Page 160 of Scavenger's Oath

He’s watching me exhaust myself beating this scum, staring at our prisoner with fire in his eyes. Rolling his shoulders, he paces the room again, like it’s helping him hold back. But his voice has lost every trace of patience

We’ve been asking the same question for an hour. Testing my restraint when all I want is to bleed this snake dry.

“Where. Did. They. Take. Her?” I snarl.

The fuckerjust grins, lips split, red streaming from his face. Every time he refuses, my fists find a new place to land.

I want to tear this entire town down brick by fucking brick until I find her. But I know she won’t be here.

Phoenix’s voice booms from the hall as he enters. “We were supposed to watch her!”

He storms through the room like a live wire, hunting knife clenched in hand. Face twisting in fury, he looks like he’s one breath away from completely shattering.

And for a second, I see something that makes my blood chill.

He’s… scared.

Phoenix. The man who never flinches, never falters. Never even cracked since he hardened after losing Gemma.He’sscared.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Phoenix screams, pointing the blade at Zane. “You took her out there!Youlet them take her back! She never should’ve been outside! She was a sitting duck out there!”

Zane’s eyes flash with violence, mouth a hard line. “She needed it. She was wilting,” he growls.

She was. We all saw it.

Ivy smiled, yeah. But it never reached her eyes. I just kept thinking if I stayed close, if I kept giving her little things—blankets, food, orgasms, a goddamn flower I found on the side of the road—she’d brighten. I would’ve given her the world if it’d make her justbreatheagain.

“Well now she’s gone!” Phoenix’s voice cracks, and it slices through me.

Zane’s nostrils flare. “Don’t you fuckingdareput this all on me!” he roars.

“You’re the one who gave her a fucking garden, Zane!”

“She needed to breathe!” Zane shouts. “You were both fine with it. You both agreed!”

“I didn’t agree to her getting taken!”

They ripped her from under us like it was nothing. Like she’s stilltheirsand they’d just been waiting for their chance.

Leaning on the back of the chair, I try to breathe normally, but everything’s spinning, my hands trembling.

“You two can rip each other apart later,” I snarl. “We need to find her. Now. This motherfucker needs to start talking!” I emphasise my point by punching our prisoner again. Head rolling, he sputters more blood.

But it doesn’t stop dark thoughts flooding my brain.

What if she’s already chained up back in that place being beaten? What if she’s screaming for us right now? What if they’ve killed her and our baby?

My stomach lurches but my mind won’t stop.

I see her lying on a dirt floor, stripped naked, knees pulled up around her belly, shielding it with her hands. One of those bastards climbing on top of her as she sobs my name hopelessly. Her eyes going glassy… giving up… shutting down.

I squeeze my eyes shut.No. No. No!

The image almost buckles my knees. If she’s calling my name and I’m not there—what kind of man does that make me?

Stalking forward, Phoenix flips the knife in his hand and leans down till he’s eye-to-eye with the man. His voice rumbles low enough to make even me shiver. “We can start cutting, or you can start talking.”

The scumbag in the chair freezes, eyes darting to the door, the window, anywhere but us.