Page 37 of Vows of Ruin

Doc gives me a knowing smile.

“I put it in after she implanted all of us, when I brought her home,” he adds with a glance at me. “You think I’d let someone this important walk around unprotected?”

She turns to him, her eyes softening.

He isn’t done, “And I want you at the mansion.”

“What?”

“I want you close. You’re too tied to all of us to stay here alone. You saved them. Now we protect you.”

Doc looks between all of us, Wrenley, Max, me, Margot, and finally sighs. “Fine. Let me pack a few things.”

Wrenley exhales like she’s been holding her breath for hours. I reach over, brushing my knuckles against her arm, careful not to touch any bruises.

“You’re not alone, Little warrior,” I murmur.

She nods, her voice barely above a whisper. “I know.”

But I don’t think any of us realize just how far Sebastian is willing to go. Not yet.

The SUV rolls to a stop in the driveway, headlights cutting through the night. The mansion looms ahead, safe, familiar, but it doesn’t feel like a sanctuary anymore. Not tonight.

We’ve barely killed the engine when Hunter’s truck comes screaming up the drive like the devil’s on his tail. He’s out before the tires finish rolling, shouting my name.

“Reaper!”

I’m already moving, rounding the vehicle just as he wrenches open the passenger door. Cash spills out, mumbling nonsense, pupils blown wide. He collapses into Doc’s arm.

“Fuck,” she hisses, catching him with surprising strength, “He’s been drugged. Torque, get my bag now.’

Cash keeps repeating something, fragmented syllables, garbled dread, over and over again. I crouch, trying to make out the words, but it’s all static.

Hunter wipes a hand across his mouth, his skin is pale beneath his Serpent tattoos. “There’s more.” He stalks around to the bed of the truck and yanks the tarp back with a violent snap.

His lips are pale, skin tight and waxy, sunken eyes staring into nothing. The blood where his throat is slit is dry now. Donnie. There are words carved into his chest.

I’ll take pieces of you until there’s nothing left.

There's blood around them. I shake my head wrapping my mind around the fact that this was done while he was still alive.

I turn too late to block their view. Margot gasps first, loud and broken. Wrenley’s is quieter. A sharp inhale. Like she’s been punched in the lungs. She stumbles back, her face slack with something worse than horror.

No one says anything, because what can we say?

Inside, Doc has gotten Cash onto the couch. She’s injected something into his arm and is whispering calmly, evenly. His hands twitch. His voice is steadier now.

“I—I saw someone drop him. Donnie. At the back door. I ran to see—then something hit me. Needle. Just gone after that.”

I stay in the doorway, arms folded tight across my chest, watching Wrenley.

But she’s not watching anything. Not really. She’s gone still. Her breathing’s even. Too even. Her eyes aren’t glassy, they’re blank. She’s not breaking. She’s dissociating.

“Wren…” I murmur, but she doesn’t blink.

She leans into Doc, whispers something I can’t catch. Doc nods without hesitation and reaches into her bag, hands her something small. She curls her fingers around it, turning towards the door. I follow.

At the base of the stairs, I catch her wrist. “Little warrior…”