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Riley

Y asmin blocked the door, tears streaming down her face. “Luna wants you to stay here. Behind the walls put in place to protect us.”

Elie and Emma sulked deeper into the study, making themselves busy with checking their weapons. They were supposed to be helping me convince Yasmin to cooperate. But Elie avoided my eye and Emma only ever mirrored Elie. The fact that Yasmin’s refusal to head down to the bunker meant the girls and Harley would have the opportunity to stay behind and defend didn’t help my case. Elie was all too eager to have the opportunity to rig this place with explosive traps should the enemy try to make their way in.

“I don’t answer to Luna,” I said as gently as possible. Hoping the desperation to get out there and lead my troops wasn’t voiced as irritation with her. The seconds were ticking away. This place needed to stand or all else would fall.

Monterey was a settlement born from a city of ash, and like a phoenix, we would always rise.

Yasmin’s words came out a swallowed, painful whisper, “She’s going to get you killed.”

“Then I will die knowing I was following orders, following through with my commitments.” I tapped my hands expressively against my chest. “I will die without having failed.”

“What about your commitments here?” she demanded, her hand resting against her stomach that had barely begun to form a safe space for my son to grow. “The ones at home.”

This had always been a point of contention between us. She fell for a soldier, yet my loyalty was only admirable in her eyes when it came to the people that lived inside these four very specific walls. Us and only us. Never The Compound and most certainly never Amaia.

I didn’t have time for this. People were counting on me to make sure their loved ones made it back home tonight. Tomorrow. This could last longer than any of our minds could fathom. We’d shown Ronan our hand and underestimated how hard he’d swing the axe—how soon . So while Amaia worked to secure our alliances, I needed to do my part. We, as a compound, were only as strong as our loyalty extended. That’s what she’d taught me over the years and that was the soldier I would be today.

“My commitment to you and our family is everything, Yasmin. But my commitment out there … to Amaia.” Yasmin flinched at my words and I corrected myself, clearing my throat. It was bigger than the two of us. She had to understand. “To The Compound—it’s just as important to me. Fulfilling my duty is what lets you make this a home. It’s what ensures you, the woman I love endlessly, and our child, can survive. Can thrive. Grow old. This is the best way I can show you I am committed to us.”

“I told Amaia once not to ask me to choose between you and her, and now I’m asking you the same. Because if you make me choose, I’ll lose a part of myself. I’d choose you and our family every time, but it would break my soul to lose her. She’s not just my general, Yasmin, she’s my family too. This isn’t about choosing one over the other. It’s about honoring both commitments. Because protecting her and The Compound is what allows me to protect you, too.”

“She has her own family now,” Yasmin said, her voice quieter than I’d ever heard it. My woman was loud and joyful—radiant with a kind of life that painted my world in color. This muted version of her was almost unbearable. I nearly gave in. Ready to give it all up if only it meant I could see one more glimpse of her smile.

I met her sad charcoal eyes, steady despite the storm raging inside me. “And yet she’s never made me feel as though I’m not a part of it.”

Her gaze softened. Before I could say anything else, she took a step closer, lips pressing against mine. The weight of the world fell away at the touch of her warm hands caressing the sides of my face.

Yasmin pulled back enough to take me in, fingers brushing the edge of the vest of my uniform. A hesitant brush of skin, voiceless but aching to be understood. I took a step back. The chill air filled the space where her warmth had been. I didn’t linger on it. I couldn’t—not now.

The battlefield was ready. Every trap, every defense, exactly as my general requested. Right now, it was time to walk into the fire.

I moved toward the door, glancing at the light of my life one last time. “I’ll come back, I promise.”

The words were for her as much as they were for me. “You’d better,” she said. Her voice was steady, but the fear in her eyes betrayed what she wanted me to see.

Glancing toward the girls in the corner, I offered them a small nod. For Yasmin, for Amaia, for all of them—I’d see this through.