Unknown Number:They can’t keep you. You’re mine.
I nearly drop the phone.
Tansy grabs my wrist. “What do we do?”
The phone buzzes again in my palm, and I can’t help it. I look.
Unknown Number:Run if you want. I’ll still find you.
The phone slips from my hand, clattering against the counter. I can’t breathe. The café feels too small, too bright, every pair of eyes suddenly sharp and watching.
“Lo.” Tansy is trying to keep me from breaking apart right here. “Where’s Beck right now?”
“The station,” I whisper. My pulse is a drumbeat in my ears. “He’s working today. I know he’s at the fire station.”
“Then go,” she says firmly, shoving the phone back into my hand. “Get to him. Show him all of this.”
I don’t think. I just move. Out the door, down the street, my legs pumping like the ground might open up and swallow me whole. Every car I pass could be his. Every window has a pair of eyes. The phone buzzes again in my hand, but I don’t look. I can’t.
By the time the firehouse comes into view, my chest is on fire, breath ragged. Beck is outside, rolling up a hose, broad shoulders bent to the work. The sight of him nearly undoes me.
“Beck!”
His head snaps up. The second he sees me, sees the terror stamped all over my face, he drops the hose and strides forward. Not just strides,stalks.
“Lo? What?—”
I crash into him, clutching his shirt, sobs ripping out of me before I can stop them. “He knows. He’s here. He’s been watching. He set the fire. He… he…”
Beck doesn’t even hesitate. His arms lock around me, pulling me so tightly against him that my feet leave the ground for half a second. His scent rolls over me, sharp smoked cedar and something hotter underneath, a blanket and a command all at once.
“Breathe, Lo. I’ve got you.”
I bury my face in his chest, the steady thud of his heart, the only anchor I can find.
“He sent me pictures,” I manage between sobs. “Of us. You. Hayes. Ford. All of us. He’s been here this whole time. And my house…heset the fire to the townhouse.”
Beck goes rigid, then tighter, like he could fuse me to him and keep everything else out. A growl rumbles low in his chest, vibrating through me. His jaw flexes hard enough that I can hear the grind of his teeth.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
Then he tips my chin up, forcing me to meet his eyes. They’re hard, burning, a storm barely leashed. “Listen to me, Lo. You are not alone in this. You hear me? He doesn’t get to touch you again. Not while I’m breathing.”
The words are a vow, raw and absolute. Not comfort.
Hot tears blur my vision, but I nod, desperate to believe him.
“And it’s not just me,” Beck continues, thumb brushing away one of the tears that slipped free, his hand lingering with a possessive weight at my jaw. “Hayes. And Ford. We’re all in this. You’re ours, Lo. You’re pack. And no one,no one, hurts what’s mine.”
Something in me cracks open at that, relief and terror tangling in my chest. My hands fist in his shirt like if I let go, I’ll fall apart completely.
Beck just holds me tighter, a low growl humming through his chest. “We’ve got you. Always.”
He doesn’t let go right away. Not when I’m still shaking, not when my breath is still stuttering. But I can feel him pushing that comforting smoke of his through my veins.
I feel Ford’s wind, kicking up in my chest and soothing the heat of my fear and anxiety. Hayes’s rays of sun splash against the darkest parts of my soul, illuminating me so that I can’t hide from them any longer—like he’s always been the shining star I look toward whenever things go haywire.
I feel all of them trying to soothe me as Beck tucks me against him, chin brushing my hair, until the worst of the panic starts to ebb.
