Page 59

I push my chair back and stand.

Raze has barely made it to his seat when his eyes come to me.

“I need to tell you something.” My fingers tighten around the mug before I set it down. “About Malgrave.”

Raze stops with one hand on the back of his chair. Across the table, Scar’s head turns toward me, while farther down, whatever Ruckus was about to shove into his mouth stays halfway there.

Something shifts in Carnage, and I feel that most of all. The low vibration that’s been brushing against mine since he walked in pulls tighter, and when I glance toward the end of the table, his amber eyes are locked on me.

Raze finally pulls out his chair, but he stays standing behind it. “What about him?”

There’s nothing aggressive in the question. Nothing particularly welcoming either.

I swallow. “Roxy told me what happened to Carnage.”

His gaze flicks briefly toward her.

Roxy gives him a small nod. “She asked. I told her what I knew.”

Raze looks back at me. “And?”

That one word almost has me sitting back down. Almost.

“I think Malgrave’s done this before.”

Scar shifts in his chair. “Done what?”

I glance toward Carnage again, and this time his attention drops to my throat. To the pale scars showing above my shirt, and my hand nearly comes up to cover them.

I stop it.

“Taken something from someone that wasn’t his to take.”

Silence settles across the table.

Raze watches me for a few seconds before pulling out the chair and sitting down. He rests his forearms against the table, all of his attention on me now. “That’s a hell of a thing to throw into breakfast, Echo.”

“Yeah.” I let out a breath and sit again because standing suddenly feels like I’m giving a fucking presentation. “Wasn’t exactly how I planned on introducing myself to everyone.”

A quiet snort comes from somewhere down the table.

Raze’s mouth almost moves. “Tell me why you think that.”

Permission.

I wrap my hands around my coffee again, needing something to do with them. “I can’t give you proof. I wish I could.” My eyes move to Carnage before coming back to Raze. “But when I found that fracture in the woods, I felt what was left inside it. Hellfire and Holy Grace, bound so tightly together I couldn’t pull them apart with my siren senses.”

Sentinel shifts beside Carnage.

“Then last night, I felt the same thing in him.” I glance back down at Carnage.

Carnage goes completely still.

“His voice is gone…” I continue, quieter now, “… but his frequency isn’t. Malgrave took something from him, but I don’t think he took everything.”

Raze leans back slightly. “And that tells you Malgrave’s done it before?”

“No.” I shake my head. “That part comes from me.” His eyes narrow while my thumb runs once along the side of my mug. “I know what it feels like when someone fucks with a voice they have no right to touch.”