I press my hand to my stomach. The thought sends a shiver through me.
“It doesn’t matter if it happens now or later,” Knox says firmly. He reaches across the table, covering my hand with his. “We’re ready. Whenever you are. We’ll be there.”
“Good,” I whisper. “Because I want it all.”
I look around the table at them. My pack. My loves.
“Hey,” Fallon says, his voice turning playful again. “Since we’re making big life announcements... I made you something.”
He disappears into the living room and comes back with a small, wrapped box. “From all of us. For after.”
I open it. Inside is a set of keys.
“For the truck,” Knox says. “And the warehouse.”
“And this,” Fallon adds, pointing to a silver band on the keychain, “is your official key to B&B. So you can keep coming and going as you please. You run the kitchen now, Sunshine.”
We are grinning like fools. The bubble of happiness is so thick I feel like I could float in it.
Then, the ringtone shatters the moment.
Knox grabs his phone from the counter, his eyes snapping into soldier mode. He answers immediately. “Oui?”
I watch his face. The smile vanishes. The color drains from his cheeks.
“When?” he barks into the phone. “Is everyone out? Good.”
He lowers the phone slowly.
“Knox?” I ask, my stomach dropping.
“It’s Beau,” Knox says, his voice flat.
Why would one of Wren’s partners be calling him?Panic claws up my throat. “What happened?”
“The Fox & Fern,” Knox says. “It’s on fire.”
My gasp is sharp. “What?”
“It was set on fire,” Knox says, looking at me. “He says Wren’s mother was there—she went in early to do some baking. She smelled smoke and immediately called the station. Theymanaged to get her out, and they stopped the fire before it spread to the apartments upstairs.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Eli asks, standing up.
“No,” Knox says. “Everyone is safe. Even the cat. Pancake is fine.”
I let out a breath, my hand going to my heart. “Oh, thank god.”
“But,” Knox continues, his eyes darkening, flashing with a lethal light, “it wasn’t an accident. Beau found a canister.”
He looks at Fallon, then Eli, then me. The joy of the last ten minutes evaporates, replaced by the cold reality of the world outside.
“This has to be Luke,” Knox whispers.
“He’s escalating,” Eli says, his voice hard.
“Yes,” Knox says, looking out the window toward the town, toward the smoke that must be rising. “And he just made a very big mistake.”
The plastic chair in the police station lobby is hard against my back, but I barely feel the discomfort.
