Fuck.
He’s right.
No matter how much I may hate it, my fate is now tied to the whims of the man in front of me and whatever plan he’s concocted in his head, no matter how frustrating and illogical it may seem.
CONNOR
Raven wants to argue about this.
I can see it in the flash of anger that lights up every facet of her emerald eyes. The tense set of her back and shoulders and the way she crosses her arms over her chest to physically protect herself are all so familiar.
She’s barely finished the story, and already, we’re falling back into our old habits, this desire to push at each other until one of us retreats or snaps. It’s been the same every time we’ve discussed this plan, and she isn’t budging.
But she isn’t going to win this one.
All I’ve thought about since the moment I brought her up the mountain was the best way to protect her and get the story to who it needs to go to, and the only way this works is if I know she stays safe. And the only place she can be safe is here, where literally no one can find her.
Once the story gets to Agent Michaelson and her contact at the newspaper, the wheels will be set in motion and I can be free of it. It will be in their hands, and I can back up here and keep an eye on Raven to make sure she doesn’t do something stupid.
I will make sure she stays safe.
Whether she likes it or not.
Clearly not at the moment…
I stalk past her before she can reinitiate the argument and make my way toward the cabin to start packing my bag for the hike down the mountain and back to the homestead.
Just like every time I have forced myself to leave this place to return home over the last few months, a boulder of dread settles squarely in my chest.
It isn’t just about being back on that land, where I killed all those men; it’s knowing a confrontation is coming the moment I see Killian and Liam.
They’ve never understood my need to disappear into the woods since the attack. They’ve never been able to grasp why I do it rather than find what I need with them. And they won’t understand why I did this.
I didn’t loop them in the moment I discovered what Raven was doing for a very good reason, but they won’t understand why I would make them worry for weeks by disappearing again, especially when Raven suddenly vanished, too.
It will be a different kind of bloodbath than the one I caused on the homestead, but it will be just as painful.
I hear Raven’s footsteps following behind me, and when she enters the cabin, her shadow falls over me where I squat near the stove to gather a few packs of beef jerky and granola bars and toss them into my backpack.
She leans against the doorjamb, still clutching the drive in her hand. The longer she’s silent, the worse it becomes, as if I can feel the coming storm building in this tight space. “You’re really going to go today?”
There it is.
Her opening volley.
I glance over at her. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you won’t get back to the homestead until close to midnight. Everyone will be asleep. You’ll have to wait until morning or wake them, which probably isn’t wise, given the fact that Killian and Willow have a baby in that house and everyone has probably been panicking and on edge since you’ve been gone. Since we both have been…”
She isn’t wrong, but the thought of sitting here for longer than I need to, trapped with this tension and all the unknowns relating to this woman and what comes next—both for us and this story—doesn’t sit well with me, either.
That USB drive feels like a ticking time bomb, one that has nuclear capabilities for all the people I care about. Wasting any time feels wrong.
“I’m going, Firefly.” I hold her gaze, unwavering so she knows I’m not going to cave on this. “The sooner the better…so they can stop worrying.”
She barks out a laugh. “You think they’re going to stop worrying when they find out what I’ve been doing? Or why you’re back and what you brought with you?” Her blond hair flies around her as she shakes her head. “It’s only going to be the start of more.”
I fucking hate when she’s logical.
