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I leave the same way I came, alone, climbing the stairs out of Noir Sanctum. I feel the mask sealing back on, piece by piece. Cold and silent. The weight of the crown returning to my spine.

Time to go home.

Time to clean up my mess.

Time to deal with the girl I never should’ve touched.

Kendrick'salready waiting by the curb when I emerge from the Sanctum, engine humming like a beast half-awake. He’d shown an affinity for driving, for expensive cars, and for the patience it takes waiting on a man like myself. I’d plucked him from the Shadows and given him the assignment. The black Jaguar is spotless, as always. He keeps it that way–like it proves something.

I slide into the backseat without a word. He nods, eyes on the road, and pulls away from the curb.

I stare out the window, watching the city blur. The neon halos and smeared streetlights. The tallest, of course, is the hotel, the backlit ‘M’ watching as we head home. We’ve just entered the forest when the car jerks to a sudden stop. Kendrick slams the brakes, nearly fishtailing on the curve. The seatbelt locks across my chest, snapping me into place. “What the hell?”

Two figures stand off the shoulder, half-shrouded… one of them lifts a hand. The other crouches next to a familiar shape. Eyes reflect off the headlights. Ares.

I push the door open before Kendrick even puts the car in park. “DK? Hunter?” I stop a few feet away. “What the fuck are you doing out here?”

DK straightens slowly, and I notice the compound bow on his back and how the soles of his boots are covered in mud. Ares lets out a low whine, pacing in a tight circle like he’s still tracking a scent. These men are hunting, and I have a terrible feeling I know who.

Damon runs a hand through his hair, confirming my fear. “She’s gone.”

I step closer, voice flat. “Gone where?”

Hunter speaks this time, voice quiet. “We tracked her all the way from the forest down here to the road. Ares has lost the scent.”

My pulse slows, then starts to pound. “Was she taken?” My mind spins, thinking of all the people on the grounds for the wedding and reception. I let my guard down, left her alone. “Did you find anything?”

“No,” Damon says quickly. “No. It wasn’t like that.”

“She–” Hunter hesitates. “She snapped. Or something close to it.”

I stare at them, waiting. “What do you mean, ‘snapped?’”

DK shrugs once. “We went to check on her after you left. She was upset.”

“I’m aware of the state of the Baroness when I left her this morning.”

His teeth pull at that ring in his lip. “You said we could have her and…”

He doesn't finish.

Hunter does. “DK fucked her.”

“Well you came all over her pussy,” he argues.

I close my eyes for half a breath, say nothing, and let the silence stretch until they squirm. The weight of this presses behind my ribs like a knife laid flat. I don’t ask what they did to her, not specifically. I don’t need to. I know both of their inclinations. What they didn’t know is that I’d already shattered her–mind and body–and removing their restrictions so soon after was on me.

“And then?”

“We left her to rest,” Hunter says, “and to dig into the assignment you left us. We figured she’d sleep, shower, get herself together, but when we went back to get her the place was a fucking mess.”

“She wrote all over the goddamn walls. Psycho shit.” DK’s hand rakes into his hair. “We started searching right away figuring she couldn’t have gotten far, but like we said, once we got to the road her trail vanished.”

“Because she got in someone’s car,” I say, casting a look down the deserted road.

My Barons glance at one another, both aware of the danger of any young woman in Forsyth being out alone right now, much less one that had already escaped a killer.

But I don’t think that’s who Arianette ran into tonight. I think she had a purpose. She told me she had one when she was begging me not to discard her. I turn back toward the car, already barking over my shoulder. “Get in. All of you. Even the damn dog.”