Page 44 of Queen of Diamonds

“You helped,” I said flatly.

He grinned as he hopped from the truck. “Knight lost, I won. I can touch her now.”

“You will absolutely fucking not.”

“Can someone get the goddamned key?” Knight asked from behind me.

I turned back to him, taking him in fully. He was cuffed to a dumpster, though he’d done a number on the metal holding him; it wasn’t broken but it looked pretty mangled. There was a faint trickle of blood trailing from two shallow cuts across the corded muscle of his upper arms. I opened my mouth to ask how that had happened, but then saw the glint of a kitchen knife on the ground.

Right.

Glade was not to be fucked with when it came to sharp objects.

If Kyan had seen the knife when she’d run by, and failed to mention it—actually, I was happier not asking.

“Where’s your shoe?” I asked, noting he was missing one.

“Kicked it to the other side of the van, gave me a chance to grab her.”

“Yet,” Kyan said, fetching the boot that had been tossed across the concrete. “You still fucked it up.”

We took Glade back to the warehouse where Kyan tucked her in before I made sure her cell was firmly locked, and Knight began angrily frying up cold takeout from last night.

“No one talks to her except me,” I growled.

“Can I get this straight?” Kyan straddled one of the dining room chairs. “She tricked Knight into thinking she was in heat, then ran?”

“She’s a fucking snake.” Knight didn’t look at either of us as the cap of the soy sauce flew off as he violently shook it, dumping half the bottle onto his meal. He growled, slamming the pan down and tossing the spatula at the wall. “When it all goes up in flames, that’s on you.”

One-upped by our mate or not, he was too angry—for him especially—and his side of the bond was locked down tight. “She’s a scent match,” he muttered. “She can fuck with our brains.”

“What about what she said when I got there?” Kyan asked mildly.

“What did she say?” I asked.

Knight scowled, taking a breath before he spoke. “She said she had to leave. It would be better for all of us.”

I paused.

What did that mean?

That she cared about us? After all of this? My mind rejected it. “She’s lied since she got here,” I said slowly.

“She was free. I was cuffed.” He wrinkled his nose distastefully as he emptied his ruined meal into the garbage and then stomped over to his room. “No reason for her to lie,” he said, before slamming the door on us both.

I sighed, looking back at Kyan as he stood and stretched. “Well. I’m going to go and put a bit more work into our Brotherhood tracking.” He was doing a deep dive into their movements, trying to figure out where they were, so we’d know if they got close. This warehouse was secure for now, but we hadn’t had Brotherhood eyes searching for us like we knew they would be now.

“You won’t go near her,” I said again.

He just flashed me a grin.

“Before she wakes, can you go out?” I asked, glancing back at the mangled cuffs I’d tossed on the table. They weren’t broken, but they weren’t something I trusted to hold her anymore. Not when she’d proven so intent on getting away. “I need another.” He’d got the last pair, and I didn’t know where from.

Kyan brightened. “You want me to buy her bondage?”

I rolled my eyes. “I want something that will hold her, preferably before she wakes up. I need options if the cell isn’t one.”

“All right,” he said, looking far too mischievous as he got to his feet and made his way toward the metal steps up to his room. “I’ll go later.”

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