Page 108 of Shattered Jewel
He opened the passenger door, giving my arm a squeeze before I slid in. Then he started the car and swerved off, his face a blank canvas.
The second he pulls up to the manor, I twist toward him in my seat, unable to take it anymore. “Why haven’t you asked what happened with Clover?”
Wilder doesn’t face me when he answers, choosing to keep staring ahead. “Did you want me to?”
“What kind of answer is that?” I pause, using the moment to study his profile. “Did something go on between you, Rio and Rossi to make you go quiet?”
The corner of his mouth tics as he fights off a smile. “The only thing I did in their presence was breathe, and that’s only because I have to.”
His answer is curt, a typical Wilder response. But beneath it, I detect a tenderness, a refrain that’s more protective than dismissive.
My gaze ricochets between his stoic profile and my family mansion casting deep shadows over us, despite the bright morning sun. I want to tell Wilder everything, as well as the others. I’d love to be with them with the sun over our heads instead of constant dark clouds.
But the truth is like acid on my tongue, the unspoken words clawing at the back of my throat.
“Danger,” I confess quietly, finally breaking the silence. Wilder’s focus shoots to me briefly before returning to the mansion’s imposing facade. “It seems like danger is following me and always has its eyes set on the people around me.”
“I know,” he says simply, but not unkindly. “But if you start calling it a curse, I may have to keep you and Cav separated.”
It was meant as a joke, but it doesn’t land. I press my lips together.
Wilder exhales heavily, turning his gaze from the manor to mine. Despite the lurking misery in his hazel eyes, there is an undeniable warmth there, too.
“I won’t make the same mistake twice,” he says.
I furrow my brows at him, confused.
“Teagan,” he supplies.
My forehead smooths with realization.
“I ignored the signs with Tea. In the end, it cost her everything.”
He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion.
“You’re not responsible for that,” I tell him. “We’re not repeating history, Wilder. You’re not the same shallow initiate you were back then.”
He fixes me with a pained stare. “But I am responsible for you. We all are—in one way or another.”
“I am not Teagan,” I say quietly. “My innocence is gone. I’m fully aware of what the Sovereigns are.”
Wilder’s features lock down, disagreement clear but unvoiced. Instead, he reaches over and brushes a wisp of hair out of my face. His touch lingers on my cheek before pulling back.
“You should get inside. Me and the guys will join you shortly. We have to—go.”
The way he stalls on go makes me freeze with my hand halfway to the door handle. “Go where?”
Weariness drags at his eyes as his hands fuse to the steering wheel. “We still have our duties. The Sovereigns don’t know where we are, but if we stop following their orders altogether, there will be trouble for our living relatives. So, we play our roles from afar.”
Ice, chilling and painful, fills my stomach. “What does that mean? I thought you guys were ignoring their summons altogether.”
He flexes his fingers. “We need more time. Always more fucking time. Doing this for them, going after their blackmail targets, people who’ve crossed the Sovereigns in some way and forced to do their bidding, will buy us more. They have to be kept in line.”
Before I can voice any protests, he’s opening his door and stepping out.
I watch him round the car and open the passenger door.
His hand extends toward me, the movement just shy of a command. But I take it, facing him as soon as I step onto the old stone pathway, but Wilder’s already moving to return to his side of the car.