Jagger lets out a breath, running a hand over his face. “Guess no one’s getting back to sleep tonight.”
“No…” I meet his stare. “I think whoever that was knew exactly where she was sleeping, what she has proof of, and when we’d be out cold.”
The tent falls silent again, all of us knowing this will only get worse. Reese swallows, hugging her arms around herself. “So what now?”
I look at her, at the flicker of fear she’s trying so damn hard to hide. Fighting the urge to cross the room and wrap my arms around her—to give her the comfort I know she needs—I say quietly, “For now, we lock this place down. And we all stay together.”
Her brows draw together. “You think he’ll come back?”
I don’t answer. Because the truth is, I don’t just think he might—I know he will.
Whoever this is, he isn’t done.
The next hour is a blur of movement and controlled chaos. Gunnar checks the perimeter again, while Damon and Jagger inspect every inch of the tent, finding nothing but scuffed prints and a torn flap near the back corner. I patch it myself, realizing it is far too easy for someone to slink in here again.
Reese sits on her cot, the soft light throwing shadows across her face. She’s calmer now, but her eyes never stop moving. She’s on high alert.Good. She needs to be.She catches me watching and gives me a small, humorless smile. “You look like you’re about to lose your shit.”
“Because I am.”
“I’m fine, Chris.”
“No,” I insist flatly, tying off the final stitch with a sharp tug. “You’re not. Someone broke into our tent and stood over you while you slept. That’snotfine.”
Her gaze flicks to the ruined laptop. “You protected me.”
I stop what I’m doing and look up. The words hit something deep and buried. It’s not the first time I’ve heard them, but the way she says it lands wrong, cutting right through the walls I’ve spent years building.
“I was already awake,” I lie.
“No, you weren’t,” she says, quiet but sure. “You reacted before you knew what you were reacting to. That’s not the same thing.”
I look away first. Because if I don’t, I’ll forget that she’s not mine to protect.Not like that. Not anymore.
By the time my adrenaline fades, dawn is still hours away. The camp’s gone still again, a fragile calm settling over the desert.
I sit at the edge of my cot, pistol balanced loosely in my lap, as everyone tries to sleep, but no one really does. My gaze flits between the tent flap and Reese. She’s curled up under her blanket, the faint rise and fall of her breathing the only proof she’s resting. As I watch her sleep, I make a silent promise to make this right because, being this close to her again, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to walk away from her again.
Hawk has been barking orders at the guys since I woke up, and I can tell by the rigid set of his shoulders that he started his day on the wrong side of the bed. Although, based on how bloodshot they are, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that he never went back to bed.
Using the tiny door of the locker beside my bed for privacy, I quickly change from my pajamas into a pair of khaki cargo pants and a navy tank top. It’s unnecessary, though; none of them even tries to steal a glance. Not even Hawk. The door closes, creaking on its hinges, and I quickly make up my cot as heavy boots cross the tent. I know it’s Hawk before he speaks from the faint scent of cardamom as he approaches.
“We’re not going back.”
Spinning abruptly as I stand, I find my face in his chest. I look up at him sharply, taking a tiny step backward. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Hawk doesn’t even slow as he pulls on his tactical vest. “We’re not going back to the village.”
The words hit like a slap across the face. “You can’t be serious.”
He looks up then, blue eyes flat and hard. “Serious as hell.”
“Hawk, that’s?—”
“Nonnegotiable.” He doesn’t raise his voice, but his tone silences me and causes my pulse to skyrocket. It’s the voice of a man used to being obeyed. A tone my body remembers all too well, by the way it inappropriately reacts.
I cross my arms. “The photos prove something happened. You can’t just?—”
“Ican,” he cuts in through clenched teeth. He takes a deep breath, his nostrils flaring. “And I will. I’m not taking my team into a compromised area because you’ve got a hunch and a handful of pictures.”
