Bateman gave a short nod.“We’ll keep Marsh digging.The Directorate’s reach is worse than we thought.We’ll get you everything we can.”
Kael inclined his head.“Appreciate it.”He ended the call, the holo fading into darkness.
The command center felt smaller now.The rest of the team were quiet, watching him.Reef leaned back in his chair.“You know, boss, I’d have done the same.If anyone had hurt one of us like that?I wouldn’t have stopped until I found them all.”
Breaker grunted his agreement.“Vigilantism?Maybe.But sometimes justice is just cleaning up what the law won’t touch.”
Kael looked at each of them in turn.“He’s not doing this alone anymore.We handle our own.”
No one argued.They didn’t need to.
Kael left the room, the sound of the ocean carrying faintly up from the cliffs.When he stepped out into the humid air, Aunty Leilani was standing on the path, arms folded, gaze steady.
“Yourhaolewent down to the waterfall,” she said.
Kael frowned.“He’s supposed to be resting.”
Aunty clicked her tongue.“That one’s carrying too much pain.It leaks out of him like blood from a wound.He needs to let it go before it festers and poisons what’s left.”
She looked him over, her eyes narrowing as if she could see straight through him.“He trusts you.Don’t let him drown in it.”
He hesitated.“How?”
She smiled faintly.“E lawe i ke a’o a malama, a e ‘oi mau ka na’auao.”
Kael repeated it softly.“Take what you have learned and apply it, and your wisdom will grow.”
Aunty nodded.“Exactly.You already know what he needs.Go remind him.”
Kael started down the path toward the waterfall.He wanted to run, but he forced himself to walk.He needed time to think—to plan.Drew wasn’t just someone he cared about.He was it.The one.Kael had been falling since the first time he met him, and every day since had only confirmed what his gut already knew.
But Drew needed to understand something too—he wasn’t facing this evil alone anymore.Whatever the Directorate was, whatever ghosts they were chasing, they’d face it together.And if Kael was asking Drew to trust him, he needed to start with the truth about what Black Tide really was.
They weren’t mercenaries.They weren’t heroes either.They were assassins with a code, built from the ruins of wars and men who’d lost too much to walk away clean.Every mission was a balance between justice and consequence.No contracts for greed, no innocents touched, no collateral damage tolerated.Every kill had to mean something.
By the time he reached the base of the path, the roar of the waterfall drowned out his thoughts.The last light of the setting sun cut through the mist, painting the pool in molten gold and indigo shadows.
Drew stood at the edge, shirt clinging to his back, hair damp with spray.He was still pale from recovery, but there was strength in his stance.Kael’s chest tightened.Beautiful, stubborn bastard.Yeah, mate was the only word that came close.Not in the storybook sense, but in the way his soul recognized the man before his mind could catch up.
Drew turned slightly, his gaze cutting through the twilight.Of course he knew Kael was there.He always did.
“Didn’t take you for the quiet type,” Drew said, voice low but steady.
Kael stepped closer.“Didn’t want to interrupt your brooding.”
“Wasn’t brooding,” Drew muttered.“Was thinking.”
“Dangerous habit.”
Drew huffed a laugh.“You’d know.”
Kael moved to stand beside him.“Give me the rest of it.”
Drew stiffened.“You sure you want it?”
“I need it,” Kael said simply.
For a long moment, Drew didn’t speak.Then Kael reached out, his hand sliding to the back of Drew’s neck, grounding him.Drew’s fingers came up, gripping his wrist hard.They were nearly the same height—Kael just a shade taller—and when their eyes met, the distance between them vanished.
