Page 147 of Mystic's Sunrise

I ran to Zeynep, my arms wrapping around her. “Are you hurt?”

She looked up at me, eyes wide, face pale, but that wall was still there. She didn’t lean into me. Didn’t speak.

Didn’t run either.

“She twisted her ankle,” she rasped, voice hoarse. “I… I wouldn’t leave her.”

I nodded, heart breaking open in my chest. “I saw, but it’s over now.”

Spinner dropped to his knees beside Lucy, cradling her face. “Baby—Jesus—look at me.”

Lucy sobbed, clinging to him like she would never let go again. “He was gonna shoot her… I tried to run but I—my leg—”

“I got you,” he whispered, voice shaking. “You’re gonna be okay, even with the ass whippin’ I have planned for you.”

Thunder and Chain appeared seconds later, weapons drawn, checking the perimeter.

“Clear,” Chain called.

Bolt glanced toward the flickering flames in the distance. “Warehouse is done for.”

Devil came up behind us, voice low and tight. “Get them to the bikes. Now.”

I bent to lift Zeynep, but she hesitated, her hand barely brushing my arm.

“I can walk.”

“You’re bleeding,” I said, staring at the cuts on her feet.

She didn’t argue. But she didn’t thank me, either.

Just let me pick her up, stiff in my arms, like she couldn’t decide if I was safety or another kind of danger.

I held her close anyway.

“It's over,” I murmured.

She didn’t look at me. Just whispered, “No… it’s not.”

And I knew she was right.

***

THE GATES SLAMMEDshut behind uswith a metallicclangthat echoed through the night.

It rattled in my chest. In my bones.

We were in.

Safe.

But it didn’t feel like it.

Zeynep slid off the bike before I even cut the engine, barefoot, scraped up, and moving like something was still chasing her. No hesitation. No glance back.

Just gone. Like I didn’t exist. Like she was still in survival mode, and I was just another shadow behind her.

I yanked my helmet off and swung off the bike, boots hitting the ground hard as I stalked after her.

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