The Unleashing

by Shelly Laurenston

“Who? Erin?”

  “Dear God, no. Kera. She won’t last five days if she’s all loving and kindness. Vikings don’t do loving and kindness.”

  “I think she hates me now,” Vig sighed.

  “God.” Stieg headed back to the apartment building. “You’re such a drama king.”

  Stieg walked up the stairs, passing Leigh and Annalisa. “You guys are taking her out on her first hunt tonight, right?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  Stieg snorted. “Good luck with that.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t exactly see the bloodlust I saw when Maeve went on her first hunt. Remember how she put that guy’s head in a vise? Popped it like a grape, too.”

  He shrugged and continued up the stairs. “Just sayin’.”

  Erin finished her call with Tessa. She’d filled her in on The Silent coming to Kera’s apartment and what had gone down. That information would then be passed on to Chloe so she could deal with it.

  Erin had to admit . . . she didn’t envy The Silent. Assholes they might be, but dealing with a pissed-off Chloe? Never a good thing. Never.

  And lately Chloe had been more exhausted than usual. Maybe her latest book wasn’t going well or sales were down. Whatever it was, an exhausted, stressed-out Chloe was a pissed-off, dangerous Chloe.

  Erin watched Kera bring out her packed duffel bag, her last and first name written on it.

  Erin had never seen anyone pack up their life this quickly before. Especially not a woman. But after the drama of The Silent had died down, Kera had given everyone a job and sent them off to get things done, which they did. She really had the organizational thing down.

  “You did something right back there.”

  “Did I?” Kera asked, checking her apartment to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.

  “Yeah. You called on us when you saw there was trouble. That’s what you do.”

  “And they were The Silent . . . ?”

  “Yeah. Real pieces of work, that bunch. You know what I noticed about most of the human Clans? They hate us. At first, I thought it was a race thing. But it’s not that. They just think we’re a bad idea. A dangerous idea. For we are the harbingers of death.” Erin took the ponytail holder she kept on her wrist and pulled her short hair off her neck and secured it in the holder. There was no A/C in this joint and she was melting. “I know for a fact that the Ravens and the Protectors were created because of us.”

  Erin thought a moment, lowering her arms. “Wait. The Ravens were actually created specifically to deal with us, but when we kind of united, then Tyr created the Protectors to fight both Crows and Ravens. And that whole thing is fucked.”

  “Why?”

  “When the Protectors first came along they used to hunt down Crows. Hunt us down and kill us and our children. Nearly wiped us out, too. But the god Vidar doesn’t like things to be unbalanced. When the universe truly loses its balance, Ragnarok will come. And without us that would happen. So he gathered together men that he called The Silent to sort it out. Of course, they’re such self-righteous fucks they think they can do no wrong.”

  “You know, they did take a hard way to ask me a few simple questions. If they’d just asked . . . I probably would have answered.”

  Yeah. She probably would have.

  “And who was the woman?” Kera asked.

  “That was their Seer. Protectors are all men, of course. But their Seers are always female.”

  “I’m sure it has something to do with our menstrual flow.”

  Erin frowned. “What?”

  “Haven’t you ever noticed? Men fear it. It annoys them and they fear it. Because they understand what it represents. The power behind it.”

  Annalisa and Leigh walked back into the apartment, their gazes darting back and forth between Erin and Kera until Erin finally asked, “What?”

  “Nothing.” Leigh shook her head. “Nothing. You guys ready to go?” She forced a smile.

  Kera grunted and grabbed her duffel. “Where’s Jace?”

  “Passed out in the back of the SUV. When she goes full postal like that, it takes a while for her to get back to normal.”

  “What?” Leigh asked when Kera laughed.

  “Nothing. But . . . my mother worked for the post office.”

  Still not getting the joke, the three of them watched Kera walk out of her apartment.

  Once they heard her go down at least one flight of stairs, Leigh suddenly turned to Erin and said, “What are we going to do with her?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “What if she doesn’t have the killing instinct? What if she can’t kill?”

  Erin let out a sigh. “What did that big idiot say to you?”

  “Who?”

  “Engstrom. What did he say to you?”

  “What makes you think he said—”

  “I am runnin’ out of patience, bitches.”

  “He was a little concerned by her reaction to Rundstöm after the Ravens confronted The Silent,” Annalisa explained in her forensic psychologist way. “That’s all. And he’s not wrong. Not only did she stop him from stomping that idiot into the ground, but now, every time Rundstöm comes near her, she freaks out.”

  “Do you know the problems we would have had if she’d let Rundstöm stomp Oveson and Voll into the ground?”

  “But she didn’t know that,” Leigh argued. “She was doing it out of some kind of . . . morality.”

  Erin briefly closed her eyes. She wanted to laugh so badly. But no. This was serious Crow business. She couldn’t laugh. At least not until later when she was retelling this story to the others.

  “Well, it is true that Kera does have some sort of tragic . . . morality disease”—that’s when Annalisa snorted—“but we’ll just have to help her. Not everyone comes into this life ready to do what we do. But we’ll teach her.”

  Annalisa cleared her throat. “She’s right, Leigh. We’ll have to work with her. And I promise,” she added, putting her hand on Leigh’s shoulder. “We’ll cure her. I promise.”

  “Good.” Leigh grabbed one of the last boxes. “Because that shit can only get in our way.”

  Erin waited until Leigh walked out, then she looked at Annalisa, raised her brows.

  “Trust me. I’ve diagnosed every bitch in our group. We haven’t had a true sociopath since Penny Matlin retired three years ago. Leigh’s just morality-challenged.”

  “But with a great eye for design.”

  “Give me a break.” Annalisa picked up another duffel bag and walked toward the door. “There’s not one Crow in our Clan who would not have understood that new girl’s furniture was ugly.”

  Kera moved things around so that all the stuff she was taking with her would easily fit in the back of the SUV. She could hear Jace snoring from the next seat over and she had so many questions for her. But she would, of course, wait until she woke up. Hopefully she wouldn’t start crying again.

  Once Kera had everything fitted so that the last few things could slide right in, she turned and gasped in shock.

  “Don’t do that,” she ordered Vig.

  “I was just standing here.”

  “Some call it stealthy stalking but whatever.”

  “You hate me now, don’t you?”

  Shocked, Kera squinted up into his face. “What?”

  “You hate me. For what I almost did to Voll.”

  “Voll?”

  “The Silent who had you by the throat.”

  No. Vig didn’t get it. Not that she blamed him for that. No one understood how her mind worked, least of all Kera herself. So how could she expect poor, logical Vig to get it?

  “I don’t hate you, Vig.”

  “But I scared you.”

  “Vig, I was in the Marines for ten years and married to a Navy SEAL for three. Do you really think that was the first time a guy kicked the shit out of some hands-y asshole for me? Hardly.”

  “Then what is it?”

&n
bsp; Kera didn’t even know where to start or if she wanted to start at all. Her story was not one she wanted to tell to anyone. Least of all Vig, whom she liked so much. What if she scared him off once he knew the truth about her? Once he saw how fucked up she really was?

  Thankfully, before she had a chance to reply, Leigh shoved another box in the SUV. “I think we’re almost done.”

  “Yeah.” Kera patted Vig’s arm and walked around him. “I’ll go do one more sweep and then we can get out of here.”

  “ ‘You hate me now, don’t you?’ ” Siggy asked, sticking his head out of the front seat of Vig’s truck. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “Shut up.”

  “You’re starting to come off as desperate. Chicks hate that.”

  “We hate being called chicks more,” Leigh offered.

  “So you think he should be all sad-sack Swede with her?”

  “I don’t know. She’s hard to figure out. You should ask Annalisa. I think she’s profiling her.”

  “Profiling who?” Annalisa asked as she carried a box to the Crows’ SUV.

  “The new girl.”

  “She has issues with her mother. Loved her father but still resents him for not protecting her from her mother. I really want to find out the deal with the mother, but she’s not talking about that yet. Once I get more information, I can send you a detailed analysis.”

  Horrified, Vig shook his head. “No. Absolutely not. I’ll figure Kera out on my own.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Kera and Erin walked out of Kera’s old building, the last of the bags and boxes in their hands.

  Kera moved to the back of the SUV and immediately sighed. “Who put this in here? Wrong, wrong, wrong.” She put down her bag and began to organize the additional boxes that Annalisa and Leigh had added.

  Once she was done with that, she put her own bag in and stepped back. Erin, while staring at her, tossed the last box in.

  “That’s not where it goes.”

  “I can shove it up your ass instead.”

  “You can try.”

  “Ladies,” Annalisa cut in, “we don’t have time for this. We’ve got to get the new girl back to the house.” She held up her phone. “We definitely have a job tonight. I just got a text from Tessa.”

  It suddenly became obscenely quiet as everyone stared at Kera.

  “I sense you’re expecting a reaction from me,” Kera finally said when the silence stretched on, “but I don’t know what it should be.”

  “Are you ready for this?” Erin asked.

  “It’s not like I have a choice.”

  Kera took Vig’s hand and led him a little bit away from the others.

  “I can do this, right?” she whispered to him.

  “I know you can do this. Just trust your instincts.”

  She nodded. “Trust my instincts. Okay.”

  “If you want, stop by my place when you’re done. The door’s always open even if I’m not there.” He placed his hand on her chin and lifted until she had to look him in the eye. “I have complete faith in you.”

  “Why?”

  Vig grinned. “You’re a Crow now, Kera. You really need to learn how to be cocky.”

  “Let’s go!” Erin called out from the SUV. “We’ve got a shitload of traffic to deal with between here and Malibu.”

  Kera went up on her toes and gave Vig a quick kiss, then she was gone. In the SUV and disappearing down the street.

  Vig walked back to his truck. That’s when Stieg drily asked, “Do you need another minute to blush coquettishly and dream about your perfect white wedding?”

  As Vig walked around the front of his vehicle, he grabbed Stieg by the hair and slammed him face-first into the hood.

  A small group of tattooed males across the street that Kera had told him to keep an eye on because they were well-known gang members in the neighborhood stopped working on their Honda Accord to stare at the three Ravens. That’s when Vig glanced over and the men immediately stood tall, boldly staring at them while quietly revealing all the weapons they had strapped to their bodies.

  Vig wasn’t too worried, though. They didn’t actually want a shoot-out in the middle of their street. They just instinctively wanted the Ravens gone from their territory. A smart call, to be honest. A very smart call.

  As Vig opened his door, Siggy leaned over the frontseat. “We’ve got a job,” he said, holding up his phone.

  Vig nodded and started his truck. He looked over at Stieg, who was trying to staunch the bleeding from his broken nose.

  “You’re an asshole,” his Raven brother informed him.

  Vig shrugged—he already kind of knew that—and pulled out into traffic.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Brandt Lindgren watched the Holde’s Maids working on Singvlad Voll, one of the men he’d sent out today to investigate the new Crow. Even if the Crow hadn’t been alone, two or three Crows were no match for even one of the mighty Silent. But it never occurred to him that the Ravens might also be there.

  The Ravens had no honor. No remorse. No souls. And if they were connected to the Crows yet again . . . that could be a real problem.

  “Will he live?” Brandt asked the hag working on his comrade.

  “He will. But his recovery will take time.” She shook her head. “They stomped him into the ground.”

  “Do what you can.”

  “Of course.”

  Brandt left Voll’s apartment. His driver opened the door and Brandt slid into the backseat.

  The drive to his mansion was short, because all The Silent lived within ten miles of each other. His assistant met him at the door, taking his briefcase and handing over a newspaper.

  Without a word, Brandt walked down the hall toward his office. As he walked, Embla stepped in beside him.

  “This did not go well,” he told her.

  “I know. Oveson had the Crows distracted, but the Ravens . . . we never expected them.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Brandt walked into his office, threw his paper on the desk, turned, and stopped.

  A Crow lounged in the high-backed leather chair across from him, her booted feet up on his desk.

  Chloe Wong. Horrid bitch.

  She smiled at him but Brandt wasn’t fooled.

  Embla eased into the room, her gaze locked on the other female. She sat in a chair placed against the wall, her cowl hiding her face and probably the fear it revealed.

  “Hello, Brandt,” Chloe purred. “How’s Voll’s face?”

  The fighting outfit of the Crows was kind of . . . uninteresting. Black jeans, black racing-T tank top, steel-toed boots. Although some of the more glamorous Crows liked to have designer versions of these boots with three- to six-inch heels. Where they found Louboutin versions of those steel-toed boots, however, Kera had no idea. They were cute, though.

  Kera tied the leather holster that held the two blades Vig had made for her around her ankle. Then she stood and stretched her shoulders. It was what she always did when she was about to get to work. Even doing her taxes. Only this time, her wings shot out, sending her flying back over her bed and into the wall.

  “Fuck me!”

  She heard a snort and glared over the bed at Brodie. “Are you laughing at me?”

  The traitor suddenly found her paws interesting and began licking them.

  Kera walked to the bedroom door and opened it. She tried to go through, but her wings, still fully extended, wouldn’t let her pass. She tried going through several other ways but nothing worked. Taking in a breath and letting it out, she closed her eyes and pulled her shoulders back. Her wings retracted and Kera made her way out into the hall.

  “Brodie Hawaii!” one of the Crows sang out, and Brodie shot past Kera and disappeared down the stairs.

  “I love you, too!” Kera sarcastically called out to her dog. Where was the loyalty?

  Kera’s team waited for her at the end of the hall by Amsel’s room.

  They we
re her “Strike Team” as the Crows called the individual fight units. Kera’s Strike Team included Erin, Jace, Annalisa, Leigh, Alessandra Esporza, whom Kera had only barely met about an hour ago, the positive-she-was-coming-down-with-something Maeve, and Tessa, their team leader.

  “You guys ready?” Tessa asked.

  Everyone except Kera nodded.

  “Okay. Great. Let’s go.”

  Kera watched the women begin to walk off. “Wait a minute,” Kera said. “We don’t get a briefing?”

  Tessa gazed at her. “A briefing about what?”

  “About our assignment? About what’s expected from us? About our attack plan? All those need to be addressed.”

  “Okay.” Tessa looked around at the women. “I expect all of you to go in there and kill, kill, kill. Everybody ready now? Let’s go!”

  “Wait!” Kera took a breath. “I don’t know how to fly.”

  Tessa’s eyes widened a bit before she shifted her gaze to Erin. “You didn’t teach her how to fly?”

  “No. But we got her a new phone. It’s a sassy red.”

  Tessa clasped her hands together, pressed them against her nose, and closed her eyes.

  After a brief moment of silence, she said, “All right. Come with me.”

  Kera followed Tessa to another hallway and all the way to the end. Tessa opened a door and went up a set of stairs. Kera followed until she found herself on the roof of the Bird House.

  Tessa stood next to Kera, gently placing her hand on her shoulder. “Okay. First things first . . . unleash your wings for me.”

  Kera did, wincing a bit at the pain.

  “Good. Excellent.” Tessa’s hand moved to her back right beneath her neck. “Now, lesson number one—”

  And that’s when Tessa shoved Kera. Hard. Sending her flying out over the roof.

  Kera screamed, arms and legs flailing, as she saw the ground rushing up to meet her. But then hands grabbed her arms and she was yanked up.

  Panting, she hung between Leigh and Jace.

  “You could at least move your wings,” Erin complained, effortlessly flying behind them. “So the girls don’t have to work so hard. Don’t you think about anyone but yourself?”