Page 11

11

Beatrice

I’ve never been hunted before, at least I don’t think I have been.

This feeling I’m having was different.

This time, I wasn’t alone. And that terrified me more than anything Wolfthorn could throw at me.

Because this time, someone else could get hurt.

Someone I had deep feelings for. Someone like Raven.

Or his team—the men who had started circling my life like a quiet, invisible perimeter. I saw it in the way Cyclone checked the roofline, how River installed motion sensors without asking, how Gage casually brought weapons into my garage like we were setting up for a cookout.

And Raven?

He never left.

Not even when I told him to.

“You don’t have to guard me, but I’m glad you are here,” I told him, when I caught him sweeping my back deck like a soldier on patrol.

He looked up from the shadows and said, “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”

* * *

I stood in the middle of my living room now, turning the same knife over and over in my hand.

It was nothing special—just a six-inch tactical blade I’d kept since training. But the weight of it grounded me.

“I know how they think,” I told Raven as he walked inside. “They’ll wait until dusk. They like to blend their movements with the light. Half-sun. Half-shadow. It makes visibility hard. That’s when they’ll come.”

“Slate’s leading them,” Raven said. “I saw him across from the warehouse. He’s not going to risk a long game. He’ll want it quick, controlled.”

I nodded. “Then we turn the trap on him.”

Raven raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean you’re finished running?”

I met his eyes. “I was never running. I was surviving. I was hoping he was dead. I prayed he died.”

He stepped closer, close enough I could feel the heat of him. “Then let’s make sure you keep surviving.”

I nodded toward the table. “I wrote out everything I remember about the Guatemala operation. Locations. Names. Code phrases. It’s all in there. If I die.”

“No.” Raven’s voice was sharp. Final. “That doesn’t happen.”

“You don’t get to promise that.”

“Yes, I do.” He stepped in, so close I could feel the tension rolling off him. “You think this is just about protecting a witness? You think I’m here out of some professional code?”

I swallowed. “Then why are you here?”

He leaned in.

Because I care about you. Because I’m falling for you. Because I’d die before I let someone put a bullet in you.

He didn’t actually say any of that out loud.

He didn’t have to.

It was in his eyes. His breath and the way his hand brushed mine like an anchor. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard and long.

He gave a tight nod. “We are ready for them.”

* * *

Later that evening, the house was quiet.

The team was in position.

Mandy lay at the front window. Mike curled at my feet, finally calm.

And I was at peace for the first time in years.

Because this time, I wasn’t worried about the enemy finding me. For some reason, I thought Slate was dead. If I knew he was alive, I would have disappeared. I was glad my brothers were still on vacation.