We passed a sign for Whitness. “I can’t see into your mind.”
“I mean to answer it about yourself.”
“Jean’s here.”
“Your babushka likes the sun. We could take care of her on the island if that is where you wanted to be.”
“She’s fuckingblind.”
“Then I would be her eyes. You would be. Katya. Ivan. We are a family.”
“So you do want to leave?”
“No.”
“No?”
The Rebel King compound loomed in the distance, lights glittering as the sun began to fade.
Viktor pointed at it, gaze fixed on me with all the love I needed. “Asher, we are not done here yet. You will know when we are.”
He was right. In my heart, I knew that. But I didn’t knowwhyor how or when that would change, and it grated on me more than I could explain, to him or to myself. And in any case, I ran out of time to try.
Rubi’s playlist shifted to a song about keeping the people you loved warm even when you couldn’t keep them safe, and the sense that my life was about to become just that squeezed my throat shut.
Hogs buzzed us on the road.
Saint.
Alexei.
They swept in front of the truck, guiding us to the long road that led to the newly built HGV hub and the tall, brooding figure waiting on us.
Even alone, Cam looked every bit the King he was.
He watched us park, and I felt his gaze on us. Onme.Felt his presence in the cab even before he strode to the Rattler, pulled my door open, and climbed the steps to meet me.
“It’s time,” he said.
“For what?”
“To take him home, brother.”
14
NASH
We rode in two groups of three. Folk, Ranger, and Locke in front. Decoy, Viktor, and me behind. Somewhere on Folk’s hog, he carried Rocco’s ashes.
Inland, the rain had stopped, giving way to mist rising from the ground. Visibility was poor, but though I knew I should’ve had eyes on every brother leading me east, my attention kept drifting to Locke.
To his powerful thighs that gripped his hog.
His broad shoulders that carried so much fucking weight.
I hadn’t been there two nights ago when he’d learned Saint and Alexei had brought Rocco back from wherever he’d been this whole time. I’d been in bed with Orla, asleep and unaware he’d got up and left us.
By the time I’d found him, the decision had been made that Folk would take Rocco home to Norfolk. That Locke would go with him, and Ranger if he wanted. It had taken less than a moment for me and Orls to decide I was going too. Less than an hour to recruit Finch Whitlock to travel west to stay with Orla while Locke and me both were gone.