All I can see is her face.
The way she wouldn’t look at me.
The way her voice broke before she forced it steady.
Something was wrong. I felt it then, and now it’s clawing through my chest, louder, sharper, impossible to ignore.
By the time we pull up, I don’t wait for the truck to stop completely. I’m already out, already moving, already pushing through the doors hard enough that they slam against the wall behind me.
The first thing that hits me is the silence.
Not the kind I’m used to in any clubhouse. Not the low murmur of voices, the scrape of chairs, the constant hum of something alive.
This is different.
Too still.
My gaze sweeps the room, fast, searching.
And lands on prospects.
Young. Unpatched. Nervous in a way that tells me everything I need to know.
No Russel. No Legion. No sign of her.
They didn’t just leave.
They cleared out. Fast.
And they left the prospects behind to deal with the fallout.
The realization settles cold and heavy in my gut.
They’re gone. She’s with them.
Something inside me snaps so fast I don’t even feel it happen.
“Where is he?”
My voice cuts through the room, sharp enough that every head turns, but no one answers fast enough, and that’s all it takes.
I grab the closest one, young, barely twenty, and slam him face-first into the bar. The crack of wood and the sharp clatter of glass echo through the room, but it barely registers over the sound of my pulse roaring in my ears.
“Dex!” Cas’s voice comes from somewhere behind me, but I don’t let go.
Not yet.
My grip tightens on the kid’s collar as I drag him halfway back up, just enough for him to suck in a panicked breath before I shove him forward again, harder this time, his hands scrambling against the wood to keep from collapsing.
“You’re going to start talking,” I say, my voice low now, controlled in a way that’s far more dangerous than shouting, “and you’re going to do it now.”
“I… I don’t know…”
I lean in closer, my jaw tight, my vision narrowing until it’s just him, just this moment, just the need to get to her before it’s too late.
“Try again.”
He’s shaking now, fear written all over his face, his eyes darting like he’s looking for someone to step in and stop this.
