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Noir immediately wraps both arms around me.

Tight and protective.

His chin presses against the top of my head while one tattooed hand slides slowly up and down my spine.

“You’re okay,” he murmurs quietly.

The apartment door suddenly unlocks behind us.

Both of us spin instantly.

Dagger stumbles inside looking like violence itself.

Blood.

So much fucking blood.

His black shirt’s soaked dark down one side while his arm hangs stiffly at his side and bruises are already forming across his jaw beneath smeared streaks of dried blood.

My entire body reacts before my brain catches up.

“Dagger—”

I cross the apartment so fast I nearly slip on the hardwood.

He barely gets the door shut before I’m grabbing his face with both hands frantically checking for injuries while adrenaline slams back through my bloodstream all over again.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Thanks, little relapse, I hadn’t noticed.”

“Sit down.”

“I’m fine.”

“You got fucking shot!”

Noir’s already moving toward him too, expression sharp and unreadable now beneath the apartment lights.

“Is it done?”

Dagger looks toward him once.

Tiny pause.

Then:

“Yeah. Yeah it’s done.”

Something strange passes silently between them.

Something I don’t fully understand.

Then Noir nods once before turning away completely.

“Good.”

And just like that he disappears toward the balcony.