Fear.
He reaches us, and for a second, I think he’s going to drop beside me. He doesn’t. He stops just short, eyes cutting over me fast. Head. Neck. Hands. Blood. Movement. Breathing. Assessing. Then he turns on the prospects. “What did you see?”
“Two guys, the one hand a knife to her neck, he was pulling her toward a van. When they saw me they threw her down and bolted.” Eli recites.
“Call Dom,” he snaps. “Now.”
Eli jerks like the order hits him physically. “Yeah, okay.”
“Get eyes on that van.”
Tate appears at the alley mouth, breathing hard. Connor is right behind him.
“What van?” Connor asks.
Cobra’s head snaps toward him. Connor goes pale. “The fucking van they were trying to load her into,” Cobra says, voice low enough to be terrifying. “Move.”
They move, immediately.
Eli is already on the phone, words rushing out. “Dom, we’ve got two men, black van, alley west side of the club, yeah, yeah, she’s down. Cobra’s here.”
Cobra finally looks back at me. Really looks. And everything inside me goes still. Because it’s there. The fear.Not hidden enough. Not gone fast enough. He is furious. I can see that too. It’s barely held behind his teeth, barely contained beneath the control he’s trying to force back into place. But under it, through it, there’s fear so sharp it steals my breath.
Not fear for himself.
For me.
That lands deeper than the fall. Deeper than the knife. Deeper than the pain blooming at the back of my skull.
His hands flex once at his sides. Like he wants to pick me up. Like he wants to destroy something. Like he can’t do both at once and hates every second of choosing. “You hit your head,” he says. Not a question.
I swallow, throat aching where the knife pressed. “Yes.”
His jaw tightens. Blood is already roaring in my ears, but I still hear him. “How bad?”
“I don’t know.”
Eli crouches closer. “She cracked it hard, man. I heard it.”
Cobra’s eyes close for half a second. When they open, whatever fear was visible gets locked back behind something darker. “Tail the van,” he tells Eli without looking away from me.
“I called Dom, he’s pulling traffic cams.”
“Good. Now get moving.” Eli hesitates. Cobra’s gaze cuts to him. “Now.”
Eli runs.
The cold seeps through my clothes from the pavement, but I barely feel it anymore. My body is catching up too slowly. My mind is replaying everything too fast. The hand. The knife. The alley. The words.
I bet you thought that dumbass biker could keep you safe.
My throat tightens. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Cobra goes still. “What?”
“I went outside. I thought… there were too many people. I was going to text you.”
His face doesn’t soften. But something in his eyes changes. “I told you not to leave without me.”
