Page 14 of From the Ashes

Someone was in my bedroom.

There’s something violating about the idea of a stranger in here. A stranger touching the bed I lost my virginity in. A stranger who is clearly intent on hurting me.

“How the fuck did someone get in here?” Crew growls, his voice so low I’d probably find it in myself to be scared if I wasn’t already internally freaking out.

This is meant to be the safest place in the city. No one even knows where the compound is. It’s an unsolved mystery among the five families, and one that they’ve repeatedly tried to solve over the years.

“There’s no way someone could get in here,” Bishop says. “We’re the only people on the security system aside from Wyatt. Apart from the staff, we’re the only people that even know this place exists.”

“Could one of them have done it?” Kaos asks, moving further into the room, his eyes locked on my bloodstained hand. “One of the doctors? Or maybe Meredith?”

“You think our sweet little housekeeper who yells at us every time she has to wash blood out of our clothing put a knife and a bullet in Camilla’s bed?” Bishop snaps.

The tension in the room is getting thicker with each second that ticks by, and my anxiety peaks.

“I don’t fucking know,” Kaos snaps. “I’m just trying to make sense of this.”

“Caleb,” I whisper.

“What did you say?” Crew turns his intense eyes on me, and I force myself not to cower under the mismatched stare.

I swallow around the lump in my throat. Everyone in this room is still processing the fact that someone they saw die is in fact very much alive, but I have to know. I have to point out the obvious explanation that none of them are going to think of. “Caleb. Did you ever remove him from the security system after he…died?”

Crew looks to Bishop, who shrugs and turns his attention to Kaos like he might have the answer, but it’s as I expected.

After all, why would they bother removing a dead man from their system?

Crew pulls his phone from his pocket and types out a message before turning his attention back to me, his eyes moving over where my hand is clutching my shoulder. “I want to get that looked at, but right now, I don’t trust anyone outside of the five of us.” He flexes his clenched jaw as he checks the response to whatever he just sent. “I’m going to take Camilla to Elias’s house. He’ll take care of your shoulder, and we’ll be safe there until we can figure out what our next step is going to be.”

Before I can think to argue, Bishop plucks me off the bed at the same time Kovu pulls a backpack from God knows where and starts piling clothes and toiletries into it.

Kaos pulls my laptop from its spot on the bedside table and rolls up the cord before handing both things to Kovu, while Crew types on his phone impatiently.

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” I ask as Bishop carries me to the door. “And you know I can walk, right? I ran with a bullet wound last week, this is nothing compared to that.” I gesture to my bleeding shoulder.

“We need to make sure she has a go bag in one of the cars when it’s safe to come back here,” Bishop says to Crew who nods his agreement.

“A go bag?” I ask.

Kovu zips up the backpack, and they move together down the hallway, their eyes bouncing off every door we pass.

“Can someone answer me?” I snap.

Kaos runs a gentle hand down my back. “We all have one, Princess. It’s in case we ever have to get out of the city quickly. We each keep a bag in the back of my SUV, packed and ready.”

My mouth drops open, but I don’t get a chance to respond before I’m carefully lowered back into the car that still smells like sex, and my cheeks instantly heat, but no one else seems to notice. They’re all in work mode, and for some reason that makes my stomach erupt with butterflies. This is them keeping me safe.

They didn’t pause. They didn’t hesitate. As soon as there was a threat to me, they moved as one to get me somewhere safe so we could regroup, and that makes my heart clench.

It’s only a short drive, and before I know it, Kovu is pulling me out of the car and holding me against his chest as he climbs the steps of the pretty brownstone on a quiet street.

“You know I can walk, right?”

“Yep.”

“Kovu.”

“Little Lamb.” He smirks down at me, which just makes me roll my eyes. His eyes darken, and he drops his lips to rest against the shell of my ear. “Careful, Camilla, you know how much I love to see you bleed. My control is already holding on by a thread, and I’d prefer not to have to kill our friends for watching me fuck you.”

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