For a second, I can't breathe.
Then I hear tires on gravel.
We both go still. I check my watch. Six twenty-two. Early.
I'm already moving. Hand on Eden's arm, guiding her against the wall away from the windows. She doesn't fight it. Just follows my lead.
I move to the window. Shift the curtain just enough to see.
A black SUV rolls up the drive. Behind it—Ash's Bronco, my bike strapped to the trailer. The tension in my shoulders loosens.
The SUV stops. Driver's door opens. A man steps out—fifties, tired eyes, rumpled suit.
"Carver," Eden says. She's moved to the other window, peering through the gap. "The detective."
The back door opens. A woman climbs out. Mid-forties. Sharp suit. Her eyes sweep the property, the cottage, the tree line—assessing, dismissing.
"And that's Rodriguez. The DA."
The Bronco's doors open. Ash steps out, Maya right behind him. Crow's bike rumbles up the drive a second later.
"They're with Ash," I say. "We're good."
I open the door. Step onto the porch.
Rodriguez is already walking toward me, heels somehow not catching in the gravel. Her eyes find mine and I catch a flicker across her face—not the fear I'm used to, but distaste. Gone before I can be sure I saw it.
She's not afraid of orcs. She just doesn't like them.
Carver steps around her, extending his hand. "Mr. Diesel. I wanted to thank you personally for keeping our girl safe."
Our girl.
Something stirs behind my ribs. The beast, cracking one eye open.
I shake his hand anyway. Carver's been Eden's one constant through all of this—the safe house, the running, the waiting. If she trusts him, I can tolerate the possessive language.
"She kept herself safe," I say. "I just made sure no one got close enough to test her."
Carver's mouth twitches. Almost a smile. "Either way. We're grateful."
"Inside," Rodriguez says, already turning toward the door. "We're sitting ducks out here."
The cottage feels smaller with all of them in it. Rodriguez positions herself in the center of the living room. Carver hovers near the door. Eden stands frozen in the kitchen doorway.
Maya goes straight to her. Ash takes up position near me.
"Now that we're all here." Rodriguez doesn't waste time. Her eyes cut to Carver. "I only learned this morning where our witness has been for the past week. Detective Carver felt it was safer not to share that information."
"It was safer," Carver says quietly. "The fewer people who knew—"
"I understand the reasoning." Rodriguez's voice is clipped. "But if I had known she was being housed with an orc motorcycle club, I would have found an alternative. Immediately."
"It wasn't official," Carver says. "That was the point. No paper trail. No leaks."
"And now we have a different problem." Rodriguez turns to Eden. "The defense has been digging. They know you disappeared after the safe house attack. They know you've been off-grid for over a week. What they don't know—yet—is where you've been or who you've been with."
She lets that sink in.
