I grab her wrist, twist just enough to angle the barrel away from my face and push her backward through the doorway. Shefights me every inch, boot heels scraping tile as I shoulder the door shut and throw the deadbolt.
"Get your hands off me!" Raven wrenches free, spins, and drives her fist toward my jaw.
I catch it mid-swing. Her other hand comes up with the Glock. I trap that wrist too, forcing the weapon toward the ceiling as I walk her backward until her spine hits the wall.
Her pulse hammers under my fingers. Warmth bleeds through her shirt where my forearm pins her shoulder. Close enough that every breath she takes pushes her chest against mine, and for half a second I forget the cartel circling the block, forget the decade of silence between us, forget everything except the way she's looking at me like she can't decide whether to kill me or kiss me.
"You want to die proving a point," I say, voice low and steady, "or live long enough to get your revenge?"
Her pupils blow wide despite the overhead light, breath coming fast between parted lips. Close enough that I can smell something floral in her hair, mingled with gunpowder and adrenaline. Lavender maybe, or honeysuckle. Same scent from all those years ago.
"I hate you." Each word carries weight.
"Good. Channel that into staying alive."
I release her wrists and step back. She moves faster than I expect, her knee driving up toward my groin with enough force to drop most men. I twist my hip, take the impact on my thigh instead of where she intended, but Christ it still hurts. Pain shoots up my leg and I bite back a curse.
"Jesus. The cartel's second wave is closing in and you try to maim me?"
She has the decency to let a flicker of remorse cross her face before she pulls the anger back front and center. "You mighthave mentioned that before you manhandled me." Raven backs toward the kitchen, gun steady on center mass.
I lean against the wall, testing my weight on the leg. It'll bruise, but it's worth it to see fire in her eyes instead of fear. "Next time I'll send a formal request before saving your life."
"Next time I'll aim better."
"Fair enough."
Anger looks good on her. Better than the grief-shattered girl, the one that lives in my nightmares. This Raven is all sharp edges and controlled fury, a woman who turned her pain into something lethal. The transformation should make me cautious. Instead it makes something deep in my chest crack open.
Raven's gaze flicks toward the window, then back to me. "Who's out there?"
"Cartel reinforcements. A second wave sent to track you down and finish the job. You really kicked a hornets nest today."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I've been watching them position since sunset. They ID'd you from the Pritchard ranch and traced you here. Probably the car." I pull my phone from my pocket, check the feed from the security cameras I mounted on a telephone poles around the block. Multiple vehicles show on screen now, all black SUVs with tinted windows. It’s a professional setup with serious money behind it, exactly what Knox and Beckett have been warning about.
"We have minutes before they breach. Less if they decide to go loud instead of quiet."
"You knew they were coming and you still knocked on my door?" Fire flashes across her features. "What kind of?—"
"The kind who needed you to see my face before bullets started flying. Needed you to know who was pulling you out of the fire." I slide the phone back into my pocket and meet her stare. "Would you have listened to a stranger?"
"I wouldn't have listened to you either."
"Yet here we are."
Outside, a car door slams. Then another. Footsteps on the driveway, multiple sets moving with military precision toward the perimeter. These aren't street-level enforcers looking for quick cash. This is a tactical team with training, equipment, and orders to eliminate a threat quietly enough that the neighbors sleep through it.
Raven must hear it too because her grip shifts on the Glock, finger sliding from trigger guard to trigger. "Why should I trust you?"
I spent years building a new life in the shadows while she fought through ATF training, climbed the ranks, and made herself into the kind of agent who takes down gun-running operations and cartel pipelines single-handed.
And now I'm asking her to trust me with her life.
"Because I just saved your life. Again."
My phone buzzes. Knox's name flashes across the screen. I answer on the first ring, keeping my eyes on Raven.
