We barely have time to sit up properly before the door bursts open, the sound sharp and jarring against the quiet we just found.
Luke and Talon fill the doorway, the energy shifting instantly, tension snapping back into place.
“Reid,” Luke says, urgency cutting straight through the room. “We have a problem.”
CHAPTER 36
Luke
Idon’t even knock. I shove the door open hard enough that it bangs against the wall, my pulse still racing from the drive, from the call, from the absolute bullshit I just heard.
Reid and Sierra freeze in their current positions. Sierra is lying on her front, her eyes closed, her breathing slow and measured. Reid sits cross-legged beside her, his hands hovering just above the small of her back, moving in slow, deliberate sweeps—controlled, steady, like he’s holding something fragile in place.
For a split second, my brain tries to catch up, tries to make sense of what I’m looking at. It takes me a moment to realize he’s giving her a Reiki treatment, and under any other circumstances, I’d be grinning like an idiot that Sierra finally gave it a shot. Reiki isn’t my favorite thing, but even for an old skeptic like me, there’s something to it. The ritual. The focus. The fact that someone is choosing to sit there and pour their time and energy into you. That alone can make a person feel better. Our girl has so much tension in her that anything is a win.
Ha. Our girl.
Even now, the thought flickers through me, quick and warm. I like the sound of it more than I probably should.
But the feeling dies just as fast, crushed under the weight of what I just heard.
I drag a hand through my hair, pacing forward before stopping dead in front of them. The room suddenly feels too small, like the walls are pressing in. I don’t even know where to start—only that I have to tell them. I draw a deep breath and decide to just rip the bandage off.
“I just got off the phone with the Sheriff,” I say, my voice tighter than I want it to be. “He says there’s someone looking into you.”
“For what?” Reid asks in a still mild tone, like this is just another inconvenience. “Let me guess, they want to charge me with kidnapping? Holding her hostage?”
“No.” I meet his eyes and hold them.
“Murder.”
His entire body locks up. Not a flinch. Not a breath. Just… frozen.
His eyes snap to mine, shock flashing first—then fear. Underneath it, something that hits me harder than anything else.
Guilt.
“What do you mean?” Sierra pushes herself upright so fast she almost collides with him, her gaze sharp, urgent, searching my face for something she won’t find. “Who’s accusing him of murder?”
“I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head, frustration creeping in. “I think it has to do with the Mayor of Yellowbrook. Barnes. Amanda’s husband. He’s stirring shit, planting stories, trying to drag the retreat through the mud. We need to figure out a counterattack.”
“Who did they say I killed?” Reid asks quietly.
The question throws me. Completely.
“What the fuck does it matter? We need to?—”
“It matters.”
The way he says it stops me cold.
“Who did they say I killed?”
His voice is low. Too low. Hollow in a way that drains the air out of the room. His face has gone completely blank, like something inside him just shut down. He’s paler than I’ve ever seen him, his breathing shallow, uneven, like he’s already bracing for impact.
A slow, creeping unease crawls up my spine.
“Reid?”