Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Kierse McKenna,” the woman said with appreciation as she pocketed the money. “I’ve heard about you.”
“Have you now?” Kierse never knew if that was a good thing. She didn’t recognize the woman, but it had been a year since she’d been with the wolves.
“Yeah, Finn’s my boyfriend, and he said you two used to work together for the boss.”
“That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while,” Kierse said. Finn had been her point person back in the day. He and Ronan were in the upper echelon of Nate’s circle.
“I’m Cara. Come on.” She threw a rag down on the bar. “I’ll see what the boss is up to.”
Kierse dipped her head at her friends as Cara lifted a latch that let them come through to the back. They went through a servers’ doorway and up a flight of stairs.
Cara knocked twice. “Boss, you’re going to want to see this.”
“I said I’m not to be disturbed,” Nate yelled as he wrenched the door open with a feral scowl on his lips.
His eyes went from Cara to Kierse in a heartbeat, and his eyes widened.
She shot him a rueful smile. “Hey, Nate.”
“Fuck me! Kierse McKenna is in Five Points.”
Kierse couldn’t keep her smile from widening when she beheld him. Nathaniel O’Connor was in his early thirties, average height, and corded with muscle. He had a tawny complexion, like he’d stepped out of a harvest moon, and hazel eyes. His hair was chestnut brown, short, and coily, and he had a charismatic lilt to his tongue and that to-die-for characteristic O’Connor smirk. He was a handful and a half even before she’d found out he was a werewolf, with all of their possessive, predatory, and hot-tempered bullshit.
Nate’s father’s family had been powerful Irish mobsters going back generations, but then Nate had been turned during the war. The mob had fallen and Nate had come out alpha, uniting the Manhattan wolves around him into the Dreadlords. Kierse had worked with him on jobs for years until her own world had fallen apart. It had been more than a year since they’d gone their separate ways, but damn it was good to see him.
“I’m back.”
He tried to pull her into a hug, but she stepped out of it.
“Okay. Okay,” she said with a laugh.
“I know that you missed me.” His eyes traveled down her body and gauged the state of her in a glance. He whistled low. “Looks like you’ve had a night.”
“Tell me about it.”
She hadn’t spoken to Nate in a year, and seeing him again reminded her of the bonds that were knit between them. After Gen had saved Kierse, Colette had wanted to get her safely back into the thieving game. Amberdash was dangerous; tonight was proof of that. But she had a friend, a local alpha werewolf, who needed some jobs done on the side. Kierse had readily agreed. It’d been easy stuff, things she could do with her eyes closed, but it had changed her in ways she didn’t know how to explain.
No longer did she anticipate Nate throwing her off a roof or leaving her for dead in the middle of a job. Suddenly, she’d realized . . . she could trust him. Then he had become a fixture in her world.
Until Torra.
Until it all fell apart.
“You remember Gen and Ethan?”
“Of course,” Nate said, shaking Ethan’s hand.
“Good to see you again, Nate,” Ethan said.
“The Prophet Genesis,” Nate said with a wolf smirk. He wrapped an arm around her affectionately.
“Hey Nate,” Gen said shyly.
“Any friend of Kierse is a friend of mine,” he announced.
“Any friend of Colette’s, you mean,” Ethan corrected.
“Hey, we’re all family here.”
Nate was so low-key that no one would have guessed he was the head of the Dreadlords. But Kierse knew that in his heart, he just wanted what was best for this city.
“Thanks, Cara,” Nate said. “That’ll be all.”
“Sure thing. Nice meeting you, Kierse,” Cara said and then disappeared.
He put a finger to the injury at her side. “Let’s get a look at that. I assume you’re in trouble if you’re here to see me. It’s been what, a year?”
Kierse nodded, wincing as he touched the wound. “It’s fine.”
“Maura is on her way here. You’ll let her patch it up.”
“All right,” she conceded.
“So, this trouble?” Nate asked. He tipped his head at her.
“I took a job. I was caught.” Nate’s eyebrows rose. “I know. Unusual. Anyway, the guy let me go, but he apparently has powerful enemies.”
“How powerful?” he asked.
“Druids.”
Nate growled low. “Fucking perfect.”
“Yeah, they attacked the brothel while the Roulettes were there and tailed us to the street festival in Little Italy tonight. We barely got away.”
“You’re in a world of shit.”
“I know it’s an imposition, but could we stay here? Just until I figure out how to get these fuckers off our backs.”
Nate looked at her more closely with a head tilt that said she had left out a great deal of the truth. Still he nodded. “Of course. You all look like you’ve seen a ghost. Why don’t I show you to some rooms? And then Kierse, I’ll have Maura look at that.” He turned to Gen and Ethan. “Either of you have injuries?”