Page 24

One by one, I move down the line, checking masks, lifting cloaks, and brushing gloved hands across shoulder seams. I watch for every twitch, every suspicious movement.

When I reach Noah. I jerk the edge of his cloak aside and see a faint scuff along the end. It's barely noticeable, but it’s there. Then, along the edge of his mask, it looks like someone dragged it across brick or gravel.

I tilt my head. "Interesting," I murmur. "Where’d that come from?"

Noah shifts uncomfortably. "Must’ve dropped it."

"Bullshit." I grab his collar and yank him forward. "These masks don’t leave this house without permission. And they don’t get scuffed unless someone’s running."

He opens his mouth to defend himself, but I raise a finger. "Shut it. You’ll speak when you're spoken to."

I move on with every intention of returning to Noah.

When I've finished inspecting everyone's attire, I return to the altar.

"If someone in here is hiding something, I will find out," I growl. "And if I do, I won’t ask questions. I’ll rip your fucking throat out and drag your body across every inch of The Chamber walls, before feeding your blood to our forefathers as payment for your betrayal. "

The room holds still; nobody dares move.

"Meeting adjourned…for now," I seethe. "But you’re not off the hook. Surveillance is going up until trust has been restored. Every inch of this house will be monitored. No one and nothing is off-limits."

"Does that include your little pet, Avery?" I hear.

"Who said that?" I snap, turning swiftly, anger burning ten times hotter than before.

Cloaks part until one is left in the center and I walk toward them with menacing steps, my eyes giving way to the predator that lies beneath the mask. I reach out and rip the mask from the asshole's face, tossing it across the concrete at our feet.

Jeremiah.

"Didn’t you learn your lesson before? Or do you need more chores to do to keep you in line?"

His jaw is clenched tight when I shove him in the chest. "Answer me."

His breaths are heavy, and his eyes drift to Noah before snapping back to mine. But I don’t miss the look. If he thinks his buddy is going to save him from my wrath, he's sadly mistaken.

"Since you seem to be so obsessed with what is mine, maybe I should remind you about the evidence we hold that can send you to prison."

Jeremiah’s skin turns pale, and the defiance in his eyes quickly turns to regret. He might not have felt so sorry after scrubbing the walls, but reminding everyone here of what the Ice Lords can really do is where I hold the power.

My finger presses into the center of his chest, applying steady pressure until he winces. "Say her name again, look at her again, and I will ruin you."

"Out!" I order and Jeremiah runs like the little rat he is.

The others waste no time getting the hell out of here, but before Noah can follow, I bark, "Not you, Noah."

He freezes, then turns slowly.

"Take off your mask," I command as I walk toward him with slow and deliberate steps. "Funny how the only damaged mask just happens to be yours."

He opens his mouth to argue, but I cut in. "Sit."

Noah obeys, dropping onto the edge of one of the chairs, hands clenched in his lap like a scolded child.

I crouch so we’re eye level. "Now," I say evenly, "let’s talk."

"I didn’t—" he starts, but I cut him off with a raised hand.

"You think I give a fuck what you didn’t do?" My tone stays cold. "What I care about is how your mask got scuffed, why your cloak smells like smoke, and why you’ve been acting like a nervous little bitch for days."

I pause before continuing. "So here’s what’s going to happen.

You’re going to leave your location on at all times.

We want access to your phone, your car, anything of importance.

If you take a shit in a different building, I want to know.

If we see so much as a blip out of pattern…

" My eyes gleam behind the mask. "We’ll take that as confirmation. "

Noah swallows hard. "You think I had something to do with the graffiti?"

"It wasn't graffiti," I snap. "It was a message. A message someone sent, and if wasn’t you, then you shouldn't mind us watching, right?"

"No," he stutters. "Not at all."

His skin is whiter than a sheet, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he might cry right here.

I lean in, my voice just above a whisper. "Do you know what we do to traitors, Noah?"

His eyes widen, but he doesn't respond.

"We don’t expel them—we erase them."

Aidric leans over Noah’s shoulder, breathing down his neck as I say, "Have you started your orders?"

He hesitates for a second, then nods. "Yeah. I started digging into Hershman’s grades. There's potential there. Looks like the athletic department has been overlooking them for some time while keeping him on the ice."

"Good," I say. "Expose it. I want results before the puck drops in tomorrow's game."

Noah gulps. "I got it. I won’t fuck it up."

I smile coldly and stand. "See that you don’t."

Aidric opens the door slowly and gestures for him to leave.

Noah stumbles to his feet and bolts up the stairs like he’s running from fire.

Once he’s gone, I look at Aidric. "He’s cracking."

Aidric nods.

I clench my jaw. "We need to keep squeezing until something breaks. I’m not sure if Noah has it in him to do something this insane, but I suspect he knows more than he’s saying. After the Evan incident, he seems skittish."

Once we're upstairs, Aidric goes to the kitchen to grab a beer, but I barely make it two steps into the hall before Slade’s slapping a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, man. Got a sec?"

With a quick breath, I nod and follow him down the corridor.

He waits until we’re alone before speaking. "Look, Seb. I get it—structure and order and all that bullshit. But this shit feels less like a brotherhood these days and more like fucking boot camp."

My brows lift. "You got something you want to say, Slade? Say it."

He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah.

I do. This isn't what we signed up for. Treating us all like we're traitors. Being an Ice Lord used to mean something. Now we’re just jumping through hoops, policing each other, tracking phones like fucking federal agents.

Everyone's walking on eggshells lately and all we wanna do is play some hockey and win the games. "

My jaw ticks, but I keep my voice steady.

"We're at war, Slade. One of our own is lying in a hospital bed.

Nothing that's happening is coincidental; it's intentional.

Whether you realize it or not, someone out there is targeting us and someone inside might be helping them.

We can't just pretend this isn't happening. "

His lips press into a tight line, and I step closer.

"I don’t like this any more than you do. But what happened downstairs was necessary. Every single one of us is a liability until we know we can trust each other again."

Slade shifts his weight, still looking uncertain. "I just don’t wanna lose what this used to be."

"Neither do I," I tell him truthfully. "But the only way we keep what we built is by protecting it with control, discipline, and a hell of a lot more paranoia than we’re used to."

Slade exhales and drags a hand through his hair. "Alright. Let's just not forget what we stand for. We break rules, not each other."

A faint smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth. "I’ll keep that in mind. Now go get a drink and cool off."

He nods and disappears down the hall, and I stand alone for a moment, thinking about what he said.

I fucking hate this as much as everyone else does, but it's just temporary until we bury the son of a bitch that's hunting us. The Ice Lords have always been a brotherhood for me; it was the family I chose when I didn't have one.

I will restore it to its greatness one day; I just have to take out a traitor first.