Page 178 of Scavenger's Oath

“She’s strong,” Zane assures, as if willing it to be true.

“She shouldn’t have to be,” Myles whispers.

Looking down at her, my chest aches.

Ivy.

The girl who stitched us back together in a dozen little ways. The girl who gave me something to protect again.

Someoneto protect.

She made me feel like maybe I wasn’t completely dead inside.

I never even got to tell her how much she meant to me. Never actually said the words. And when she was gone, it was all I could think about.

That maybe she didn’t know that all our silly deals were rendered void once she held the entirety of my being. My heart. My soul. My future. My child growing inside her.

And now she’s lying here, beaten and raped. And all I want is to go back and kill Bennett again.

He’d handed her to one of his followers as if he didn’t even want her back. Like he was just making the point that we couldn’t have her.

He should’ve died slower. Both of them.

But I didn’t realise which one was Bennett until I saw the red sigil stitched over the dirty sheet he wore. And he was already laying dead in the straw.

As I reach for more gauze, fantasies of what I wish I’d done flood my mind. If we hadn’t found her in such a bad way, we could’ve made them beg for mercy.

I wanted them to understand what they took, the gravity of their actions. Force them to swallow the full brunt of theconsequences.

In my head Bennett’s screaming, but on the table, Ivy mewls as I shift her body. Rage and tenderness twist until I can’t hold both of them.

The fury collapses under its own weight, crumbling into something raw and protective.

I drop my head over her like I’m shielding a flame. Each wrap of bandage a prayer—stay with me.

After dressing the wounds on her back and wrists, I carry Ivy to my bedroom and lay her gently on my bed. Myles doesn’t let go of her hand once. Zane doesn’t speak again.

Leaning over her, my lips brush her temple.

“I love you,” I whisper, too low for the others to catch. If she hears, it’s hers. If not, then at least I’ve said it.

But I want Ivy to hear. To know. Without a doubt.

I’m not running anymore.

Not from her. Not when I almost lost her without telling her what she means to me.

And I swear to God, if Ivy gives me another chance… I’ll never let her down ever again.

I’ll tell her every single day. For the rest of my life.

That I love her.

Chapter 59

Zane

The rain taps against the windows in soft, steady rhythms.