I rise, firing three controlled shots. Two soldiers drop. A third dives behind a stump.
River calls out, “We need to push back to the cliff road. Cyclone is routing an alternate evac. Raven, suppress! Gideon, left flank!”
But my focus stays on Lena — pale, shivering, eyes wide but unbroken.
I drop beside her again, grabbing her face gently but firmly. “When I say move, you move with me. I’m not letting go. Understood?”
She nods, breath trembling. “I trust you.”
It hits me harder than the explosion did.
I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her tight to my side. “Good. Because we’re getting out of here.”
Bullets fly.
The Delta Five roars commands.
Ascendancy soldiers push forward.
And with Lena tucked against me, her heartbeat slamming against my chest, I rise into the firefight — ready to tear the mountain apart piece by piece if that’s what it takes to keep her safe.
17
Ronan
Location: Northern Alps, Extraction Route
0457 Hours
Gunfire cracks through the frozen air, bullets slicing into the trees, into the earth, too damn close to where I keep Lena sheltered against me.
The Delta Five Team forms a rolling defensive line, firing, advancing, pulling back — all precision, all instinct. But Ascendancy’s numbers are growing. They’re pouring out of hidden access tunnels in the mountain like ants.
Roscov planned this.
He set the trap.
And I walked straight into it.
“Ronan!” River shouts over the gunfire. “We need to move her now! Cyclone’s rerouting us to the ridge!”
“The ridge? That’s a thousand feet up!” Beckett snarls as he drops two more hostiles. “What are we doing, free climbing with a wounded civilian?!”
“She’s not a civilian, she’s one of us,” Jase grunts, firing off rounds.
Lena presses closer to me as another explosion shakes theground. Her fingers dig into the back of my vest. She’s terrified — but still aware, still fighting to stay with me.
I tilt her chin up gently, forcing her eyes to mine. “You okay?”
“No,” she whispers honestly. “But I’m not letting go.”
A muscle jumps in my jaw.
Good.
Because I’m not letting her go either.
“Move!” River orders.
