Page 117 of Warrior

And if I saw any marks on the inside of her elbows, I might’ve brushed it off. I should’ve pushed harder. Peeling offher soaking-wet,freezingclothes wasn’t a sexual act, though. I wasn’t staring at her chest—I wanted her covered.

I heave a sigh.

Keeping tabs on her was a side project, but even I’m man enough to admit that I was distracted. Not only by Saint, although he’s a delicious factor, but by my job. It’s the whole reason I came to Sterling Falls.

Imagine entering the city with one purpose—and a secondary motivation on the side—only to find…Artemis.

What started as a simple exploration of what Sterling Falls had to offer became so much more. An addiction in and of itself.

“They’re better off gone,” I murmur, more to myself than Gabriel.

He nods along anyway.

Movement on the stairs above us draws our attention. I automatically straighten, and so does Gabriel. His spine snaps straight instantly, all signs of mania gone.

The truth is… this wasn’t my idea.

And it wasn’t Gabriel’s.

I elbow him, and we step up to the railing. He makes a motion, and the music abruptly cuts out. Saint has made his way down to Antonio. The crowd around them immediately spots us, and a rushing whisper, like an ocean’s tide, sweeps across them.

Gabriel leans on it, frowning down at them.

I glance back just as Marcus Graves steps into view.

31ARTEMIS

I take a deep breath.Fear rattles me, but I’ve never let that stop me. Not when I was on my own last year, or when I was in the depths of Terror. I survived it all—why should this be any different?

“What are you going to do?” I ask Reese. Because what Idoknow is that he’s going to leave me here.

He sighs. “I don’t know. I need to get back to the truck and stash it somewhere safe.”

Because… he said there was something valuable in it. It’s why we parked far from Bow & Arrow. I don’t even remember the walk to his truck.

“What did you find?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t want to say.”

Bobby pops up onto the deck. “It’s just ahead. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Thanks,” Reese murmurs.

The wind lifts my hair. I pull it over one shoulder, quickly braiding it and looping my hair tie around the ends. The hair tie I resorted to using as a tourniquet…

Shame smacks me in the face.

“Can you get to Emerald Cove?” I ask.

He raises a shoulder. “I think I should find Saint.”

Fuck. How the hell did I forget that we left Saint at Bow & Arrow? Gabriel was there—would he do something to him? I grab Reese’s arm, panic surging.

“Kade will keep him safe,” he says, although there’s a note of uncertainty there. “I’ll go back and find them both. Kade owes us answers anyway. And… there’s something else I have to do.”

“Go to my brother’s house if you need a safe place,” I advise. “It’s between the Hell Hounds’ compound and Olympus, but they kept it in Kora’s name. It should be off Gabriel’s radar. Do you have a pen and paper?”

As far as I know, Kora Sinclair is a foreign name to him and Kade.

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