jumps up, hurriedly distancing himself from Raven. He curses when he sees how confused Raven was, “I am sorry,” was all he said, before fleeing the kitchen.

Raven stood up, her heart was beating frantically in her chest. She places her palms against her hot, burning cheeks. She had wanted to feel his lips on hers, even more she wanted to touch her mouth to his skin. Like she had seen Ducreux do to his mistress once. She had once been thrown into a closet, when his urges had been too urgent for him to lock her up downstairs in the basement. She had watched horrified through the small opening that had been left between the two closet doors.

But soon her disgust had turned into fascination, watching Ducreux have his way with the woman, who was enjoying it just as much as he was. Hands touching, stroking and grabbing, and mouths kissing, licking and biting. Raven had tried to look away even when Ducreux had plunged into the woman with her legs wrapped around him, the grunting and moans becoming ear deafening. Raven had felt an unfamiliar ache between her legs and she had scrambled back against the closet wall, holding her hands over the ears, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. That had been the only time she had ever had that ache, until now.

Raven was aware she was of an age, where being intimate with another was a natural progression. She has never even considered that she ever would be in a position where she could be with someone. Her only daily thoughts had been of death, and how she would welcome the darkness to release her from her tormentor. Until she came here.

Raven inhales a shaky breath, she knows why Junaid left. He was a wolfwalker, and he has told her about his culture and his tribe, they never mate outside of their tribe. And here she was almost kissing him. She should have realized sooner, the imprint was forcing him to be responsible for her and it can cause unwarranted emotions and feelings.

She was a Fae, the only one of her kind and she has yet to fully come to terms with that. She was only beginning to understand why she has always felt different and to accept that there was a magic inside of her. A magic waiting to be explored. Getting involved with anyone would be foolish and futile.

Junaid stops out of breath just outside the edge of the forest. How stupid can he be? The last thing Raven needs is to get involved with him. He has not been blind to her glances and the touches while they have been training or just sitting and talking. He was a wolfwalker and she was a Fae, an intimate relationship between them will never be accepted, it goes against the tribe’s rules, it goes against the wolf’s natural instinct to mate with one of its own kind. Then why does it feel as if his heart is being ripped from his soul? This went beyond the imprint, it went beyond anything he has ever felt.

Junaid’s head turns toward the sudden movement he catches in the corner of his eye. He could not clearly see what they were, but there were a lot of them. His apprehension from earlier has exploded into full alert, his wolf gearing for a shift. He backs away slowly, it would be suicide to take on so many alone, he needs to alert the others and he needs to get back to Raven. Junaid swings around running back to the house, his wolf howling alerting the den of the impending danger.

Junaid? What’s happening?

Creatures, mistress, I don’t know how many, in the forest gathering on the edge.

Markus and Gizelle are out there.

I know, but…

Protect Raven, Junaid, Markus and Gizelle can take care of themselves.

Yes, mistress.