Page 60 of Knuckles & Knives

He nearly died because of me.

I squeeze my eyes shut, water mixing with tears I refuse to acknowledge. I’m Raven Blackwood. I don’t cry. I command, I plan, I kill if I have to. But right now, I feel like a fragile thing wrapped in steel armor that’s starting to crack.

What if next time it’s Marcus, who always puts logic before self-preservation?

What if it’s Axel, charging into danger with that reckless fire that makes him impossible not to love?

What if it’s Kieran, torn between the family he was born into and the one he’s choosing?

What if I lose one of them?

The thought claws down my spine like ice. I can’t lose them. Not any of them. We’ve bled together, fought together,lovedtogether. They aren’t just my allies or my lovers.

They’re my home.

The water cools to a more tolerable temperature, but I barely notice. My heartbeat slows as I breathe in the steam, force myself to calm. To focus.

There’s still a war to fight. A city to take. And now… a family to protect.

I reach for the faucet and shut the water off. Tomorrow, we start hunting the men who dared come for us.

But tonight, I let myself feel. Just for a minute.

And then I bury it again.

Over the next few hours,as Dom becomes more alert and the immediate crisis passes, each of my men visits him. I watch through the glass as Axel sits beside the bed, his usual restless energy subdued to something almost gentle. Kieran stands at attention like he’s reporting to a commanding officer, but his voice is softer than usual. Marcus pulls up a chair and speaks quietly, probably filling Dom in on what he’s discovered about the attack.

But it’s when we’re all together in the room that evening that the real conversations happen.

“I’ve identified the leak,” Marcus announces without preamble. “Tommy Schneider, one of the bartenders. Been feeding information to a middleman. I cross-referenced burner numbers from the first attack and found a disturbing overlap.”

“You think the two are connected?” Dom asks sharply.

“It’s more than that,” Marcus replies. “The middleman Tommy used? It’s the same contact Elias Voss used during the first breach. That’s not a coincidence. It’s coordination. Someone’s pulling strings behind the scenes, targeting our soft spots one by one.”

That sick feeling curls low in my stomach again. First Elias, now Tommy—both low-profile, easily overlooked, both with access to the kind of intel you don’t sell unless someone teaches you what to look for.

Someone out there is running a long game.

“Where is he now?” Dom asks, his voice still rough but carrying that dangerous edge that means someone is about to have a very bad day.

“Secured. Waiting for your decision on how to handle it.”

“My decision?” Dom looks around at all of us. “This affects all of us. We decide together.”

It’s a small thing but significant. Even injured, even having just taken a bullet for me, Dom is thinking about our unity.

“He could have gotten Raven killed,” Axel says, his voice carrying barely controlled violence. “There’s only one appropriate response to that.”

“Agreed,” Kieran says coldly, “but we need information first. Who hired him, how long this has been planned, what else they know. This is two traitors now. There cannot be a third.”

“I can get that information,” Marcus offers. “Give me twelve hours with him.”

Axel makes a face but doesn’t object, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes his way into the room with Marcus and Tommy.

“And then?” I ask.

Dom’s dark eyes meet mine. “Then we make an example. Anyone who betrays us, anyone who puts you in danger, dies. No exceptions, no mercy.”