Page 101 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“You can,” he agreed. “But you usually thinkwhat’s the most trouble I can barrel straight intofirst, and the stop-and-think part comes second.”

“Fair,” she conceded as she slid into the backseat. “You were quiet in there. I know you have thoughts about what Mafi said.”

“I want what’s best for you.” He tapped the book in his hands. “Which means mental fortifications and memory work and yes, even therapy, if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah,” she said, biting down on her lip. “I don’t know how I feel about therapy.”

“Color me shocked.”

She laughed. “What? That doesn’t surprise you?”

“Very few things surprise me. You almost always do,” he conceded. “But not in this. You’ve been on your own your entire life. You thought your mother died and your father abandoned you. The only person you’ve ever let in is Gen.”

“I let you in,” she said, lifting her chin. “And learned why I shouldn’t have.”

He stilled at her comment. “As I said, I’m here to prove you wrong about that.”

“It’s a work in progress.”

Hewasworking on it. She could see that he was changing. She just didn’t know if it was a forever change. She’d been fooled once. She didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

“I’ll take it.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Kierse completed her homework.

She read the mental fortification book, and she considered therapy. Something she never in a million years would have thought about before this point. Maybe she’d do it if Graves got the promised follow-up call. In the meantime, mental work.

The practice seemed simple: create a little mind block to separate her consciousness from an attacker. But it was not simple. Not in the slightest. And it made her head hurt ferociously.

Still, she practiced until her temples throbbed all day and night. Then she practiced some more. Day after day, working on muscles she’d never used before, until she felt a scream building in her throat. Until she thought she’d tear the house down in frustration. From her need to do something physical.

So, one morning, she hoofed it out of Graves’s brownstone, paid off a particularly obnoxious troll, and took the 2 to Penn Station. She exited onto 31st Street just as dawn was breaching the horizon and headed at a quick clip toward Chelsea Park.

Only this winter, she’d seen drug deals on the corner here, but the place had been cleaned up. Fresh grass, trees in bloom, flowers around a small fountain, the playgroundfilled with children’s laughter, even signs advertising a weekend farmer’s market. Her city had changed so much in her absence.

She loved and hated it all at once.

She wasn’t even sure that Nate would be up when she’d texted him on her way over, but by the time she’d soldiered past an unknown guard, who had clearly drawn the short stick for such an early shift, she’d received a text back.

Fucking finally.

Kierse laughed and trotted up the stairs. Five Points was a nightclub run by the Dreadlords, but it was also their werewolf headquarters. The three nights surrounding the full moon, which had ended last night, the wolves went underground and locked the place down to keep it safe for the city, in accordance with the Monster Treaty.

“Kierse McKenna,” a voice said as she approached Nate’s office. “I’d heard you were back in town.”

Kierse smirked at the sight of Nate’s second, Ronan. He was tall and slim with black hair parted down the middle and severe black circles under his dark eyes. His family had emigrated from Korea, and he’d joined up with Nate’s pack for their protection. He’d moved up the ranks like he was born to it. And she supposed he was.

“Hey, Ronan. Who did you hear that from? Gen?” she teased.

Ronan shrugged. “I’m glad she’s home. She’s not trouble like you.”

“Oh, she’s certainly trouble,” Kierse said.

“She’s the kind of trouble I like, though.” He slid a cigarette behind his ear and lifted a shoulder. “She doesn’t drag the whole pack into her schemes.”

“Fair,” Kierse conceded. “And if you’re asking, I think she’d see you.”

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