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As she strode across the floor, I caught Langston sweeping his eyes across her body in a way he probably thought was surreptitious but was obvious to me and everyone else.

Porter tapped his watch impatiently. “We gotta go. The rest of the guys are gonna think we aren’t coming.”

“I know,” Cole said. “We’re not going until I’m sure this place is secure.” He glanced at Trent at Zayde. “Do you guys have protection?”

“You mean other than my inch-long canines when I shift?” Trent asked.

“You know what I mean,” Cole said.

Trent smirked and lifted his shirt, revealing a semi-auto pistol tucked into his waistband. “All good, my man.”

“And you?” Cole said, turning his attention to Zayde.

The man cocked an eyebrow and slid his hand into his laptop bag, pulling out a snub-nosed revolver. “We good,” Zayde said with a quick grin.

“Okay, then,” Cole said.

He looked focused and locked in. Commanding and driven in a way I hadn’t seen in a while. It was a relief to know his head was fully back in the game.

“You two just keep your eyes peeled,” Langston said. “I don’t know what kind of strategist Kyle is, but he may assume we’ve got our crosshairs on him. If that’s the case, he could try something stupid.” Shrugging, he gestured around at the house. “Like coming here to cause trouble.”

“I’ll be making sweeps every fifteen minutes,” Trent said. “Like back in the Congo that one time? You remember?”

Langston grinned and chuckled. “I remember you getting jumpy and damn near blowing away some poor chimpanzee instead of the terrorists we were hunting. That’s what I remember.”

Trent made a disgusted sound and waved a hand at him. “Fuck, it was dark. You’d have done the same thing.”

Langston glanced back at Stormy. The lust and desire I’d seen in his eyes a few moments before transformed into concern.

“Miss… uh… Stormy? Are you sure you want to be here during all this?”

“Why wouldn’t she be here?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Langston sighed and glanced at Cole, who only held his hands up in surrender. “You’re on your own with this one,” Cole said to Langston.

Turning back to us, Langston said, “This is going to be dangerous. You don’t need to be involved if you don’t want to be.

You’ve got a child, you aren’t part of Cole’s pack, and your mother is home alone, watching your daughter.

I’m trying to look out for you and make sure there’s as little collateral damage as possible. ”

I frowned. How the hell did Langston know Stormy’s mom was all alone?

Stormy’s father had died of cancer back when she was twelve, but I’d never mentioned that to Langston.

It made me think that he’d looked into her a bit more after meeting her.

Was that because he wanted to clear her as a possible threat, or because he was more interested in her than I’d thought?

Before I could think on that further, Stormy spoke up.

“I may not be part of the pack, but I am part of Avery’s family, even if it’s not by blood.

” She glared at Langston. “I’m going to support her in any way I can.

Plus, Ashton is almost like a son to me.

I’m his fucking godmother, and I helped raise him.

If you think I’m going to leave Avery here to go through this alone, you’ve got another think coming, mister.

” She slipped her hand into mine and squeezed.

“We’re sisters. If not by blood, then by spirit. ”

Langston’s eyes widened at how aggressive she was. My heart warmed. She loved me and Ashton so intensely, and I’d never be able to adequately show her how much she meant to me.

“Fair enough,” Langston said. “Didn’t mean any offense.”

Stormy nodded curtly. “It’s fine. No offense taken.” She licked her lips and slid her eyes down to Langston’s broad chest, then back to his face. “We’re okay. But why do you care, anyway?”

Color rose in Langston’s cheeks, but before he could respond, Cole cut in.

“We need to go,” Cole said. “Porter’s right. We’re gonna be late if we aren’t out the door in the next minute.”

Cole walked to the couch and knelt until he was at eye level with me. The nervous roiling in my stomach returned. A weird combination of panic, worry, and terror made my hands tremble.

“We’ll be back soon,” Cole said.

“Okay,” I muttered.

“I’m serious,” Cole said, rubbing my knees. He pulled me into another hug, and I nearly burst into tears. Instead, I clutched him even tighter than he held me.

“We’re gonna do this job,” Cole said. “And when we get back, we’ll be one step closer to getting Ash back home, all right?”

All I could do was nod, my chin rubbing against his shoulder.

A voice deep in my mind was screaming at me that this was all a bad idea.

Dread oozed through my body. It felt like Cole was telling me he was going off to his death.

I had no clue where all that was coming from, but it made it hard to speak, much less remain calm.

Telling myself it was nothing but nerves, I took a deep, steadying breath and tried to quiet my mind.

“I need to go,” he whispered.

With a massive force of will, I released him, letting him stand up again. He kissed me on the forehead.

Langston winked at me. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to your mate. Not on my watch.”

Swallowing back tears, I nodded and smiled feebly. I was terrified of speaking, almost like I thought the sound of my voice might somehow tip the scales of the universe against me and send what little hope I had crashing to the floor.

Langston slid his eyes from me to Stormy. “You two stay safe until we get back.”

I saw the faintest hint of longing in his eyes and wondered where this might be going between the two of them. They were obviously attracted to one another. I knew Stormy was lonely, but she’d lost her husband less than a year ago. Was she even ready to dip her toes into relationship waters?

We stood at the window and watched as the three men drove off in two different cars—Porter in the rental, and Langston and Cole in his truck. Once they were out of sight, despair threatened to overwhelm me.

“Avery, are you okay?” Farrah asked.

Turning, I saw her eyeing me worriedly. I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, cool,” Farrah said. “I, uh, think I’ll go sweep the perimeter.”

“I’ll go with you,” Trent offered.

They went out the back door, leaving Stormy and me with Zayde.

“You guys wanna track those three dudes?” Zayde asked. “Might make you feel better seeing where they are.”

I gaped at him. “You can do that?”

Zayde shrugged and began to tap his keyboard. “It’s nothing impressive. Langston and Porter both have trackers in their wallets. Off-brand, but they do the same job.”

A few moments later, a map of Harbor Mills and the surrounding area appeared on the screen. A small green dot moved quickly away from the house toward the highway. Stormy and I sat to watch, wondering if things really would go as smoothly as Cole promised.