Hunting season

Chapter Two

Denise “Neecy” Lawrence landed on the club’s roof. The Gathering booked the place for the night, so she knew the roof doors would be unlocked so those flying in would have a handy entrance.

“Do it again, Connie! Do it again!” Katie begged.

Neecy stifled her growl as Connie stared up at the sky and shook her fist in the air. “I hate you, Will Yager. I hate you!”

That prompted fresh, howling laughter from the rest of her team and she wondered how bad it would look if she kicked their collective asses…probably really bad .

“Okay. Let it go.” If she showed them how very angry she truly was, she’d definitely never hear the end of it.

Yager always flirted with her. Always showed her some interest over the many years they’d known each other. But in the last year or so he’d suddenly become relentless. She could only guess he was looking to slum it a bit. Unlike Yager, Neecy didn’t have a fine family upbringing. Mostly because she never had a family.

Some homeless guy found her in a Dumpster over on 118th Street. A sickly brown baby who, in the end, no one wanted. She was in a Catholic orphanage until she turned nine and then she started making the foster home rounds.

Smart and quiet, she didn’t last very long with any of her foster families. She made them paranoid. They always thought she was plotting—mostly because she was.

Growing up, Neecy always knew there was better out there and she’d become obsessed with finding it. When she turned fifteen, she thought she found her way out. A nineteen-‐year-‐old drug dealer who was thoroughly impressed with how well she managed the pot-‐head college kids who came his way. Her brutal honesty and directness made her a surprisingly well-‐respected dealer in her own right. In the end, though, it was that same honesty that got her blown away. The bastard didn’t even blink when he pulled the trigger.

And she didn’t blink when she testified against him in court. The best part was when he first saw her alive. He knew he’d killed her. With the tiny tank top she wore that day, she couldn’t have been wearing a vest. Plus all that blood was kind of a giveaway too. But there she was…turning state’s evidence against his ass.

He really wanted her dead then. From Rikers, he sent his boys to take her out.

They found out she was living in Jersey with some women. Not hard to discover since she refused protective custody, to the utter bewilderment of the cops. The night before she would finish her testimony, twenty of his guys showed up, armed to the teeth.

That night she called her crows for the first time…but only for the remains.

His screams in court the next day were like music to her ears as she walked up to the stand. To this day he still lived in the mental ward of his little Alabama prison they transferred him to.

Ever since then she’d worked hard to make up for the person she once was.

Worked hard to prove to Skuld, her sisters, and herself she was better than that little drug-‐dealing piece of trash hanging out at college parties and raves.

She would never stop working to prove that.

So Wilhelm Yager was what she considered an unnecessary distraction to her goal. The one thing she could say about all her second-‐life boyfriends…they always knew better than to get in her way. And they always knew she’d never love them.

There was only one thing she truly loved these days…and, man, but could those bitches get on her nerves.

“Why don’t you just go out with him and get it over with?” Janelle asked as she headed toward the entrance, her dark-‐blond curls bouncing around her face.

That sweet, dimpled face and those big, fat blond curls hid one of her best and most vicious fighters. Like the Ravens, Janelle preferred using her bare hands more than the blades all Crows learned to use. And neither Clan used guns. Not Neecy’s choice, but an edict from their gods. Whatever.

“Once he finds out how truly unpleasant you are, he’ll definitely leave you alone.”

“I am not going to date Will Yager. End of subject. And I am not unpleasant. I just don’t gush and…”

“Act like a girl?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Well it may be end of subject for you maybe…but definitely not for him.”

Neecy pushed past Janelle and pulled open the roof door. “I am not talking about this anymore. Let it go or I’ll make you wish you’d let it go,” she promised calmly.

Neecy didn’t yell. In fact, only one person ever got her to yell and if she could, she’d rip the wings from his back.

The team headed down the stairs leading into the main part of the club. This was one of the Gatherings favorite hangouts. Owned by Shifters, beings that could change from human to animal in a heartbeat, it was the one place the Crows could go and unfurl their wings in peace.

Still, they didn’t come here unless they rented out the place. The Shifters hated them.

“Abominations. Acts against the gods. Freaks”—just some of the terms tossed their way by the holier than thou dogs, cats, and whatevers that roamed the Tri-‐ state area.

The Shifters tolerated the Ravens, but barely. Yet they outright hated the Crows.

Not surprising. As direct descendants of Odin’s elite guard, the Ravens were born with their wings.

The Crows, however, only got their wings after they pledged their allegiance to the Viking goddess Skuld…and died.

Skuld only chose from the dying.

The music was pumping hard by the time the women got to the main floor, but she could still hear the Crows over it. They were loud bitches. Loud, annoying, bitches—and she couldn’t imagine her life without them.

Stripping off her wool sleeves and dumping them on the pile by the exit door, Neecy passed two Shifter bouncers. Wolves probably. She didn’t know. Or care.

To her they were all cranky dogs or cats with attitude. Like show animals. She patted them on their big chests as she walked by, loving how they flinched.

Janelle wasn’t as kind. Another street kid like herself, Janelle waited until she was between the two big bruisers before she extended her nearly six-‐foot wings, slapping both men in the face.

Their laughing became hysterical at that point. Man, the Shifters really hated when they were around.

Neecy walked out into the main area and the entire room exploded into cheers.

It wasn’t just the Jersey Crows present tonight. The Alabama Crows were passing through town, heading toward Philly. Hence the party.

Although, Crows didn’t actually need a reason to party, but they loved coming up with them.

Once they’d thrown a party for Neecy when she got a “B” in geometry. Math being her worse subject, it seemed only right.

“Well, well, well. The country cousins have come to town.”

Serena, leader of the Bama Crows, tackled her from behind. A bottle of tequila in one hand and a beer chaser in the other, Serena lived to party—and she had a thing about using hacksaws on her prey.

“Darlin’ little girl! How are you?”

Neecy turned around, reached down, and embraced the woman. Because Neecy was six-‐one, she had to reach down to embrace almost everybody.

“Serena. I’m so glad you guys could come tonight.” She hated the need to shout over the loud music. Clearly she was inching up in age. Her desire to party lessened with each passing day.

“If there’s one thing in this life that I’ve learned, darlin’, it’s to never pass up a Jersey Crows party.”

“Yeah. But I’m just sorry you guys can’t stay longer.”

Serena hooked her arm through Neecy’s and dragged her toward the bar. “I wish we could, too. But those Philly gals are waitin’ on us. And they are a cranky bunch of bitches, let me tell you.”

Pushing Neecy into the bar, Serena slammed her bottles down. “Barkeep! A bottle of Russian vodka for this little lady right’chere.”

“No. No. No.” Neecy shook her head at the bartender. “Bottle of beer. That’s it.”

“What kind of drink is that?”

“One that will hopefully keep me out of the gutter…unlike the last time you guys came to town.”

Yager gritted his teeth as one of the Valkyries, Shawna somebody, gently worked the salve into his battered flesh.

Damn woman and her big feet of fury. She had no qualms about kicking the shit out of him. Or calling down those goddamn birds of hers. According to legend, Skuld endowed all her warriors with several things. Strength, speed, wings, and talons. But some of them received a special skill on top of all that, which belonged only to them.

For Neecy, it was the ability to call flocks of real crows and ravens to do her bidding. Feared throughout the Tri-‐state area by the Norse Clans, her birds were relentless, brutal, and loyal to her beyond anything Yager had ever seen. No flying south for these birds. They endured the cold just so they could be near her. Kind of like Yager himself.

“Is it me or does that woman really detest you?”

He looked at Mike Molinski who had somehow become the baby brother he never had…and started to realize, he never wanted. “Why do we keep having this conversation?”

“Because you insist on being the one to deal with her. I can do it.”

No way would he let Mike anywhere near her. One…because Neecy really would squash the idiot into the ground. Mike was still learning it wasn’t all about strength. He may be stronger than most Crows, but the Gathering—and Neecy in particular—went beyond strength with downright craftiness and evil. And the second reason…well, he didn’t want anybody else touching her. At least anybody with an actual penis.

It wouldn’t be the first time a Crow and a Raven got together. Some did it for fun. One night stands or light dating. Others married, had kids. It wasn’t that big a deal. In fact, it made sense. Both groups had big black wings. Both groups were the warriors of Norse gods. True, Odin didn’t like it much. He liked his warriors “undiluted.” Pure Norse blood. His god could be as bad as the Sicilian Mafia.

“I can handle her.”

“Not unless you really start hurting her. I don’t see her pulling any punches.

Unlike you.”

He did pull punches. He couldn’t help himself. Besides, the Gathering wasn’t their enemy. Every once in a while they may end up at opposite sides, but that was down to the gods. Releasing his aggression on Neecy would only have her responding in kind, which meant all bets would be off. That would be an ugly and brutal fight he’d like to avoid.

Especially when fighting was the last thing he had in mind when it came to her.

Tussling maybe, but never fighting.

Chuckling to himself, Yager pushed the woman’s hands off his ribs. “What’s her name” stopped handling his wounds and now simply handled him. But he had no interest in her. Lately, he had very little interest in any woman but Neecy Lawrence.

Yager remembered when he first saw her. Both sixteen, Skuld had just called her to the Gathering. He’d accompanied one of the Elder Ravens to the Bird House to meet with their leader at the time. A strange little woman called Mitzy. When the conversation touched on things they believed Yager too young for, they sent him off to explore the house. He stumbled upon Neecy in the backyard.

Since Neecy wasn’t born with wings she had absolutely no idea what to do with them. He watched her jump up over and over again trying to take off. Getting more and more frustrated in the process. Then she sneezed, her wings extended, caught a breeze, and the next thing he knew she trapped herself on the roof.

Yager thought for sure she’d be grateful for his help…she wasn’t. He made the mistake of suddenly “appearing” on the roof beside her—the Ravens could sometimes move so fast people often didn’t even see them until they were right in front of them.

That’s what happened with Neecy. All he got out was “hi” when she screamed and kicked him in the face. She broke his nose and sent him right off the roof. He landed in front of the Elder he’d accompanied, bleeding and trying really hard not to cry. Unless you really wanted to suffer, you never cried in front of the Elders.

Ever since then, he’d never really stopped thinking about her. But with him going off to Caltech and MIT for his degrees, he only saw her a few times a year at joint Raven-‐Crow-‐Valkyrie functions and, to be honest, she never seemed too interested and he was too young to care.

It wasn’t until he moved into his position as head of the New York-‐New Jersey Ravens when his mentor and leader died suddenly that everything changed for him as Neecy Lawrence went from the occasional wet dream to full on sex goddess.

Receiving the mantle of Raven leader meant receiving Odin’s rune branded to the back of his neck in front of an audience filled with Ravens from all over the world, as well as Valkyries and Crows. The branding wasn’t pleasant, but Yager showed no signs of pain. He didn’t even flinch. If he were to lead the Ravens, he needed to show them and Odin he could take pain. That he, in fact, welcomed it.

It was the typical Viking bullshit, which hadn’t changed over the last thousand years.

Once they completed his branding, one of the Original Seven—the original immortal Valkyries who called Odin “Dad”—presented Yager to the audience as the new leader of the Ravens.

He stood before the warrior representatives of all three Clans giving a speech that took him hours to craft and even more hours to rehearse when he saw her.

Leaning against a wall, staring out over the crowd and bored beyond tears, Neecy wore a little black dress with three-‐inch-‐heel sandals. In the middle of his speech about the changing face of the Odin warrior he stopped talking. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. It became so bad Mike had to slam him with his wing to get Yager to focus on the rest of his speech.

He couldn’t help himself, though. A vision came to him. As clear as anything he’d seen before. A vision of Neecy Lawrence naked and tangled up in the white sheets on his bed. Well-‐fucked and beautiful, she sighed his name in her sleep.

That simple vision was, by far, the most erotic thing he’d ever seen in his life and he was determined to make it his reality as well as hers. The only problem?

Neecy treated him like some rich white trash she couldn’t get away from fast enough. It drove him crazy. She drove him crazy.

Those small pale hands returned to now rub his shoulders. Yager gently removed them. “Thanks…uh…Shawna.” Or whatever…

“Anytime.” She gave an alluring smile and walked out of the room.

Mike shook his head. “And what’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing. She’s perfect. Exquisite.” Not surprising. Odin, known for his lusty ways, never picked ugly mortal Valkyries. He liked his women beautiful and big chested. But since that bad night a bunch of them took Odin to a local strip club, visiting Mountain Creek suddenly turned into a Russ Meyer’s film.

Still, Yager could care less about Shawna’s big tits. Not when he could still feel Neecy’s adorable breasts in the palms of his hands. An accidental grab he fully enjoyed.

He stood up, allowing his wings to once again unfurl. He stretched them out, shook them, and pulled them back into his body. For now they’d sit hidden behind flesh and muscle. The only telltale sign his wings were there at all were the two long scars racing down his back, next to his spine.

“I’m going home.”

Mike watched him pull on a fresh T-‐shirt. “Look, if you’re trying to slum it a little, I can hook you up with some very accommodating girls from my old neighborhood.”

Yager sighed. “It’s like you want me to hurt you.”

“No. But I’m the only one who will be honest with you. You’ve got Valkyries falling over themselves to get to you. And you’re concentrating on a Crow. The same bird used in the ‘Omen’ movies.”

“Actually those were ravens, you idiot.”

Before Yager could leave, or twist Mike into a pretzel, his second-‐in-‐command walked into the room. “Just got an interesting call.”

Tye Ulrich was his best friend and a man of few words, which was why he was Yager’s best friend. He got enough chatter from Mike.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. We’ve been invited to a party downtown.”

Yager shrugged on his leather jacket. “Not in the mood…what the fuck are these?”

He pulled the condoms from his jacket pocket as his eyes immediately went to Mike.

“What? I’m being a good friend and hoping you get laid before the end of the next millennium.”

Sighing Yager shoved the condoms back in his pocket. Tye raised an eyebrow.

“If I toss them away, he’ll just put more back in.”

Mike nodded. “He’s right.”

“Whatever.” Tye continued, “Anyway, seems the Bama Crows are in town and our girls are throwing them a party at some Shifter club.”

Yager’s head snapped up as Mike let out a moan of annoyance.

“And I was thinking,” Tye continued, “That we really shouldn’t let our country cousins come to town and not give them a nice Raven greeting.”

Shrugging with a huge grin, Yager quickly agreed. “It would be downright rude.”

“Exactly.”

Neecy sat at the bar and looked out over her girls. One thing would always be true…Crows could throw a mean party.

Glancing over, Neecy watched two seventeen-‐year-‐old Crows order a beer. The stupid Shifter bastard didn’t even card them. She slammed her fist down on the bar, causing the two girls to jump. “Don’t even think about it, ladies.”

Rolling their eyes and groaning, they headed back to the dance floor. She motioned to one of the older Crows heading out for the night. “Take them home.”

Chuckling, “You got it.”

The few young ones that came to the Gathering soon learned Neecy kept a tight leash on them until they turned at least eighteen. But no drinking until twenty-‐ one. And no drugs ever. Since there was no leaving the Crows except by death, the other alternative when the young ones got out of hand was one of those brutal Raven Elder–type beatings. Since the Crows hated even the thought of something like that happening, they followed orders or hid their antics real well.

“Okay, Neece. Talk to me.” Neecy turned around to find Janelle sitting next to her. “Arri Chang.”

“What about her?”

“Explain to me again why I’m wasting my time trying to train that pipsqueak?”

“Because I told you to.”

If Janelle were lucky, she may become second in command one day. But she’d never lead the Crows. Not because she asked questions, but because she asked them like she already knew the right answer. Skuld hated that.

“Give me a break, Neece. She’s terrified of me and she couldn’t fight her way out of a paper bag.”

“She’s not terrified of you.”

“She hides from me. When I do finally track her down and take her to the training room, she cowers.” Janelle sighed, her blond curls falling in her face.

“It’s starting to give me a complex. I feel like this giant ogre.”

Janelle wasn’t quite as tall as Neecy, but she was bigger and stronger. She was a lot of woman and Neecy knew it made her self-‐conscious.

“You’re not a giant ogre. She’s just new.”

“She’s been with us for two years now.”

Neecy winced. Janelle was right, and she didn’t even know the whole story yet.

Things were about to get much stranger because of Arri. That, however, was not a discussion to have during a Crow party.

“Look, I’m not talking about this tonight. Now you can sit here and freak out…”

Neecy slid off her stool. “Or you can try and live in that fantasy world of yours were you out dance me.”

Janelle stood up slowly. “I know you didn’t just issue a direct challenge…to me.”

“Bring it on, baby.” Neecy could always hold her own on a dance floor, but Janelle used to street dance for money before Skuld took her. In fact, in some old rap and reggae videos, you could see Janelle in the background. Sometimes the only white girl in the entire video. Still, it was fun to fuck with her on it.

“Oh, that’s it, Lawrence. You’re ass is mine.”

Katie sauntered up, a drink with an umbrella in it gripped in her hand. “What’s going on?”

“Neece just challenged me.”

“What?” Katie suddenly scrambled up onto the bar to the deep annoyance of the Shifters.

“Hey!” Her loud voice reached the DJ across the room. The music immediately cut out. “We have a challenge, ladies!”

Neecy shook her head as the Crows cheered and opened up a space on the dance floor for her and Janelle.

Stepping away from her, Janelle turned and walked backward to the dance floor.

She gestured for Neecy to follow with both her hands.

“Come on, bitch. You’re talking shit. Let’s see what you really got.”

Rolling her eyes, Neecy followed. Honestly, the shit she endured in order to distract her team from the potential nightmare of Arri Chang.

Derrick hated working Crow parties. These bitches creeped him out. They creeped out all the Shifters. These women died and some goddess brought them back. And she brought them back…altered.

Shifters were born the way they were. So were the freaky Ravens. Although the Ravens couldn’t shift into shit, they did have those stupid wings.

The Crows, however, woke up from dying, and suddenly they had wings. They weren’t immortal or the undead. They were just a bunch of broads with wings, enhanced strength and immune systems, and a really unhealthy bloodlust. Like Shifters, the Crows were still human…sort of. They could breed, get old, and die.

But none of that made them right.

Still, the tips were good and some of them weren’t too bad to look at.

One of the cuter ones waved a twenty in his face. “Another one of these.” She held up the bottle of pricey imported beer. Derrick went to grab one from the fridge behind the bar, but found it empty. Less than five minutes ago, he had at least thirty bottles in there because the Crows really liked it.

He sniffed the air, but all he smelled were humans. Another reason Shifters didn’t like the Crows and the Ravens. They didn’t smell any different than normal humans. They simply smelled like humans who slept on down pillows.

He looked out over the dance floor, but the Crows were still grooving to another disco favorite. Then his eyes caught movement and Derrick’s head snapped up.

That’s where he spotted them, on the balcony that ringed the dance floor. The Ravens, their purple-‐black wings shimmering in the club’s strobe lights. Nearly all of them held one of the missing beers and silently watched the Crows. How they got past him, he’d never know.

And, to be honest, he never wanted to know.

“I do love watching women dance.” In surprise, Yager and Tye looked at Mike who stood between them. It was such a nice, clean thing for him to say. “It makes their tits shake.”

Rolling their eyes, Yager and Tye looked back at the dancing females.

Yup. Yager liked watching Neecy dance. He also liked how she acted when alone with the Gathering. She actually smiled and laughed. She let herself go with her sisters. He wanted to see that side of her himself. He wanted her to smile at him the way she smiled at her friends.

“So are we going to go down there and dance with ‘em? Or just sit here and watch like a bunch of stalkers?” Mike asked.

Tye shrugged. “I like watching.”

“Yeah. He’s got a thing for that big girl,” Mike offered.

Yager raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Which girl?”

Mike answered for Tye. “My fellow hoodrat, Janelle.” As long as it wasn’t Neecy, Yager really didn’t give a shit.

“I find her…interesting.” Tye didn’t say much, and often what he did say sounded innocuous. But Yager knew the man long enough to know “interesting” was simply another way to say “a piece of ass I can’t wait to hit.”

“I understand that. Especially after seeing her dance. She’s amazing.”

“Yeah. Dancing. Whatever.”

Mike sighed. “I don’t get you two. There are much better looking women out there. And if not better looking, then definitely less mean. I saw Janelle rip out a man’s heart once…and that didn’t seem to bother her.”

Mike put his arms around both men. “Gentleman, you guys should hang with me some night. I’d get you hooked up with some very hot and extremely accommodating super models.”

Even though Mike was about six-‐two, both Yager and Tye still towered over him as they towered over pretty much everybody. They looked at each other, smiled, and slammed the man with their wings, flipping him over the balcony. The Crows, like the birds whose wings they possessed, sensed him and quickly moved out of the way as Mike hit the floor. The women looked down at him and then their eyes drifted up.

For several long seconds, they merely stared at the Ravens who merely stared back. After they got bored with that, they went back to dancing.

Well, all went back to dancing except Neecy. She stared up at Yager, her hands on her hips. He smiled down at her and winked.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she strode off the dance floor.

“All right. Which one of you dumb bitches invited the Ravens tonight?”

Janelle, Connie and Katie looked at each other and shrugged.

“I asked you a question.”

“We didn’t invite anybody.”

“Did you tell someone to invite them?”

Their responding smirks said it all. Calmly, “And this is why you bitches piss me off.”

Katie held up her hands in mock fear. “Geez, Neece. Control the rage!”

Connie laughed as Janelle shrugged. “So the Ravens are here? It’s always a good idea to keep them on our side.”

“Which isn’t easy when you keep trying to kill their leader,” Connie muttered.

Katie giggled. “I couldn’t believe you called those goddamn birds of yours.”

Neecy walked away from the three women before she really did lose her temper.

Besides, she’d already put in a couple of hours at the party and had kept her drinking down to two beers and a tequila shot. It was time to go.

Plus, she needed to check in with Didi and let her know they lost the rune to the Idiot Brigade.

She came around the corner and slammed into a solid slab of concrete. Also known as Yager’s chest.

“Hey, Neecy.”

Neecy looked up at Yager. And kept looking up. There were very few men on the planet that made her feel small, but Yager was definitely one of them.

And he was “looking” at her again.

Not like people always looked at her, including her past boyfriends. With a little bit of fear and awe. No. He looked at her like he’d never seen anything so beautiful or amazing before.

She hated that look. It completely confused her and made her all sweaty.

And Neecy Lawrence didn’t sweat.

“Yager.”

She moved to step around him, but he stepped too. A small one, but the man was so huge, he easily blocked her.

“So what are you up to tonight?”

Sometimes the man asked her the dumbest questions. “Nothing.”

Christ, Yager was gorgeous. Really. Just plain gorgeous. His light brown hair reached just past his shoulders and looked as if he never combed it. Ever. His searing grey eyes made her seriously uncomfortable and horny. Those stark Nordic features blended well with his chiseled cheekbones and painfully hard jaw, as her fists could attest to. His shoulders completely dwarfed her, but he needed them that large to support his long, thick neck. His entire body was one sheet of pure rippling muscle, and he had to be at least six-‐seven. For once, a man actually taller than her.

“Wanna drink?”

Neecy sucked in a breath, about to tell him no she didn’t want a drink— and get those goddamn gorgeous eyes off me—when she heard giggling behind her. She knew it was her team. In battle they followed her every command without question. But during their off hours they truly were her family…and she realized now she never wanted siblings. Mostly because they were a pain in the ass.

She raised her knee, giving her access to the weapons she kept holstered to her calf, turned, and threw one of the deadly blades. The women dived out of the way, the sharp steel planting itself in the wall behind where they’d all been standing.

Clearing his throat, Yager slowly walked around her. He pulled the blade from the wall and handed it back to Neecy.

“A little tense, Lawrence?” he teasingly asked.

“Quiet, Yager.” She slid the blade back in its holster, keeping her head down to hide her smile, but unable to stop her chuckle.

“Do you really have to go?” That voice! She’d had wet dreams about that voice alone. Especially when it got all husky and yearning-‐like.

“Yeah. I gotta tell Didi you got what Skuld sent us out for. Then Skuld can duke it out with Odin herself.” She looked up at him. “Unless you want to give it back to me.”

He grinned and her toes curled inside her boots. “Dammit. If only I were the kind of guy who would use that request to my advantage.”

Yeah, but Yager was too nice. A true nice person—probably one of the last on the planet. A big, dumb, gorgeous nice guy.

Whereas Neecy was too smart for her own good and used to deal drugs before she took six bullets to the chest. She was once one of those scumbags she now went about eradicating from the universe. She wasn’t nice. She wasn’t good.

And she got exactly what she deserved when she’d died.

She just thanked Skuld every day for giving her a second chance to make it right.

And she would make it right, if it took her the rest of her second-‐life.

“Well, you’re not. Might as well get used to it. And stop staring at me like that.”

Frowning in confusion, “Like what?”

Neecy shook her head. “Forget it.”

She walked around him and headed to the roof and home.