Exodus (The Ravenhood)

Darkness cloaks me as hell unleashes around us, and I sink into a state of disbelief as I cradle Dom in my arms and succumb to the undertow, fully submerged, drifting deeper in when a bang sounds outside the bedroom door. But it’s Sean’s voice that pulls me back onto the bedroom floor. “Tobias?! Dom?! You in there? She with you?!”

“We’re in here,” I yell a second before Sean bursts through the door, fully armed with three vests in hand and strapped with guns at his back. His eyes dart between us, evident relief in his face before he sees Dominic laying lifeless in my lap. A cough escapes him, and his eyes immediately glass over as he crosses the space in two strides before falling to his knees in front of us, dropping the vests on the floor next to me. A hoarse curse leaves him as he lifts his eyes from his best friend to me as I sob over his body. “It’s my fault,” I admit as I look up to see Tobias at the foot of my bed watching us. “When he showed up, I was afraid he was here t-to hurt me, so he ditched his gun on the stairs,” I look between Tobias and Sean. “It’s my fault he didn’t have his gun.”

“Cecelia, don’t,” Sean says, his voice breaking as I look up at Tobias.

“I didn’t know they were here, Tobias. I didn’t know they were here because he didn’t tell me. I didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t tell me, Tobias. I didn’t know!”

“He didn’t think he needed it,” Tobias whispers hoarsely. “Because I already searched the house once and told him it was clear. I don’t know how they got in.”

“Don’t,” Sean says, looking between us, “you don’t do this now. Neither one of you pulled the fucking trigger.” Sean slowly stands and stares down at us both, and in a blink, his expression goes granite, his eyes shining with vengeance. He looks over to where Tobias now stands, and I look up and into his amber eyes to see him utterly destroyed.

“What’s your call?” Sean asks him as Tobias eyes me, then his brother, and then me again.

“Tobias, what’s your call?” Sean repeats.

“No one leaves breathing,” Tobias says without another thought, his eyes locked on me before he turns to Sean. “Give me everything on you,” his voice is void of humanity as he holds out his hands.

Sean hands over one of the guns on his back along with a few clips as Tobias looks down at where I sit with Dom, all traces of mortality leaving his face. I gaze down at Dominic and stroke his hair before pressing my lips against his forehead, his temple, before closing his eyes with my hand.

“Sleep, prince,” I say softly, biting my lips as my hot tears pelt his face. I lace my fingers with Dominic’s and close my eyes. “I’ll find you again. I’ll find you in my dreams. We’ll have so many rainy days. I’ll find you—”

“Cecelia,” Tobias snaps out my name in a way that has me jerking back to lift my focus to him.

In seconds, he draws me in, eyes blazing before he speaks. “You leave, and you don’t come back. You never come back.” His order is definitive, leaving me no room for any argument or response. He turns to Sean, lowering a vest around his neck before securing it and nodding toward me. “Get her out of here. She’s parked past the tree line.” I’m too far inside my head, inside the despair clouding me to understand his words or the full weight of their meaning. Tobias walks over to the bedroom door, takes one last look at me before he disappears out of sight. Sometime soon, in the future, I know the damage from his words is going to be caustic, but all I can do is gaze back down at Dominic before I carefully clean the blood away from his lips.

More gunfire sounds around us in all directions, just as Tyler’s voice booms from beneath my balcony. “Sean! All clear!”

Sean’s eyes dart to mine from where he stands next to the French doors firing twice into the yard. “Cecelia, we have to go.”

Shaking my head, I grip Dominic to me. “He’s still warm.”

Sean kneels before me a second later as I stroke Dom’s cheek.

“We have to go, Cecelia.” He gently lifts Dominic from my lap, and I cup his head, tenderly resting it on the carpet before pressing my lips to his. A sob erupts from me as Sean pulls me from him. And then we’re on the balcony, dawn threatening on the horizon while I study my blood-covered hands.

Sean lifts and lowers me over my balcony as far as he can to drop me to where Tyler waits, catching me easily, just as gunshots ricochet near the side of the house. Tyler springs into action, pinning me against the brick behind him while lifting twin Glocks and pointing them in all directions. When another raven appears, Tyler looks back, scanning my clothes, and me, a question in his eyes.

“Dominic,” I sob out in reply. His face falls, and he swallows, eyes gleaming just before they clear.

“How many?” Sean asks, drop-landing next to us with my purse and one of my sundresses spilling out of the top of it.

“I counted ten cars when we rolled up,” Tyler says, nodding toward the tree line as more brothers emerge, running toward the house.

“No one leaves breathing,” Sean repeats Tobias’s orders, and Tyler nods in understanding.

I turn to Sean. “Sean, where is Roman?”

“He’s not here. He’s safe.”

“But they said his car is here.”

“He’s safe,” he assures, stepping up to me and handing me my purse before he turns to Tyler.

“Get her out of here. She’s parked past the tree line.”

Sean looks over to me, hazel eyes flitting with emotion a second before he thrusts me in Tyler’s arms. “Go,” he whispers hoarsely, and with that, he stalks toward the house. “No, not like this, please,” I call after him. “Sean!” I scream, my heart disintegrating, fear consuming me that this may be the last time I see him—that I see any of them. He ignores my plea,

and the second he enters through the back door, a shot sounds out, ringing in my ears. Tyler muffles my scream while gripping me firmly around the waist before dragging me away.