Page 31 of Vows of Ruin

The room is quiet, lit only by the faint glow of moonlight seeping in through the window. The storm that’s always brewing around us, the threats, the weight of what we’ve done and what’s coming, is silent for now. Distant. Like it’s been locked outside the bedroom door.

Wrenley is tucked between us, her bare back pressed to my chest, Max curled around her front, his hand resting on her thigh. Her fingers are tangled in the sheet at his chest. She’s half-asleep already, her breathing slow and even, her lips barely parted.

I drag my knuckles down her spine, slow and reverent. She hums, barely audible, and shifts closer to Max, like she’s trying to burrow between us.

“She’s out,” Max murmurs, his voice low in the dark.

“Mm,” I answer, brushing her hair off her face, careful not to wake her.

He glances over Wrenley to look at me, and for a moment, neither of us says a word. We just look at her. At each other. At this ridiculous, beautiful thing we’ve built.

“I never thought it would be like this,” Max says, voice almost lost to the dark.

I rub my thumb along her hipbone, memorizing every inch. “Like what?”

He smiles softly. “Easy. Even when everything else is chaos… she’s the calm.”

Yeah. That’s exactly what she is. I lean in, pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck. “I’d burn the world for her.”

Max nods, his hand sliding up to rest just over her heart. “We already did.”

Wrenley stirs, half-conscious, her lips brushing Max’s collarbone. “Mmm. You two are loud.”

We freeze. “You want us to stop?” I ask.

She hums again, then mumbles, “Shut up and kiss me.”

So, we do. I kiss her temple. Max kisses her lips. Silence wraps back around us like a blanket, warm and thick and safe. She drifts first, Max a few minutes later. I stay awake a while longer. Watching them, listening to the way their breathing syncs. Feeling her heartbeat against my chest and the heat of Max’s hand where it sits next to mine across her waist.

For once, I don’t feel like I need to be on edge. No rifle in hand, no shadows to watch. Just her. Just him. Just this. Eventually, I let my eyes slip closed. For the first time in a long time, I sleep without a single ghost chasing me.

Chapter Fourteen

Wrenley

The room is dim, pale morning light filtering through the curtains. Somewhere between Max and Reaper, the world finally goes quiet. I feel safe, safer than I ever have.

Max is on one side of me, his hand splayed across Reaper’s thigh like it belongs there. Reaper is draped across the other side, his long leg thrown over mine like I might try and slip away if he doesn’t anchor me down. I don’t move. I just breathe, listening to the soft cadence of theirs. Letting the silence wrap around us.

This is the bubble. The one I never want to break. The door creaks open. I don’t flinch.

Margot slips inside like she’s sneaking into a crime scene, her fingers wiggling in the air like a cartoon villain. She spots the sleeping arrangement and clamps her lips together trying desperately to stop the laugh trying to claw its way out.

Her shoulders bounce once, then she loses it. Giggling like a menace. I can’t help it, I giggle too.

Reaper stirs first. His voice is rough with sleep. “What’s funny?’

I look down, amused. “That’s not my hand.”

Max groans beside me, blinking himself awake. “What?”

Liam lifts his head, scanning the tangle of limbs and in a tone of rare, biting sarcasm says. “First the neck nuzzling, now this? At least buy me dinner next time, Blackwood.”

Max just laughs, removing his hand and rubbing it over his face. “You’re the one who always hogs the middle.”

Margot beams from the doorway. “One of the many sacrifices of a throuple bed, gentlemen.”

I roll my eyes and stretch beneath the weight of them both, looking toward her. “Okay, what do you want, you menace?”