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The man’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“That nice man over there put the bad man into the back of the van I was in,” Sammy said. “Then the pretty ladies let me ride with them. I got to sit in the front seat!”
Any fear that the child had been feeling seemed to be gone, and he went on and on about how there was no roof and how silly that was, but it was also really fun, so maybe not so silly.
The man gave his son another tight squeeze, then set him down. “Why don’t you go see Uncle Tuck while I talk to thesenicepeople?”
Sammy frowned. “Is he mad at me?”
His hand rubbed over Sammy’s messy hair. “Not at all. We’re just glad you’re okay.”
The boy nodded, then ran for the group of men who had moved a little closer but still were about twenty feet away from us.
“I’m Ryder,” the dad said, walking toward me. This time, without a murderous glare.
I shook his offered hand. “Grayson.” I nodded behind him. “That’s Kinsley in grey and Lia in white.”
“What happened to my son?” Ryder demanded, glancing behind me, likely at Sammy.
Kinsley stepped forward and moved to my side. My arm twitched to pull her against me and mark my territory, but I refrained as she began to speak.
“Sammy told me that he was swinging with his friends while the adults talked. The ‘bad man’ as he called the asshole we have tied up in the van, apparently had balloons and, from the sounds of it, was hiding behind some bushes. His friends told him not to go, but Sammy wanted to be brave like his daddy, so he went anyway.”
“Fuck,” Ryder snarled. “How did you get him?”
Lia answered this time. “Just the right time, right place.”
I went with that answer, even though I knew rescuing Sammy must have been the reason Lia had insisted we leave No Man’s Circus before sunrise. The unicorn could keep her secrets. They weren’t mine to tell when they didn’t affect me or Kinsley.
“Did you kill him?” Ryder asked, turning his stare to me.
I shook my head. “I took the head off the guy he was meeting up with, but I thought you might want to speak with the kidnapper yourself. He’ll probably tell you anything if you don’t torture him, but from what I gathered, he doesn’t know much. Do you know someone named Johnathon who runs a crew in No Man’s Land?”
Ryder’s lips thinned. “No, but I will soon if he had anything to do with this.”
“Are you the House leader here?” Kinsley asked, one of her hands rubbing over her chest as she took a deep breath.
Something was clearly bothering her, but I hadn’t the slightest clue what. I tried to halt the rising annoyance that was causing me while Ryder responded.
“Fire and Fluorite doesn’t technically have a leader right now,” he answered. “There are three factions fighting for supremacy in this area, and I lead one of them. While I have stepped up when needed as our House representative when the other leaders have met, nobody rules over our House like Shade and Mathis did. Though I wouldn’t call what Mathis did here ruling.”
“What happened—” Kinsley started to ask more questions, but I cut her off.
“Later might be better for questions,” I said.
Ryder nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Yes. I’d like to know more about where the three of you came from and what you were doing when you stumbled across my son, but for now, I need to tend to Sammy and then meet his captor.”
The leader whistled, and another man with a thin scar down the left side of face quickly appeared at his side. “Drake, take these three to one of our guest houses until I decide what to do with them.”
The dark-haired warrior nodded. “Of course, Alpha.”
Drake reached for my arm, but I snarled at him. “Touching me isn’t necessary.”
He shared a look with Ryder, who merely nodded curtly, then began walking. The three of us followed Drake, heading in the opposite direction of the faction leader.
Kinsley was fidgeting, and her breathing was heavy as we continued walking down the nearest street within the fenced neighborhood.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
