Page 113 of Falcon’s Forever

“You’d better be.”

We walk a few more steps before the humor leaves his voice.

“You did well tonight,” he says.

I look back toward the dark tree line. “They got away.”

“That wasn’t the job,” Zip reminds me.

It’s the same thing he told me before, and I understand it a little better every time somebody says it. "No," I say. "No, it wasn't."

We head for the clubhouse together. The men in the woods will come back. Merrick's still out there. Kells is one piece of something bigger, and there are enemies past the fence we haven't found yet. None of that changed tonight.

What changed is me. Danger showed up, and I didn't confuse chasing it with protecting the people I love. I held the line. Trusted my brothers. And stayed close enough to come home.

That feels like a better kind of strength than the one I used to have.

Chapter 16

Cara

Iwake sometime after three with the memory of Falcon's arms still sitting warm against my skin, even though I'm alone in the temporary room, with two blankets pulled up while the compound sleeps around me.

I can still feel the weight of his hands at my waist. The way he waited for permission before he touched me and let go the second I moved without holding on an extra beat.

That shouldn't feel as significant as it does. It does anyway.

I lie there a while listening, there’s the occasional sound of somebody crossing the hallway downstairs, a door, boots, a bike starting near the garage and cutting out again. A week ago, every one of those sounds would've had me checking exits. Tonight I stay where I am. I’m not fully relaxed, that's still too ambitious a word, but it’s close enough to something like it.

My phone's charging on the nightstand. I check the security channel and there's nothing new since two forty-five.

Security Phone:

Perimeter clear. Patrol rotation complete. No further movement outside north line.

Good. There's that word again. Apparently I'm as repetitive as the men now.

I can't fall asleep, and Falcon's part of the reason, but not the only one. The men in the woods, Maggie's house, Kells, the whole network we still don't fully understand. Every time the club uncovers another piece I have to remind myself learning the truth doesn't mean the threat's getting bigger. It means we're finally seeing what was already there. That's not always comforting, but it's better than not knowing.

A soft knock sounds at my door. I sit up. "Who is it?"

"Emily."

I'm out of bed before I've had chance to think about it. She steps in slowly once I tell her to come in, she’s wearing pajama bottoms and an oversized hoodie, and she absolutely should not have been discharged this morning judging by how she moves.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," I say.

"So are you," she says, rubbing her eyes.

"That's different."

"Why?"

"I wasn't shot."

Emily glances down at herself. “I keep forgetting until people remind me.”

I move aside to let her sit, then wait until she’s comfortable before taking the seat beside her. She looks better than she did in the hospital, but she’s pale and tired.