Chapter 21
Ash
I threw the desk across the room. It hit the wall, smashing apart instantly. I went to lift another chair.
Dev grabbed my arms.
“Stop it!”
“Where the fuck is she?” I screamed back in his face. “And why won’t they open the goddamn doors?”
K was pacing back and forth, watching the sealed door like he might will it open with the force of his own glare.
But it had been locked for hours while the guards cleared the courtyard.
“Tell me again.” K said to Dev, who stood there looking at the bloody glove still in his hand.
“I don’t see how that would help –“
“Tell me again!”
Dev clutched the glove tighter in his grip. I wanted to rip it from his dirty fingers.
That was Seph’s glove. Not his.
“I don’t know what it was, only that it was - feral.”
“Ash feral?” K asked.
“Fuck you.” I growled.
“Worse.” Dev looked at me. “ It was like a monster – like it was half human, half demon. It ripped into that girl like she was butter. And Seph – “
“Why do you have her glove?” K demanded.
“She dropped it.” Dev said quietly. “In the panic.’
“The gloves she never takes off.”
Dev raised his chin. “Yes. That’s what I saw.”
“What are you hiding?” K stepped forward.
“Me? You accuse me of hiding? After all the shit you told her.”
“What shit?” I asked, my voice thick with suspicion.
“Like the fact he was fucking Sable Quinn.”
“Quinn?” I growled, my body clenching like a fist. “Gideon fucking Quinn’s daughter?”
“Who told you about that?” K asked finally, stepping back.
“Who do you think.” Dev snapped.
“You getting close to Seph, huh Dev?”
“I’m looking out for her. Like you told me to do!”
“Why would Seph tell you that?” I said, confused and pissed.
“Because she’s a Quinn too, Ash,” Dev said finally.
“No she’s not.”
“She is. Persephone Quinn, Gideon’s younger daughter. And our friend K here has been lying to us for years about his involvement with the Quinn family.”
I stared at K.
He stared back.
Silence stretched — one taut, electric second where something hot and poisonous unfurled inside my chest.
K didn’t deny it.
Didn’t flinch.
Didn’t even fucking blink.
That was all it took.
I pounced.
We hit the floor hard. I landed on his chest and drove my fist into his face, knuckles cracking against bone. K snarled and twisted, throwing me off with enough force to rattle the floorboards—but I was already lunging again, teeth bared, seeing red.
“Get the fuck off me, you dickhead!”
“You hurt my girl!” I roared, slamming into him again. He grabbed my arm and chucked me like garbage—I hit the TV, the screen exploding behind me in a shower of black glass.
K wiped blood from his lip, stalking toward me. “You don’t know anything about the shit I have to do for this group! For Elliot!”
“That’s the goddamn point,” Dev snapped, stepping between us, knife hand twitching. “You tell us nothing and expect us to just follow you.”
K glared. “Because if you knew half the—”
He froze.
Not his body—he stayed ready to fight.
But something cracked in his face.
Guilt.
Fear.
Regret.
It made the rage in my chest spike.
“What did you do?” I shouted.
K’s expression twisted—anger and shame tangled together. But then—
he stopped fighting.
He turned away.
Slow.
Heavy.
Sat on the edge of the bed like his legs had given out.
He dragged both hands through his hair, fingers shaking.
“We have a plan,” he said hoarsely. “Remember why we are here. We need to follow through with the plan —”
“I don’t give a shit about the plan,” I snapped, stalking up to him.
I jabbed a finger into his chest.
“Fuck. The. Plan. What. Did. You. Do.”
Dev didn’t speak—but he stepped closer, blade-low, aura sharp enough to cut.
K hunched forward.
Not weak.
Cornered.
He finally looked up at us, eyes raw.
“I lied to keep her safe,” he said quietly.
“And in doing that…
…I think I broke her.”
A siren blared.
The doors clicked, unlocking.
Wild’s voice crackled over the speakers.
“Attention students, you are now free to resume daily activities. Please avoid the courtyard—”
I didn’t hear the rest.
I was already moving.
I sprinted through the doorway, out toward the woods—where she’d run, where her glove had fallen, where the blood trail ended.
Behind me, I heard Dev follow.
And heavier footsteps—
K.
I’m coming, baby. I’ll find you.
And I will never leave your side again.