“That whatever’s happening between you and Mackenzi won’t affect your ability to do your job.”
Heat flashes through me. It is not exactly anger; more like offense, because protecting heristhe job. And nobody in this room understands what I already know deep in my bones. No one will protect that girl as hard as I will.
“Did you ask Jagger that?” I ask calmly.
Jagger straightens slightly. “Hey, leave me out of this.”
Hawk’s expression doesn’t shift. “Blake wasn’t the job.”
I lean back slowly in my chair, my eyes never leaving Hawk’s. “Or you with Reese?”
The room stills instantly, Gunnar looks away first, and Jagger suddenly finds the ceiling fascinating. Hawk’s eyes narrow slightly, because we all know exactly what I’m talking about. Another assignment. AjobHawk absolutely shouldnothave fallen for.Or re-fallen for.Except he did, and now she’s part of our family.
“She was safer with me than anyone,” Hawk replies quietly. “No one else would go to the lengths I would.”
I hold his gaze steadily. “Then there’s your answer.”
Silence settles over the command center as Hawk studies me for a long moment, like he’s trying to decide whether I’ve lost my mind completely.Maybe I have.Because the insane part of all this is that I barely know Mackenzi. Objectively speaking, this entire thing should be impossible.
How much can you really learn about someone in a few weeks, a handful of late-night conversations, shared looks across crowded rooms, and daily walks through the embassy gardens, where she slowly let her guard down around me?And me around her.It shouldn’t be enough to matter this much, but somehow, it is.
“She is the ambassador’s daughter.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“And if this goes sideways?” His expression hardens slightly. “Weallpay for it.”
The weight of that lands heavily, because he isn’t wrong. Richard Bradenburg would destroy me if he knew that Ihad already crossed lines that absolutely should not have been crossed. And if he tries to destroy me, there’s a good chance Aegis would become collateral damage. Everything we’ve spent years building burned to nothing.
Even knowing what’s at stake, I can’t turn back. Not with the way Mackenzi looks at me. She trusts me with her safety, vulnerability, and pieces of herself that she hasn’t been ready to hand to anyone else before. Protecting her isn’t an assignment anymore. It’s as instinctual as taking my next breath.
“So,” Jagger says casually, breaking the tension because serious conversations give him hives, “hypothetically speaking, when you eventually marry the ambassador’s daughter, will you become my boss?”
I throw a pen at his head. He ducks, roaring with laughter.
Gunnar rubs tiredly at his face. “You’re both fucking exhausting.”
“This conversation never happened.” Hawk exhales sharply before returning his attention to the operations table again.
“Agreed.” I sigh.
Jagger grins. “Oh, I’mdefinitelybringing it up again later.”
“Jagger.”
“What? I support love.”
Thunder shakes faintly through the embassy windows outside, while Hawk continues reviewing travel logistics, but my attention drifts again despite myself. Right now, Mackenzi is probably curled up somewhere in one of those oversized sweaters she likes, overthinking herself intoanxiety because of where we were forced to leave things a couple days ago.
The thought tightens my chest, because if she had any idea what she’s doing to me or the way I’d burn this entire city to the ground before I let anyone hurt her, she’d probably panic.And maybe she should. This thing between us has become dangerous, frighteningly fast.
It might have been lust, at first, but this isn’t a temporary attraction. This is far scarier; this feelspermanent.
“You’re staring into space again,” Gunnar comments dryly.
I blink back into the room.
“Jesus Christ,” Jagger mutters. “He’s gone.”
