Page 52 of Reign By Wrath

“Did you run into Saylor after?” he asked. “You’re banged up.”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to lie, but I also didn’t want to tell him I acted aloneagainand got hurtagain.

“I went searching for Everleigh’s cabin after.” I’d always choose the truth. “I lost it, Wilder. I was— I am so angry I can barely think. I thought I found it, but it ended up being the home of a random couple who really didn’t appreciate me bursting through the window and threatening to burn them alive.”

Wilder’s brows rocketed up his forehead.

“The guy tried to bash my head in with a fire poker and I kicked him in the balls.” I clicked my tongue. “The cherry on top of a hellish night.”

A strange noise erupted from Wilder, shaking his chest.

Oh my goodness, is he... laughing?

“I’m sorry. I’m s-sorry,” he said, straining to keep it in. “It’s not funny, but... you kicked him in the balls? Damn, Sinclair. You’re spreading that bad night around.”

“It’s not funny. I busted their window with a rock,” I cried.

He snorted, losing control.

“Then I yelled, surprise, bitchlike I was some kind of badass. They were definitely surprised.”

Wilder straight howled, laughing so loud he probably woke the house.

A smile tugged on my lips. Before I knew it, I was howling along with him. Every time I said, “surprise, bitch” we laughed louder.

“Only I can get into messes like this. It’s my curse.” My smile faded. “Always wrong. Always running. Always late. Always hurting the people I care about.”

Wilder lightly kissed the tip of my nose. “That’s not how I see it. You’re always doing what you know is right. You’re always running toward the people who need you. And you’re always doing whatever it takes to protect the ones you love. We will win this fight, Luna. Fuck if I know how, but we will.”

“Everything’s changed now that your brother is working for Everleigh. Because that’s exactly what he will do when I tell him to go fuck himself. He’ll never get his hands on Alistair’s laptop.” I sighed, collapsing against him. “We don’t have a plan. We don’t have my father. We don’t have the Gallery. We don’t have access to the T.O.D. Club. In one day, everything went to shit. I’d call that unlucky.”

“We’re not unlucky when we work together.”

I almost smiled. “Never thought I’d hear my suspicious love say something like that.”

“I couldn’t trust anyone before I met Rafael, Lucien, Cato, and you. Now I know what family is supposed to be.” He dropped a kiss on my crown. “We’ve got this, Luna. From the minute you set foot in Regalia University, you didn’t doubt that you’d get revenge for your sister. Don’t tell me that girl’s gone?”

Something in me sparked, lighting a fire in my belly that chased back tears. I glared at him. “Hell no.”

“Good.” Wilder smirked. “Then, let’s go inside, have sex in the shower, then make a new plan.”

“You might need to hold me up for part two, then plan with my unconscious body for part three. I don’t even know how I’m standing right now.”

“Say no more.” Wilder scooped me in his arms and carried me into the house. “I’ve got you, Luna. Always.”

***

“WE SHOULD SPLIT UP.”

Rafael, Wilder, Lucien, Cato, and I were on the couch. Adonis wandered off after dinner to grade papers, and Victor left hours before to speak to his father. Wilson Industries was a billion-dollar conglomerate with its fingers in almost every industry. It was a simple fact that hackers must attack their systems on a daily basis, searching and hoping for a weakness. Victor promised to employ the best in their IT department to help us.

We didn’t need them to find Wolfgang. We knew exactly where the guy was and that he was coming to us. What we needed was to stop him playing ring-around-the-rosy in our devices like he did to Wilder’s computers.

It was a scary world when we couldn’t trust our phones, laptops, Apple watches, Alexa, or anything with an internet connection. All those machines-take-over-the-world movies suddenly didn’t seem so far-fetched.

My guys and I gathered in the living room that night, making a plan to find Everleigh’s cabin that would hopefully go much better than my adventure the night before.

“The five cabins are now down to three.” I absentmindedly rubbed my shoulder. “The problem is the final three are miles away from each other. One is all the way in East Regalia. Cato and I will take that one. Lucien, you take the one closest to the beach. Wilder and Rafael, you two take the one in the middle.

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