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“How about I make the cake, and you ask your questions?” If she wants to bring Kingston down, I’m all for it. As much as I love that my Diego would do anything for me, I don’t want him to get hurt because of me. I don’t want anyone else here to get hurt either, for that matter.
On that note, I decide to respond to the statement she said earlier. I don’t have plans to go anywhere. I’m already home.
12
DIEGO
When Aurora is gone, I get itchy. So I stride out of our room and force myself to keep walking past the kitchen where Aurora and Daphne are chatting and laughing.
I need to check the perimeter. Though we took care of the threats that were encroaching, I can still feel that something isn’t right. Someone else is out there. Or maybe I’m just being extra cautious. Either way, I need to walk the grounds and check for intruders.
I grab my coat and boots and slide my knit cap over my hair. With my rifle slung over my shoulder, I make my way out into the snowy wonderland.
Snow isn’t my favorite. Mostly because it can hinder getting a kill shot. The glare and the weird things the sunlight does on snow’s surface can really screw with a marksman like me. But I’ve managed before. If I need to make a kill shot, I can still get it done even if the snow is practically blinding.
I walk the upper edge of the property closest to the house. There’s already a small trail through the snow. Tiernan, no doubt. He gets antsy and comes out here to walk. I’ve noticed he’s been doing it even more since Daphne showed up. That red hair and inquisitive mind seem to be giving him fits. Good. He needs some excitement.
When I hear the scuff of feet in the snow, I stop. Scanning the treeline, I wait for something to move. When nothing does, I pull my rifle and peer through my scope, the special coating on the lens sharpening every trunk, every shadow, and every piece of sky.
Something moves, and I still, my finger not on the trigger yet, but flirting with it. I keep my eye on a large fir tree several yards into the woods. Breathing out slowly, I focus on it, my heartbeat slowing, my body relaxing. Years of training have resulted in me becoming a killing machine. Instead of adrenaline pumping into my system, it’s dopamine. I’m smooth, calm, languid as I wait for my kill shot. No jumping muscles or racing heartbeats to offset my aim.
That’s what Aurora doesn’t really know about me. The pieces of my past that made me who I am. The brutality of my training, the things I’ve done. But when I told her, she didn’t seem scared. I’m sure if I gave her gritty details, that might change, but even so, I still feel nearly certain that she wouldn’t stop looking at me with big, adoring eyes.
Movement pulls me from my thoughts, and I can hear a scuffling noise. I finally rest my finger on the trigger as a shape emerges from behind the tree.
“Fuck,” I bite the word out and drop my rifle, then sling it over my shoulder again. “Damn it, Leonard, find some other tree to scratch your ass on,” I grumble at the big, fluffy lynx and keep walking the property.
When I’ve done the entire circuit and am back at the fortified rear door, I stop and look out into the whiteness around me.
I don’t see anything.
I don’t hear anything but the wind soughing through the icy trees.
But I canfeelit.
Danger is out there waiting. Not for me, but for my songbird. And I need to deal with it before it’s too late.
My phone vibrates with a message right as I reach for the door. When I open it and read my contact’s information, my blood turns to ice, and a wicked smile turns my lips.
* * *
“Wait. You’re going somewhere?” Aurora looks at me with alarm as I power through another piece of her delectable cake.
“No.” I shake my head. “Just into Frozen Falls. I’ll be gone a few hours, tops.”
“Why?” She licks the icing from her fingertips, giving me so many ideas.
“I need to check in with my contacts around town.”
“Just Zoom them.” She shrugs.
I lean over and kiss the shell of her ear. “These aren’t Zoom conversations, songbird.”
“Oh.” She shivers, and I love the goosebumps that erupt along her arm.
I kiss her shoulder. “You’ll be safe here.”
“I want to come with you.” She looks up at me with those big, trusting eyes.
