Page 20 of Nico

I increased the interference again. The distant camera feed flickered, and then the drone dropped out of sight. The signal finally disappeared.

I shoved back from the workstation and ran.

When I reached the stunt area, set security had already arrived. Isaac was still on the ground, pinning the paparazzo beneath him.

The man was cursing and struggling, trying to push Isaac off, but Isaac barely seemed to notice. I slowed as I approached, taking in the damage I'd only been able to glimpse through the distant camera feed.

There was a cut near Isaac's temple, another shallow scrape across his cheek, and bruising already beginning to darken along one side of his jaw.

His shirt was scuffed at the shoulder, and a fresh scrape marked one of his hands. His breathing was heavier than normal, and standing this close, I could hear his heartbeat beneath it. It was fast and hard.

For one strange second, I forgot what I was supposed to be doing.

I was suddenly too aware of how close I was standing. The clean scent of his cologne mixed with the sharper smell of sweat and adrenaline.

There was an intensity in his eyes that I hadn't seen before, an almost unnerving focus that made it difficult to look away. He looked dangerous. My wolf shifted restlessly.

“Did you get the drone?” Isaac asked.

I blinked. “Yeah.”

His eyes stayed on me for another second before flicking toward the stunt area. Fiona was hurrying back in our direction, and the moment Isaac spotted her, his expression tightened.

“Is Logan okay?”

“He's fine,” she said quickly.

Isaac nodded, then looked her over. “Are you okay?”

Fiona gave him a slightly incredulous look. “I'm fine.”

“Good. Go stay with Logan.”

She hesitated, then nodded and hurried back toward the stunt area.

I watched her go before turning back to Isaac. Set security had finally taken hold of the paparazzo, hauling him away from Isaac and pulling him to his feet.

“Nice job, man,” one of the security guards said, clapping Isaac on the shoulder. “Hell of a tackle.”

Another laughed. “Guy didn't stand a chance.”

Isaac gave them a brief smile, but I barely heard the exchange. My attention had settled on his hands. He flexed his fingers once, then again, and I noticed the faint tremor running through them.

It was so slight I might have missed it if I hadn't been watching. Isaac curled one hand into a fist, and the shaking stopped.

A moment later, he was smiling at something one of the other guards said, slipping easily into their conversation as though nothing had happened.

5

NICO

The incident earlier had made one thing painfully clear: the stunt area needed more cameras.

I'd originally thought it was far enough inside the production perimeter that it would be difficult for anyone to get there unnoticed.

The outer fence was nowhere near the stunt area, and there were supposed to be multiple layers of security between the public and the filming site. Apparently, that had been a little too optimistic.

I was sorting through a box of network equipment when Sarah appeared beside me with another stack of boxes.