Vivian arched a brow. “There it is.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Your defense mechanism. When things get too real, you turn on the charm.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, half amusement, half surrender. “You’re the only woman who calls me on it. Most just… fall for it.”
“I’m not most women.”
“No,” he said quietly. “You’re not.”
She held his gaze. “Try being real.”
Something shifted. A crack in the armor. “Real?” His voice lowered. “Real is… if we get out of this, I need to stop living like I’m trying to prove something. Or bury someone.”
Her breath caught at the naked honesty. She lifted the blanket. “Then stop freezing and sit before you turn blue.”
He hesitated, then sat beside her. Heat spread instantly. Their shoulders brushed. Silence thickened—not from cold now, but from everything unsaid.
His arm eased around her, tentative. Protective. He pressed a slow kiss to the top of her head.
Vivian’s pulse jumped. Warmth traveled down her spine, unraveling the tight coil in her chest. She told herself it was the cold, but when she met his gaze, dark and close, she knew better.
For a moment, the world outside ceased to exist. Only the fragile space between them remained.
Gray light crept through the boards. Wind groaned against the siding. In Blake’s arms, she drifted into the deepest sleep she could remember.
She woke stiff, cheek against rough wool. For a heartbeat, she forgot everything, until she saw Blake at the window.
He hadn’t slept.
“You’ve been up awhile,” she rasped.
“Thinking.”
She eased upright, ribs protesting. “About what?”
“Maddox. Laurel Tide. All of it.” He exhaled. “We didn’t call this in. We’ve been off-grid since the lighthouse. They had to be watching us there. And if Thirteen wanted our help, why wait until the attack?”
Vivian blinked awake. “I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t track.” His eyes were shadowed. “If they were already moving, someone tipped them off early.”
“Maddox?” she whispered.
His jaw clenched. “If so, we’re in deeper than I thought. We didn’t communicate. He’d have to be tracking us.”
Vivian rubbed her face—then jolted. The memory snapped into place. Maddox’s hand at her elbow.Keep it on you in case you need me.
“No, I’m so stupid,” she groaned.
Blake turned sharply. “What?”
“He gave me something. Said it was an emergency transponder. I left it. In the car by the lighthouse.”
Blake swore. “Then that’s how they found us.”
Vivian’s stomach churned. “So what do we do?”
