“Yes,” I force the word out before I lose my nerve. “When I called my mom…” My throat tightens, the air sticking halfway down. “Brayden answered the phone.”
The silence that follows is deafening.
Tadeo’s head jerks up, eyes wide. Knox goes still beside me, every muscle in his body tense. Alex’s face twists with something like fury and disgust.
“Skyla,” Dakota crawls into my nest opposite Knox. “That must have been so scary.” He wraps his arms around my middle.
“What did he want?” Knox asks, his voice deep and hard, filled with so much restrained rage. But it’s not for me.
“I don’t—” My voice cracks, breaking on the weight of it. “I don’t know how, but I can feel him. In my head.” The confession leaves me trembling. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold everything in. “Somehow, after you mated me,” I look up into Knox’s green eyes, “our bond suddenly worked. He’s been in my head for weeks. I just didn’t realize it.”
Tears stream down my face. There’s no sobbing, no gasping—just a soft, helpless sound that feels like defeat. “I thought,” I whisper, sniffling loudly. “I thought I was free.”
Alex takes a sharp step forward, jaw tight, eyes burning.His chest heaves like he’s holding himself back by sheer will alone. “That son of a bitch—” he snarls, voice breaking low. “If he’s still in your head, I swear to god?—”
“Alex.” Knox’s voice cuts through, deep and calm, even though I can feel his rage humming through our bond like an earthquake.
I press my palm against my temple, shaking my head. “I don’t know what to do,” I sniffle again. “He said he’s coming to get me. That he’d kill anyone who tries to stop him.”
For a moment, no one breathes. The weight of it sinks in.
Then, Knox leans back slightly, his expression unreadable. “He’s coming here?”
I nod, dread pooling low in my belly.
And to my absolute shock, Knox smiles. Not a kind one. A dangerous one. The kind that sends a shiver straight through me.
“Good.”
Let’s Wrap this Shit Up
Knox
The moment Skyla nods,telling me that fucker is headed this way, something in me clicks.
That fucker hurt what’s mine. He abused Skyla—physically, mentally, emotionally—and now I’m going to make him fucking pay.
The first thing I do is call Robert back. Skyla doesn’t want me to—she’s shaking her head, eyes wide, whispering that she doesn’t want to scare them—but that piece of shit threatened her mother, and her mates deserve to know.
Robert answers on the second ring.
I tell them everything—every threat, every word—and they go silent. Not shocked, not confused. Quiet in the way men get when they’re ready to do something about it.
Then I ask the question that’s been burning through me since Skyla said Brayden’s name. “Do you still have a location tracker on Phil’s phone?”
A pause. Then Robert says, “Yeah. We do.” The soundof typing fills the line. A moment later, his breath hitches. “He’s not far from you guys.”
“How close?” I ask.
“About two hours,” Phil says grimly. “But he seems to be moving pretty fast. He’ll probably get there sooner.”
I thank them, promise to keep them updated, and hang up before Skyla can argue.
The second the phone hits the counter, we all get to work.
Tadeo and Dakota disappear into the garage for weapons—weights, a crowbar, anything heavy that can cause some real damage—while Alex checks the locks on all the windows.
“Don’t lock the kitchen window,” I say. “He might not even try the doors.”
