Havoc patted my arm immediately.
“Leave it to Blaze to always ruin perfectly good evenings.”
Despite everything?—
I laughed.
A real laugh.
Small.
Broken.
But real.
Trigger and Havoc exchanged satisfied looks like they’d personally defeated evil itself.
Across the room, Blaze stood near the sheriff speaking quietly with Wolf and Trigger.
He looked exhausted.
Rain-damp hair.
His knuckles were beaten up. His clothes were still covered in blood.
Jaw still tight enough to crack stone.
But every few seconds?—
his eyes found me.
Every single time.
Like he needed proof I was still standing there.
Like maybe he still couldn’t believe it either.
Wolf finally clapped him on the shoulder.
“Go.”
Blaze frowned instantly.
“The sheriff still wants statements.”
“I’ll get the statements from Wolf,” the sheriffinterrupted tiredly. “Right now you look one bad sentence away from killing somebody.”
Trigger smirked.
“Honestly, that’s an improvement from earlier.”
Blaze ignored both of them completely.
His attention stayed locked on me as he crossed the kitchen slowly.
The room somehow grew quieter around him.
Not because anybody feared him.
