Kael gave him another sideways glance.“You saying we work now?”
Drew grinned.“We’re learning to steer, remember?I reckon we’ll work for as long as we need each other.”
Kael huffed a laugh and shook his head, but he didn’t disagree.
The day rolled on in easy rhythm—Aunty corralling them for lunch, Luka teasing Niko until he tried to throw him from the balcony, the hum of normalcy stretching thin over an undercurrent of tension.Kael couldn’t shake the feeling that somewhere, something watched them.
Late afternoon found him back on the cliff, watching the sun dip low.The ocean burned gold, and for a moment, everything looked too perfect, too still.He heard footsteps behind him and didn’t have to turn to know it was Drew.
“Figured I’d find you here, again” Drew said.
Kael glanced over his shoulder.“You keeping tabs on me now?”
“Someone has to make sure you consume something other than coffee.”
Kael snorted.“You volunteering to cook?”
“Hell no.I like you alive.”Drew joined him at the edge, quiet for a long while.
For a while, they just stood there—the soldier and the spy, the assassin and the lover—both pretending that the fragile peace around them could hold.The wind picked up, carrying the scent of rain from somewhere far away.Kael’s hand brushed Drew’s, and Drew took it without hesitation.
“Whatever’s coming,” Kael said, voice low, “we’ll meet it head-on.”
Drew nodded.“Like we always do.”
As the sun dropped below the horizon, Kael looked out over the darkening sea.The glint he’d seen earlier flickered again—faint, almost imagined—but this time, he didn’t doubt it.
Someone was watching them.
He squeezed Drew’s hand, the promise in the gesture silent but absolute.
Let them come.
****
The next morning beganwith the smell of coffee and the sound of Aunty Leilani humming somewhere in the kitchen.The sunlight slanted through the slatted windows of the kitchen that sat just off the command center, painting everything in soft gold and green.Drew sat at the big wooden table while Niko and Luka argued over who made better pancakes.Keanu was lounging against the counter with his usual lazy grin, pretending to supervise while stealing slices of banana from the plate beside him.For a man used to the smell of gunpowder and diesel, it almost felt domestic.He hadn’t seen Kael this morning, he had been gone by the time Drew had surfaced.
Aunty smacked Keanu’s hand away.“You eat before everyone else again, I’ll feed you to the pigs.”
Keanu just winked.“They’d only complain that I’m too spicy.”
Laughter rippled through the room, easy and warm.Drew leaned back, savoring it.For years, he’d lived by the gun, adrenaline, and chaos his constants.Here, he was learning what quiet sounded like—and it scared him almost as much as he loved it.
He looked up as Kael came in, hair still damp from a shower, his expression unreadable.The tension in Kael’s shoulders was subtle, but Drew felt it like a pulse under his skin.Kael had been on edge since yesterday’s glint on the horizon.
“Eat,” Aunty ordered without turning.“And don’t argue with me.”
Kael gave a small smile and obeyed, sliding into the seat beside Drew.Their knees brushed, and the touch grounded him.“You sleep?”
“Some.”Drew sipped his coffee.“You?”
Kael just grunted.That meant not much.
After breakfast, the team scattered—Tane and Niko to fix the north gate, Luka and Keanu to check the sensors.Kael disappeared to review the drone footage, and Drew found himself alone with Aunty, who was slicing mangoes with surgical precision.
“You look restless,” she said without looking up.
“Can’t fool you, can I?”
