Not betrayal.
Just soap and cotton.
Breathe.
The word feels far away, but I obey.
In.
Out.
I focus on the slow expansion of my lungs. The deliberate rise and fall of my chest. The scrape of fabric against tile. The steady, tangible facts of the present.
I am here.
I am safe.
I am breathing.
Gradually, the roaring fades. My pulse slows from frantic to furious to merely fast. The dizziness ebbs, leaving exhaustion in its wake.
I rest my forehead against my knees. The cold seeps through the thin fabric of my pants, grounding me in something real and solid.
When I finally lift my head, the panic has burned itself out.
What remains is not softness.
It’s not fear.
It’s something harder. Sharper. Clearer.
Teddie is wrong.
Ridge isn’t ready. Days ago, he was bleeding out under surgical lights, his life measured in seconds and skill.
But if they are sending him back into battle…
If they are sending my mates into fire…
Then they will not go without me.
I am not a princess locked in a tower, waiting for rescue.
I am a member of Alpha Team X.
I am a warrior.
If they are being called into the fray, then so am I.
The vow settles into my bones, heavy and unbreakable. A new foundation poured in steel.
I will not let them face this alone.
And I will never be left behind again.
21
BRYLEE
