“Everything okay with the kids?”
“Pffft.” I kicked off the floor of the garage, letting my head tilt back while the garage spun in lazy circles around me.Are they ever fine?
Five years since Jess died, and it still didn’t feel fine. I never imagined life without my sister. But I was an adult, I could cope with shit. Her kids were young — way too young to feel that kind of pain. Way too young to fend for themselves against that piece of shit Jess called a husband.
Of course they weren’t okay, but it wasn’t something I wanted to get into. I planted my heels to stop the spinning.“Yeah. Their fuck-head dad was a no-show, so the school needed me to come in for some signatures. All good now.”
I held my breath, waiting for Leo to follow up with a barrage of personal questions. But she just nodded, wheeling over to the drawers to fetch another piece. “Good.”
Leo knew when something was better left alone.There’s the reason I like this fucker so much.
When she returned, she kept things moving, slotting the new piece into place with her left hand while the right reached for fresh screws. “And how was your mission?”
“Good. The sorority girls needed more help with clean-up.”
At that, Leo raised her brow. “Another one?”
“Mhmm. All locked up in the Vault now, though.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “At least there’s that. Laniidae’s been sloppier than usual this semester.”
“No kidding.” My body was still aching all over from hauling evidence. But after a clear out of that scale, they should’ve been done calling in favors for a long while.
“Any idea what’s going on with them?”
I shrugged, wheeling closer to peer over Leo’s shoulder. “If I had to bet money, that pretty little brunette that started hanging around Xander a few weeks ago is the source of the trouble. It isn’t like Xander to keep a pet.”
Leo smiled, swallowing down the laugh that wanted to escape from her lips. “I dare you to say that to her face.”
“Fuck no! You want me dead?” The only person more terrifying than Xander Stone was Dom Dumont, and I was already walking a tight line at the edge of her patience. The last thing I needed was two hulking, homicidal dykes putting a hefty price on my head.
Leo finally let that laugh bubble from her chest. “Just seems like maybe she’d benefit from your sage advice.”
I waited until Leo’s hands were off my bike to shove her shoulder. “Not a fucking chance.”
I didn’t really get it, personally. I loved women as much as the next guy, but the kind of work we did required a certain… attention to detail. Our mission eclipsed pretty much every other aspect of our lives. So I couldn’t imagine what it would take to get someone like Xander fucking Stone off kilter like this.
My gaze drifted back to Kiera, who was watching a cardinal flit to the top of an oak tree to tend to its nest. Kiera, who had me breaking Dom’s rules the second she met my eyes at that bar.
Okay, maybe I understood it a little bit. But Dom’s rules and The Oracle’s mission were very different beasts. And as cute as she was, we were keeping Kiera here for her own safety, not because Violence had gone soft.
Or at least that’s what I was trying to tell myself.
Snapping my eyes away from Kiera, I watched Leo tighten the last screws. And I couldn’t help but voice the question that had been nagging at me for days now. “Is Dom going to tell The Oracle? About Kiera?”
“I hope not.” Leo groaned. “They won’t like the fun we’re having with her.”
I rolled my eyes.No kidding.
For all of the teasing I gave her, in truth, Kiera seemed far too innocent for what The Oracle had planned. Keeping her as far from their radar as possible was probably for the best.
Besides, if they found out that we’d grabbed her while out on a mission, they’d be furious. We’d get the chewing out of the century, while Kiera got tossed back out to the wolves. To that piece of shit boyfriend just waiting to sink his claws back into her.
No.That wasn’t going to happen on my watch. Not after I’d let Jess slip through my fingers. I’d seen what happenedto women who couldn’t get away. And I wasn’t about to watch history repeat itself withKiera.
No matter why Dom had it out for the girl, all I knew was that we needed to keep her safe.
25
