He definitely knew how to make an entrance.

Though Bear had been pissed when they’d first come in—for good reason, Iris thought—he’d calmed down in the time since. They had asked for a moment, sending Iris and Wren to the living room. Standing around awkwardly, they both ignored the elephant in the room.

Or at least until Iris couldn’t take the silence any longer. “So … you and Bear?”

It made sense. The way the two of them were when they were together, or Bear’s vicious protectiveness of her whenever they were at the compound. He said he couldn’t afford to get involved—though he’d helped, in his own way, in the end—that he was thinking of more than just himself.

At the time, Iris had only been concerned with making sure Synek stayed alive long enough for Winter and the Wild Bunch to rescue him. She hadn’t considered that the person he was more interested in protecting was Wren.

“You and Syn?” came her squeaked reply, but there was a bit of an edge to the question. Daring her to answer just as she had done her.

But it wasn’t like that between them.

“Mutual interests. That’s all.”

“That’s not what Rosalie thought.”

“What?”

Wren seemed to realize she’d said more than she meant, her eyes growing wide as her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “After that first day … she said he liked you. That was why he didn’t kill you.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch.”

He hadn’t had the chance to kill her was all, at least not then.

Though he had since …

“No,” she said, more firmly this time. “It isn’t. I knew him then too.”

Iris had never thought to ask her if she knew Syn, not that they had ever really had a chance to talk. Usually, she was doing her best to get in and out of the compound as quickly as possible.

She glanced toward the back of the apartment, wondering how much time they had before Synek and Bear came out. “This thing between him and Rosalie … what was it? Before, I mean.”

Wren cleared her throat, glancing back as Iris had before she took a step forward and lowered her voice. “They were together, I think, in the very beginning. But Syn wasn’t—isn’t—cruel the way she is.” Her skepticism must have shown on her face because Wren said, “He’s always been nice to me, even when he didn’t have to be, and Rosalie demanded he be. The others got into fights all the time—with others or the people they kept there as pets—but he only made an example of one of the Wraiths whenever they picked on someone who couldn’t fight back.”

Unbidden, Iris thought of Winter, of the story of a little girl who’d have been killed if Synek hadn’t stepped in.

“Bear told me once that Syn wasn’t like the rest of them—that he felt things more strongly than he showed because he was a street kid. He put up with it for as long as he could until he snapped.” Wren shook her head, and it almost looked as if she felt sorry for him. “Probably a good thing he hadn’t been at the compound when he lost it. I’d be surprised if anyone made it out of there.”

“Yet Rosalie thought he liked me?” Iris asked, still not believing it. “We might be working together, but I don’t for a second believe that he won’t harm me if I don’t do what he asks.”

“She said he wouldn’t stop talking about you or asking about you. I only know because she’d been ranting about it to Rook when I had to bring them drinks.”

That didn’t sound much like he liked her … more like obsessed.

Iris shook her head. “He hates me.”

“Yet you’re here.”

“We’re working together.”

“He’s protecting you.”

“How do you figure?”

Wren smiled like the answer was right there, and Iris was the one who couldn’t see it. “He could’ve come to Bear first.”

Iris opened her mouth to respond but hesitated.

He’d said he wanted her help with the Wraiths, but he didn’t. Not really. Just as he was doing tonight, he could get everything from Bear to do whatever it was that he was planning.

And though he’d mentioned her aiding him to Bear, he hadn’t asked her anything about the Wraiths yet. If anything, he’d seemed more curious about her.

Now she didn’t know what to think.

Nothing about Synek made sense.

* * *

“Shit kinda fell into limbo once you left,” Bear said as he walked over to the nightstand and pulled out a sealed jar filled to the very top with marijuana. Not even five minutes later, he had a blunt rolled and was fishing for his lighter. “Johnny was calling for your head, but who the fuck do you send after the person who usually handles that kinda shit?”

Synek pulled up a chair and dropped into it, resting his gun on his lap. “Probably wouldn’t have ended well for you if you did.”

Bear gave him a knowing look. “Obviously, asshole.”

“Not because of me, but because I’d already signed a contract, which made me the property of the Kingmaker, and believe me, mate, he doesn’t fuck about with his investments.”

“That’s how you were able to stay gone so long, right? He took care of that.”

“For the most part.” The rest centered completely on the fact that he rarely visited New York at all, and if he did, it was never long enough to appear on their radar.

Which made him wonder all the more how they’d known where he would be that night.

“Right, well, it gave Rosalie enough time to take over after Johnny had that accident.”

Accident in their world could mean a number of things.

Synek didn’t particularly care one way or the other to ask.

“Can’t imagine that’s good for business.”

“She’s cutthroat and ruthless. You cross her once, and you’re done. Would be good, in theory, if she wasn’t a fucking mental case.”

The only thing that topped Rosalie’s love of money was her sadism. She enjoyed causing others pain and didn’t give a shit how she went about causing it.

“We’re bleeding clients and money. She’s even pissing off the Volkovs. Why she’d want to try to fuck over Russians, I couldn’t tell you, but she’s about to cause more problems for us than even you. But the old man can’t fix her shit like he used to.”

Synek pictured the once big man he remembered from his past and the gaunt wheelchair-bound one he’d seen weeks prior. He tried to muster even an ounce of sorrow for him, but he managed a mild itch.

“Then maybe it’s time for new management,” Synek suggested.

Bear tried not to show it—the desire he felt for the top spot—but if there was one thing Synek could do, it was read the emotions no one wanted another to see. It only took a fleeting second for an expression to cross a man’s face, an expression most people missed.

Never by Synek.

Micro expressions were what they called them.

He was practically a human lie detector.

Yet he hadn’t seen Iris coming.

“You’d have better luck just taking off. She’s already given the order. There won’t be any more torture for you.”

“That’s my risk to take,” he reminded him. “Besides, someone’s going to answer for what was done to me, no matter what it might cost.”

“You sure about that?” Bear asked. “Because correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Rosalie mold herself into that girl? And where the hell is she anyway? Considering the shit storm coming after you, I’d think you’d have her with you.” His gaze flickered past him to the door. “Not Iris.”

There was a question there. One he had no intention of answering. “She wouldn’t get close enough to do her any damage,” he said instead, “but it’s not going to matter because Rosalie isn’t going to be around long enough to be any more of a threat.”

“Which is why you came here …?”

Synek shrugged.

Bear scratched at his beard again, a nervous tic he hadn’t gotten a handle on since the last time they were in a room together—making it all the easier to read him. It almost meant he probably wouldn’t like what Bear said next.

“I can’t betray the brotherhood, Syn. I took an oath.”

They all had at one point or another.

Synek’s initiation hadn’t been as official as many of the others, but when he’d laid on the table and got his chest piece done with the Wraiths’ logo embedded in his skin, that was as much of an oath as speaking one.

Blood for blood. Wraiths before all.

“It’s not about betraying the brotherhood. Is business still on the up? If your answer is no, help me with this, and you can rebuild the Wraiths from the ashes to whatever you want it to be. A better version of itself, or whatever.”

“From the ashes.”

Synek grinned. “I plan to burn it all. Save a few people of your choosing.” When Bear hesitated again, he added, “And you could do away with the whole debt system they have in place … unless you want there to be more Wrens.”

That got a frown out of him, grinding his blunt out in the ashtray. “That’s low, Syn.”

“I speak the truth.”

“A pain in my ass is what you are.”

“But you’re going to help me?”

“Don’t see what choice you’re giving me,” Bear answered dryly. “You’re pointing a gun at me.”

As good of an agreeance as any. “I need her schedule. Where she goes, with who—the works. Once I have it, give me about a week to see it done.”

Probably days with the mood he was in.

“And the girl in there? Far be it for me to give you any advice ’cause you barely listen as is, but isn’t that a little fucking odd to be with the woman who brought you in to the Wraiths in the first place?”

“I would have done the same,” he answered, sitting back. “Wouldn’t have asked questions. Did what I was told. We both did, didn’t we? Except between the three of us, she was the only one to try to fix what she fucked up.”

Bear was quiet a moment. “She’s not bad people. Asked about you.”

He could only imagine the stories he’d told her. “And?”

“Not much to tell ’cause I don’t know shit. Besides, I get it.”

“What’s that?”

“Enemy of your enemy is your friend.”

“Something like that.”

“Mmm. You’ve been careful this long,” Bear said, standing. “Don’t fuck it up.”

“Could say the same to you. How long’s it been since you started creeping on Wren?”

“Fuck off, Syn.”

He only laughed. “Get back to me when you have what I need.”

Before they reached the door, Bear paused. “I’ll also send you a list.”

“A list?”

“Of the people you can’t kill.”

“Feeling sentimental?”

“If I’m rebuilding, I’ll need a crew loyal to me.”

That was all that mattered in the end, after all—where one’s loyalty lay.