Page 57 of Skyla

“No one’s going to like that.”

I snarled. “They don’t have to like it. We don’t want the whole damn world turning on us, so we’ll wait for proof.”

He held up his hands. “Didn’t say I felt that way.”

“Meet in the common room at midnight. Go to work,” I said.

Grave didn’t speak often, and the last couple of days it felt like he’d said more words than the entire time I’d known him. But when he spoke with the members, his words held weight. He would sway them.

“Delta.”

“Where is she?” He jogged over from the gate.

“The infirmary. Tomorrow I need you to go digging again. The Crimson Petal was burned to ash. Let’s find out if there’s insurance on it.”

A devious smile crossed his face. “Oh, I’m sure Kramer was up to some shady shit like that. I’ll find it.”

“Let me know what you find, and be in the common room at midnight.”

He frowned. “Okay, but why?”

“Discipline.”

Revving engines drew my attention, the prospects screaming toward us at full speed. More than one bundle lay across the back of their bikes. Perfect. They were learning well. “You might get play time tonight, Delta. Some people are going to die.”

“Yesss.” He grinned, eyes shining in the dark.

Something like this couldn’t go unchallenged, even if it wasn’t the Legion. You didn’t fuck with the Iron Shadows and live. That’s the way it was.

They stopped in the center of the plaza, kicking the stands down on their bikes and hauling the two men off their bikes to throw them at my feet. “Where’s the SUV?”

“Dust,” one prospect ground out. “Didn’t think you’d want it found.”

“Correct. Well done. Put them on their knees.”

The two humans glared at me as if their stares could do something other than make me laugh. They weren’t gagged, but in a few minutes they would wish they were.

“Delta, give me your knife.”

I didn’t look at him as he put the butterfly knife in my hand. Crouching down, I put myself on their level, even though they didn’t deserve it. “Did you beat up that woman?”

They kept their mouths shut.

“Did someone send you to do it?”

Again, silence.

I sighed. “Whether or not you chose to fuck her up, or you were sent to do it, you’re not making it out of this compound alive. So do yourselves a favor and talk, and I’ll make it quick instead of giving you to Delta. He doesn’t get to play enforcer very often, so he’s eager.”

The one on the right flinched. Standing, I moved to him. “Have something to say?” I pressed the tip of the knife into his cheekbone. “You have five seconds before I start the carving.”

“It wasn’t our idea,” he blurted out. “And they said you’d be too busy with everything else to even notice us and her.”

“Who’sthey?”

No answer.

“Why was she the one targeted?”