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Echo glances toward the clock hanging above the tool cabinets, and her eyes widen when she catches the time. “I can’t believe it’s after two already?”

Sentinel pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the screen. “Two seventeen, actually.”

Shit.

I came out here because sleep wasn’t happening after Malgrave ripped my fucking voice away. I figured I’d work until my hands hurt enough to shut my head up, but somewhere between Echo appearing in the doorway and nearly kissing her against the wall, the rest of the night disappeared.

Sentinel looks between us again. “Anyway, Raze wants the compound settled. Echo, you’ve got a room. Carnage…” His mouth twitches as his eyes drop pointedly to where I’m still standing between her legs. “I’m guessing you know where yours is.”

Echo laughs this time—actually fucking laughs.

That quiet siren vibration rides beneath her laugh, brushing through mine again, and my hellhound immediately turns his full attention back to her. The beast presses close beneath my skin, chasing the sound even after Echo slips out from between the wall and me.

My hand falls away from her waist.

I fucking hate how empty it feels.

Echo smooths her shirt where my fingers had bunched the fabric, her silver hair falling forward as she looks anywhere except at me for a second. When her eyes finally lift, there’s still heat in them.

Still that question.

Still the same pull that had her mouth against mine.

“Goodnight, Carnage.”

My throat tightens automatically around an answer I can’t give her.

The frustration hits, but this time Echo doesn’t look at my throat. She simply holds my gaze for another second, like she already knows the words are there even if she can’t hear them, then she turns and heads for the door.

Sentinel steps aside to let her pass, waiting until she disappears down the hall before slowly looking back at me.

I point at him.

Not one fucking word.

His grin tells me he understands perfectly. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Lying prick.

I grab the rag from the bench and throw it at his head. Sentinel catches it one-handed, laughing as he backs through the doorway. “Sweet dreams, brother.”

Another middle finger sends him on his way.

The door swings shut behind him, leaving me alone with the bike, the tools scattered across the bench, and a garage that suddenly feels a hell of a lot emptier than it did before Echo walked into it.

I should finish the bike.

I should go to bed.

Instead, my eyes land on the spot where she was sitting on the crates before moving to the edge of the wall where I fucking kissed her.

My hellhound stirs beneath my skin.

No pacing or clawing at the silence Malgrave left behind. The beast is focused on the doorway Echo disappeared through, waiting for some trace of her to come back.

And fuck me if some part of me isn’t doing exactly the same thing.

She followed my roar here.