Silas’s face shifts. “I thought she was with you.”
“She’s not.” My voice comes out like a growl. “Did she say anything? To anyone?”
Harper looks up from Poppi, instantly alert. “Emma left?”
Kayley’s eyes widen, panic flickering. “She was just— I thought she was?—”
Chase steps out from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. “Whoa. Did we lose Emma?”
Boyd’s head turns slowly. “Explain.”
My pulse is hammering now, too fast. “She’s gone. From my cabin. From the lodge. No one’s seen her?”
Thorne’s voice is quiet. “When?”
“I don’t know.” I rake a hand through my hair, forcing myself to breathe. “Sometime after breakfast. After training. After—” After I let her into my bed. After I started believing she was mine.
Gavin’s head snaps up. Commander mode instantly. “Lock down. Wyatt—pull cameras. Thorne, Boyd—perimeter check. Harlan check the compound. Chase, Eli—sweep cabins. Silas—get your patrol units ready, but don’t move until we know what we’re dealing with.”
Everyone moves at once.
The room becomes controlled chaos. Boots. Radios. Screens flickering alive.
I don’t move. Not until I see proof. Because my brain is already filling in worst-case outcomes with sick precision.
Mark found her.
She tried to go alone.
She’s dead in the snow.
No. I refuse to believe any of this shit. She’s fine. But I can’t stop wondering why on Earth she’d leave. .
Wyatt’s fingers fly over the keyboard, face tight. “Pulling exterior cams now.”
The main monitor switches to the compound’s perimeter view. And there she is.
Emma.
My Emma.
Walking alone. She’s cutting through the trees like she knows where she’s going.
My throat tightens so hard it aches. “She left,” I rasp.
Harper presses a hand to her mouth. “Oh, honey…”
Kayley’s eyes go wet. “Why would she leave?”
The camera angle shifts—another feed. Emma slips out from the side of my cabin. My cabin. She pauses on the porch for a second, looking back like she’s… thinking. Like she’s making herself do it. Then she disappears down the path.
My jaw locks. The answer hits me like a punch. She heard us. She heard Silas questioning her, and she ran before we could corner her. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
I turn to Silas, voice deadly quiet. “She overheard you.”
Silas holds my gaze. “Maybe.”
“Not maybe,” I growl. “She did.”