She was uneasy around him, not that Synek could blame her.

It had been a long time since he had panicked like that, and usually, no one was around to see it.

For years, he had thought he’d kicked the age-old habit, but he hadn’t, considering he had nearly taken her head off the night before.

Iris was sitting on the sofa, her gaze firmly trained on the telly and a bowl of oatmeal in her lap.

She might have been the picture of ease, but he saw what she didn’t want him to. Like the way her fingers tightened around the spoon she held. Or how she tried not to tense when he got close.

He should have warned her about his unease with dark spaces.

But … they hadn’t had the chance.

After Rosalie, when time was better on their side, he would tell her the rest. All the things he hadn’t told another.

Not because he had to, but because he wanted to.

There was only one thing left to do—one little task, and he would be done with the Wraiths for good.

Not bothering to wait for her to bring it up, he walked right over to her and said, “I’m sorry about last night.”

She glanced down at the food she’d hardly touched. “You don’t have to—”

“I do,” he said and meant it. “I should have warned you or … something.”

“It’s fine, really. I’ll know now to make sure it’s not so dark,” she said softly, and he wasn’t sure whether he was glad for her understanding or not.

When he didn’t respond, now, at least, she finally looked at him. That earlier nervousness was gone.

“I get that you might have a little damage,” Iris said as she stood, coming to stand in front of him. “I do too, so … don’t worry about it. I think I can handle your crazy.”

A smile was forming on his lips for half a second before the sound of the front door opening made him forget all about their conversation.

“It’s not breaking in if I have the code, Răz. That means I’m visiting.”

“Winter?” He’d been moments from shooting her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He didn’t have to ask how she knew where he was. Each of the safe houses had remote monitoring, and since she was in charge of most of the digital security the Den had in place, it wouldn’t have taken her long to figure out which one he was crashing in.

“Why do you sound so affronted?” she asked as she walked toward him, her Romanian not too far behind her.

Jesus fucking Christ.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“I told you if you didn’t—What the hell is she doing here?” Winter asked, looking back and forth between them.

Now it was Iris’s turn to look at him in confusion. “She didn’t know I was here?”

“Is this some form of Stockholm Syndrome I don't know about because this is hella weird.”

And Tăcut, who usually wore some version of displeasure on his face where Synek was involved, actually looked amused.

“She’s helping me,” he said shortly, not in the mood to explain himself.

“She’s helping you bring the governor to the Kingmaker? You could have mentioned that.”

“I—”

“I’m doing what?”

It was the wrong thing for Winter to say because now Iris looked betrayed.

“What’s she talking about?”

Synek readied to reply, but Winter beat him to it. “That’s why I gave you the file.”

Because she’d known that eventually he would learn the truth about Iris and what happened to her father. Winter had never thought for a second that Iris would ever be able to use anything she was given.

He saw that realization reflected on Iris’s face.

“Winter, enough.”

She glared at him.

Even if he hadn’t already been in a shit mood after last night, Synek would have definitely been in one now, considering there was a big Romanian bastard standing in the middle of his floor glaring at him, Winter who looked she was ready to bite his head off, and Iris who shifted on her feet like she wanted to be anywhere but there.

“I’m gonna …” Iris trailed off as she demonstrated the rest of what she didn’t say, but Synek caught her wrist before she could take a step.

Winter looked from him to the hand he had on Iris’s wrist, her confusion only mounting. “When did this happen?”

“I really need to go,” Iris mumbled, gently trying to pull her arm free.

“Stay,” Synek said firmly before turning to Winter. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Me? I should be asking you that, or did you forget she was the one who tricked you in the first place. Because you do shit without thinking it through,” Winter shot back. “You use whatever you can to self-destruct, and sex was always one of those things.”

And she would know, and not just because she’d been around during a few of his down times.

He might have been facing Winter, but he could tell what those words did to Iris. She went tense beside him, and this time, when she tried to pull free, she didn’t stop until he let her go.

“Iris—”

But as she walked away, she didn’t acknowledge him, or them, in any way as she hurried out of the room.

“You taking the fucking piss? What the fuck are you doing?”

Winter looked affronted as she stomped toward him. “I’ve been calling you for days, and you haven’t bothered to return any of them. I’m thinking you’re self-destructing in a drug house somewhere. No, you’re not, you’re perfectly fine and here with her.”

“Did I give you shit when you disappeared on me after you found your Romanian?”

Her mouth snapped shut at that, and while he would have usually left it there, he was too agitated with her to keep his mouth shut.

“And when I did get anything on you, you’d been bloody kidnapped.”

“That’s not the same. Răz and I were …” She trailed off. “You actually like her?”

“What’s that disbelieving tone?”

It was impossible not to like her.

And the last thing he needed was Iris thinking otherwise.

* * *

It wasn’t that Iris particularly disliked Winter—they just hadn’t gotten off on the right foot. And with the way things had gone in there, she doubted they ever would.

There was no question Synek cared about her—he’d given up his life for her—and there was no competing with that.

Not that there was anything to compete over anyway.

It wasn’t as if she’d foolishly developed feelings for the one person in the world she probably shouldn’t have feelings for.

Besides, he wasn’t thinking clearly.

Neither was she, for that matter.

She should have been thinking about what her next move would be once the Wraiths weren’t on her back.

But now, she was too caught up in Synek to think about anything else.

So instead of hanging around, forced to listen to them talk about her as if she wasn’t in the room, she grabbed her jacket and the envelope she’d left on her dresser before coming out this morning and quietly left the brownstone.

She knew what Synek would say if she told him she needed to drop it off in the mailbox—that it wasn’t safe, and probably deny her altogether—so she didn’t ask his permission before she left, climbing into her car and driving off.

She didn’t have to go far, just a fifteen-minute drive into the city where she vaguely remembered the location of a USPS mail dropbox. She parked a couple of blocks away from it, gripping the two halves of her jacket as she stepped out of her car and jogged toward the box.

One pull of the hatch and it popped open. She slipped her letter inside and closed it back. It would be a few days before he received the letter, and another day or two to sort through it, but once she was able, she would make sure to go visit him in person to make up for her lack of attendance.

Turning back, she was nearly back to her car when she heard—a sound so familiar it instantly made her hair stand on end.

Pipes.

She kept moving forward even as she scanned the street, but the moment she saw them, she knew it was too late.

Iris didn’t know how they’d found her, but there was no point in worrying about that now. She needed to go.

She turned in the opposite direction, ready to run, but came up short when she spotted Raj standing too close for her to run. He smiled when he noticed he had her attention.

Too late did she realize she shouldn’t have run.

* * *

Throbbing pain brought Iris around as she woke up inside a room that was too familiar for comfort. She was surrounded by Wraiths, and right at the front of that crowd was Rosalie.

Her arms folded across her chest, smug arrogance written over every line in her face. “I warned you never to betray me.”

Iris shook her hair out of her face, refusing to be intimidated though her heart was beating hard in her chest. She was afraid, though she would never admit it, that this was going to hurt.

“I really hope he was worth it.”

Iris smiled coldly. “You have no idea.”

The slap that came a moment later made her head jerk to the side, the pain flaring before a throbbing ache took its place. She didn’t make a sound as she turned back, boldly staring up at her.

She couldn’t let her break her.

She’d come too far for that.

As Iris turned her gaze from Rosalie, she saw that she wasn’t the only one in this room held against their will.

Wren was in a chair opposite her, a strip of black tape across her mouth, a gash just above her right eyebrow. Unlike Iris, her fear was more visible.

“Syn will come for me,” Iris uttered, shifting her gaze back to Rosalie.

She pulled out a knife, running the tip of her fingernail along the metal. “I know he will. I made sure someone relays the address for me.”

Bear, Iris assumed.

Which explained why Wren was bound too. They were trying to lure them into a trap, and knowing the two of them, they’d walk right into it if it meant getting them out.

Rosalie came closer. “Did you sleep with him?” she asked.

Iris didn’t respond, grinding her teeth together to prevent herself from answering.

“Yeah, I thought so. He was always good that way. He could charm the skirt off a nun.”

Rosalie sounded thoughtful as she spoke, but it was merely a cover for the rage she felt because in the next minute, she plunged that knife into Iris’s thigh, drawing a scream from her.

Rosalie hit her again. “I’m going to send you back in pieces.”

As tears flooded her eyes and the searing hot pain of having a knife in her leg grew worse, Iris wished Synek would hurry.

* * *

“Of course, you crush on the one person you shouldn’t,” Winter said, still ranting though Synek had long since tuned her out. “You have a sickness.”

“You ever think for a moment that if she wasn’t actually worth it, we wouldn’t be having this conversation? Did you think about that?”

“Then why were you hiding her?”

“I was enjoying her. You think I don’t already have enough shit going on with the Wraiths? That’s already enough before letting her know everything else.”

She might have known that he worked for the Kingmaker, but she didn’t know everything. He hadn’t had the chance to tell her yet.

Soon, he’d always told himself.

There just hadn’t been the right time.

“Do you at least know her interest in the governor? I’m sure the Kingmaker is gonna wanna know about that.”

Iris had told him some the night before, but he didn’t want to share what she said. It was her business, and he had no right to tell it to anyone—not even to the person he told everything to.

“I’m handling it,” he said, “so leave it be.”

When it was time, he’d deal with the Kingmaker.

He’d been doing so for years.

Winter sighed, looking as if she wanted to argue further, but she didn’t. Tăcut, on the other hand, merely looked curious, sitting in silence that was even more quiet than usual.

Synek preferred him that way.

“You’d like her if you got to know her,” Synek said after a moment, glancing over at Winter whose frown had finally smoothed away.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because she mellows me out.”

He was happy with her, and that was something he couldn’t say about anyone really … with the exception of Winter.

She stared at him for a long while before she sighed. “That’s something then.”

The deafening roar of Harley pipes made Synek tense before he was sprinting to his feet.

He had the front door open in seconds, but instead of a calvary, there was only one man outside—a seriously pissed off one, as it were.

Bear snatched off his helmet and tossed it away as he came toward Synek.

The thing about Bear? He was usually level-headed in the worst of circumstances. Even when provoked, he hardly ever lost his cool, but if there was ever a shining example of what it meant not to poke a bear until it attacked, he was the shining light of it.

Bear had him by a few inches and a solid fifty pounds, and he used every bit of it to his advantage.

“I’ve got half a mind to knock your fucking teeth in, Syn.”

“Which would only piss me off,” Synek returned, standing his ground. “So unless you want to have a fucking row right here, how ’bout you explain what the hell you’re doing here?”

Where the hell was Iris?

“She took her.”

“Took who?” Winter asked from behind Tăcut who might have appeared bored on the surface, but he and Bear were about evenly matched, and he would do anything to protect her.

Bear’s gaze cut to her before he blinked twice. Yeah, he was realizing the extent of Rosalie’s madness.

“Wren?” Synek asked, though he already knew the answer.

There was only one person in the world who would have Bear this angry.

Where the hell was Iris?

“I’m guessing Rosalie figured out you came to me for help.” Bear dug out his phone, turning the screen around for Synek to see.

IF YOU WANT HER, COME AND GET HER. TELL SYN I SAID HELLO. :)

He knew, without having to ask that she had Iris too—which explained why she hadn’t come back down, and how Bear knew where they were staying. And it made him uneasy wondering what she could have done to make Iris give up the address.

She wouldn’t have done so willingly.

“If anything happens to her—”

“We’re gonna get them back,” Synek said before he could even finish.

There was no doubt in his mind.

“But there’s only one way this doesn’t blow back on us,” he said, meeting Bear’s gaze. “You know what has to happen.”

It was the one thing they both had vowed never to do, and Synek was the first one to break it.

The choice was simple—his girl or the Wraiths.

“This ends today, Syn. Somebody’s not making it out of the compound alive.”

And they both knew who that person would be.

“Go,” Synek instructed, “and tell your guys to get the hell out of there. I won’t have time to differentiate between friend and foe.”

Bear nodded once. “I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

Synek watched him go, that familiar itch to do violence simmering beneath his skin.

This meeting was long overdue, and he was going to give Rosalie exactly what she wanted.