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Hanna gave a sharp nod. “Figured as much. You know, it’s not too late for you guys to pull out of this. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

Ash shook his head. “Jesus, Han. We knew what we signed up for when you called me, and we’re not going to leave you to sort this out on your own now, not a fucking chance.”

Nicco placed a hand on Ash’s shoulder. To anyone else, it would have seemed like a gesture of support or calm, but Ash felt the touch in the most intimate way, like they both knew Hanna now, not just skin on skin, but from sharing stories no one else wanted to hear, from surviving in the storm and coming out the other side with a sense of hope, from doing their goddamned best to help the people who needed it.

“We’re in this, Hanna,” Nicco said. “That’s what The Princes do.”

He said it with such resolve that Ash could hope for a minute, a single minute, that Nic was still their leader, that he wasn’t going to let the monsters in the closet pull him irrevocably into the dark. But pushing that button was simply going to have to wait until they figured out how to rescue Grace from an isolated mountain compound with a single point of ingress.

Ash’s phone pinged and he glanced down at the message. “The guys are an hour out. We go back, we make a plan. Okay?”

“Hey, can you guys drop me at the hospital?” she asked Gray and Xander. “I want to check on Frankie.”

“Is that a good idea?” Ash replied, before they could agree. “You shouldn’t be out any more than necessary.”

“It’s a hospital,” Hanna said, exhaustion threading her tone. “And I do have a service weapon, I’ll remind you. The Iron Daggers are dumb, but they’re not dumb enough to attack a cop in front of a hundred witnesses.”

“We can stick around,” Gray offered. “Bring the Sheriff back up the mountain when she’s done.”

“Fine.” Ash threw his hands in the air. He felt irritable and frustrated, like his skin was too tight and the dim lights in the basement were too bright, and he needed some fresh fucking air. This was nothing new, chasing down leads, going into dangerous situations with a hope and prayer, trusting the local cops to actually do their jobs.

But it’s Hanna.

That was the part that kept sticking. It had been Hanna since the moment she had called him and he’d dropped everything and come running. But even in the last week, that need to protect and care for her had morphed into something alive and evolving. He needed to keep her safe because if anything happened to her, if he let anything happen to her, Ash knew he’d never be able to live with himself.

Because.

Because she was under his skin, in his blood, tying his thoughts into knots that could never be undone. Because she and Nicco made up the very marrow of his bones, and Ash knew the world would look different if he woke up one day and either one of them wasn’t there.

Wasn’t in his bed.

Wasn’t at his side.

“Keep your radio on,” he muttered.

It was like being back in his seventeen-year-old body again, that angry, snapping kid who hadn’t known how to say thank you, so he’d snarled and acted out. Who had broken curfew and stolen beers because he was afraid to say…

Afraid to say I love you.

Nicco fell into step behind Ash. “Thanks again, Doc,” he said. “He’s being an ass, but yeah, keep your radio on, Leone.”

Then he wrapped his hand around Ash’s shoulder and steered him back outside. The cold air was brisk, the biting promise of snow, but it felt good on his face.

When he turned to Nicco, Ash knew he didn’t have to explain himself. “I can’t… I just…”

Nicco tipped his chin up, holding firm, holding Ash’s gaze. “Lo so, Diavolo mio. Lo so, mio diavolo. Lo so già.” He knocked their foreheads together, a moment of intimacy Ash could barely survive. “I know, Ash,” he murmured. “I know.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Riding on the back of Gray’s bike was nothing like riding on Ash’s bike. It was as if Hanna had been picked up at the airport by a friend, a friend she had no intention of sleeping with. When Hanna had been pressed against Ash’s leather jacket, listening to his filthy commands in the comm set, there hadn’t been any road under the tires or leather under her fingers. It had been like flying.

Every moment she was with Ash was a kind of free fall in the unknown, and every moment she was with Nic was a quiet freedom, like breathing cold air into her lungs for the very first time, or sleeping out under the stars, or catching an old pirate ship to the new world.

But she was still grateful when Gray and Xander dropped her at the hospital. She needed time to clear her head, and it turned out that was a very difficult thing to do when she was surrounded by two hot men in leather pants who wanted nothing more than to wring a night of releases from her body and each other’s.

“You can head back on surveillance,” she said, hoping to sound nonchalant. After years as sheriff, Hanna was very much used to being the boss, and it had been a very long time since she’d had a babysitter. Still, Nicco and Ash were technically in charge of The Princes’ movements, and their crew was nothing if not loyal.

“Told the bosses we’d stick around,” Xander said. “Sorry, Sheriff.”