"They're going to love you," I say, before I can stop myself.
Mara's steps slow. "What?"
"The team. They're..." I search for the right word. "Good people. They'll make you feel welcome."
She's quiet for a moment, studying my face in the fading light. "That almost sounded like you were trying to reassure me."
"I was stating a fact."
"Mmhm." But her smile softens, loses some of its sharp edges. "Thank you. For the fact."
I open the lodge door, and the warmth and noise of family dinner rushes out to meet us.
Dinner is chaos.
Good chaos, the kind I've learned to tolerate over the past two and a half years, but chaos nonetheless. Sadie is telling a story about a hiking disaster that has Natalie in tears from laughing. Wolfe sits beside her, silent as always, but his hand rests on her thigh under the table and there's a softness in his gray eyes when he looks at her.
Cade's shepherd's pie is excellent, as expected. He's explaining the recipe to Mara, who seems genuinely interested in the ratio of herbs to meat. Natalie interjects occasionally with suggestions for her own version, and somehow they've ended up planning a cooking collaboration that involves Mara's Silicon Valley connections and Natalie's publisher contacts.
I don't understand how this happened. I don't understand how any of this happened.
"You're staring."
Deck's voice is low enough that only I can hear. He's settled into the chair beside me, plate balanced on his knee, watching the same scene I am.
"I'm observing."
"You're staring at her like she's a tactical map you can't quite read."
I tear my gaze away from Mara, who's now demonstrating something on her phone to Sadie while Cade looks on with the patient confusion of a man who doesn't understand technology beyond basic functionality.
"She's unpredictable."
"Most interesting people are."
"Interesting isn't the same as safe."
Deck takes a bite of his dinner, chewing slowly before responding. "When Vivian first got here, I thought the same thing. She was a federal prosecutor who'd witnessed a mob hit. Testified against Dominic Castellano. Had assassins after her." He glances toward his wife, who's laughing at something Natalie said. "I thought keeping her safe meant keeping her contained."
"And?"
"And she ran eleven miles through hostile terrain to get help when I got captured." His voice carries something I rarely hear from him. Pride, mixed with awe. "She saved my life by refusing to stay where I put her."
I know the story. We all do. It's become legend at Guardian Peak, the night Vivian Cross proved that protection goes both ways.
"Mara's not Vivian."
"No. She's not." Deck finishes his plate, sets it aside. "But she's not just a package to be managed either. Richard asked us to keep her alive. He didn't ask us to break her spirit doing it."
Before I can respond, Mara appears in front of us, two glasses of whiskey in hand. She offers one to me.
"Sadie said this is the good stuff. Apparently Wolfe makes it himself?" She settles into the chair on my other side, curling her legs underneath her. "Please tell me that's not a euphemism for something illegal."
"It's legal." I take the glass, our fingers brushing during the transfer. Her skin is warm. "Wolfe has a still on his property. He's been perfecting the recipe for two years."
"A Navy SEAL sniper who makes moonshine in the mountains." She shakes her head, but she's smiling. "This place is insane. You know that, right?"
"I know it's home."
