My chest tightened.
That should have pissed me off more than it did. No, I didn’t have a boyfriend, partner, friend with benefits, or even random hookups, but the Cave was all-consuming, and there were people out there who needed our help. I didn’t have time for all the kissing and flirting that seemed to take up way too much of both Killian and Levi’s time since they’d met their men. I was sick of the territorial bullshit from a man who cut people apart for a living.
“No one else touches you.”
Fuck. That growl. The glint in his eye, the way I knew if anyone touched me, he’d be there insisting forcefully that they shouldn’t.
Heat coiled low in my gut, sharp and unwelcome. I swore under my breath and squeezed my eyes shut.
“This is fucking stupid.”
I leaned my forehead against the tile, breathing hard. The image of Novak’s face wouldn’t go away—dark eyes steady, unblinking, the calm certainty in everything he did.
Deadly competent and locked onto me. My body reacted to that the same way it reacted to danger.
The realization made my pulse jump again, and the sick part was that the pulse spike wasn’t fear. I felt the tension snap therest of the way, my cock so hard I couldn’t ignore it. Wrapping my hand around the rigid length, an image of Novak gripping my shoulder, kissing me, pushing me back against a wall, owning me, and I was coming so hard I rested against the tile, staring down as the shower washed the evidence of whatever the hell was going on with me clean away.
My chest still felt tight.
Not relief. Not really.
Just the same restless energy sitting under my skin.
I shook my head once and reached for the shampoo.
When I was clean, I shut off the water, grabbed a towel, and forced my brain back where it belonged.
Work. I’d called a Cave meeting, and I had a new case to present to an already overstretched team.
Killian was the last to arrive, and it was only when he and Levi took their seats, with Sonya perched on her desk, that I started.
Tablet in hand, I organized the intel on the main screen.
“Primary site is called The Ridge,” I said. “North of the state line. Former logging land. Approximate acreage unknown. Former military site, decommissioned now, but with an underground facility—concrete reinforced.”
Killian leaned back, arms folded. Sonya was already taking notes. Levi didn’t move. We all started when the elevator security chimed and saw Frank and fuck… Novak… enter and go through security.
“Who gave Novak clearance?”
“That would be me,” Levi said, and tipped his chin, daring me to ask him why we let a psychopath into our safe space.
“He’s not Cave,” I said flatly. “He’s a contractor.”
Levi leaned back in his chair. “Doc trusts him.”
“He doesn’t get to sit in on planning,” I shot back. “He cleans up after.”
Levi’s voice hardened. “He’s saved Doc more than once.”
“That doesn’t make him team.”
Killian exhaled slowly. “Can we focus?”
Levi didn’t break eye contact. “He’s not just a contractor,” he said with patience.
“And I want this to stay in the Cave,” I replied.
“It is,” Levi said. “Which means we protect our own.”
