It’s not his character. I should know—I made a study out of him for years, and this is not like him at all.
And that’s what terrifies me. Buried beneath that fake, frantic concern, there’s a flicker of something sharper. Hotter. But not explosive. Not loud. But enough to chill my blood. I’ve been a witness to that rage over the years, many times.
When Ryder shifts like he’s about to head toward the door, panic slams through me. I can’t be alone with thesetwo. “No!” I blurt, louder than I meant to. “No—W-Wolf will go. Or… or hecan do it himself. Not you, R-Ryder.”
The air shifts.
Both Wolf’s and Ruin’s faces drop, like I gutted them with a few words.
Wolf’s lips part, then press into a hard line before he mumbles, “I’ll go,” and walks out.
Ryder exhales slowly, coming to my side and guiding me off the coffee table and back to the couch. His hand is steady on my back, unlike everything inside me.
Ruin doesn’t move. Doesn’t say a word. He watches, like he’s memorizing every flinch, every breath I take. Jaw tight, shoulders locked.
“Really, Ruin?” Ryder finally says, voice on the edge of a smirk. “You left your keys inside?”
Ruin looks caught. “I… I… yeah, I just needed to—I just…” He swallows hard, then his gaze snaps to mine. Intense and unwavering. “I needed to see if she was okay.”
I freeze.
What. The. Fuck?
NINE
Ruin
She looked so adorably shocked that I had to clamp down the urge to take her in my arms. But then shock instantly gave way to terror when I strode toward her.
Fuck.I can’t shake off the horror that had twisted her face when I was near her. My heart is still brokenly beating at the sight that I’d failed to recognize in my panic.
I was so consumed by my fear, to check if Charlotte wasn’t hurting from any trauma, that I forgot I was one of them.
She shakily picks up her phone from the coffee table, tapping away. Her silence is jarring. I would give anything to hear her voice again.
And not from forty feet away.
“There were two men from an unknown club with Glory,” Ryder’s steady voice grabs my attention.
“What?” I grit out.
Glory wasn’t alone?
I force myself to stay in the present, pressing down my panicked rage.
Ryder ignores my fury, calmly forming his next words. “They didn’t touch her. But it looks like Glory has found some… allies.”
“Here,” Charlotte says, springing up from the couch as she hands her phone to Ryder. “I tried to draw their patch. As much as I could remember.”
I watch as Ryder’s face pales a good two shades. Fuck, what the hell did she draw? Before I can comment on his ghostly pallor, he sobers up, clearing his throat. “Thanks, Charlotte, that’s…” He pauses. “Helpful.”
Charlotte isn’t gathering the subtle, dreadful shift in the atmosphere. Exhaustion lines every inch of her face, and I can only imagine how she must be feeling after such a scare from fucking Glory.
Fuck. And two unknowns.
She sighs, her shoulders shaking. “I’m going to bed. See yourselves out.”
As she turns away, I find myself blurting out, “I’ll stay here. They… they could come back.”
