Page 84 of Riot

“Yeah?”

“I’m so glad you’re alive.”

A soft smile tugged at my lips. “Me too.”

We hung up a minute later, and I stood there in the still room, breathing through the aftershock of that call. My heart was pounding, my thoughts spinning.

Behind the glass, the snake still stared at me. Unblinking. Poised like it could read everything running through me.

“I’m gonna have to talk to Riot about you,” I muttered. “You shouldn’t be locked up either.”

It felt too familiar. Another beautiful, dangerous creature trapped in a tank, staring out at the world it was never allowed to touch. I pressed my hand to the glass again and whispered, “You deserve better too.”

Then I turned and left the room, the weight of reunion and reckoning pressing into my chest, but my spine was straighter than it had been in years.

Chapter 26

RIOT

By the time I got back to the compound, the storm had stopped. I was feeling excited about the potential of King’s Vine. I pulled into the gate, cut the engine, and sat for a second, letting the quiet settle. My head was still buzzing from the meeting with Abra and the latest updates from Creed, but none of that mattered now.

Not once I stepped inside and saw her.

Allure met me at the door, barefoot, in one of those little fitted tank dresses that hugged every curve like it was stitched to her skin. Her hair was out, wild and full like a halo made of night. The second she saw me, she smiled like I was exactly who she needed.

Then she kissed me.

Not shy. Not tentative. She leaned into me like she’d been waiting all day. My arms went around her before I could think twice, hands sliding down to grip the round of her ass as I pulled her close. Her mouth was warm, her tongue teasing mine like she was trying to drive me crazy on purpose.

And it was working.

She broke the kiss first, her breath shaky against my lips. “I need to get out of here.”

What the fuck did she mean by that? “Out?”

She nodded, stepping back just a little. “This place… it’s beautiful, Riot. But it’s starting to feel like a prettier version of Boaz’s compound. The gates, the security, the cages, it’s all a little too familiar.”

That hit me in the gut harder than I expected. I’d brought her here thinking it would be a sanctuary. A fortress. A place where nobody could get to her. But I hadn’t stopped to think about how the structure itself might remind her of everything she’d just escaped.

“I didn’t mean to trap you,” I said quietly, guilt creeping in. “I thought I was protecting you.”

“I know,” she said. “And I’m grateful. But I need air. Streets. People. Life. Just for a bit.”

I nodded slowly, already making the shift in my mind. “What about Harlem?”

Her eyes lit up. “That sounds perfect. That’s exactly what I’m looking for. It’s the complete opposite of this.”

I smirked. “Good. I got a brownstone there. I think you’ll like it. And you’ll be in the heart of everything.”

She smile softly, her body easing just a little. “That’s exactly what I want.”

“Go pack your bags,” I told her, voice dropping. “We’ll leave in twenty.”

She didn’t need to be told twice.

I watched her disappear down the hall and turned away, jaw clenched. I hadn’t meant to trigger her, but the truth was, I still had that soldier’s mentality. Lock it down. Control the perimeter. Eliminate threats. It’s how I stayed alive. Butshe didn’t need a bodyguard with guns anymore. She needed freedom. Healing. Breath.

And damn it, I wanted to give her all of that.

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