After everything—
I’m tired of carrying the weight alone.
His hand slides carefully along my jaw.
Warm fingers against cold skin.
My eyes close halfway before I can stop myself.
Then—
“Movement.”
Lucas’s voice slices through the moment instantly.
I jerk back hard enough pain tears through my side again.
Reality crashes down brutally fast.
Russ is already shifting away from me, every trace of softness gone beneath sharp focus.
“Where?” he snaps.
“South ridge. Two, maybe three.”
Adrenaline floods through me hard enough to wash everything else away.
Good.
Danger I understand.
Pain I understand.
This thing between Russ and me?
That’s the part I have no idea how to survive.
12
Russ
Lucas’s fist goes up.
Everybody drops instantly.
I slide behind a jagged stretch of rock and scan the valley below through the scope of my rifle.
Three vehicles crawl across the desert floor beneath us.
Slow.
Methodical.
Not random anymore.
Dust trails curl behind their tires as they split apart, sweeping different sections of terrain.
Searching.
