Page 108 of Riot Rules

“Shut up, Chloe. I don’t give a shit about the room. Have you seen her anywhere?”

She blinks. “Who?”

“WHO DO YOU FUCKING THINK!”

Chloe swallows, inching away until she backs into the counter. Her friends aren’t laughing anymore. “Oh. Uh…Yeah. Right. I saw her leaving with Elodie about an hour ago.”

“Carrie was with Elodie?”

She nods quickly. “I heard them talking. They were arguing about Mara Bancroft.”

50

CARRIE

“Pax, stop fucking around.”Elodie stands, brushing off her dress. “Sorry if you’re having a shitty night, but I just wanna find Wren and get the fuck out of here, okay?”

I already know it’s not Pax. Elodie isn’t thinking clearly. I have no idea how extensive Pax’s tattoos are, but I do know his arms are covered from his wrists to his shoulders, and this guy? Not the slightest hint of ink anywhere to be seen.

The guy in the mask takes a step toward us, his head canting weirdly to one side. “Wren. Yes, Wren. We’re all so desperate for Wren, aren’t we?” he hisses.

“Well, you know where the guy sleeps at night,” Elodie says. “You can settle whatever issues you have with him later back at the house. I thinkmyissues with him are a little more pressing than yours.”

Panic dances up my back, settling around my neck like a noose. I step to the right, but the freak in the mask copies me, blocking my way. “Uhh…Elodie?”

“Pax. Get the fuck out of the way. Or do you want me to embarrass you in front of Carina?” She tries to get around him, but he moves with her too, preventing her from getting by.

Shit, this is bad. Really, really bad. How many times did I marvel at Dash’s naked body? I spent hours studying it. Worshipping it. This is not Dash. Too narrow in the shoulders to be Wren. Which leaves only one option. In the back of my mind, Iknowwho this is. I just don’t want to be right. “Elodie. Elle…I don’t think that’s Pax.”

I rush forward, grabbing her by the hand.

“Who…?” she whispers.

“We kept your secret, okay,” I hiss. “We kept our mouths shut. You swore you wouldn’t do this again.”

Fitz, becauseof courseit’s Fitz, tuts disappointedly. “I hate breaking promises, Carrie, I really do. I thought I’d be over it by now, but…” Slowly, he takes the wolf’s head by the muzzle and slides it off his head. “I just can’t stop loving him. It’s an obsession, I know. I thought I could handle him caring about someone new but it’s impossible. I hate her just as much as I hated the other one.” The look he levels at Elodie makes my stomach twist. Her mouth is hanging open, her eyes wide with shock. We did our job well, hiding Fitz’s involvement in all of this, if her surprise is this genuine. “He’smine, Elodie. The sooner you stupid little bitches get that into your thick skulls, the sooner you can all stop dying.”

She looks like a feather could knock her down.

“Awww. Poor Elodie. He didn’t tell you, did he?” he sneers.

“Tell me what?”

“That he and I were together for a time. A short time, sure, but he just needed some time to see it. He and I, we’re kindred souls. We’re supposed to fucking be together. But you know him. He’s stubborn. Sometimes he won’t admit something unless it’s on his schedule. That’s why he hasn’t told you that he loves you yet, Elodie.

“Hehastold me that he loves me,” she whispers.

Fitz jerks back as if she’s struck him, and alarm bells start to go off in my head. This position we’re in right now? We arenotsafe, and Elodie telling him something like this is only going to make matters worse. “What?” he hisses.

“Hehastold me that he loves me. Hedoeslove me.”

Fuuuuuck, fuck, fuck. “Don’t, Elle.”

Fitz reacts wildly, hitting his own forehead repeatedly with his hands, and…oh no. He has a knife. It’s a terrible thing—a fat, viciously sharp edge that’s notched from the guard to its tip. The steel flashes, bouncing the moonlight it catches all over our little clearing, and fear seizes me by the throat.

“He didn’tsaythat. He’d never say that. He can’t. Wren’s not capable of loving a girl likeyou. He needs more than stupid, silly dresses and scruffy Doc Martin boots, and dumb debate questions. There’s just no way.”

“Wait. That knife. I recognize that knife. That’s the knife that I found sticking out of my bed!” Elodie cries.