But in the week that I had started working with the Iron Battalion MC to save Ariel, he’d treated me like I belonged fromthe start. No pity. No hovering. Just casual inclusion, like it was obvious I was supposed to be here.
The thought warmed something in my chest.
Then burned.
Because we hadn’t even gotten the chance to see what that could’ve been. Before I could snap back, the thought hit me like a punch:
Scout should be here. He’d be chirping at me for holding the knife wrong. He’d be making fun of Ranger. He’d be stealing food from Brutus’s pot and getting yelled at for it. He’d be laughing.
My throat felt tight again. I set the knife down carefully and wiped my palms on my jeans.
“Any word on Scout?” I asked.
Silence hit the room instantly.
Ghost’s hands froze on the keyboard.
Brutus stopped stirring.
Ranger set the knife down.
Doc lowered his magazine.
Wrecker stepped closer, just enough that I could feel the heat of him at my back.
Cap walked in a second later, as if pulled by the shift in the room. He looked at all of us, then at me.
“No,” he said. “But we’re closer.”
The room stayed frozen anyway.
Closer didn’t sound like good news.
It sounded like maps spread out on tables. Long nights. Missed turns.
Scout wasn’t the kind of man who vanished quietly.
He filled space. Took up air. Made noise just by existing.
If he was gone long enough for “closer” to be the best answer, then something had already gone wrong.
Taken.
The word slipped in without permission.
Not missing. Not lost.
Taken. And the longer he was out there, the harder it would be to get him back. My chest squeezed around something sharp. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t—I should’ve?—”
Wrecker’s voice cut in behind me. “You didn’t cause this.”
Ghost’s mask turned my way. His stare was unreadable, but the air around him crackled. He wasn’t angry at me.
He was angry at whoever hurt the kid he’d mentored.
Cap stepped farther into the room, voice steady in that quiet way that made people stop breathing. “Scout wasn’t grabbed because of you.”
I blinked at him. “But the timing?—”
