He pushed the pillow away and rested his cheek on his fist. “She did seem a little lost.”

“Of course she was lost.” Kat patted his back. “Who did the Crows buddy her up with?”

Vig grimaced a bit. “She came here with Erin, Annalisa, and Maeve.”

“That poor girl. Now you have to help her.”

“They’re not that bad.” Kat stared at her brother until he nodded. “All right. All right. I get your point.”

Kat jumped off her brother’s back, grabbed his forearm, and pulled him to his giant feet. “You’ve gotta help this girl now.”

“What if she doesn’t want my help?”

“You gave her a new life, and when she saw you again, she hugged you. Trust me, this is not a girl who forgets a debt. At first, she’ll be hanging around you trying to figure out how to pay that debt off, and that’s when you’ll wheedle your way in.”

“I don’t want to wheedle.”

“There’s no shame in the wheedle.”

“Really? Because I feel like there should be a little shame.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Kera changed into a pair of clean denim shorts she found in the closet of her bedroom and a clean T-shirt. She decided against putting on running shoes since she usually walked around barefoot when she could anyway.

Stepping into the hallway, she whistled and after a few seconds, Brodie charged up the stairs and right over to Kera’s side. Crouching down, Kera scratched Brodie behind the ears and her neck, letting the pit bull lick Kera’s face. It was disgusting, but Brodie loved to lick faces.

“Let’s go explore,” she told the dog. And together, they set off.

The house was . . . stunning.

At first, looking at all the elaborate wood- and metalwork and the size of the place, Kera had just assumed that everything in it would be equally elaborate. She was wrong. The furniture was big, comfortable, and stylish. For about three months after getting out of the military, Kera had worked as a delivery person for a chic Beverly Hills furniture store and she’d taught herself what quality was. And even though nothing was ostentatious here, it was all extremely expensive.

Still, there was a “comfy” feel to it that Kera liked.

She stopped and randomly opened a double set of closet doors. She stepped back and stared at the floor-to-ceiling lineup of makeup, lotions, cleansers, and hair products. All from the same brand name, too. June Beauty.

“You need something, hon?” Annalisa asked from behind her.

“I’m just looking.”

“Take what you need. It’s for the girls here.”

“June Beauty is a little out of my price range.”

“It is expensive. A quarter-ounce of the eye cream is about the same as an ounce ofgold.”

“What kind of idiot would pay that kind of money for an eye cream?”

“A rich idiot. And Junie does love them for that flaw.”

“Junie? You mean Mitzi June the owner of June Beauty and former supermodel?”

“That’s the one. She’s a sister-Crow, loyal to Skuld until Ragnarok comes. Plus she has a mean back kick. Anyway,” Annalisa went on, “anything in this closet is yours to take. Has Erin shown you around yet?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Come on. I’ll show you around. Introduce you to the others. And Paula.”

“Who’s Paula?”

“The Crow money bitch. She’s really important to get to know.”

Annalisa hooked her arm through Kera’s. “So,” she asked as they walked, “tell me about your mother.”

“Why?

“It tells me so much about a person,” the ex-sociopath and forensic psychologist surmised.

“Oh. Well then . . . no.”

Annalisa grinned. “Interesting.”

“And this is our playroom,” Annalisa announced as she steered Kera into a room filled with women. There were three big, flat-screen TVs. One had on a Spanish-language soap opera, the other two had video games. The women lounging on the couches and chairs were in the middle of different tasks. Some were reading what appeared to be scripts, others giving themselves or others mani-pedis, and at least eight were murdering others in online video games.

“Hey, everyone!” Annalisa announced, her arm around Kera’s shoulders. “This is the new girl. She’s on my strike team, a former Marine who says she left the military because she wanted to give the private sector a try although I really think it was the loss of love of a man.” She paused, glanced off, then added, “Or a very masculine woman.”

“It’s Kera,” she sighed out. “My name’s Kera. ‘New girl’ makes me sound like the latest virgin at a whorehouse.”

The women paused in what they were doing, all of them, as if timed, turning to look at Kera. They stared at her a moment, eyes blinking, faces blank. In a way, they really did remind her of crows watching Kera from light poles in her old neighborhood.

After they gazed at Kera for a few seconds, they went back to what they were doing and, as one, said, “Hey, new girl.”

Kera began to ask if that had been planned, but Annalisa steered her out of the room and into the hall. As they passed a couple of other Crows, dressed in crop T-shirts to show off their abs, the tightest sweatpants Kera had ever seen, and running shoes, Annalisa stopped to introduce them. But other than a passing “hey,” they kept moving and showed no interest in meeting Kera.