Page 152 of Bite Marks & Broken Hearts

“Where’s Vale?” Seb snapped.

“The vampires slipped away.” Kit’s voice made me jump. I turned—and immediately regretted it. He stood completely naked, bare to the world. I pointedly snapped my eyes back to Seb’s face. Thank goodness for the darkness.

“They freed Adrian Knox and ran for it. With all the wounded, the pack had no choice but to let them go,” Kit continued. “They’d already lost one life. No sense risking more bloodshed.”

My gaze once again found the dead wolf, surely an acquaintance of Kit and Rory, if not a friend. Pain twisted in my stomach as a nude female pack member pulled the wolf’s enormous head onto her lap, whispering something into their ear.

Seb sighed deeply, and I knew he’d already absorbed the weight of the death. “Agreed.”

Kit made a grunting sound, and I couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles rippled beneath his skin. Fresh scratches marked his shoulders, already beginning to heal.

“You can stay shifted if you need to,” Seb said. “If the pull of the moon is too much.”

Kit’s jaw clenched, another ripple of tension moving through his powerful frame. “I’ll manage.” His eyes darted between the trees. Something about his stance changed—less wolf, more soldier.

“Kit.” Seb’s voice was gentle but firm as he gripped Kit’s shoulder. “Are you with us?”

Kit’s eyes had taken on a glassy quality, fixed on some distant point. His chest rose and fell in quick bursts.

“Talk to me,” Seb pressed, stepping closer. The tenderness in his voice surprised me—I’d never heard him speak to anyone that way except me. “What do you need?”

For a moment, Kit remained frozen. Then he drew in a deep breath through his nose, held it, and released it slowly. A ghost of his usual wry smile tugged at his lips.

Kit’s hand came up to pat Seb’s where it gripped his shoulder. “Nothing to worry about, boss. I’ll call Maxwell, get him on this cleanup.”

Nodding at Kit once, Seb straightened his shoulders as he shifted into leader mode, barking other instructions. The familiar, commanding tone was back, though his hand kept finding ways to brush against mine.

“Thank you,” he told the wolves who’d fought alongside us. With blood-soaked fur, and the full moon illuminating their pained eyes, they pressed tightly together. They’d lost one of their own, whereas we’d gotten lucky. “We couldn’t have done this without your support. You’vedone London a great service. Our children will sleep safer tonight. But my deepest condolences for your lost family member. Killigrew Street will remember this.”

Most of them melted into the shadows, leaving just our core team. Tension still radiated from Seb—Vale’s escape clearly bothered him. I wished he wouldn’t dwell on that failure. We’d won. We’d survived.

I squeezed his hand. “Hey. We did it.”

The hard line of his mouth softened. “We did.”

We reached the van, and I automatically slid into the passenger seat beside him, shooting him a grin as I clicked the seatbelt in. The engine purred to life, and Felix’s voice crackled through the speakers.

“Congratulations on not dying horribly! Also, I’ve got some absolutely spectacular footage of everything. The bit where Seb went full vampire batman? Pure cinema.”

“Felix,” Seb growled, then muttered to me, “That kid has certainly come out of his shell. I blame you.”

“Just saying, boss. This is definitely going in my highlights reel.”

Priya’s voice cut in. “Felix, go warm up the milk. I’m making everyone hot chocolate when we get back.”

“With marshmallows?” I asked hopefully.

“Obviously. What am I, a monster?”

“So,” Rory chimed in. “Am I allowed to give Flynn his codename now? Because I’ve brainstormed several options. First up…”

I caught Seb’s eye, and we shared a smile. His hand found mine across the console, our fingers intertwining like they’d always been meant to fit together.

34

Epilogue - Flynn

Six Months Later

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