“You and me,” Mac said. “Not halfway. Not hidden.”
Melvin swallowed once. “Okay.”
Mac held his gaze. “Okay.”
No kiss.
No dramatic vow.
Just a reaffirmation that would outlast the dust.
Later, inside the TOC, Mac stopped in front of the board again. The gridlines were thicker now. Relief-in-place blocks filled more space.
Behind him, boots crossed the threshold.
Melvin’s presence registered before his voice.
“You’re doing that thing again,” Melvin said.
Mac didn’t turn. “What thing?”
“Staring at paper like it’s going to give you permission to breathe.”
Mac exhaled. “Paper never gives permission.”
Melvin stepped beside him and looked at the board too.
“It’s almost done,” Melvin said.
Mac nodded. “Yeah.”
Melvin’s hand shifted near Mac’s elbow. Not touching.
Mac didn’t take it.
He glanced at Melvin’s ring again, visible even in the fluorescent light, and felt the future press in.
“Tomorrow,” Mac said, “we finish the handoff.”
“And then?” Melvin asked quietly.
Mac’s wolf moved under his skin, an Alpha certainty that needed no dominance.
“Then we go home,” Mac said. “And we start building the part that doesn’t belong to Iraq.”
Melvin nodded once. “Good.”
Mac finally turned and met his eyes, not in apology but in recognition.
Outside, the compound carried on: radios, boots, laughter, the restless energy of men about to leave.
Inside, Mac felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Not safety.
Solid ground under his feet.
Chapter 35 - Melvin
