The scent of roasted garlic, seared meat, and herbs lingered in the warm cabin air, mingling with the crisp tang of pine wafting through the crack of the open window over the sink.
The men—his team—sat sprawled around Angel’s long wooden kitchen table, plates pushed back, forks resting on empty dishes, half-full mugs cradled in calloused hands.
Laughter echoed off the cedar walls. Familiar. Easy. A balm Nikos hadn’t realized he needed.
Markos leaned back with a grin, one arm hooked over the back of his chair as he nudged Cole with his foot. “Pretty sure the last time you made breakfast, half the team had food poisoning.”
“Burnt eggs and toast doesn’t meanpoisoned, it means adventurous,” Cole shot back.
Angel turned and placed a tray with a coffee pot, mismatched mugs, and a teapot with a bear curling around the lid. “Replenishment. Herbal tea—for the mentally stable,” he said dryly.
Lucas snorted. “You keep drinking that stuff, one day you’ll turn into a flower.”
Angel smirked. “I don’t need caffeine jitters when I’m aiming at a target with your life on the line. I might shake at the right moment. I’ve plugged enough holes in your ass to know what a baby you are when you get shot.”
Chuckles rolled through the group. Nikos allowed himself a relieved smile, one hand wrapped around Kiki’s. Her presence beside him felt like an anchor, a center in the chaos he knew was coming.
But as the laughter faded, a quiet weight settled in the room. The air shifted. The silence wasn’t awkward—it was filled with the understanding that things were about to get serious—quickly.
Lucas leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “So… how sure are we that this Eric guy and these Founders are coming?”
Nikos hesitated, his gaze flicking to Kiki.
She met his eyes with steady resolve. No fear. Her fingers tightened in his.
Kiki turned to the group and spoke softly, “They’re coming. The Founders won’t stop now that they know where I am. You should know, that they will kill anyone who gets in their way—and I will stop them if they try.”
Markos’s jaw tightened. Angel straightened in his chair. Cole’s grin faded.
“There are some things I can’t tell you,” Kiki continued, looking each man in the eye. “Not because I don’t want to—but for your safety. And for the safetyof others.”
Cole raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean bythings?”
Kiki didn’t flinch. “The kind that makes me the most dangerous person on this planet.”
A beat of silence.
Cole snorted. “You obviously haven’t seen us in action, darlin’.”
“I have,” she said quietly. “Eight years ago. You came to rescue Markos.”
The room stilled. Markos nodded his head, his eyes narrowing when the other men released a rumble of disbelief.
“I was there,” Kiki said simply.
Angel sat up straighter. “How can that be? You were just a kid.”
Markos stared at her. “I was as good as dead. Four days later, I walked out without a scratch on me. No one could explain it.”
“That wasn’t me,” Kiki replied. “Healing isn’tmygift. Helping you escape—now that was.”
Lucas asked, his voice low, “Then whatisyour gift?”
She hesitated, looked at him, then back at the table. He understood that she needed to be the one to share who she was, not him. This was about trust—and whether she was willing to give it to the others.
“There are three of us like me—different, changed,” she said. “Plus at least one of the Founders. I know that for sure.”
Markos leaned in. “How do you know?”
