Chapter 1 – The Job

LYRIC

I look around, peering down one end of the street and up the other. The last thing I need is for anyone to see me. Us.

I grip the tiny hand in mine a little tighter. I raise my other hand and knock on the worn and cracked door, quickly glancing around at our surroundings again. For the millionth time. All the while listening for movement from the other side of the door.

I knock again when I hear nothing. Tap, tap, tap. My nerves ramp up as I wait, listening, looking, “Hurry up” I whisper, sighing on the exhale.

The bite of cold nipped at us as we waited for the door to open. The snow in this part of the borough was thick and more was falling. The damp air seeped into our skin through the layers of clothing, chilling us right down to the bone.

I would give anything to curl up in front of a fire with a warm drink, cozy up with my favorite person in the realm. Anything was better than having to drag us from the comfort and safety of our home out into the bitter cold night.

But I didn’t have a choice this time.

Finally, I hear movement from inside. “Who is it?” The familiar raspy voice of Aunt Lizzy calls out.

“It’s us, Aunt Lizzy, open up it's cold!” I answer back, keeping my voice low but loud enough for the old she-wolf to hear.

The door opens and we slip inside, taking another look up and down the crumbling and decrepit street. My eyes find the shadows of falling down houses, moving to the next when I find nothing or nobody before I close the door behind us. Leaving the cold night air outside.

Aunt Lizzy's home is warm and the immediate change in temperature heats my cheeks.

“Thank you,” I mouthed to her as we moved through the small two-bedroom stone house. The interior, is in better shape than the exterior.

Aunt Lizzy gives me a tight smile. One that shows she’s not happy with me. One that I know is only out of concern with my choice of work.

It’s what puts food on the table and a roof over our heads. I know my line of work can be… challenging and not quite above the law. I deal with some shady characters, to say the least. And it’s because of the unique skills I possess that landed me the job I was running off to once I left here.

If given the choice I would have never taken the job, but when your family is threatened, and you’re blackmailed. What choice do you actually have? In my case – none.

“He ate before we came here. Maybe a warm drink and he will be ready to crash.” I tell Aunt Lizzy.

I looked down at the small boy standing next to me and stooped to pick him up. He was my everything. My only family left. It broke my heart to have to leave him for a few days, but it was to protect him. I just had to keep reminding myself of that fact.

I would do anything for him, and if it meant having to do a job for the worst and slimiest gangster in the boroughs, this side of the Kingdom. Then so be it.

I kiss the little guy's cheek, “You be good for Aunt Lizzy, and I promise I will only be gone for a few days, a week at the most. Then I will never have to leave you again.” I say the words and I mean them. I just hope I can follow through.

“Please don’t go, Mommy. I will miss you too much.” He speaks. His little chubby hands grab my face so he can stare me in the eyes.

I hold back the tears, my heart melting. I don’t want to leave him. My gut told me this is a bad idea and that I should have taken him and run far, far away. But to where? They would find me. Find him.

“I love you, baby. You be a good boy for Aunt Lizzy. Don’t you be giving her any trouble, you hear?”

He nods his head, his black hair falling over his haunting eyes that look so much like his father's. “I promise.” He says with a sad tone and an even sadder look. I brush his hair back, the tips of my fingers lingering on the clashing bright blonde streak that he was born with.

“You are such a smart boy. I will miss you, but I will be back before you know it.” I put him down, and Aunt Lizzy tells him to go get a book from her chest.

As soon he is out of sight, she turns to me with a worried look marring her face. “Lyric,” She shakes her head. “I wish you would find another way to make money. You said last time was your last job.”

I grit my teeth and clench my fists, my gaze still on the empty door frame my heart disappeared through. “I know. I don’t have a choice.” I tell her, the words coming out harsh.

“You always have a choice.” Lizzy sighs.

“Not this time,” I shake my head. “They threatened him, he said they needed me on this job, and if I didn’t do this then he would expose him. I can't let them, or anyone, know about him. I have to keep him safe Lizzy.” I look at her, hoping she can see the truth in my eyes. That I had no choice.

she bobs her head with understanding.

“If you haven't heard from me in four days, you need to get him out of here. Take him to the safe house.” I bring her in for a hug, squeezing her tight. “If don’t turn up at the safe house at the end of the week, take him, Lizzy. Run with him, as far as you can, go away from the wolves. Go south, catch a boat to the other continent if you need to.” I whispered in her ear. Then pull back.

I know she will protect my baby with her life. The same way she protected me.

She wasn’t a real Aunt. Lizzy had been a maid in my father's Packhouse. When we were attacked five years ago, our pack was decimated and everyone who didn’t manage to flee was killed or enslaved by the Rogue King Silas. Women were taken, men slaughtered, and children sold.

The nightmares from that night still plague me.

I was lucky. Lizzy found me, and together we ran. Became rogues of our own choosing. Finding refuge in a borough on the outskirts of the New Moon Kingdom.

I wish I could say the same for the rest of our families. We had no idea if anyone else had made it out. We were massacred that night.

It would be two years later, after escaping with our lives, that we would find out that pack members had lived, if you could even call it living, at least were kept alive.

“Come back to us Lyri,” Lizzy breaks my trip down memory lane, “He needs you,”

“I know.” I concede. “He promised to cut me loose after this job.”

“And you believe him?”

“I do. I hope he means it.” I want to believe this is the last time I’ll have to do anything for that slimeball of a wolf. Unfortunately, trusting his words is akin to trusting a rattlesnake won't bite you if you pet it. “I don’t have a choice if I want to keep him safe.” I gesture towards the living room where I can just hear a little voice speaking to himself, trying to read a book.

I dig into my coats inside pocket, pulling out a thick envelope full of notes. All the money I have. “Take this, just in case.” I shove it toward Aunt Lizzy who shakes her head.

“I can't take that Lyri. If I take it, it’s like sealing your fate.” She pushes it back at me.

“Take it in case something happens. You will need it to get yourself and him out of here.” This time I grabbed her wrist and forcefully made her take it. “Four days, I will contact you. If I don’t, you go to the safe house. On the seventh day, if you still haven't heard from me, you run Lizzy. You take him far away from here. Promise me.” She shakes her head, white whisps of hair falling around her face framing the wrinkles and her doe eyes. “Promise me, Lizzy,” I growl out.

I see the fight in her eyes leave, and the dawning of realization comes over her face. “Ok Lyri, I promise. But you have to promise me to come back.”

“I Hope I can.” They are the last words I say to Aunt Lizzy before I slink out the door the same way I came in. Cautious, attentive, nervous. Hoping I wasn’t followed, and no one will know I brought him here.

Forty-five minutes later, I’m walking into Miko’s base of operations.

Several pairs of eyes stare me down, as I make my way through the seedy bar to the back room, where I will be given the details of the job.

“Good to see you again, Swift.” I pause my steps at the familiar voice of Bram, who uses my street name. Miko’s number one henchman. 

“Bram.” I greet him with a tight-lipped half smile. My gaze wandered from head to toe and back up again. Bram was a large male, werebear, with eyes like honey and hair that matched. He smiled at me, but that panty-melting smirk that would have any woman swooning didn’t do it for me.

I knew better. As easy on the eyes as Bram was - he was a killer. A stone-cold murderer who did Miko’s dirty work. A few times I had found myself on the edge of his mercy. As if his hand was still coiled tight around my neck, I swallow hard. The feeling of those gigantic paws from when he held my head underwater hadn’t left me. And I wasn’t in a hurry for a repeat.

“This way.” Bram directs me as if I didn’t already know where we were going. Regardless I let him lead me through the back of the bar down to Miko’s office.

He raps on the door three times before he opens it. Instinct has me assessing the room and as my eyes lock with Miko’s, I wish I had kept my head down.

“I came to do a job, Miko. Not watch you get off.” I spit, turning my head away from the scene in front of me.

“Awe, don’t be such a prude Swift.” He chuckles lowly, “You could always join in,” That smug tone makes me shiver, and not in a good way.

Miko says something to the girls in a foreign language. They quickly scramble up from their positions. Both were naked as the day they were born. One girl was strapped with some kind of sex toy, as they pushed past Bram and me to leave the room.

The smell of stale cigars, alcohol, and sex fills the air and stifles my senses. I breathe in through my mouth which wasn’t the best idea because now I could taste everything and I gasping for a breath of fresh air.

The door shuts behind me, Bram between me and the only exit. But I refuse to show any cowardice. “Always business Swift, never any time for fun.” Miko’s words are berating and I scowl at the dark-skinned wolf. His yellow eyes scanned my body like it was his next feast. Making my stomach churn, and nausea rise.

It would be a cold day in hell before I ever let him touch me.

I pull my shoulders back and lift my chin. “You have a job you want me to do. That’s why I’m here Miko. What's the job?”

“What’s the rush beautiful?” Miko lets out that smarmy chuckle again. I swear he thinks it’s sexy and maybe some females go for that. All it does for me is make me want to puke more.

I startle when I feel the heat of Bram’s chest at my back. His large hand comes down on my shoulder, pressing heavily so I have no choice but to sit in the fabric seat across from Miko. I cringe because I can only imagine what the stains that cover the dark fabric are from.

Sex, blood, drugs. This is so gross.

“King Kellen will be holding a coronation for his Queen in four days time. I want you to steal her crown.” Miko slides a folder across the desk in my direction. I open it and begin to study the information.  “They will be hosting a ball the night before the ceremony, that’s your opportunity. You steal it then.”

I scan the documents, wondering how they managed to obtain a photo of the new Queen’s crown. My fingers run over the image of the beautiful piece. Gold and delicate with diamonds encrusted on the band. The small peaks hold an emerald each and in the center sits the most beautiful blood-red jewel I have ever laid my eyes on. “Impossible.” I shake my head.

“Not impossible. And even if it is, you will make it possible.” The demand in Miko’s voice is final.

“Miko, They have a three-tiered system vault. This crown is probably kept within the inner vault that requires a nine-digit key code. Even the best couldn’t crack that in the less than thirty seconds it will take to set off the alarms.”

“The Shadow Witch wants the crown. He tasked us with the job. Hence, it's time for you to shine, Swift. That is if you don’t want me leaking information about your boy?”

My head snaps up to glare daggers at him.

Miko leans back in his chair, fingers stroking his chin menacingly. “You know I don’t like to threaten children, but you don’t get this job done, it’s both our necks on the line.”

“You wouldn’t.” I seethe. Yes, Miko is a sick and icky wolf, but he had one rule. Don’t hurt children. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t out my son to the realm for his own personal gain though.

“I would. You’re the best at what you do, and I expect no less from you. Get me that crown and I’ll swear on the name of the gods,  I will set you and the kid, free.”

My eyes narrow with suspicion. “You said that last time. Yet here I am.”

“I meant it last time too. But I need you on this Swift. Don’t let me down.”

I was a thief, at least that’s how I started out. I dealt with antiquities and rare objects, I brokered deals on the black market. I obtained hard-to-find items. A skill I found I had when Lizzy and I lived on the streets for the first year of our lives until Miko grabbed me one night.

I worked for him for two years, until I had my own thing going. Still not completely above board, but it was better than stealing chump change and it put a roof over our heads.

There wasn’t a code I couldn’t crack nor a lock I couldn’t open. But the Royal vault? That was another story. An impossible feat to manage. Something like that would take months of planning. He was giving me days.

If my parents could see me now, they would hang their heads in shame. How an Alpha’s daughter could be reduced to a life of crime and shady dealings.

“Why the Crown Miko? What's so special about it? I could steal twenty times more jewels than what's on this crown.”

For the first time ever, I see a dark shadow of fear cross through Miko’s eyes, his posture changes and he shifts his position. He shakes his head from side to side, “I don’t know Swift. But he wants it. He wants it bad. He’s sending one of his men to accompany you.”

“No.” I bark out quickly. “I work alone. You know that. This job is more than likely going to go sideways as it is, I don’t need someone else to help fuck it up further.”

“You don’t have a choice!” His fist bangs on the table with force,  “I don’t have a choice. I will give you more details as I get them.”

I left Miko’s - folder in hand and a bigger weight on my shoulders than when I walked in.

My job was to break into the Royal vault, steal the new Queens Crown, and get it out without being caught. Then get me, Lizzy, and my boy, as far from this life as possible.

Already my gut told me this job was a bad idea. If I bail though, Miko will spill beans, then there would be nowhere left to hide.

He would find me. Us. As long as he doesn’t know of his existence, we are safe.