Page 61 of Vows of Ruin

I’m in the armory with Max, Hunter, and Noah. Torque is checking the vehicles with Wrecker. Cash is finishing recon outside with two of the new recruits, eyes on every satellite and drone feed Margot and Elias can give us.

Margot, God bless her twisted little soul, is parked in front of three screens in the war room, fingers flying across the keys, rerouting traffic cameras and creating blind spots where we’ll need them. “If anyone even thinks about flipping a switch near that building, I’ll know before they blink.” She mutters.

Doc’s already moved to the safehouse with two Serpents posted at the door. She’s stocked with supplies, portable beds, clean clothes, and an IV setup. She didn’t even wait for permission. Just packed up, looked Wrenley in the eye, and said, “I’ll be there when they need me.”

Wrenley nods. “They’ll need you.”

Back in the armory, Wrenley steps in like she owns the room. She’s already geared up, tight black tactical pants, long sleeved black shirt, braid coiled high. No makeup. Just warpaint reflecting in her stare.

Max notices the Kevlar vest in her hand and walks over, taking it from her. “You’re wearing this. Non-negotiable.”

“I wasn’t going to argue,” she smirks.

He fastens it carefully, his hands lingering for just a second. Then he whispers so only she and I can hear, “Just remember… don’t push anyone out of the way of bullets, okay?”

She smiles, soft but steady. “I’ll try.”

Try. That’s the best we get with her. It’s enough.

I slide a custom dagger across the table to her, shorter than her usual blade, made for quick strikes and easy concealment. “New toy,” I say.

Wrenley flips it in her hand and nods once. “Perfect.”

Torque steps through the back door with Wrecker on his heels. “Vans are loaded. Weapons in the floor panels, armor in the trucks. Riot’s prepping the drone.”

“Comm check in five,” I bark, turning to the others. “We hit this clean. We hit it fast. We get every single one of those girls out. You see someone you don’t know. You see someone in our way. Take them down.”

Hunter cracks his neck and checks the rounds in his rifle. “Let’s burn it to the fucking ground.”

Noah slings his bag over his shoulder, shotgun at his back. “Been waiting all week to stretch my legs.”

Even Elias appears in the doorway, slipping a balaclava with a skull face on it over his head, pistol holstered. “You’ll have eyes from above. Don’t break anything that looks expensive.”

I glance at Wrenley. She’s standing in the middle of all of it, calm as the eye of a storm. Steady. Cold. Focused. Her hand brushes mine as we pass each other in the hall.

“You ready?” My voice cuts through the quiet chatter around us.

Her eyes lift to mine sharp and unwavering. There’s no hesitation in her. There never is. She doesn’t answer me right away. Instead, she looks past me. Out over the driveway. Every Serpent is here. Engines idling, bodies still. Waiting and watching her. Ready to follow her straight into hell without a second thought.

I feel it shift, the moment she steps into it. Into herself. Her fingers curl around the dagger at her throat. Just like that the noise falls away.

“Remember who you are,” She says, her voice calm, but it carries. “Remember what you vowed.”

No one moves. Not a single sound. She gives it right back to them.

“We are not chosen by fate. We choose. We do not swear to goodness. We swear loyalty. We stand with our own when the world names them monsters, and when it begs them to become one. We do not ask for forgiveness. We do not shrink to survive. We are shield and blade. We are silence and strike. What hunts ours will answer to us. We keep our secrets as we keep our scars, without regret, without apology, without surrender. If one of us falls, we fall together. If one of us burns, we feed the fire. If one of us is damned, then so are we. This is not a promise of salvation. This is a vow of devotion. We are bound by choice. We are bound by blood. We are bound by the truth we refuse to abandon. You are my war. You are my home. From first breath to last… We remain.”

When she finishes the silence settles over us, thick and electric. I don’t look at the others. I’m watching her. Always her. She turns her head just enough to meet my eyes, then Max’s. For a second, there’s something softer there. Something that belongs to us, not the war waiting outside those gates.

In a flash it’s gone, replaced by steel. “Let’s bring them home.”

Something in my chest locks into place at that. Yeah. We’re going to burn this place down.

The car hums beneath us, the tension thick and unspoken. Torque’s behind the wheel, his jaw tight, eyes scanning the road like he expects it to bite. Wrecker’s riding shotgun, one arm out the window, his other hand wrapped around his phone, held to his ear as he mutters quick updates.

Wrenley’s in the back seat between Max and me, her warmth pressed to my side. It’s silent except for the low rumble of tires on the asphalt and the occasional crackle over comms from other Serpents reporting in.

“She’s in,” Wrecker says suddenly, ending the call and twisting in the seat to face us. “She’ll take them.”