Chapter 7

Rick

I was frozen when the notification came in: Ingrid escaped.

Not a whisper of hesitation. No fear. Just pure defiance wrapped in desperate speed. She bolted from the lair of wolves like it wasn’t soaked in blood and secrets. Like the world outside didn’t want her dead just as much as the one she was running from.

She ran.

Like Jace Grey wouldn’t find her. Like his reach didn’t spread like wildfire.

But I’ve seen Jace unhinged—and if there’s one truth I’ll never unlearn, it’s this: he doesn’t lose well.

I was halfway to my bike when I caught his voice barking out to Matt—fast, sharp, panicked. Something about Ingrid being asthmatic. That she’d never last a full run. That she was born with lungs built like glass.

Weird.

I’ve known her for years. Watched her tear through dance floors, spar in underground rings, chug drinks like liquid fire. Never once did she look like someone who could break on impact.

But I guess pain’s funny like that.

It stays buried—until it doesn’t.

And people like Ingrid? They carry silence like it’s armor. Until it’s no longer enough.

Still…

There’s something about the way Jace treats her that makes my teeth clench. It’s not just control—it’s something darker. It’s like watching someone build a cage and then pretend it’s a sanctuary. His grip on her—it’s not protection. It’s obsession. Brutal. Raw. Possessive.

Me? I care about them. Genuinely. Brotherly, I tell myself.

Especially her.

Especially after Alice Grey pulled me from the gutter and made me someone. She didn’t give birth to me, but she gave me something better—a reason to stay alive.

She raised me like I was hers.

And if she ever saw what her son had become—if she saw him with a gun to Ingrid’s shoulder—she’d lose what’s left of her soul.

This? This isn’t family.

This is war.

Jaxon once asked why I stuck with the Greys, why I fought in a war that wasn’t mine by blood. I told him the easy answer: Alice Grey is my mother, not by blood—but by bond.

But if I’m being honest?

I’m just trying to undo the damage I watched happen in silence. I’m trying to protect what little good is left.

We rode hard into the woods, tires tearing through the silence like a scream. My eyes scanned every flicker of movement until I caught it—a flash of blonde vanishing between the trees.

I didn’t shout. Didn’t tell the others. I tilted my head at Matt—a signal as old as our bond—and veered off alone.

It didn’t take long.

She collapsed in front of us. Her limbs shaking. Body seizing for air like she was underwater. Matt didn’t waste time. He pulled the inhaler from his med pack and shoved it between her lips. Her hands were trembling. Her breath coming out in brittle, jagged pulls.

We waited, hidden under the canopy.

I watched her chest rise and fall like a glitching machine trying to reboot. Her skin was pale. Her eyes wild.

But she was still fighting.

She always fights.

When her breathing steadied, she crawled toward me like she had no one else in the world. She gripped my wrist like she’d fall off the edge if I let go.

“Rick… let’s leave now,” she said, voice cracking like glass underfoot.

God.

That did something to me.

I looked her in the eyes—those deep, dark wells of fear and fury—and I tried to pour every unspoken word into them.

We can’t.

I want to. Fuck, I want to.

But we can’t.

Jace would hunt us. And worse, Ingrid wouldn’t be safe. Not from the world. Not even from herself. There are wars you can’t run from.

So instead of answering, I pulled her into me.

Tucked her small frame into my chest and wrapped her tight, like if I held her hard enough, the world couldn’t touch her.

I’m twice her size—this looked like a bear hugging a broken bunny.

But I didn’t care.

Let Matt watch. Let the trees bear witness.

I need her to know.

Even if I never say it aloud. Even if I’m silent forever. My loyalty doesn’t need words.

I would die for you, Ingrid.

No questions. No second thoughts.

And if it ever came to that?

You’d never die alone.

Even if I have to carry you back to Jace. Even if I have to walk straight into the fire.

I won’t let him touch you like that again.

Because Jewel Grey—

You are the death of me.