I look at Jericho. Standing there uncuffed. Watching the street with an awareness that says he’s protecting me even now. Could walk away. Could kill me. Could do anything.
He doesn’t. Just waits.
“No,” I say.
“Nadia—”
“He got us out. Shifted. Flew us clear of the ambush. The cuffs had to come off.”
Silence. Then: “Are you safe?”
“For now. We need extraction. Syndicate knows our general location. We need to get back to Aurora.”
“You’re coming back?” There’s no sarcasm in his voice. But the reminder of my resignation still hangs between us.
“If that’s acceptable to you?” I hold my breath.
Pause. “We’ll discuss that once we have you out.”
“How soon?” I ask.
“Weather’s bad. Storm system moving back in. We won’t get a team in the air until it passes. Could be a day, could be two.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Forty-eight hours?”
“Maybe.” He stops. “Can you maintain position that long?”
“Do I have a choice?”
He ignores my sarcasm. “There’s a motel?”
I look down the street. “Yes.”
“I’ll wire funds. Secure a room. Stay out of sight. Keep Allon contained.”
I look at Jericho again. Uncuffed. Unrestrained. Standing there like he’s waiting for me to decide his fate. Like he trusts me despite every reason not to.
“Copy.”
“Nadia.” Viktor’s voice softens slightly. “Don’t do anything you can’t undo.”
The line goes dead. I stand there, the receiver pressed to my face. Unable to move.
Do you plan to kill him?
I don’t know. I should know. Should be certain. Should still want him dead with the same conviction that brought me into these mountains. But I’m bleeding. Exhausted. Standing forty feet from a man who saved my life twice today. Who could have killed me a dozen different ways. Who transformed into something magnificent and terrifying. Who my wolf recognized.
And I don’t know anything anymore.
I hang up the phone.
Turn.
Jericho is exactly where I left him. Ten feet away. Watching. Waiting.
Forty-eight hours.
Two days trapped with him in a civilian town while my body betrays me and my certainty crumbles, and everything I thought I knew rewrites itself.
