Page 75 of Colton’s Mate

Callie thought a minute, then shrugged. “Might as well try the password again. I loved Tex, but he wasn’t super-creative.”

She sang the little rhyme, feeling even stupider singing it here, in a place so obviously steeped in ancient magic.

There was a grating sound, and the center stone began to rise out of the earth, becoming a pillar of stone. It stopped about waist height, and they could see that part of it had been hollowed out.

In the hollow was a stand holding a black rod that looked like ebony, about an inch and a half in diameter and maybe eight inches tall. The top half was carved to look like a stylized crow—a smooth head with a beak and glass eyes, and folded wings lovingly carved so every feather was distinct.

The wings had a faint sheen of iridescence—blue and green and purple—like a crow feather in the sun.

It was beautiful—and it pulsed with power. They could all feel it.

Colt nudged Callie. “Go ahead. Take it.”

She shook her head. “It’s not mine,” she said. “My brother obviously wanted the crows to return to their old ways. Maybe if they had, things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did.”

She turned to Jason. “You lost your crew to Caleb and Austin Raines, people who only cared about money. Not clan. Not family. And then you lost the ones that were left because you tried to protect me. I think you’re the kind of leader the crows need. You should have this.”

Jason looked awed. He stepped forward and took the Talisman out of its hiding place.

As soon as he wrapped his hand around it, the wings spread, glowing with iridescence. The eyes blazed with light.

And then Jason’s whole body was outlined in glowing light.

“Well, shit,” Colt said. “I did not see that coming.”

Jason glowed with light for almost a minute before it faded. After it did, he looked happier and more relaxed than Callie had ever seen him.

He had… purpose, she realized.

Impulsively, Callie walked over and hugged him. “Thank you for everything you did for me,” she said. “Now maybe you can find your own mate—maybe even someone with wings. Have your own crew. Live happily ever after.”

He hugged her back, and then everyone was hugging, even Titan.

Brandon was the first to pull back. “Now can we go home?” he asked. But his eyes were suspiciously misty.

“Sure,” Callie said. “As soon as I teach Jason to sing his way back in here.”

Chapter 32

Callie spent the rest of the day and most of the night with the entire Wild Blood Crew, including Sasquatch-Titan. Plus Jason.

She could tell the others all needed to be with each other, their animals needing the reassurance of their bond. They bought takeout wings and pasta, and lay around the half-finished living room of the mansion, pretending to watch a Netflix series on the big screen but really just being together.

They’d almost lost one of their own. Two, if you counted Callie.

She still wasn’t used to being counted as part of the crew. But she was bonded to Colt now, and he was bonded to her.

And she found being surrounded by the crew intensely comforting, especially because now that the drugs had worn off she did have a massive headache from Cruella de Crow digging around in her brain and almost killing her.

Somehow after that, being totally independent didn’t have the allure it once did.

Colt seemed to know she was still hurting. He massaged the back of her neck, and brought her wings and Coke, and barely stopped touching her the whole time.

That made her feel better too, except she hoped it wasn’t going to be this way always. Because as much as she adored Colt, she still did want to be alone sometimes.

Just not tonight.

When they finally went to bed in Colt’s room, they made love gently and carefully, and then Colt snuggled her against him nice and safe, and she found out she didn’t really mind having a hot leopard to protect her. Most of the time.