Chapter Thirteen #2
“What is it?”
“It’s Jensen. His boys are sniffing around. Think something happened to Court.”
I smile. The kind that bares teeth and whispers you’re next . “Good. Send them an invitation to the party.”
Blake hesitates. “The real kind?”
“The only kind.”
He nods and peels off.
They can sniff all they want. But if they get too close, I’ll rip their fucking noses off.
Court’s daddy might be the real threat, but I’ve already buried worse monsters. And I’m not afraid of adding another body to the pile.
The classroom empties. Buzzing, chattering, sheep filing out of a slaughterhouse. I hold the door until the last one passes me.
Then I step inside.
She doesn’t see me until I’m right behind her.
“How’s my Little Fox’s day going?” I murmur, low and close.
She jumps, drops her bag, spins with wide eyes. “Wyck! You scared me.”
“Why are you so jumpy?” I ask, watching how her teeth dig into her bottom lip like she’s trying not to break. “Athens… what’s wrong?”
She doesn’t speak.
Just grabs her phone. Shaky fingers. Pale knuckles. She taps, hands it to me.
The second I read the message, something inside me detonates .
Where did the ‘O’ go: Bitch, I will kill you when I find you. Don’t fucking underestimate what I’m capable of.
My fingers curl around her phone, bones creaking from the force of my grip.
“Athens,” I whisper through clenched teeth. “Who sent this?”
She gives a nervous laugh that doesn’t reach her eyes. “Your father.”
My father.
The disease I haven’t burned out yet.
“Kill you?” she asks. “Why would he want to kill me?”
My voice is a snarl now. “I don’t know. But we’re going to find out. And when we do, he’ll wish death came sooner.”
I pull out my phone. Dial. “Get the others. Meet me at my father’s house.”
Then I reach for her hand and drag her out of the classroom.
I don’t mean to be rough. But when someone threatens what’s mine , they don’t get warnings. They get buried .
“Wyck, slow down!” she pants, trying to keep up. “Where are we going?”
“To pay your soon-to-be ex-husband a visit.”
She stops cold. “No. No, I can’t go over there. You saw what the text said.”
“It’s cute when you whine, Little Fox. But not right now.” My voice sharpens. “If that coward thinks he can send you threats and walk away untouched, then he’s clearly forgotten who the fuck I am.”
And maybe I forgot, too.
Forgot how far I’m willing to go for her.
But I remember now.
She’s quiet for a beat. Then: “I’m sorry, Wyck.”
I freeze.
Spin back. My rage cracks at the edges. “Don’t you ever apologize for something that he did.”
I pull her into my arms. Tight. Like I can anchor her. Like I can keep the shadows from touching her.
“I’m not mad at you,” I say against her temple. “I’m just fucking done with him. With all of them. The Elders. The lies. The way they think we’re still their pawns. They’ve mistaken our silence for obedience.”
She leans into me, finally softening.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
I kiss her hair. She tastes like storm clouds and trust I don’t deserve.
And then I ask, because I can’t help it. “Why is his name saved as Where did the O go ?”
She looks away, but I see the heat bloom in her cheeks. “Because I never had an orgasm with him.”
What the fuck.
I blink. “So… when I heard you two back then?”
“Faking it. Every time.”
My knuckles whiten on the wheel as I slide into the driver’s seat. She climbs in next to me.
“Wyck, why do you think I’m so… dickmatized?” she asks.
I choke on a laugh. “I’m sorry, what the hell did you just say?”
She shrugs. “It’s a word, okay? My friend Sonya told me.”
“I want her last name,” I deadpan. “Now.”
“You are not sending Wells after her.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
She smirks, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. The fear’s still there.
Then she says it.
“Wyck… I’m scared.”
I press a button. My seat slides back. “Come here.”
She crawls onto my lap without hesitation. I cradle her there. Her weight. Her warmth. Her trust.
“It’s going to be okay,” I promise. “Because we’re not hiding anymore. We’re not pretending to play by their rules. And Devils don’t beg. We burn .”
Whatever’s in the dark?
We’re dragging it into the light.
And if it fights?
We’ll bury it alive.
I flip the autopilot on long enough to strap us both in.
Then I grip the wheel again, but not before pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, soft, reverent, like she’s the last holy thing I haven’t destroyed.
“Wyck,” she murmurs, voice muffled against my chest, “you can’t seriously drive with me in your lap.”
I smirk. “Watch me.”
Her body fits too perfectly here, like she was carved for this position. Caged against me, her back to my chest, her heartbeat trying to keep pace with mine.
“I like the way you feel right where you are,” I murmur into her ear. “Is it so wrong that I want you close while I go to war?”
She snorts. “Ah, how sweet. You’re practically a poet.”
“Thank you, milady. Now shut up and enjoy the ride,” I grin, darkness creeping beneath my tone. “Because once we get there… things might get biblical.”
She shifts in my lap just enough to tilt her head up, eyes searching mine. “What are you going to do?”
I don't hesitate. “Whatever needs to be done.”
A beat passes.
“Nobody, and I mean nobody , threatens the woman I love and walks away breathing.”
Silence thickens. She blinks up at me. “You really love me?”
I glance down at her, jaw tight, blood humming under my skin.
“Don’t play dumb,” I say, voice low and raw. “I’ve already told you I do.”
“Have you?” she teases, giggling as she drops her head back to my chest, her ear pressed right over the steady thump of my heart.
Like she wants proof of it.
She’ll have more than proof by the time tonight ends.
Because we’re pulling up now, into the lion’s den. My father’s estate rises like a mausoleum ahead of us, perfectly manicured, polished, and rotting from the inside out .
I see it burning before we even step foot on the marble steps. I see the windows shattering, flames licking up the stone walls, his screams trapped behind the same walls he used to trap others.
He’s not getting out this time.
I slide out of the car with her still in my arms. She lands lightly on her feet, just as Karter, Dash, Onyx, and Wells roll up beside us in synchronized perfection, dark engines purring like beasts ready to maul.
They don’t hesitate. All four pile out.
Wells cracks his neck, his smile sharp. “Please tell me I get to fuck some shit up tonight.”
Athens raises a brow, lips twitching. “I’ve never heard you make that sound before. Do it again.”
“There’s a lot of sounds you haven’t heard me make yet,” Wells growls, walking straight toward her with that predator glide. He doesn’t stop until he’s scooping her into his arms, spinning her around like the war isn’t about to begin.
Her laughter cuts through the darkness like a blade of light.
And somehow, we let it .
We want it.
Because this is the calm before the bloodstorm.
I wait until she’s back on her feet before I speak, voice cold steel wrapped in velvet.
“Alright, Devils,” I say, eyeing the mansion like I’m already dragging a match across its bones. “Let’s go in there and remind Daddy Dearest what a real fucking Devil looks like.”
No more masks.
No more mercy.
It’s time we bring hell to his doorstep, and make him beg to be buried in it.