"I told you to keep your mouth shut." His gaze hardened. "You did not do that. Kind of like you had one job, Ivy. You failed at that."

The entire nape of my neck burned. To have David say something like that to me at any point sucked monkey balls, but with an audience, and that audience being Ren, it made me want to pitch myself off the balcony outside the window. Knowing my luck, I'd end up in a piss-filled puddle. But what David was saying wasn't fair. "I only said something because Trent already—"

"I didn't ask for an excuse," he fired back. "It doesn't matter what Trent said. You know he's full of shit half the time, and you should've left it at that."

That was such bullshit, but before I could voice that startling accuracy, Ren chimed in. "Seems like the issue is with Trent and not Ivy."

Surprised, I cut a look at him. Considering the fact I had not been relatively nice to him at any point since I'd met him, the last thing I should've earned was his defense.

"And I didn't ask for your opinion, did I?" David's gaze flipped back to him.

Ren gave him a half grin that was part smug and part daring. "All I'm saying is, from someone on the outside, if he brought the shit up first, how is that Ivy's fault?"

He just earned cool points. "Totally agree with that statement."

"Here's the thing. I have about forty-five members of the Order in a room where the fucking air conditioning isn't working, running their mouths like a bunch of old women now. Half of them think Ivy's got a screw loose, and the other half think we have a fucking ancient running around. Trent wouldn't have said shit before the meeting if Ivy hadn't bruised his balls. Literally."

My eyes widened.

His eyes narrowed even further, until just a thin slit of brown was visible. "Yeah, I know that, too. He wanted to file a goddamn complaint against you, and you're damn lucky I fucking hate paperwork and already had to file one on your ass once this week."

"You had to file one because I got shot since maybe we do have an ancient on the streets," I said, then twisted toward Ren as my arms fell to my sides. Our gazes locked, and this was the perfect time for him to speak up, to say what he'd told me the night before.

Silence.

And I waited—waited for Ren to say what he said to me last night when I spied the same fae that shot me and he stopped me from following it. I waited while I heard a burst of laughter from the room the rest of the Order members were holed up in and told myself that laughter had nothing to do with me. I waited.

Ren said nothing.

Another half a minute passed as I stared at his profile. I sucked in a sharp breath as realization kicked in. A muscle had begun to thrum along his jaw as the seconds ticked by. He wasn't going to say a damn word, nothing that really backed me up. The burn that now traveled across my cheeks deepened. I didn't understand. Anger rose, but so did something I honestly felt stupid for even feeling.  I was hurt, and that was dumb. I didn't know him and had no reason to trust him.

David scratched at his jaw. "You, on the other hand, do need to get your ass in there as soon as we get done with this annoying ass conversation. The other sect members need to know you so they don't end up accidentally trying to kill you." Then he turned back to me, and the edges of his expression softened. "I know I pulled you off rotation until next Wednesday, but I can't spare anyone else, so I need you to show Ren around town until then. You won't be hunting. If you do happen across a fae, he will handle it until then. You will basically be shadowing him and making sure he knows his way. You'll start tomorrow night."

Oh hell.

"Sounds good to me," Ren said.

Oh—oh hell to the no.

I took a step back, because I was really afraid I might turn into a rabid squirrel. "No can do."

Ren looked at me sharply.

"You don't have a say in this, Ivy. Let that sink in for a second before you continue with whatever you're about to say," David replied calmly.

My hands curled into fists.

"Are you letting that sink in?" he asked.

Man, it was so sinking in. David was giving me a direct command, which meant if I refused it, I was in breach of the Order. And that meant I'd get a formal write-up. You only got three before you were kicked out, stripped of your tattoo, and even your wards. They were hardcore like that.

Holly and Adrian would've been so disappointed in me if that happened. The same with Shaun, because none of them had disobeyed the Order at any point in their lives, but I already did once, and they had paid that price with their lives.

As much as I hated the idea of having to do anything with Ren, especially after he let me throw myself under the fully-loaded bus with the ancient thing, I couldn't dishonor the memory of those who burned inside me. Disobeying the Order over something so simple would be exactly that.

"I got it," I said hoarsely.

David didn't look so thrilled for some reason. "Good. Meet him back here tomorrow at five. You're no longer needed here tonight."

There was a beat of tense silence then Ren exhaled softly.

One of the hardest things I'd ever had to do was walk away from David and Ren with my back straight and my chin up, but I did it and I did it without even looking back at them. I gathered what felt like a torn shred of pride, and I walked out of there before those fragile slivers of control broke.

~

My phone dinged twice by the time I was opening the door to my apartment and dropping yet another stack of Amazon boxes on the chair. Part of me hadn't wanted to look at it, but as I slipped the phone out of my bag, I saw it was from Val.