Amsel rolled her eyes, shook her head, and got out of the SUV.

After she pulled the envelope off the door, they all stood there, looking over the enclosed materials.

“Wild animals?” Kera asked. “You guys have wild animals?”

“ No. ”

Kera dipped her head and looked long at Amsel. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“And the crows don’t count,” Annalisa quickly stated. “The bird crow. Not us Crow. They come to us. We don’t trap them and drag them here.”

“But the town hates them,” Erin said. “They shit on everything. People’s cars, their houses . . . their heads. It’s all just a target for the gang.”

“But they don’t do that to us. They’re very loyal.”

“They just hang out here?”

“Yeah. Come for the camaraderie, stay for the never-ending entertainment.”

Kera chuckled at that until the front door was snatched open. Chloe stood there, staring at them.

“And what’s that?” she asked.

“It’s noth—”

Chloe snatched the papers out of Amsel’s hands and quickly looked them over. “Oh, wonderful. They’re back.”

“Maybe you should let Tessa or one of the Raven Elders handle—”

“No, no. I don’t need some scumbag Raven lawyer to handle this when I can.”

“Don’t you have a book due?” Amsel asked as she gripped the papers and tried to pry them from Chloe’s hand.

“The book can wait!” Chloe snarled, yanking the papers away and walking off.

“She says that,” Amsel noted, “until her editor calls, demanding to know where the book is, and then she has a total freak-out and brings us all with her into her hell-spiral.”

“I heard that!” Chloe yelled before slamming a door somewhere inside the giant house.

“So this is nothing new?” Kera asked.

“No,” Annalisa answered. “The rich people around here want us gone. They hate us.”

Maeve slipped off her shoes, leaving them by the front door. “They’re convinced we lower the value of their homes by our mere presence.” She headed off toward the kitchen. “I think they’re bothered by so many brown people living near their multimillion-dollar homes.”

“Not fair,” Amsel called out to her, then said to Kera, “They hate me, too.”

“Maybe they’re not happy because they think a bunch of drug addicts are living near them.”

“Rich drug addicts. It’s not like we have any old riffraff around here.”

“Do you even hear yourself when you speak?”

Amsel laughed. “Yeah. I do.”

She walked away and Kera realized that Annalisa was longgone as well, leaving Kera just standing there alone . . . doing nothing.

And to be honest, it was the nothing to do that bothered her the most. So Kera set out to rectify that.

Katja “Kat” Rundstöm brushed her horse down and did her best to avoid his wings. She adored Alfgeir and had been raising him since he was old enough to stumble away from his mother’s side on his too-long legs. But he could be kind of a shit. And there was nothing he loved more than spreading his wings on an unsuspecting human and knocking him or her to the ground. Then he would throw his head back and whinny-laugh. It was not pretty.

“Hey, Kat!”

A fellow Valkyrie ran up to Kat and Alfgeir.

“Wings,” Kat warned and her Clan sister jumped back in time to avoid being hit.

“Such a bastard.”

Kat smirked. “What’s up?”

“So you know that girl your brother’s been stalking?”

Kat briefly closed her eyes. Her brother was the sweetest guy she knew, but he had one of the worst reputations among the Clans. Unlike some of them, Ludvig Rundstöm had always been able to separate his battle self from his everyday self. Those worlds simply did not cross over for him. Ever. So the man they saw destroying everything in his way on the battlefield, was not the same man who had the biggest crush ever on some little coffee shop girl.

“He has not been stalking her.”

“I thought he hated coffee. Yet he goes into her coffee shop, every day.”

“He tolerates coffee and she gives him bear claws.”

“Do you know why she gives him bear claws?”

Kat turned, frowning a little. “No. Why?”

“Because she thought he was a schizophrenic homeless vet and she was really just being nice to him because it sounds like she’s just kind of a good person. And a former Marine, so, you know, she was being loyal to her own kind, I guess.”

Kat cringed. “Are you sure?”

“Rolf just told me. While laughing.”

“I better go check on him.” She handed her fellow Valkyrie the brush. “Could you finish for me?”

“Is he going to hit me with his wings?”

“If you don’t move fast enough.” Kat kissed the horse on his neck before whispering in his ear, “Be nice.”

Kat walked away from the stables, heading toward the small house her brother had on Raven property, when she heard her Clan sister scream and turned in time to see her friend land ass-first in a puddle of mud. At least she hoped it was mud.

Kat glared at her horse. “What is wrong with you?”

Alfgeir shook his big head, his beautiful black mane flipping around, as he stomped his front left hoof against the ground and whinnied hysterically. He was so clearly laughing . . .