“Yeah.Just...waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Kael’s expression softened.“You and me both.”
They stood in the open doorway, watching the sun sink into the sea.The sky was streaked with orange and violet, the first stars pricking through the dark.Kael reached for his hand, their fingers intertwining.For a long moment, neither spoke.
Finally, Drew said, “You ever get the feeling we weren’t built for peace?”
Kael’s thumb brushed his palm.“Peace isn’t something you’re built for.It’s something you fight for.”
Drew looked at him, that answer lodging somewhere deep in his chest.“You make it sound easy.”
“It’s not,” Kael said.“It is the hardest fight to win, but nothing worth keeping ever is.”
They stayed there until the first drops of rain began to fall, cool and soft.The wind shifted, carrying the scent of storm and the promise of something coming.Drew felt it deep in his bones—a ripple in the calm, a warning in the air.
As Kael squeezed his hand, Drew glanced toward the horizon.The clouds were rolling in fast, heavy and dark, like a wall.
He didn’t know it yet, but this was the last quiet night they’d have for a long time.
Chapter Eleven
The night pressed heavyand damp, the kind that clung to skin and breath alike.From the cliffs, the Pacific heaved against the rock face, each crash distant but resonant.Drew lay half-awake, that soldier’s half-rest where sleep was shallow and the mind was always listening.Beside him, Kael’s slow, steady breathing kept rhythm with the muted hiss of the ocean.It should have been peaceful.
Then Kael’s phone buzzed.
The vibration against the nightstand sounded like an alarm bell to Drew’s tuned instincts.Kael was upright in an instant, muscles taut.His hand hovered over the screen before he swiped.The light illuminated the edges of his face, sharp with tension.
Marsh’s name.
Code red—they’re coming for you.
The words carved through the dark.Drew’s pulse kicked into overdrive.
A second message followed before Kael could speak.Got a message through backchannels.Someone’s asking if Black Tide is good or evil.If they’re asking, it means someone’s already decided you’re a threat.Move now.
Kael didn’t curse.He didn’t waste time.His breathing steadied, and the shift happened—the calm, lethal focus that made him the leader he was.“Up,” he said quietly.
