Hunting season

Chapter Seventeen

Katie flew up higher into the old oak and perched herself on the sturdiest barren branch she could find. She looked again. Yup. Wolves. Thirty of them, by her estimate. She motioned to the Raven in the tree beside her and he dived back to the ground to warn the others.

She had no idea why Shifters were here, but she bet it wasn’t to play Parcheesi.

Wilhelm Yager was in a bad mood. A really, really bad mood. A bad enough mood to start playing fetch with the innards of a bunch of dogs. To be honest, the Viking in him was really hoping for a good fight. He was ready to start hurting people.

He really wished he had a good reason to feel this way, but he didn’t. No, the only reason he had an overwhelming urge to shove Molinski’s head in the toilet or to set fire to Tye’s Benz or to chop up another Raven’s Playboy collection was because he wanted to fuck Neecy Lawrence so bad he couldn’t see straight.

All day he’d been waiting for Morgan to get her ass to his house, so she could tell him Neecy was as good as she was going to get so that he could have his dirty way with her. But Morgan had to take care of some other business in the city first. That meant all day he’d avoided Neecy. He had to. He was starting not to care about her goddamn sling or her wounded wings or the stitches in her back.

Which meant he really had to stay away from her. The bottom line was, he couldn’t promise he’d be gentle with her. In fact, he could actually promise he definitely wouldn’t be.

Now he had those freak Shifters on his property. They didn’t even come to him as human, but as wolves. Like that was normal behavior.

They’d walked slowly toward his house while it was still light out, ensuring they’d all see them. They didn’t make any sudden moves or do anything that the Crows or Ravens would consider threatening.

Yager stayed slightly behind Didi as she moved toward their leader. Many of the Crows and Ravens were perched in the trees or on the roof of the house, silently watching. And he’d sent Tye and Mike to keep an eye on Neecy. He’d decided not to tell her and Didi agreed. No way would she stay out of it if she knew the Shifters were here. And with only one arm and her wings still unusable, she’d be more a liability than a help.

Didi walked up to a silver-‐and-‐black wolf. She braced her feet apart and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“So…what do you want?”

The wolf looked Didi over and Yager wondered what it would take to bash the shit out of him. Could he do it by grabbing this mutt’s tail and just going slap happy?

Man, I am in a shitty mood.

After a moment’s hesitation, the wolf shifted. Right before Yager’s eyes a wolf became a man. A big ‘ol naked man.

Didi, startled, glanced at Yager. She was doing her best not to laugh. Apparently being naked wasn’t that big a thing for the Shifters. Still…it was a little distracting.

“I’m Danny Lewis…you met with my father and baby brother a couple of weeks ago.”

Didi nodded as she tried to avoid staring at the man’s package. Not easy. Even Yager had to admit, the guy had nothing to be ashamed of.

“And you wiped my other brother from the face of the earth.”

Cool. Fight.

Neecy couldn’t believe she was crying. But she was. While watching some business show on CNN, no less. But she hadn’t been able to stop crying since she woke up from that dream. The dream where something hacked off both her wings.

When younger, Neecy used to have nightmares where all her hair fell out or all her teeth had been broken. Those had been horrible, scary dreams, but this dream…

She woke crying and hadn’t really been able to stop all day. Thankfully, Yager had been avoiding her. Not surprising since he kept getting up the night before to take cold showers. Because of her stitches that hadn’t been an option for her.

So, instead, she dreamed. At first they were her typical wet dreams about Yager, but then they became darker.

Neecy didn’t know why the dream still upset her so. She’d been awake for hours, why hadn’t she recovered yet? But, still, she kept crying. She’d hidden herself in Yager’s den most of the day, using his big desktop with the three hard drives and four monitors to catch up on email from her students and play computer games.

Eventually, she thought she had complete control of herself, so she’d gone into the living room. It was empty, which was good. Because a television ad for cars or something showed a bald eagle soaring through the blue sky and she started crying all over again.

Hearing footsteps heading her way, Neecy quickly wiped her eyes and did her best to stifle anymore pathetic-‐girl tears, as she liked to call it.

The footsteps stopped outside the living room entrance and she glanced up to see Tye and Mike staring at her from the archway.

She forced a smile and quickly went back to the fascinating world of stocks and bonds. She thought the men would leave. But, instead, Tye sat on the sofa next to hers and Mike sat down right by her side.

There was a moment of awkward silence, then Mike said, “So you’re a professor.”

Forcing her voice and herself to remain calm, Neecy said, “Yeah. Of history.”

“Cool.”

Yeah. Right. She really didn’t see Mike “I’m a proud liar” Molinski being that interested in history of any kind.

“The game we’re working on is set in the Middle Ages. Maybe you could take a look at our graphics, make sure the armor and weapons are right.”

Neecy shrugged, keeping her eyes on the television. “Sure.”

“You’d be amazed how crazy some of these geeks get about accuracy,” Tye added.

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. Especially with RTS games.”

“RTS?”

“Real time strategy games. You know, where you create yourself a kingdom, an army, enemies, whatever. You create your entire world.”

Neecy nodded. “That actually sounds kinda cool.”

“It’s fun, I guess. I think Yager likes those more than we do. I like role playing and Mike likes to blow shit up.”

“I’m really good at that.”

Finally, Neecy smiled. “How shocking.”

“So…” Mike stretched his arm out over the back of the couch. “As a professor, I was wondering…”

Neecy looked at the arm behind her and back at Mike. “Wondering what?”

“Well, say I’m in your class. And I’m bad…” He grinned and Neecy understood immediately why so many females had fallen for this gorgeous, blond, butt head.

“How would you punish me?”

Laughing, Neecy looked at Tye who rolled his eyes and turned back to the television.

“I mean would you use corporal punishment to keep me in line, O’ Professor Lawrence? Because I’ve been feeling especially naughty lately.”

For the first time all day, Neecy completely forgot about her nightmares.

Didi opened the envelope one of the wolves dropped at her feet. She pulled out a thick sheaf of papers and pictures.

“My brother was a lot of things. But he wasn’t smart enough to take and successfully use what he had. Then I heard about your second in command.

That’s when I knew something was very wrong. Talked to some other Shifter breeds, found out that Waldgrave was active again…and now it seems he has some disciples.”

“Waldgrave? You mean this man?” Didi pointed at the picture of the older man with grey and blond hair.

“Karl Waldgrave. He’s very wealthy. Very dangerous. And he likes to hunt…shall we say, difficult game.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”

“But what truly pisses me off is that he used my brother to get to you guys.”

“And yet you’re just handing him over to us?”

“It was discussed between the Packs. About doing this ourselves. But we’re wolves. We’ll just go in and kill them.” Lewis smiled, if you could call it that.

“But the Crows and Ravens are much more…artful about this sort of thing.”

“Is that right?”

“Let’s just say, you guys really enjoy your job. But if we’re wrong, let us know.”

Lewis’ hand reached for the papers he’d given them, but Didi slapped her own hand down over them.

“We’ll take it.”

“Good.” Lewis motioned to his wolves with a flick of his head. Slowly, they began moving out. “And you’ll make sure they suffer, right?”

Didi looked at the man, her brown eyes cold. Nope. No mercy there. “Oh, yes.

They’ll suffer.”

The Shifter’s grin widened and you could see fangs moving out from his gums.

“Good.”

He stepped away from the table and followed after his Pack. As he moved, he shifted, and by the time he hit the trees, he was wolf again.

Then he was gone.

Didi pushed the papers to Delia. “Find out everything you can on this guy.”

“Got it.”

With that, Didi grabbed Yager’s arm and dragged him back into the house. Once in the hallway, she stopped and looked around. Once assured they were alone, Didi leaned in and whispered to Yager, “You can not go after Waldgrave yourself.”

“Why not?” He’d already begun building his team in his head. He planned to wipe them out that very evening and spend the rest of his time in bed with Neecy if Morgan gave her the go-‐ahead.

“Because their deaths don’t belong to you. They belong to Neecy.”

“They belong to Neecy? Why?” Didi didn’t answer and Yager felt cold fear grip him around the throat. He stepped away from her. “This? This is her Trial?”

There wasn’t one Crow or Raven who hadn’t had a Trial of some sort. The Viking gods loved a good test of spirit and strength. But this one seemed particularly brutal. Even for Skuld.

“I’ve gotta warn her.”

“No!” Didi took a firm grip on his arm. “If you tell her…just trust me on this. She has to do this on her own. Especially now. Especially ‘cause he wounded her.”

“But…”

“Yager, if you love her, and I know you do, then you’ll back off. Don’t fuck with Skuld on this.”

He’d never seen Didi worried about much, if anything. And he’d definitely never seen her pleading before, and that’s exactly what he saw in her eyes even if her words were commands.

He had no idea what Skuld said to Didi, but it was enough to convince her it was safer not telling Neecy the truth.

“Okay. I’ll keep my mouth shut for now.”

Didi let out a deep breath. “Thank you. But trust me, Yager. I won’t let Neece face this completely alone. We just have to play this a little differently.”

Hearing that, Yager eased up a bit. “Okay. Good.”

“Excuse me.”

Yager and Didi looked up at Connie.

“What’s up?”

“We’re ordering pizza for dinner. Does that work for you two?”

“Yeah. That’s fine,” Yager said as Didi nodded her consent.

“Great. Um…and I was wondering, since everyone is getting a little antsy, if I could set up my equipment and…”

“Connie,” Didi warned.

“What?”

“They wanna throw a party,” Didi explained. “Which, if I were you, Yager, I’d say no to.”

“I don’t mind.” Connie was right. Everyone was getting a little antsy. Actually, they were getting a lot antsy. A little house party might safely blow off some steam.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Sure. My closest neighbors are about six miles away and I’ve never had a party here.”

“Yes!” Connie turned and headed back to the kitchen, where the Crows and Ravens had taken to congregating on a regular basis.

Didi followed after her, but not before adding, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

The one thing he knew about Crows, they wouldn’t be inviting any rowdy outsiders to his house. Crows only allowed other Crows and friends of Crows to their parties because they didn’t really “party” unless their wings could come out.

Pushing it out of his mind, Yager went in search of Neecy. He needed to see her, to know she was okay. He would do as Didi promised and not tell her anything about Skuld’s plans for her, but he still needed to see her.

Of course, he didn’t expect to find her in tears, hysterically laughing, with Mike Molinski draped over her lap, his ass in the air. Thankfully the little bastard wasn’t naked.

“All I’m asking for, Professor, is a little demonstration.”

A grinning Tye was the first to notice Yager. Clearing his throat, he reached over and slapped Mike in the head.

“What?”

He motioned to Yager and Mike’s head whipped around. “Oh, uh…hi, Bro.”

Shaking his head and scowling, Yager turned and walked away.

Neecy followed Yager into his bedroom. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m being ridiculous? You have Michael Molinski on your lap with his ass in your face, but I’m being ridiculous.”

“Don’t be mad at him.”

“Oh, so now you’re protecting him?” Yager’s grey eyes glared at her from across the room.

“Don’t bark at me! He was just trying to make me feel better.”

“Feel better about what?”

“Forget it.” Neecy headed toward the door, but Yager was already standing in front of it. He’d even closed it. She didn’t hear it close. Christ, how does the man do that !

“Feel better about what, Neecy?”

“I don’t wanna have this conversation now. Move.”

“Talk to me now. Or stand here forever. I don’t give a shit. But you’re not leaving until you tell me what’s up.”

Letting out a short scream of frustration, Neecy moved away from the door. She eyed the window and, realizing that was no longer an option of escape, turned all her rage and fear on Wilhelm Yager.

She spun around. “You wanna know what’s wrong?” He didn’t move as she advanced on him. “This! ” She pointed at her tied down arm. “This is bullshit! ”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Everything that meant anything to me is gone! And we both know it! ” She hated yelling, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d lost it. Panic turning to full-‐on rage in a heartbeat.

“Neecy…”

“I’m not a warrior! I’m not a Crow! I’m a fuckin’ invalid!” And the next words were out of her mouth before she could think about stopping them. “Why didn’t you just leave me? Why didn’t you just…just…”

“What?” he yelled back. “Let you die?”

That’s exactly what she was about to stupidly say and the thought tore through her like a blade. Christ, how pathetic was she? Letting something like this make her feel inferior. Weak. Vulnerable.

And that’s when she burst into tears. Yet she didn’t even have to reach for Yager…he was already there. His big arms wrapping around her, holding her close to his warm body. She wrapped her free arm around his waist and held him tight as the tears and fears from the past five days flowed out of her in one horrible torrent.

He should have seen this coming. Should have known she’d be feeling this way…he sure as hell would have.

Sitting himself on the floor, he pulled Neecy onto his lap and let her cry. The physical pain Neecy could always deal with. She was definitely a girl who could take a punch to the face or a knife to the stomach. But for some unknown reason, she felt like the Gathering somehow defined her. Somehow made her worthy of everything she had. But all Skuld did was give her a second chance. It was up to Neecy to actually take that chance. She did, too. And made herself into the woman he’d fallen madly in love with.

After ten minutes, the tears turned to sniffles, but it took another ten for her to finally pull back from him…as he knew she would.

Wiping her eyes, she tried to pull out of his lap, but Yager wouldn’t let her go.

“Sorry about that, Yager. Um…” She shook her head. “I have no excuse for that little display.”

“Ax in the back can do that to a person.”

She chuckled at that. “Yeah. I guess.”

Again she tried to pull out of his lap, and again Yager pulled her back.

Smiling shyly, “You know, you can let me go now, Yager.”

“I don’t want to. I like you here on my lap. Although, all that wiggling is giving me a hard on.” He ran his hand down her cheek. “Who the fuck am I kidding?

I’ve had a hard-‐on for you for the past five days.”

Using the sleeve of his Giants sweatshirt, Neecy wiped the remainder of her tears. “You sweet talker you.”

“You’re lucky I’m able to speak at all.”

“What? You think it’s been easy on me?”

“Girls have it easy.”

“You must be high.” She held her free hand up. “I’m startin’ to get carpal tunnel.”

Yager buried his face in her neck. “I so didn’t need that visual.”

“What about me? Every time you went into the shower…” She growled.

“Yowza.”

His arms tightened around her waist. “Don’t, Lawrence.”

“Come on, Yager. You’re killing me here. Besides, I need comfort…I’ve been crying.” For emphasis, she sniffled. Twice.

“Stop it right now, Lawrence. I mean it.” He was holding on by a thread. A very thin thread.

She rubbed her cheek against the top of his head. “Yager,” she whispered softly.

“Will.” Tricky little brat! She knew that would get him. And she was right. “Fuck me, Will. Now.”

Christ, how was he supposed to fight that? So he didn’t. Instead, he gripped the back of her neck and kissed her. Deep, long, and hard. Like he’d been wanting to do for days. She relaxed into him, showing no resistance to him whatsoever.

He could do this. He would do this. And he’d be careful…and gentle…and…

“Open the door, Will,” Morgan ordered from the other side, completely uncaring as to what she may be interrupting.

Groaning, the pair separated. “No. No. No. No. This isn’t happening,” he practically whined. He looked at Neecy’s face and saw exactly what he was feeling.

“Wilhelm Yager the Fourth, you open this door right now!”

Neecy grinned. “The fourth?”

“Quiet.”

He stood up, Neecy still in his arms. Gently, he placed her back on her feet. He kissed her forehead, turned, and snatched the door open with one angry move.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Morgan walked into the room as Neecy finger-‐ combed her hair off her face.

Shaking her head. “I swear. You two.” Morgan motioned toward Neecy as she moved to the bathroom. “Come on, you. Let’s see if we can get that sling off you.”

Neecy locked eyes with Yager and he knew she felt it too. That heat of longing building up around them. Much more of this and they’d start killing people.

“Let’s go, Crow!”

And it looked like Neecy may start with Morgan.

Mike stared at his friend staring at his computer screen. He wasn’t typing or anything. Just staring.

Connie, or as he liked to call her “The Lesbian,” because that was definitely one of his favorite words, walked by again with more equipment in her hand. For the last twenty minutes he watched her bring in her entire DJ equipment. He could have helped her unload her stuff, but he wouldn’t have been able to watch her tight ass walk by over and over again.

He really liked lesbians.

More Crows walked into the room to grab beer out of the frig and chips out of the pantry. They all wore their white tank tops and jeans, except Didi who wore black. He’d never seen so many wings in one place. He loved it.

Mike had to admit, he was really enjoying himself. The Crows were different but fun. They weren’t uptight and they didn’t seem to have much of an ulterior motive. They all loved to laugh and were pretty brazen in their “fight or fight” response—there never seemed to be any kind of “flight” with them. Unless they were actually flying.

The only one he didn’t get was the little Asian one. Annie? Ashley? Whatever her name was. She glared at him like he’d fucked her mother. Little rich Long Island bitch. Probably thought she was better than him. That’s why he liked Neecy and even hard ass Janelle. Fellow hoodrats, they understood him. The Princess, as he now called her annoying ass, would never understand him. She’d never deign to involve herself with someone like him. And knowing that made him want to fuck her so bad his teeth ached. Christ. What was wrong with him?

Why did he insist on going after the mean ones? Even Neecy was only occasionally mean. Other times, he’d discovered, she was a very cool woman with a will of iron. He admired that.

And, to his surprise, Neecy knew how to enjoy herself. That little one wouldn’t know how to enjoy herself if she were dressed in a clown suit.

“Are you just going to sit there feeling sorry for yourself?”

Not even looking up from his laptop, Yager snapped, “Mike, I haven’t gotten laid in nine days…do you really want to fuck with me right now?”

Hell, Yager had gone for longer periods without sex. Really, the sentence should be “I haven’t fucked Neecy Lawrence in nine days…” That would be much more accurate.

“Not trying to get you all pissed or anything. Just trying to get you to relax. The place is crawling with women. You should partake.”

“You should shut up.”

The kitchen door swung open and Neecy walked into the room. She barely glanced at Mike, instead walking over to where Yager sat and leaned against the table.

“See anything different?”

Yager glanced up at her, then went back to his computer. “No.”

Sighing, she held up both her hands and waved them around. “See anything different now?”

Yager stared at her for a moment, raised his hands, and did the same goofy move back to her. “No, I don’t see anything different.”

Muttering words she really should be sent to confession for, Neecy walked to the frig, and took out a beer.

She leaned against the counter next to Mike. “You see something different, don’t you?”

“Yeah. But what did you expect from him? The man forgets to comb his own hair.”

Chuckling, “Good point.”

“Hello. I’m right here.”

Morgan leaned into the kitchen. “Okay. I’m out of here.” She looked at Neecy.

“You call me if you have any problems.”

“I will.”

“Good.” She turned her light blue eyes to Yager. “Walk with me.”

Rolling his eyes, he slammed his laptop down on the kitchen table. “Anyone have any more orders for me?”

Then he followed Morgan out of the kitchen.

“See what you do to the man?”

She had it down, he’d give her that. Neecy had that “leader move.” The one where they didn’t waste time looking surprised by something he said. Instead, Neecy slowly turned to look at him.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

Mike may be reckless, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew enough hoodrat girls to know when they were settin’ him up for a beat down. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

was just another way of saying, “Exactly how many ways do you want me to kick your ass?”

Grinning, Mike shook his head. “Nothin’.”

“Oh, that’s what she was talking about.”

Morgan shook her head. Like all Ravens, Will was brilliant, but he could still be a major bonehead at times.

“Yeah. I took the bandages off. Everything looks fine, but until she unfurls her wings, I’ll never know for sure.”

“Why can’t she?”

“I don’t know really. Could be she’s simply scared.” Actually, Morgan knew the girl was afraid. Afraid she’d never be able to fly again. That she was vulnerable.

And that was a woman who didn’t like being vulnerable.

Holding up her big coat so she could put it on, Will asked, “What should I do?”

“Wait it out, or…” She stopped as Will helped her on with her coat.

“Or?”

She grinned. “Get her all worked up.”

Frowning, “Get her all. .” Yager blinked. “Oh.” He shook his head and gently shoved her toward the door. “You need to leave now.”

“Get her all worked up and maybe her wings will unfurl.”

“Stop it.”

“Oh, come on. We’ve known each other long enough to…”

“We’ll never know each other long enough for this conversation, Morgan. And we both know it.”

She laughed as Will pushed her out the door and closed it behind her.

Yager cut through his living room. Neecy was right. The Crows had taken over his house. But that’s what Crows did. They made themselves at home and expected a body to deal with it. The fact that it bothered Neecy warmed his heart. Without even realizing it, she was getting protective of him.

He passed Connie and saw that she’d set up her equipment. He felt kind of honored. Connie was an extremely well-‐known DJ. She worked at some of the hottest clubs in the city when she wasn’t out killing someone stupid. The fact that she was gearing up to do what she did best in his house was kind of cool.

The geek in him was duly impressed.

Walking through the kitchen door, Yager froze on the threshold. Why the hell was Neecy surrounded by six Ravens? He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one goddamn bit.

Moving slowly, he walked over to them as they leaned against the island in the middle of his kitchen. Neecy glanced at him and frowned. Well, what the hell did that mean?

“Yager, are you sure about this?”

“About what?”

“About Connie breaking out the music? I mean…she starts playing and there will be a party here. Whether you want one or not.”

Tye smiled. “You Crows do love a good party, don’t ya?”

Mike stretched and ran his hands through his hair. “I’ve gone to a few raves Connie DJ’d at. She’s not bad.”

“Wow, Mike. Is that like…a compliment?”

Mike smiled as he bumped Neecy with his hip. “I have my moments, ya know.”

“Yeah. Sure you do.” Neecy took a sip of her beer as Tye passed her a bowl of pretzels.

The first beats of the music started and Yager heard all the Crows in the living room give a cheer.

Neecy shook her head. “My girls.”

“How long has she been DJ-‐ing?” Mike asked as he grabbed another beer from the frig.

“Since she was seventeen I think.”

“Was it tough for her to get in?”

“Surprisingly no. What’s really funny is that she really didn’t give a shit. She only did it cause she loves to watch her girlfriend dance.”

All the Ravens froze; beers halfway to their lips, pretzels clenched in big fists and hovering near open mouths.

Mike cleared his throat. “That’s Fran, right? With the long legs?”

“Yeah. They’ve been together since they were fifteen or sixteen. They’re the sweetest couple.”

Tye glanced at Neecy from the corner of his eye. “Does she still dance when Connie DJs?”

“Oh, yeah. If Connie’s DJ-‐ing, Fran’s dancing.”

Yager reached over and yanked Neecy out of the way as the six men dived over the island and slammed out of the room heading for the living room and the party.

Neecy laughed as she held onto Yager’s arm. “What the fuck was that?”

“You tell six horny guys there are hot lesbians dancing in my living room…what did you expect?”

“God, you guys are pathetic.”

“Your point being?” Neecy shook her head as she stepped away, but Yager grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his body. “Where are you going?”

Instead of pulling away as she usually did, she wrapped her arms around his hips, slipping her hands under the waistband of his loose-‐fitting jeans.

“Got something in mind, Yager?” she asked as she grabbed his ass and squeezed.

“Maybe the question is what do you have in mind?”

“You. Me. Your bedroom. And a locked freakin’ door.”

Smiling, as he pulled her closer, “I like that idea, Lawrence.” She tilted her face up, wanting him to kiss her. And now that Morgan had given her a clean bill of health, Neecy and her amazing body were all his.

Yager leaned down, his eyes locked on her lips, when she suddenly jerked up.

“Uh-‐oh.”

“Uh-‐oh what?”

“Shit. We gotta get out of here.”

He didn’t need to hear that twice, but for once he was too slow. He’d just grabbed her hand to drag her out of the house and fly her up to his window if necessary when the kitchen door banged open. “C’mon N’ Ride It,” one of his favorite party songs from the nineties, blasted in from the other room accompanied by a line of dancing and singing Crows. Apparently they wanted everyone to ride that goddamn train, so they grabbed Neecy and yanked her away from him.

They were so happy to see Neecy healthy they were completely unaware of what they just interrupted. Or they could care less. With the Crows, you just never know.

Neecy tried to pull away from Patty, one of the younger Crows, but the girl had a grip on her like a rodeo rider on a steer. They danced through the house until they got back to the living room. By then Connie changed out the music to some much harder tech, which meant Fran and Janelle would take over the dance floor.

Again Neecy tried to sneak away, but several older Crows she hadn’t seen in some time, grabbed her. They hugged her and told her how happy they were to see her doing well. That’s when Neecy realized this party wasn’t just to blow off some steam. It was for her. To celebrate her being well. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t walk away from the party just yet.

With a small sigh of resignation, Neecy took the beer Arri handed her and counted the minutes until she could get away and back to Yager.