An Unkindness Of Ravens Lucas Scott Novels & Stories

He was tugging me along by my hand as we approached the square, where a group of children and parents—human and werewolf alike—had already gathered. Raven was standing at the center of the group, looking utterly ravishing in a sleek skirt and turtleneck. Her long black hair, loose and silky across her back, almost looked like a nebula as it caught the sunlight with each movement. I felt suddenly underdressed in my simple attire. Lucas gave me a quick hug before running off to join the other children. I watched as Raven welcomed him, introducing him to the group. She had a natural way with kids, I had to admit, and they all seemed captivated by her. No wonder. She was fucking stunning.

I muttered, my chest rising and falling faster than I wanted him to see. But he only smiled, as though my fury was his favorite kind of entertainment. I folded my arms, my eyes locked on him like a blade. “Don’t look at me like that, Lucian. I’m dead serious. Whatever twisted idea you’re carrying in that head of yours, kill it now.” He tilted his head, a low laugh slipping out, smooth and unhurried. “You say it with such conviction, Raven, but you’re trembling.” I flinched, heat rising in my chest. “I’m not trembling.”

A chorus of snickers and whistles followed. I looked up into the eyes of Marcus Hayes. His amber eyes glowed savagely as the fires grew. His auburn hair seemed ablaze as well, and the jagged scar down the side of his left cheek made him look ghoulish in the firelight. “Raven Cross,” he drawled, hands neatly folded behind his back. His smirk was cruel as he stared down at me. “I suppose you got the meeting you wanted after all.” “What have you done?” I whispered, unable to peel my eyes away from him.

He didn’t feel it the way he once would have—no surge of energy, no instinctive connection. And yet— Something in him recognized it. Not as power. As consequence. Behind him, Raven paced slowly, her blade resting against her shoulder, eyes never leaving the unstable distortion. “I don’t like this,” she muttered. “It’s too quiet. Too… unfinished.” Lucian hovered above, wings barely moving as he watched the fragments drifting across the horizon. “That’s because it is unfinished,” he said. “Whatever you did, kid… you didn’t close the book.”

I keep screaming until my vision turns black. Then come their screams. The woman and the scarred man who stood before me seconds ago. I realize it isn’t just black I see, but ravens. So many ravens that I can’t see the light at all. When I finally calm myself, the ravens disperse, and what remains are the mangled bodies of those two strangers—picked to the bone. For a few seconds, I’m in shock, locked in silence. Then the quiet breaks as smaller sounds slip through. Ragged breathing.

Beside me, Raven stirs, blinking up at the morning light with a small frown. “What was that?” she mumbles. “Nothing,” I say. “Marcus stopped by.” She processes that for a second, then groans and pulls the duvet up higher, pressing her face into my chest. “Tell me he didn’t see anything.” I look down at her. At the rose petals. At the empty bottle. At the general state of the blanket. We’re still naked beneath the thin blanket. “He saw everything,” I say. “Fuck.” “But you don’t have to worry about him. He’s loyal.”

I could smell the lethal, volatile scent of his Lycan shifting—he was preparing to fight the entire palace to the death just to give me a second to run. But I looked past his shoulder. I saw Jaxon standing near the pedestal, his arms crossed over his crimson robes, a disgusting, victorious smile plastered across his face. Beside him, Tanya was snickering, whispering something cruel into an older matron’s ear. They were waiting for me to scream. They were waiting to watch the dirty, broken girl from the Silvercrest mines get incinerated by the gods. A strange, freezing calm suddenly settled over my mind. The panic receded, replaced by a cold, primordial fury that didn’t feel entirely like my

Raven/ Scarlett’s POV I froze for half a second before forcing myself to keep walking. My chest tightened painfully as his warning echoed in my mind. Killed. The threat had been simple, direct, and impossible to misunderstand. I fell silent immediately, lowering my gaze to the narrow path before me. Fear sank into my veins as I replayed his words over and over again. Don’t ask any more questions. The evening light had almost completely faded, allowing darkness to creep in around us. Even the trees had begun to seem taller. The air had grown cooler, but the chill settling beneath my skin had nothing to do with the temperature. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself and kept walking.

Lucian asked just to annoy Raven. Raven raised his fist to punch Lucian, but my scream stopped him from doing so. He let go of Lucian and turned to me, frustration written across his face. "I can’t do this, Skylight," Raven said bitterly. "I can’t share you with him. This incubus is more irritating than a pack of werewolves." And before I could respond, he stormed out. Lucian also left before I could say a word to him. I was left with Thorne, but after a long sigh, he, too, turned and walked away. I was left alone.

Raven had asked Avery a question, received no answer and yet it was as though the silence was an answer in itself. ”Show me the way,” Raven said with a pleased grin. ”Wait, that’s it? I wanna hear what would happen if she didn't help,” the guy, Lucas said. The older guy that I knew to be Fredrick smacked him on the back of his head. ”She had one source of leverage to use against me and she didn’t, for that she earns my respect, at least a little bit of it,” she smirked and looked at Avery who still showed nothing, her face was covered with a mask that none of us could lurk behind.