Page 18 of Vows of Ruin

“And why don’t you bring her around?” I continue, raising an eyebrow. “She already knows how crazy we all are.”

Torque sighs. “I just wanted to live in the bubble a little longer.”

Doc snorts. “Well… POP!” She turns her full attention to me. “What can I do for you Wrenley?”

I glance over my shoulder at Wrecker, who’s still pretending to study the porch floorboards, then back to her. “I need you to implant subdermal trackers into everyone. The whole family.”

That gets me two looks. One from Torque, shocked. And one from Doc, measured.

“Everyone agreed to this?” Torque asks, incredulous.

“Not exactly,” I say with a small shrug. “I haven’t told them yet. I figured having Doc there to do it instead of Elias, they might not back out.”

Doc sips her coffee, nodding. “Smart. Honestly, we should’ve done this months ago.”

Torque throws his hands up. “Really?”

Doc just laughs and shrugs. “Let me get dressed. We’ll meet you there.”

As she turns to head back inside. Torque looks at me half grumpy, half amused. “You’re going to be the death of all of us.”

I grin. “Maybe. But at least we’ll know where the bodies are.”

Chapter Nine

Reaper

Wrenley called a meeting, again. Everyone’s crammed into the living room as if a goddamn intervention is about to take place. Torque is perched on the arm of the couch, Margot and Riot are tangled together on the floor, Elias is pacing with a coffee he hasn’t finished, and Wrecker’s stress-eating something that smells like burnt toast. Doc’s here too, leaning against the far wall like she’s one of us.

Max and I stand behind Wrenley as she faces the group, hands clasped in front of her like she’s about to deliver a eulogy. I glance at Doc, then at Wrenley. “Doc’s here. You okay?”

She nods quickly, too quickly. “Yeah. I’m good. But um…okay, wow. How do I say this?”

Elias chuckles under his breath. “When has that ever stopped you?”

Wreckers raises his hand like a kid in class. “Already on board.”

Torque glares. “That’s because you’re terrified of her.”

“Damn right I am.” He responds.

Riot snorts. “She’s five-three, bro.”

“Shut up, you saw her snap that guy's neck without blinking, you’re scared too.”

Riot opens his mouth, then shuts it. Fair enough.

The tension bleeds out of the room in a wave of laughter. Even Doc smirks.

Max smiles, “Yeah, we’re all afraid of her. We know it. Now, Sparrow, what’s going on?” Wrenley looks at me, straight through me actually, and something tightens in my chest.

“I want everyone to get subdermal trackers implanted.” She says. “Doc’s here to do it clean.”

Silence. Max raises an eyebrow. Margot gasps. Riot coughs like something is stuck in his throat.

“Why?” I ask gently. “Little warrior?”

She swallows. “You all remember what it was like when we couldn’t find Max. When we thought…” her voice breaks off, but she doesn’t cry. Not this time. “I don’t want that to happen again. To any of us.”