He listened for a moment longer, eyes unfocused like he was tracking something far away.
“Nothing,” he said—but his tone said everything.
I pushed up on one elbow. “Eli.”
He sighed quietly. “Habit. I wake up, checking the perimeter.”
“Even here?”
“Especially here.”
That reminder steadied the warmth in my chest. Something realer. We weren’t pretending danger didn’t exist. We were choosing each other anyway.
I traced a line along his shoulder, grounding him the way he grounded me. “Does that bother you?” I asked. “That last night… happened in the middle of all this?”
His hand slid to my jaw, thumb brushing my cheek. “It makes me more certain.”
“Of what?”
“Of you.” His voice was calm. Absolute. “Of us.”
My heart stumbled.
He kissed me then—slow and unhurried, nothing like last night’s heat. This kiss was softer. Deeper in a different way. Like a promise being reinforced instead of made.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against mine.
“Once this is over,” he said quietly, “we talk about what comes next.”
I smiled. “You already planning that far ahead?”
“I don’t do halfway,” he reminded me.
A sound broke the moment—a sharp buzz cutting through the quiet.
Trigger stilled instantly, reaching for his phone on the nightstand.
One glance at the screen and his expression hardened.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Wolf,” he said. “Something’s off in town.”
The warmth lingered between us even as the tension crept back in.
Trigger swung his legs out of bed, already shifting into protector mode—but before he could stand, I reached for his hand.
“Hey.”
He looked back at me.
“Whatever’s coming,” I said steadily, “we face it together.”
His fingers tightened around mine.
“Yeah,” he said softly. “We do.”
And just like that, the quiet morning fractured—reminding me that love didn’t pause danger.
