Page 20 of Raven

He looked up again—eyes locked on Beatrice’s house.

“Let’s see how loyal her new boyfriend really is.”

11

Beatrice

I’ve never been huntedbefore, 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 stoodin 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.

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