“Echo goes by they/them pronouns.”
“I apologize for misgendering you,” Wren said to Echo, and something warm pooled in Teddy’s chest.
“But not for the threat?” Teddy asked.
“That stands,” Wren said. “Anyone touches Sable and all bets are off.”
“One more for the kill Echo team,” Heir said, turning around to ruffle their hair.
“If anyone’s killing Echo, it’s me,” Eerie said, glaring at Wren as if sussing out his competition.
“You are not killing anyone,” Saint said. “I worked too hard keeping you out of prison for your unhinged bucket list to send you there.”
“I’ll be outside.” Wren spoke over them before slipping out of the house, Sable hot on his heels.
“That’s him, huh?” Trace whispered from behind Teddy, his voice nearly drowned by the mayhem.
“Yup.” Teddy stared after Wren, trying to figure out what had made him run again the way he did.
Trace nodded in approval. “I like him.”
“He’s never met a rule he liked.” Teddy fought a smile and a surge of anxiety at the same time. They were so fragile, the two of them. So terrifyingly breakable. Every word felt like a potential final blow. And for the first time in his life, Teddy didn’t have the right words. He didn’t know if he had any that would help them go back to that quiet comfort they used to find in each other.
“It’s not crazy to not want to live with a violent animal,” Echo said loudly, bringing their attention back to the team.
“It didn’t look violent,” Eerie said.
“Nothing looks violent to you,” Heir said. “Your bar for violence is literally in hell.”
“Not everyone is a weakling.”
Teddy sighed.
“Work on your plan,” Trace said. “I’ll go check on him.”
“Thanks,” Teddy said, following the large man with his eyes as he slipped unnoticed from the room and out the back door.
He turned back to his team, but his mind and his heart were on the other side of those walls.
Chapter 9
Wren
He heard the door close behind him and bent down to lean his palms against his knees as he took mouthfuls of fresh air.
He couldn’t stay in there anymore. Couldn’t keep quiet and keep listening.
Prettier than he is right now.
Wren knew Saint was a beautiful man. He was aware of it. And he knew Teddy had always recognized and appreciated beauty, penning novice odes in his journals for as long as he’d known him. So he was sure Teddy had noticed. He couldn’t have missed it, working with Saint daily for nearly a decade.
But hearing it said out loud, in front of everyone, when the two of them had always been so private, seeing him so open with Saint when Wren had been a secret from their first moment to their last…
It felt like someone had poured salt into an open wound.
“Too much?”
Wren snapped himself upright, turning to find the large, tattooed, bearded man standing in the doorway.
