Page 15 of When Kings Fall

I heard it again and I followed the sound, spinning in that direction.

Just as somebody emerged from the shadows, the illumination of the floodlight touching them.

My breath caught in my throat as I took in the designer suit, the black curly hair that brushed his collar, and those striking blue eyes that even pierced through the night.

Just. Like. Mine.

Christ. “What are you doing here?” I only just managed to choke out.

The corner of his mouth turned up as he stopped in front of me and shoved his hands into the pockets of his fancy suit jacket. “Not your best greeting, Son.”

6

~Colton~

I couldn’t believe he’d done this.

We’d all finally been in a good place.

Now his actions, this solo decision he’d made, threatened to ruin it.

It threatened to shatter us.

Mason Hall and his fucking unilateral bullshit!

“He’s gonna kill you for this,” I muttered as I hurriedly stuffed a bunch of my clothes and toiletries into a gym bag I’d pulled out of the bottom of my closet.

Mason had insisted that we relocate to our safehouse—a place we hadn’t set foot in for five years.

“You’re being overdramatic.”

I stilled, then swung my head over my shoulder as he paced up and down my room typing rapidly on his phone, sending orders to Hex, telling our professors we’d need to set up remote learning for a while due to a personal emergency, and what-not.

“Overdramatic? Are you kidding?”

He looked up from his phone. “It’s what’s best.”

“Debatable.”

“No, it’s not,” he bit back. “I’m doing what’s needed.”

I slapped my gym bag and turned to face him. “That’s the thing. You. You’re doing what you think is needed. We’re supposed to be deciding things together. Especially you and Lev.”

“He’s not here and he’s not answering my texts. I had to make a decision. I had to act quickly.”

“You could’ve given it more time. A little more, at least. He’s on the road and he doesn’t text when he’s driving, not even at a stoplight or anything. And he doesn’t like to pull over when he’s in a rush to get to his destination.”

“Or he’s had an episode because of the violent bloodletting that took place at Bree’s apartment. He’s likely struggling with it. It’s been twice he’s been a part of something like that in just a couple of weeks. It’s gotta be getting to him.”

That pulled me up short for a moment.

Shit, that really could be the case.

“Then we should track him and go to him. You have eyes on him, right?”

“No. I had to pull my resources and redirect them because of this situation.”

“Okay, then get eyes back on him. Or we can reach out to Caterina and have her track him through his phone… ping it… triangulate, or whatever.”

---