Page 194 of Dark Night of the Soul

“I know.” My hold tightened a fraction. “But it doesn’t get to take your home from you. Or you from yourself.”

She gave a small, humorless huff. “And you like the hair?”

“I do. It makes you harder to find.”

That earned the faintest curve of her mouth—more surrender than amusement. “Funny.”

She leaned into me, forehead brushing my shirt. Her voice came out small and fierce at the same time. “I won’t feel safe as long as they’re hunting me.”

My arm tightened around her. “I know,” I said into her hair. “So we stop the hunt.”

I held her until the tension in her shoulders eased a fraction.

“Come inside,” I said. “You’re freezing.”

“In a minute,” she whispered, and held on like she was afraid the moment would break if she moved.

I stayed with her there under the string lights, arms around her, and let the night stay quiet for once.

Chapter 50 | Anna

The season changed, and the days rolled by in a blur. It had been a week since Silas showed up and dropped his information bomb.

Rain turned the villa gray around the edges. Nights went sharp and cold. It broke my habit of leaving the courtyard doors open, so now I stood behind the glass and stared out like I’d lost my best friend. Dramatic. But accurate.

Kincade’s bandages were gone. The stitches were out. He was moving better. Still not combat ready, still furious about it. Still barking orders at the men.

His men. I was still getting used to that.

I took mild satisfaction in that, because for once it wasn’t directed at me.

And it was a strange realization, too. That he had all these people at his disposal and I’d been oblivious. Like I’d been living beside an entire machine and only now noticed the gears.

I’d come to terms with the idea that Walker Manor was no longer a home. I still didn’t like it. I knew our time in the villa was ending—soon—and we’d go back. I also knew they’d all come with me like some testosterone convoy of protection, as if I was a shipment marked FRAGILE.

Or I was hazardous cargo.

When the sun broke through the clouds one morning, I was standing at the courtyard doors pretending the light fixed everything when Kincade walked in holding my coat. He was already wearing his which was shocking, because I’d pegged him for a man who would rather suffer than admit he was cold.

Apparently, I’d been wrong.

“Are we going somewhere?” I asked.

“Yes. Come on.” He held the coat out to me.

“Where?”

“You need fresh air,” he said, like it was a medical prescription. “And a change of scenery.”

I slid my arms into the sleeves and followed him out the front door. Ludwig and Ulrich were already waiting beside a dark sedan with blacked-out windows.

They were all armed.

Kincade opened the rear passenger-side door. Ulrich took the front passenger seat. Ludwig slid behind the wheel. Kincade got in beside me, close enough that I could feel the heat of him even through layers.

I felt like I had my own Secret Service detail. All we needed were sunglasses and earpieces.

They probably had the earpieces. Wouldn’t surprise me at this point.