I looked around.
At Blaze typing without looking up. At Trigger checking the perimeter. At Beast standing like nothing could get past him.
“It’s not chaos,” I said. “It’s control.”
Ace’s mouth twitched slightly. “Yeah.”
My fingers brushed the edge of the counter.
“I get it now.”
That earned me a look.
“Get what?”
“Why you don’t walk away when things get hard,” I said. “Why you step in.”
He studied me for a second.
“Still think it’s a bad idea to be around us?”
I thought about it.
About the danger.
The fear.
The attack.
Then—
About the way I wasn’t alone anymore.
“No,” I said.
And that surprised both of us.
Blaze’s voicecut through the moment.
“Hey.”
Everything in the room shifted.
“What?” Ace asked.
“Cell ping,” Blaze said, eyes narrowing at the screen. “Burner. Two miles out.”
My stomach dropped.
“Is it him?” I asked.
Blaze didn’t answer right away.
Then—
“Yeah.”
The word landed hard.