He rolls us carefully so I’m half on top of him, using his shoulder as a pillow, one arm wrapping around my back like he has no intention of ever letting go.
I tuck myself into the curve of him, still breathing him in, still half dazed.
The world outside the cabin is unchanged.
We’re still on a list.
Helios is still out there.
Dean and Arrow and the others are still tearing apart digital empires to make sure we get to always instead of maybe.
But in here, in this cramped little bedroom with the sheets twisted around our legs and his pulse steady under my palm, something absolutely did change.
We jumped.
And instead of falling alone, we crashed into each other.
“Knight?” I murmur after a while, my voice slow and sleepy.
“Yeah?” His fingers are tracing idle patterns on my spine, half-conscious.
“You realize there’s no going back from this, right?”
His hand pauses. Then keeps moving, slower. “Good,” he says quietly. “Because I don’t want to go back.”
I smile into his chest.
My body is tired in the best way.
My anxiety, for once, is a quiet, distant hum instead of a scream.
“I love you, you know,” I say, the words easier now, sliding out on a sigh.
He tightens his arm around me, lips brushing my hair.
“I know,” he murmurs. “I’m… getting there. Saying it out loud. For now, you’re going to have to settle for ‘I’m not letting anyone take you from me.’”
I close my eyes, letting those words sink all the way down. “That works for me,” I whisper.
Outside, the wind moves through the trees.
Somewhere beyond that, a network of monsters thinks it’s hunting us.
They’re wrong.
Because for the first time since this started, I feel like we’re not just dodging blows.
We’re building something worth fighting for.
And Knight Hayes?
He just claimed me.
Turns out, I really like being his.
FIFTEEN
BOUNTIES & BREAKFAST
