Nora nods, and grief ripples over her face. “He is.”
Seeing her pain twists something inside me. I wrap an arm around her shoulders, drawing her in. To my surprise, she doesn’t pull away.
Coal approaches, smiling as he sees my arm around Nora’s shoulders. “We got the wanker loaded up. Let’s get going. I want to get home sooner rather than later.”
That’s something we can all get on board with, and we all disperse to our rides.
“This way,” I say to Nora. My arm falls from her shoulders, and I grip her hand instead, tugging her towards my ride.
Opening the secret compartments, I stash my weapons. Nora does the same but pauses when it comes to her rifle.
“I’ll take it,” Silas says from behind us, holding his hand out.
Nora reluctantly hands it to him.
“Don’t worry, Nora. I’ll take good care of Betty. She’ll be waiting for you at the Queens Wraiths,” Silas reassures her.
Nora nods.
“Nickel!”
I look up at Coal’s shout, catching the helmet he throws at me.
He grins. “For your lady.”
“I’m not your lady,” Nora grumbles as she snatches the helmet and jams it on her head.
I pick mine up and do the same before checking hers. She rolls her eyes at me, and I chuckle. No matter how competent she is with firearms, bike safety is my area of expertise.
“Not yet,” I murmur as I shut the visor on her wide-eyed gaze and swing a leg over my sled, starting her up. I hold my handout to Nora, who gets on with no problem and scoots forward, wrapping her arms around my waist.
Closing my eyes, I take a moment to enjoy how right this feels. Never in a million years did I expect to find the woman of my dreams during an op. But I can’t say I’m disappointed—not at all. I still haven’t taken a good look at her, apart from those beautiful eyes. I only saw her in the dim light of the moon, and her hair was covered by a black beanie. I have no idea what colour it is, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
I’m looking forward to uncovering a lot of things about Nora Harvey.
Coal pulls out, and I wait for the rest of the brothers to pull alongside me before I join them. Lloyd Eade is tied up in our vehicle so we can run interference should they be pulled over.
The operation only took an hour and a half. Considering everything, it didn’t take long to capture Eade. We pass the cleaning crews heading towards the house in their black vans. Nora waves and receives a head tilt from the driver of the first van.
Then it’s just us.
The Queens Wraiths are doing what our ancestors have done for a millennium—righting wrongs, spilling a little blood, and eliminating wankers one at a time.
CHAPTER 28
BEE
Other than Nickel nearly getting himself shot, tonight went according to plan.
Nora showing up was a surprise, as she usually works alone. The Cursed Skulls have many operatives working for them, and Nora is one of the few I met when she arrived at the Skulls’ home after an operation went bad and she had to recuperate from being wounded. We formed a bond, being the only two women in the castle. When we left, we kept tabs on each other as much as possible.
Nora has her own agenda with Eade, which is no surprise to me. It was one of the main reasons I was placed where I was because Nora needed closure on a personal matter, and the only way to get it was to go after the big fish. While Lloyd Eade isn’t the ultimate goal, we’ll use him to gain information.
None of us miss that Nickel seems captivated by her. I’m not sure how Nora feels about that, but if she didn’t want to ride with him, she would’ve made it clear. That she accepted his offer makes me think she isn’t completely immune to him. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out. She’s a good person, so I’m not worried. But his brothers are.
We’ve been on the road for ten minutes when Coal speaks up.
“What do you know about Nora?”
