Page 73 of Scavenger's Oath

And they’re damn lucky I got there when I did. Because if either of them had hurt her… I don't know what I would have done.

But it wouldn't have ended well foreither of them.

Chapter 25

Zane

Sitting with Ivy cradled in my arms feels right.

Her small body curls tight against me like she's trying to vanish into my chest.

She's quiet, trembling, each breath shallow and broken. Keeping my hand moving in slow circles along her back, I try to calm her.

We haven’t said anything to each other since I locked us in here. The building still echoes with the ghost of that fight, even though the shouting has stopped. And I can still see them pulling her back and forth like some fucked-up game of tug-o-war.

My pulse is still jacked and my jaw aches from how hard I'm clenching it.

But she ranto me.

Not Phoenix. Not Myles.

Me.

She choseme. And now she's pressed to my chest, fingers fisted in my shirt like I'm the only steady thing left in her world. And fuck if that doesn't change everything.

“You okay, sweetheart?” I murmur, voice low and rough against her hair.

She nods, then shakes her head. “I don't know,” shewhispers. “I just… I didn't know what to do. I was so scared they’d turn on me.”

I close my eyes. That ache in my chest sharpens, takes root somewhere deep.

“I know,” I breathe, kissing the top of her head. “I'm sorry they made you feel like that. You didn't deserve any of it.”

Ivy pulls back a little, just enough to look at me, and the pain in her eyes damn near drops me. “You don’t scare me though,” she says softly.

It hits harder than it should. A punch right in the ribs.

“Ivy—” I don't even know what I'm trying to say.

“I didn't mean to cause trouble,” she says timidly. “I don’t want them to fight. I like them both so much... the same way I like you. But… you didn’t want me.”

My entire body locks, heart squeezing painfully at her words.She thinks I didn’t want her?

“What?” I ask, but my voice is a rasp.

“It’s okay though,” she whispers, tucking her head under my chin. “After you ran out that day, I thought you were disgusted with me. That you wouldn’t come back. I thought—” She doesn’t finish. But I’m glad she doesn’t.

Lost for words, I glance down at her again. She shifts on my lap. Just a little. But my body reacts anyway.

Goddammit. Now is not the time. Not when she’s shaking like a leaf in a storm.

I’m holding her as if I’m the only thing between her and another breakdown. But the longer she stays on my lap, the more I start noticing things I shouldn’t.

The heat of her pressed against me. My body responds automatically. I can’t stop it.

But then I see the flush on her freckled cheeks. The way her thighs rub together. The subtle peaks of her erect nipples underher new shirt.

Then Myles’s voice runs back through my head, still sharp and full of rage.‘She was about to come on his fingers.’