Page 161 of The Wild Charge

His message hadn’t even been marked as read by the time they were pulling into the hotel parking garage.

They went up the elevator in silence, Tenny holding his wig in a plastic shopping bag, a number of uneasy thoughts beginning to circle through his mind. What was Topino not supposed to tell him? How sensitive could it have been if everyone in the car was all on the same page?

When they stepped out of the elevator onto their rented floor, Tenny hesitated. Toly stood outside the door of the main suite, foot braced back against the wall in a pose reminiscent of yesterday; but his face, when he lifted it and looked their way, was grave in a way it hadn’t been before. Tenny found himself striding quickly down the carpet.

“What’s going on?” he asked when he reached him.

Toly’s tongue flicked out over his lip ring, a nervous tell, and he tipped his head toward the door. “Your brother’s waiting on you,” he said.

Inside, he found the gallery crew, plus Raven, Ian and Albie all arranged around the room, all their expressions strained.

Wait.

He scanned the room again, skipping over faces, clocking guards and Dogs, even Eden and Axelle, and realized that one very important face was missing.

That alarm in the back of Tenny’s head became a screeching wail. He tossed the bag with the wig to the side. His heart climbed up his throat, and his stomach cramped.

“Where is he?”

Fox had been sitting in a chair, elbows on his knees. He stood, now, wearily, his face drawn. He moved to stand in front of Tenny. In a low voice, he said, “Let’s go in the other room.” He reached as if to take Tenny’s arm.

And Tenny batted him away. His pulse thumped hard in his ears. His skin broke out in gooseflesh, and his vision narrowed. “Where…is…he?” he ground out between clenched teeth.

Fox let out a deep breath. His voice had never sounded so small and defeated. “The staff were in on it. Somehow. We’re figuring out how at the moment. But. Hunter showed up.”

Tenny’s heart stopped.

“Tenny. I need you to keep as calm as you can. We’re going tofixthis. We are. But Hunter…Hunter took Reese.”

Tenny didn’t realize that he’d reacted in any way until he was down the hall and marching through the sitting room of the suite he and Reese had used last night. Someone grabbed at his sleeve. He spun, swinging as he went, and Fox ducked the strike neatly.

“Tenny,” he snapped. “Listen – listen to me!”

Tenny turned away and stormed into the bedroom. Housekeeping hadn’t come, because the guards were keeping staff out save for toilet paper and soap deliveries, and so the bed was still unmade: a tangle of sheets and blankets, late afternoon sunlight carving shadows in the folds of high-thread-count cotton. Not twelve hours ago, he’d awakened there, mostly-naked and with his legs tangled with Reese’s.

And now Reese was gone. Reese’s father hadtakenhim.

“Tenny.”

That morning, they’d opened their bags on the bench at the end of the bed. Tenny went to his, and start pulling out weapons: Glock, S&W .38, the two Brownings that went in his shoulder holster; his big-ass Colt .45. Knives. Ammo. Brass knuckles. Flak vest. At the bottom, there was the folder. He paused.

Fox drew up beside him, speaking in a low, urgent voice. “I know you’re hurting. I know that – I know it!” he snapped when Tenny whirled on him, and caught him by the throat. He didn’t try to resist. Tipped his head back, gaze wide and pleading. “Tennyson. That’s your name, yeah? Hegave youthat name. You love him, and you’re panicking, and I know that,I know that.”

Tenny squeezed, pleased by the quiet choking sound it inspired. “You don’t know shit.”

Voice raspy with strain, Fox said, “But you picked your last name, and you picked Fox. You pickedmy name.” He gripped the front of Tenny’s jacket, but not hard, not as hard as Tenny gripped his throat. “And you’re at least half my blood. You’re half that old bastard Devin. Solisten to me. Reese is tough. He’s strong, and clearly Hunter wants him alive. Which means we can get him back.”

Tenny shoved him away with a snarl and went back to unpacking. Or tried to. That damn file folder was the next thing down. Was staring at him, laughing at him.

His head swam, and he had to brace his hands on the edge of the bed. A laugh built in his throat, ugly and inappropriate, and there was no choice but to let it out. “You know,” he said, and some hind part of his brain was shocked at his conversational tone. He was sliding into instinct, into old, ingrained habits. “When I first learned Hunter’s name, I called Ian and asked him to look into it.”

Fox stood, staring. A statue in his periphery.

“And I was too much of a pussy to look at it until last night. Hunter’s his dad. Did you know that? Reese has another sister, and two brothers. Those are Hunter’s new soldiers: the sons he wanted.” He turned his head to meet Fox’s blank stare. “His own father kidnapped him. And his own brothers helped do it.”

“Well. I guess Devin has to relinquish his Worse Father Ever crown to him, then.”

Tenny snorted…but the sound turned into an ugly, choked-back sob. His arms threatened to buckle, and he turned around and sagged down onto the edge of the bed, shaking all over. He pressed the back of one trembling hand to his mouth, but it wasn’t enough to stem the sounds that built in his throat.

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