Trigger suddenly cleared his throat loud enough to shake the tension loose a little.
“Well,” he muttered. “This feels emotionally devastating.”
Wolf elbowed him hard.
“What?” Trigger grumbled. “I’m uncomfortable.”
Under any other circumstances, I might’ve laughed.
Instead, my focus stayed locked on Flick.
She stood slowly.
Carefully.
Like sudden movement might break whatever fragile thing had just happened between us.
Ava glanced between the two of us once before wisely deciding not to touch that situation with a ten-foot pole.
Smart woman.
Isabel looked mortified now.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “I just… the way he looks at you…”
Flick’s cheeks flushed deeper.
God help me, she was still beautiful when she blushed.
My chest tightened painfully.
Because I remembered seventeen.
I remembered football games and stolen kisses and Flick laughing in my truck while she tucked her cold hands beneath my jacket.
I remembered loving her so hard it scared me.
And standing here now?
Nothing had changed.
That realization should’ve terrified me more than it did.
Ava finally stepped back into the conversation.
“We don’t have much time.”
Instantly every Ranger in the room shifted focus.
Business.
Danger.
War.
“Talk,” Wolf said.
Ava nodded once.
