One more line decrypts.
Need confirmation on relocation. Unknown threat in play.
My throat tightens.
Threat.
Us.
They know we’re coming.
I run my hands through my hair, grounding myself as adrenaline surges through my veins like an electrical current. The fear is still there—sharp, suffocating—but underneath it burns hotter.
Determination.
Fury.
Purpose.
“They think they can hide her,” I murmur, voice steadying. “They think we’ll break.”
The guys shift again outside the door—trying not to hover, trying not to barge in, trying to give me space. I can feel the guilt press harder, wrapping tight around my ribs.
I love them.
God, I love them.
I can’t stay mad at them any longer.
Not really.
Angry, sure. Furious at their timing, their protective instincts, their insistence on slowing down when Kimber is out there with monsters. But the deeper anger—the kind that sticks to bone—I can’t hold that, not with them.
Because we’ve only just found each other again.
After years of silence.
After surviving separate hells, then crashing into a new one together.
We finally clawed our way back to beingus… and all we’ve been given is blood, fear, and more battles to fight before we can even breathe.
Fighting with them—truly fighting—would crack something in all of us.
And the truth I hate to admit is that I understand exactly where their fear comes from.
They want to protect me. They want to wrap themselves around me like armor. But they have to understand that I already learned how to survive without them.
I had to.
And I’m not about to step back now—not when Kimber might be reliving my nightmare.
My fingers slow on the keyboard. The screen stares back, code smearing together as my chest tightens. The anger burns down into a smaller, knottier feeling—sharp enough to sting.
I lean back.
Breathe once.
Twice.