“What does that mean?”

“They got something important taken from them, I’m not sure what. But there’s a lot of Thor’s power behind it, so he’s not happy.”

“We don’t have anything of theirs. We have our own shit to deal with.”

“Are you sure?”

Chloe gritted her teeth. “Yes. I am sure.”

“Don’t snarl at me, Chloe. It was just a question.”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t, but Rundstöm was all freaked out about it.”

Chloe jerked a little. Of all the Ravens who might care what happened to the Crows, Ludvig Rundstöm was the last person she’d think of. Ever.

“What does he have to do with it?”

“I don’t know. But the Killers can cause you problems.”

“After what the new girl did to them last night, they may want to stay the fuck away from us.”

“Look, I’m just giving you a heads-up. A lot of shit has gone missing from the other Clans. Important shit. And they’re all looking at you guys.”

“Of course they are! Why would they look at anyone else? It has to be us. It has to be the dirty, nasty, multi-ethnic Crows.”

“It’s not about race, Chloe. They just don’t like you. As people. And let’s face it. You wallow in their dislike. You love it.”

Yeah. She kind of did.

“If you want my suggestion—”

“I so don’t.”

“—I’d call a meeting of the Clans. Get this shit out in the open.”

“You know, we actually have lives. Things to do. But what I don’t have time for is dealing with idiots. Fuck them and fuck their lost shit.”

Her ex-husband stared at her, then said, “Maybe I can talk to Tessa. She’s always more reasonable.”

Chloe’s eyes narrowed and she grabbed the first thing she could reach off her desk and chucked the bronze statue at her ex’s head. He ducked and the statue embedded itself in the wood of her door.

Tessa immediately pushed her way into the room—Chloe knew that her second in command had been listening at the door, waiting for things to go to shit—and grabbed Josef by his overpriced designer T-shirt.

“Okay,” Tessa quickly said, “thank you so much for stopping by, Josef. Have a wonderful day.”

She shoved the blond idiot out into the hallway and quickly slammed the door. Tessa threw up her hand. “No!”

Chloe now gripped one of the battle blades that she’d dropped onto the desk last night. “Just let me kill him,” Chloe begged. “Please.”

“Odin will lose his mind. Remember the last time a Crow killed a Raven leader? It did not end well.”

“That was, like, a thousand years ago.”

“It doesn’t matter! Not. End. Well.”

Snarling, Chloe tossed her weapon onto her desk.

“So . . . do you want me to call a meeting?” Tessa asked.

“Don’t you dare call a meeting. We’re not kowtowing to these fuckers. If they are losing their crap that is not our problem.”

“It will be if they keep thinking we did it.”

Chloe sat in her office chair and slapped her hands against her desk. “Then let them bring it,” she said, making sure her tone was deep and dark. “Right to our door.”

Tessa threw up her hands, “Chloe! They just did bring it to our door! That’s why I had to call Armand the installer to fix it. Again!”

Chloe shrugged. “Oh, whatever.”

CHAPTER THREE

Amsel turned off the engine and announced with a smile, “And that’s how I was murdered! With two shots to the back of the head while on my knees. Man, was I mad about that.”

Kera closed her eyes and took a moment. Hearing someone happily describe how she was “murdered” was so very weird.

“If you touch back here,” Erin went on, “you can feel the scars from where the bullets exploded my skull.”

Unable to take a second more of this discussion, Kera pushed the passenger-side door open.

Erin had invited two other Crows with them. Maeve Godhavi and Annalisa Dinapoli. They were part of the same “strike team” that Erin was in. A team that Kera would supposedly be joining once her “wings unfurled.” Something that sounded a lot more horrific than it probably should.

They’d only gone about fifteen miles before Erin had pulled onto a long driveway that led to a big, Tudor-style house.

They walked to the large double doors and knocked. The doors opened and Kera looked up at a large man with dark hair and even darker eyes.

He glared down at Erin. “What do you want?”

“To be a happily married wife and mother.”

“No, seriously. What do you want, Amsel?”

“What do you think we want? Where’s Rundstöm?”

“In the back.” Then the man slammed the door in their faces.

“Wherever you go,” Annalisa joked, “you bring joy and good humor.”

“Me?” Erin began walking around the outside of the building, Kera and the others following. “Everyone loves me. I am a whirling dervish of good cheer and affection.”

Kera snorted at that, having met people like Erin Amsel more than once in her life.

Erin stopped and faced Kera. “Problem, new girl?”

“Only with the fact you won’t use my name.”