Chapter 32. Blood at the Door

The office walls rattled with the news.

“Ravens. Scouts.” The rider stood in the doorway, chest heaving, soot streaking his face. His jacket was torn open, his knuckles raw. “Two for sure. Maybe more behind them.”

Engines idled outside, restless. The smell of oil and gasoline pressed heavy through the thin walls.

Axel tried to push himself off the desk. Blood had already darkened through his sleeve, the bandage soaked. Riven caught his good shoulder and shoved him back down.

“You can’t fight like this.”

His jaw locked. “If I don’t, they’ll gut us in here.”

“Then we don’t let them through the door.”

Kenzie leaned in the frame, chain hanging loose like punctuation. Her grin was feral. “Finally. Someone is talking sense. Ghost girl wants a siege—my kind of night.”

Riven’s glare snapped to her. “This isn’t a game.”

Kenzie just tilted her head, unbothered. “Who said I was joking?”

A murmur rippled outside, Crownless voices sharp