North access.
The turn comes up fast, barely marked, easy to miss if you don’t know it’s there.
I do.
I hit it without slowing.
The road narrows, trees closing in, shadows stretching longer as the elevation climbs. Gravel spits under the tires as I push harder, the bike fighting me for control and losing.
Good.
Everything should feel this way. On edge. One wrong move from going sideways, because that’s exactly where we are.
The clearing hits suddenly. I see the structures ahead.
Metal rows of storage units.
I slam the brakes.
The tires scream against gravel, the bike fishtailing just enough to jolt my whole body forward before I still it, boots hitting the ground.
Silence drops around me. I kill the engine, and all I hear is my own breathing.
Ryder’s truck pulls in behind me seconds later. Zane’s out before it fully stops, already scanning, already working through angles I don’t have the patience for right now.
We all look at the same thing. The units.
I run a hand over the back of my neck, forcing myself to slow down just enough to think instead of react.
Then I look at them, really look at Ryder, standing there, carved out of control and fury, at Zane, already halfway into a plan, and I realize something. They think they know where I sit in this.
“I know you both think I’m the fun one,” I say suddenly, emotion bursting out of me.
Neither of them interrupts.
Good, because I’m not joking, not now.
“But I swear to you…” My throat tightens, and I force it back, force the words through clean. “If he touched her…”
I don’t finish it.
I don’t need to.
Everything I would do is already there.
Ryder doesn’t hesitate. “He won’t get the chance.”
I hold his gaze.
Then nod.
Swallow the rest of it down as glass, because falling apart isn’t an option, not while she’s in there.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Aurora
I can’t standthe way time moves here, like it’s determined to drive me insane. The dark in this place stretches everything out until a minute feels like a year, and then every so often the door opens, and my whole body sets on fire.
