Page 94 of Scavenger's Oath

“He’ll come around. You don’t have to be scared of him,” he says.

I turn back to the window. Myles is still there, glistening muscles rippling with each movement as he lays into the filing cabinet like it’s a punching bag.

‘Scared’isn’t the right word anymore. Intimidated, maybe. But whatever it is, the feeling sends waves through my body that pool between my legs and make my core throb with need.

“Is he always like this?” I ask quietly, ignoring Phoenix’s previous comment.

“Like what? Throwing tantrums?” he chuckles.

“No…” I trail off, unable to find the words to describe Myles.

“Destructive?”

“No. It’s more like…” I sigh, looking back to Phoenix. “I don’t know. Like he was scared of losing me. Like he was sure he was.”

Phoenix sighs and steps up next to me, looking down through the window to watch Myles’s chaos. “Pretty much, yeah.”

I take the moment to examine Phoenix’s chiselled features. That straight nose, those dark eyes, high cheekbones, tight jaw. He looks like he hasn’t smiled for years. Maybe even forgotten how to.

“Why is he like that?” I question softly, unsure if I’m allowed to ask.

His focus turns back to me, then drifts lower to my lips. His gaze travels down my body slowly, making heat rise in my core. Then his eyes snap back to mine like he only just realised what he was doing.

The moment is thick, unfinished business hanging in the air between us. His fingers inside me, voice a rough whisper, taunting me for how desperate I was. How Ilikedthe way he teased me for it.

My pulse quickens.

But he looks back out the window and rubs the back of his neck like he’s not sure if he should tell me. “His mum was anaddict, so he was raised in foster care until he finally ran away.”

He releases a heavy sigh and steps away from the window. “I met him in the army. He’s calmed down a lot since then, but everything important was taken from him as a kid. Now Myles refuses to lose anything else,” Phoenix says with a shrug.

Walking toward the door, he adds, “fighting’s the only way he knows how to communicate… and he knows he can’t fight you. He doesn’t know what to do with you.”

Heavy silence settles over the room as Phoenix continues out the door.

I look back toward the window, digesting what he said.

“You want a shower?”

I jolt at Phoenix’s voice, surprised to find him still standing at the door.

My skin prickles with anticipation remembering the last time he took me.

Zane isn’t here if something goes wrong.

But I still nod.

Chapter 32

Ivy

Even in the cold tiled room, my body floods with heat.

I can feel the tension, the memory of what happened last time we were in these showers—before everything blew up.

A warm shower is exactly what my rattled mind needs. But my body aches for something else.

Phoenix doesn’t say anything at first. Just flicks the overhead light on. The bathroom glows in soft yellow, the old tiles reflecting it like faded bones.