Page 58 of Blood in the Water

When I realized we were going to New York City, fear clawed its way up my throat and threatened to suffocate me. I didn’t want to come back here. I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t doneanythingto get revenge on Max. I didn’t deserve to come back here.

Why had I asked Wynn if I could come with him? It would have been safer to stay at the house and wait for Cas. Now if he got back and I wasn’t there, he was definitely going to lose his shit.

But the thought ofbothin New York, in Max’s territory, had threatened to send me into a spiral if I was left alone in that house. Thank God Wynn had agreed.

Wynn’s hand closed on top of mine where I was squeezing around his torso, and some of that fear dissipated.

He held it there for a minute, maybe two, and my heart quieted back to the simple nerves of riding on the back of a motorcycle goingway too fucking fast.

And honestly? That was a million times better than the paralyzing fear of facing Max again. I tucked my face against Wynn’s back and buried the emotion. Fuck that guy. He didn’t deserve my fear.

Wynn sped back into the city, following the directions to Ciel’s coordinates, but by the time we got close, we could follow the smoke and fire alone.

The building was lit up.

Wynn parked the motorcycle about a block away and quickly removed his helmet. His brow furrowed. “I can’t decide if it’s safer for you outside or to come with me.”

“I’m coming with you,” I said as I pulled off my helmet.

Wynn gave me a brilliant smile that had my heart racing—was that adrenaline from the motorcycle ride? From the burning building in front of us? Or was it because of how damn hot he was?

Didn’t matter. We had to focus.

Wynn quickly unlocked the storage box on the end of his bike and handed me my gun while he took two. Then he tucked two pairs of brass knuckles into his pockets.

“Alright, follow me closely,” he said as he loaded his weapons. “Keep an eye out. You don’t set fire to a building like that and not make sure it burns. This is to cover up evidence.”

I nodded, my fingers coming around the gun. Once again, I wished my father had let me train like Cas and Max had. The last two weeks showed me how powerless I was—and I was fucking tired of that feeling. As soon as we were able, I needed Wynn to teach me. And fast.

“Why isn’t anyone here?” I looked around at the deserted area, expecting to see tons of onlookers, but there was nothing and nobody—at least that we could see. “Firefighters? Police?”

He glanced behind him. “It’s not uncommon for emergency services to be on the payroll of those who set these kinds of fires.”

My mouth narrowed into a thin line.People like my father. People like Max.

Wynn moved through the street and around the building like a snake on the hunt. Completely alert, his head snapped back and forth with every sound and movement. Twice, he lifted his hand to stop us from running directly into some guards—one he had to kill before we could move forward.

With morbid curiosity, I watched as he snapped the man’s neck like a twig. Never had I seen a death so efficient… or clean. And I was slightly surprised that it didn’t bother me at all. Even as I stepped over the body, I found myself completely uncaring.

What Iwassurprised at was how much my attraction for him grew.

Did that mean I was fucking crazy? That something inside me had broken so completely that now I thought murder was attractive? Jury was out.

The heat grew increasingly uncomfortable. I didn’t want to say it out loud, but if Ciel was in there… he was in trouble.

Wynn kicked a door open, and awhooshof heat almost scorched my eyebrows. I jerked back, shielding my face.

“Leona, I don’t want you to go inside there,” Wynn said. He peeked his head inside. “The hallway is relatively clear, but I have no idea where he is, and I’m worried the building could start collapsing.”

“We don’t have time to wait then. I know this isn’t safe, but if he’s injured, you’ll need my help getting him out.”

Wynn let out a heavy breath. “Caspian will try to murder me if you get hurt.”

I held back my smile but had nothing to say in response to that because it was probably true. When we left the safe house, I texted Cas’s burner phone to let him know where we were going. I fully expected him to respond with a string of angry messages yelling at me for leaving, but nothing so far. If anything happened, he’d probably kill us both.

Were any of his caches around here? Maybe he was seeing the same fire.

I followed Wynn inside. He glanced at his phone again. “The tracker says he’s this way. Thank God Ciel can get so specific with these things.”