Six Of Crows Novels & Stories

Not the way history will twist it, but as it truly happened. The mortal kingdoms grew too fast. They took the land in smoke and iron, and the great races fell back into the shadows. Wolves hid in the deep forests and mountains. Vampires locked their doors beneath the earth. Witches and wizards vanished behind illusions. My kind, the dragons, slipped into the veils between realms. Six clans. Six elements. Six prides too old and too stubborn to bend. Retreat should have saved us. Instead, it starved us of trust. Old grudges sharpened until they cut open the future. I saw it coming. So did three others. Cillian Hawthorne. Selene Nerezza. Alaric Everley.

# LENA I arrive eight minutes early and choose the table in the far corner near the window. Pen on the table. Bag on the floor. Outside the glass the campus is still mostly empty, a few people cutting across the lawn with their heads down against the cold. I watch them for a moment and then I stop watching them and I wait. Landon Cross walks in at exactly eight. No jacket today, just a dark sweater, a folder under his arm. He scans the room once before he finds me, which means he did not already know where I would sit. Small thing. I file it away.

I closed my eyes and focused on the rustling. His steps emerged out of the bushes. For the first time, I can see his shadow. He is about twenty feet tall. He is dark and is protected by skin hard like the crocodile’s. This is challenging. Stabbing him directly will not cause much damage because his scales are directed downward. He is just below the tree I am on. The clouds start disappearing and allowing a peek of moonlight. The monster starts moving forward. He gets past the tree. I hold my breath just for a bit and lunge at full force aiming for its head. Slipping, I only make it to his neck. Swiftly, I stab whatever exposed neck I can to hurt it and not fall.

On that particular day, I was off to check out a charity project in another city. Right after my plane touched down, I got a text from Keith with a photo attached. It showed Sarah and a man in a beat-up Wadewell Group uniform, both of them sneaking into a van. [Ms. Jones, looks like Sarah and Wade are up to no good. Should we keep tabs on them?] I could not help but wonder what kind of trouble they were cooking up together. [No need to tail them. Just keep an eye on their whereabouts and keep them away from the company and any fund-related spots.]

It was the dozens of people who were stacked and lined up. Was this some fucking human trafficking organization? Another animal-masked person blocked my view. Wearing a fox mask, he appeared tall, with broad shoulders. And before I could understand what was happening, he roughly grabbed my hand, and then a sharp pain stung through my wrist. “Shit!” I cursed, withdrawing my hand from his almost immediately, only for my eyes to narrow to see that it was a marking. An X marking. Then robotically, he pointed. “Row four.” Following his hand, it was then I noticed that they had a total of five rows.

I dropped my purse behind the sink, my fingers trembling slightly. I could still feel his touch… gentle and yet rough at the same time, he could easily make me falter at his touch on our second day meeting and he seemed happy about it. This was wrong, everything about it wrong! I love Frank, he loved quietly///////\\\\\\\\\\\\, almost gently but Xavier seemed wild, unpredictable and everything about him was consuming. God why did he have to be so intoxicating? That sharp jawline, his piercing eyes, the way he smiled in an inviting way like he was a devil leading me into his trap… how tempting he was and yet every inch of my body wanted him.

He just stared out the window. Dearden cocked his head. “Hey, Six, is this thing on?” he asked, tapping the microphone on his headset. “I’m talking to you, Wolf Six. What’s the matter?” Wolfe smiled briefly. Wolf Six was his call-sign on the radio, and as the leader of Wolf Squad, it was important that he maintain communication, even when he didn’t feel like it. “Your mic is fine, Sarge. And everything else is fine too. It’s always a fine day when you’re in the Army.”

Darkness cloaked the city as Lena crouched at the edge of the underground maintenance tunnel, the cold seeping in through her jacket as a thin drizzle whispered over the streets above. Her heartbeat thrummed like a distant drumbeat, sharp and steady, a rhythm that pulled her forward into the abyss. Jasper signaled - a silent movement of his hand - and the small team moved in, disappearing beneath the building. Above, Lena adjusted the strap of her pack as Travis approached, moving with cat-like grace. The faint glint of moonlight caught the curve of his jaw, and their eyes met briefly - an electric charge in the cold night.

Chuck didn't answer. Coraline rushed over, eyes scanning the room—then froze. A half-burned photo lay in the corner. She knew that album by heart. "Yasmine did this?" Her face went pale, knees wobbling. Sebastian stepped in, looking rattled. "Did she find out something? Was she doing this out of anger?" Guilt flickered across his face. Right then, the neighbor strolled in, phone up, recording everything. He gave Chuck a once-over and scoffed. "So you're the guy who threw it all away for love? Doesn't look like it. Dressed all proper, but you conned that girl for years—just to protect your favorite.

Without looking back, I vanished into the snow. Andrew stood in the snow, staring in the direction I had gone. His hoarse voice drifted through the wind. "You won't abandon me, Eleanor." A month later, at a bar in Glaciercrest Pack, I sat by the window, sipping coffee as I admired the snowy landscape outside. The murmurs of travelers around me reached my ears. "Did you hear? Darkmoon Pack’s strongest warrior confessed to murdering his ex-father-in-law and was sentenced today." My fingers froze around my coffee cup.