"No," I admit, brushing my thumb across her lower lip. "It would be glorious. But it would be permanent and I have things to explain before that happens."
Her eyes close briefly. When they open again, there's a vulnerability there I've rarely glimpsed. "Promise me you'll come back after the mission and tell me."
"I swear it," I tell her, the words carrying the weight of an oath.
My eyes drop to her chest, to the faint glow visible only to me—the fragment of my soul. She is my soul mate. "Nothing could keep me from returning to you."
She nods, slipping from my grasp with obvious reluctance. The small distance she puts between us feels like miles. "Tomorrow, then. After the mission."
"After the mission," I agree, already aching for her though she stands mere feet away.
The air between us remains charged, heavy with promises and possibilities. Part of me still wants to damn the consequences and stay, to lose myself in her until the world outside ceases to exist. But the warrior in me knows better. Tomorrow's mission demands focus, demands sacrifice.
Even if that sacrifice is walking away from her tonight.
"I should go," I say finally, though every step away from her feels wrong. "Cormac is waiting."
She nods, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "The mission," she agrees, voice steadier now. "We focus on that first."
At the door, I pause for one last look at her, flushed and beautiful, her lips still swollen from my kisses, her eyes bright. The sight burns into my memory, something to hold close during the hours of separation ahead.
"Tomorrow," I say softly.
She straightens, the professional agent beginning to resurface. "Don't be late, wolf."
The smile that curves my lips is private, meant only for her. "I wouldn't dare."
The door closes behind me with a soft click, leaving her scent and the memory of her touch to follow me down the stairs to where Cormac waits. Tomorrow we face danger together. Not for duty. Not for honor. Not for some ancient code.
For her. Only her. The future worth fighting for. The future I won't surrender.
CHAPTER 30
Ready, Set, Go!
* * *
Fenrir Thorsson
"Breaching in five," Astrid's voice crackles through the comm. My hand tightens into a fist at my side, her voice in my ear the only tenuous connection I have to her right now. "All units in position?"
"Yes, we're ready," I growl through clenched teeth, scanning the shadows for any movement. My wolf paces beneath my skin, agitated beyond reason. She's walking into danger, and I can't be there to protect her.
"You sound like you're about to lose your shit, wolf," she says, a hint of amusement cutting through the tension. "Need I remind you this was your plan?"
"Our plan," I correct, scanning the perimeter one more time. Cormac and Arik crouch beside me in the shadows, while the rest of our extraction team waits with a group of sirens near the animal trough we've filled with water for a quick exit. Every sense is heightened, every sound magnified. "And I don't like the part where you're the bait."
I hear her steady breathing. "I'm not bait. I'm GUIDE. This is what I do."
The words cut deeper than they should. GUIDE. Still her primary identity, her people. Something against me, something that puts her in danger's path automatically. My jaw clenches tighter. "I know."
"Hey," her voice drops, becoming private despite her team's proximity. "Focus on getting your people out."
"If anything happens?—"
"It won't." She delivers the words with such steel-edged conviction that my wolf pauses mid-pace. "Besides, Ghost and Sherlock have my back. We've done this a hundred times."
My knuckles crack as I flex my hands, frustration boiling in my veins.
