Page 100 of Reckless: Collision

“Good question.” A shadow crosses Jinx’s face, there and gone like a cloud passing over the sun. “Too good a question.”

We leave his pristine room, and I can’t help but notice how he positions himself—slightly behind me, watching our six even in the safety of pack territory. Old habits or justified paranoia? After what he’s just told me, after what I’ve seen in those server files, maybe there’s no difference.

The walk to the first floor gives me time to process everything. How each member of this pack fills spaces I never knew were empty. Ryker’s structured control balancing Jinx’s chaos. Finn’s analytical calm complementing Theo’s artistic passion. And somehow, impossibly, I’m starting to fit into the spaces between.

It should terrify me. Instead, it feels like coming home.

The official pack office doors are closed, but I can hear voices inside. Finn’s lilting accent wrapped around Ryker’s deeper tones, both carrying notes of tension that make my hackles rise.

Jinx’s hand finds the small of my back as we approach. “Ready for this?”

The question carries weight beyond the immediate moment. Ready for pack business? Ready for whatever mission has Ryker wound so tight? Ready to dive deeper into this complex dynamic we’re building?

I think about the rush I get from each of them. Different flavors of the same addictive high. Ryker’s training sessions that leave me breathless. Finn’s mental chess matches that make my mind spark. Theo’s music that touches something primal in my soul. And now Jinx, who sees my darkness and raises it his own.

“Yeah,” I say, surprising myself with how much I mean it. “I’m ready.”

Jinx doesn’t bother knocking. He just pushes the door open, his hand still steady against my back. Like my presence grounds him as much as his grounds me.

The office is pure Ryker—everything in its place, tactical maps on one wall, security feeds on another. He stands behind a massive desk, hands planted on its surface, while Finn lounges in one of the leather chairs, tablet balanced on his knee.

Both of them go still when they see me.

“No.” Ryker straightens, his stance widening as the air around him seems to vibrate with his denial. “Absolutely not.”

“She stays.” Jinx’s voice carries none of the fractures from earlier. Just steel wrapped in certainty.

“This is pack business.” Ryker’s jaw clenches. “Classified pack business.”

“You told me to talk to her.” Jinx steps forward, putting himself between me and Ryker’s glare. “So I did. And now she stays.”

Finn watches the exchange like a tennis match, his blue eyes sharp behind his glasses. Always analyzing, always calculating angles I’m only starting to understand.

“This isn’t up for debate.” Ryker moves around the desk, every step measured. “This operation is already complicated enough without?—”

“Without what?” I step out from behind Jinx, meeting that steel gaze head-on. “Without the beta who found those trafficking victims in the first place?”

The room goes deadly quiet. Even Finn sits up straighter.

“What did you tell her?” Ryker’s question is aimed at Jinx, but his eyes don’t leave mine.

“Everything.” Jinx doesn’t back down. “About the alphas. About what I did. About why we’re benched.”

“And she’s still here.” A new voice cuts through the tension. We all turn to find Theo in the doorway, his usual artistic flow replaced with something darker, more primal. “That tells you everything you need to know.”

He moves into the room like smoke, all fluid grace and hidden power. “She found them, Ryker. Found what they were doing while everyone else looked the other way. And then she made sure someone would do something about it.”

“That’s different than?—”

“Than what?” Theo’s voice carries echoes of his stage presence, filling the room. “Than being in the field? Than getting her hands dirty? News flash, Alpha—her hands are already dirty.Have been since she decided to dig up truth instead of hiding from it.”

I watch the muscles work in Ryker’s jaw as he processes this. Watch the way Finn’s eyes narrow thoughtfully. Watch how Jinx seems to draw strength from Theo’s presence.

“You want her to run comms anyway,” Theo continues, now standing beside me. His shoulder brushes mine in silent support. “So what’s the real problem? That she might see the darker side of what we do?” His laugh is sharp. “Pretty sure she’s already seen it. Already understood it. Already accepted it.”

The silence stretches, heavy with possibility and danger and change.

Finally, Ryker’s shoulders drop a fraction. “Fine.” He pins me with a look that’s equal parts warning and evaluation. “But anything you hear in this room stays in this room. Understood?”

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