She sighed heavily. There was nothing there, just as there shouldn’t be. Nothing but clouds hiding the glow of the moon. A breeze still coasted through the windows since the guy had all four of them rolled down to the halfway point. The fresh air was needed to combat the smelly interior, but it was chilling her, to the point that she folded her arms over her chest.
“Here ya go,” he snapped.
Ravyn didn’t bother responding, but pulled on the door handle and stepped out the moment she’d pushed the door open. She slammed it behind her and stood on the curb looking pointedly at the driver.
“Lady,” he said in an effort to plead with her once more.
“Thank you for the ride, sir.”
Her tone was rude and snappish and probably uncalled for, but it was what it was. And when he pulled away from the curb, tires screeching against the asphalt, she sighed again, rolling her eyes upward. She was thankful he hadn’t gotten out of the car and tossed her back inside, or worse, called the enforcers. It wasn’t much of a leap to make that if she insisted on being in this part of town, she might be up to no good. But he was gone, and she sort of was up to no good, so she turned quickly, running down one block until she could duck into a dark alley.
“Shit!” she yelled when another gush of air hit her so hard she stumbled forward a few steps.
Her gaze flew immediately to the sky. What was up there? Was it coming for her now that it knew she was alone?
“Girl, you gotta get a grip!” She yelled the words into the alley just in case there was someone lurking. Maybe they’d think she was with someone and leave her alone. Or perhaps they’d just assume—as she was starting to do—that she was losing her mind.
Slapping a palm to her chest to remind herself the knife was still there, she broke into a run, going straight down the alley about twenty yards until she came to an old manhole. Across from the drain was a Dumpster. Taking the few steps to the Dumpster, she knelt and reached her hand behind the back wheel, grabbing the crowbar she kept there. With the crowbar she pulled the top off the storm drain, sliding it to the side before going back to put the crowbar in its hiding place. With one last glance around to ensure nobody was in the alley with her, Ravyn turned around and stepped down the ladder hidden inside the drain. Once her head was below street level, she reached up, sticking her finger through a hole on the side of the drain top, and pulled it over the opening to cover the tunnel she was about to travel through.
She continued down the ladder until taking the two-foot drop to the bottom level. The moment her feet hit the floor he was on her.
“I’m so glad you made it!” Cree was yelling as his arms flew around her, grabbing her to him in a hug that took her breath. “I’ve been waiting right here since you left. You said it would take up to three hours, but you’ve been gone almost four and a half. I was so worried I started to wake up the Megs to have them come with me to look for you.”
She patted Cree’s back and took a steadying breath the moment he finally released her. “No, not the Megs. The last thing we need are those two roaming the streets looking for a fight.”
Cree gave her his crooked smile. “That’s what they do best.”
She nodded and turned to walk in the direction that would take them around the main area of Safeside to the private rooms and office along the edge of the complex. This was once an old subway station with stairs that led even farther underground to the tunnels and tracks where trains used to take people from one side of the city to the other. But that had been more than fifty years ago. Now all public transportation was aboveground by buses or the lifts that traveled on wires that crisscrossed throughout Burgess like vines.
When she was younger, the kids in school would talk about stories they heard of an army of men and women who could change shape into big cats, living underground. The story was that those people had attacked humans in Washington D.C. and were then run underground by the U.S. military, which began an all-out war against them. When she’d gone home to ask her father about it, Ford had immediately chastised her for believing every silly story she heard. “This world belongs to the humans, now and forever,” he’d said in that tone that told her she’d better not ever ask him about cat people or any other type of beings again.
“They’re good at what they do.” Cree fell into step beside her, still talking about the Megs. His narrow shoulders were hunched while his long legs kept pace with her.
“Former wrestlers aren’t what’s needed to move us ahead,” she said and turned the corner that would lead to her office and private suite.
“But stealing is?”
This was the second time tonight Cree had spoken to her as if he despised what she was doing, or like she was some common criminal. “Stealing is what built this entire secret living space where people like us are allowed to be who and what we are and thrive.”
“We’re living underground, away from the world and all that’s going on up there, how
