Page 9

Axel

M y phone buzzed just after midnight.

Silent alert. SEAL compound perimeter cam.

Lark’s trailer.

I was on my feet before the next ping.

“What is it?” she asked, sitting up from the couch, wrapped in one of my flannel blankets, her hair mussed and eyes wide.

“Someone’s at your trailer.”

She went pale. But she didn’t scream. Didn’t panic.

“Stay here. Lock the door behind me.”

“Axel—”

“I mean it, Lark.”

I grabbed a shirt, slipped it on, and armed myself. Then I was out the door and into the trees, moving silent and fast.

The door to her trailer was open.

Not cracked. Not ajar. Open.

Swinging gently in the wind like it had been waiting for me.

My gut went tight.

I scanned fast, boots silent against the gravel. No movement. No sound but the trees shifting above.

Then I saw it.

Her drone case. Ripped open. Empty.

“Damn it.”

Whoever it was didn’t just break in for kicks. They came for something specific—and they got it.

Then I spotted it. Scratched into the aluminum siding near the back corner.

A jagged X slashed through a lightning bolt.

Not random. Not graffiti.

A symbol. A message.

And it was meant for her.

Lark was pacing when I walked in, fury and fear tangled in my chest.

“What happened?” she asked, voice tight.

“They got in,” I said. “Took your drone. Left a message. Something personal.”

She went still. “So it’s him.”

“Looks like it.”

She crossed her arms. Defensive. “I should’ve posted the footage. Sent it to someone. I let this go too long—”

I closed the space between us and grabbed her arms gently. Just enough to steady her.

“You didn’t do this.”

“I ignored the signs.”

“You survived the signs,” I said quietly. “Now let me handle the rest.”

She looked up at me then—and for the first time, I saw the cracks in her armor.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

I didn’t tell her not to be.

Didn’t offer lies.

I just said, “Good. Fear keeps you smart. But I won’t let anything happen to you.”

And for once, she didn’t crack a joke.

She just leaned into me.

And let herself believe it.