He landed on top of her and looked down into her very pretty face. Sharp cheekbones, adorable pug nose, and full lips. Eyelids fluttered open and amazing hazel eyes locked onto Tye’s. Whoa.
Yeah. He’d been right. Janelle was seriously, blindingly hot.
She stared up at him, a slight frown creasing her brows. “Um…what are you doing?
He smiled. “Day dreaming.”
“Huh?”
When did it start raining ? Snowing, maybe. It was January. But rain? They didn’t forecast rain.
“Oh, God, Neecy! Please don’t be dead! God, please!”
Neecy forced her eyes open as she heard Yager’s soothing voice. “It’s okay. She’s okay. Just a little stunned.”
She saw Yager with his arm around Arri, and Arri hysterically crying into his neck. For the first time ever, Neecy wanted to rip the throat out of a fellow Crow who wasn’t Didi.
Oh, my God. I’m jealous. Kill me now.
Using his free hand, Yager ran his hand over Neecy’s cheek and smiled when he saw her eyes open.
“Hey, baby.”
“Stop calling me that.” Neecy slowly pushed herself up on her elbows. “What happened?”
Yager nodded at the sobbing girl in his arms. “You better ask her.”
And then Neecy understood. Arri did this. It seemed like somehow she’d blown everything within a two mile radius away from her.
Neecy struggled to a sitting position. “Is everybody okay?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“I’m so sorry,” Arri wailed as she threw herself into Neecy’s arms, knocking her back on her ass.
Poor Arri, she’d hate herself in the morning over this. Not about what she’d done, but about the crying. Expending that much Magick abruptly, led to extreme emotions. Some became mean, violent, loving, horny…and some became emotional messes. Like Arri.
“Check on everybody for me, would ya, Yager?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
Neecy squeezed Arri as Yager stood up. “It’s okay, kid. Really,” she soothed.
“I thought I killed you guys.”
“Between you and me…you saved our ass. The one I was fighting was a Shifter.
Which meant all his friends were, too. That would have turned real ugly, real quick.” Speaking of which…where the hell were those bastards? “Honey, what happened to the bikers?”
Arri cried harder and held on to Neecy tighter. Glancing past the sobbing girl, she saw Janelle. The woman shook her head and made a slashing motion across her throat.
Holy shit. Arri had taken them out. All of them it seemed since none of the Crows or Ravens showed any sense of urgency or panic.
“Um…let’s get you back to the house.”
Neecy struggled to her feet, her arms still around Arri. All the girl needed was sleep. To get her energy back. She’d feel better and probably a little awkward come morning.
“Neece, we need to get out of here.” Katie stood next to Janelle. One side of her face swollen from a fist.
“Yeah.” They were lucky the cops hadn’t shown up yet, but that wouldn’t last.
And Skuld and Odin only cloaked them but so much.
Motioning to Janelle, “Check the door.”
“Are you insane?” Janelle checked her eyebrows. They’d almost been singed off the first time she opened that door. “I’d rather not start drawing these in.”
With the tiniest of head moves, Janelle motioned to Mike. Neecy shrugged. Why not?
“Mike. Could you check that door for us?”
“Sure!”
A sudden look of panic streaked across Yager’s face. “Mike! Wait!”
But it was too late. Mike opened the door and glanced inside. “It’s a butcher shop…although I wouldn’t actually eat anything from here. I don’t think this place is up to code.”
Yager let out an enormous breath. “Don’t ever do that again,” he muttered to her.
Neecy worked hard not to laugh out loud as she hugged the still-‐crying Arri.
“I’ll take her.” Janelle looped her arms around Arri’s waist, then she was gone.
Neecy nodded to Katie and Connie and the women followed after Janelle.
A quick glance around the alley showed Neecy there were no bodies. Only the Ravens and Crows remained after Arri finished. Weird. There should be bodies.
It looked like her birds would have to find dinner somewhere else tonight.
“Here. This is what you wanted in the first place, right?”
Neecy looked at Yager’s outstretched hand. Christ, his hands were big. Reaching out, Neecy took the enchanted Rhine Gold necklace from his palm.
“Thanks.”
“No problem, Neecy.”
She looked up into that oh-‐so-‐gorgeous face and steeled herself against the heat in that gaze. The way Yager looked at her—the way he always looked at her—
drove her absolutely nuts. It made her entire body desperate to feel him against her one more time.
She noticed the blood on his cheek. “Yager…your face.”
He frowned and touched the wound on his cheek. “Oh. That. It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit.” She pulled his hand away so that he didn’t keep playing with it like a ten year old. “You need to get that taken care of before it gets infected.”
Smiling, he gripped her hand in his, unwilling to let her go.
Neecy could hear the wail of sirens, but she couldn’t move. Couldn’t unlock herself from that blistering gaze. And the way he smiled at her. It was such a sweet smile, she couldn’t help herself—she ended up smiling back.
“Yager, man. We gotta go.”
After another moment, Yager finally looked away and released her hand. “Yeah.
Okay.” He looked back at her. “See ya, Neecy.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Afraid of what she might say or do, Neecy closed her eyes, unfurled her wings, and took to the air.
Chapter Eleven
Neecy landed in the backyard and found Didi waiting for her. “You okay, kid?”
Retracting her wings, Neecy took the sweatshirt Didi offered her. “Yeah. I’m fine. Where’s Arri?”
“Janelle took her to her room.”
“Okay.” Neecy pushed open the sliding back door and walked into the house. It was warm and she’d never felt so grateful. “I’m gonna go check on her, then I’ll be down to talk to you.”
Didi followed behind her until they reached the stairs. “Okay.”
“They were Shifters, Didi.”
Sighing, Didi shook her head. “Okay. Don’t worry about it.”
Neecy took care of the girls, but Didi had to deal with the political fallout of any fights with certain factions. The Shifters spent most of their time fighting their own, but they were fiercely protective of each other against the outside world.
And they considered the Crows as outside as you could get.
Neecy jogged up the stairs, greeting other sisters as she passed. She went to the third floor and stalked down the hall. Katie and Connie sat outside Arri’s room, probably waiting for Janelle.
They’d put on warm clothes and Katie had an icepack over her face. Good thing they kept a healthy supply of those in the basement freezer.
Nodding toward the bedroom door, “Well?”
“Janelle’s putting her to bed.” Connie didn’t whisper but she did keep her voice low.
“You two okay?”
Connie nodded as Connie’s girlfriend, Fran, brushed past Neecy. She handed both Katie and Connie hot coffee and sat on the floor next to Connie, putting her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder.
“My face hurts and my boys are working late shifts.” Katie had the nerve to pout.
“I’m sorry your slaves are busy being cops and helping others when they could be running your bath, rubbing your tiny feet, and following your orders under fear of not being allowed to come.”