Chapter 22 Wolf
Wolf
After the button was secured in an evidence bag and Saint confirmed the cameras caught nothing of the man who left it, the apartment shifted from tense to mission-ready.
Trigger wasn’t joking anymore.
He stood in the hallway, feet shoulder-width apart, scanning angles and sight lines like the soldier he used to be—and still was, underneath the jokes.
“Saint,” Trigger said, voice clipped, “reroute the east stairwell camera to my tablet. Motion alert sensitivity up two points.”
Saint nodded and got to work.
“Havoc,” I said, “reinforce the deadbolts on both exit doors.”
He grunted once and moved.
Nora watched all of us like she’d walked into a tactical operations center instead of a remodeled hotel floor.
Her fear was still raw… but now it was threaded with something else.
Trust.
Anger that this was happening to her.
Trigger glanced at her. “Ma’am, you’re safe up here. These walls used to be reinforced for fire protection. Now they’re reinforced for idiot protection.”
I shot him a look.
He amended, “Idiot stalker protection, that is.”
Better.
I double-checked every lock.
Every camera angle.
Every hallway corner.
Every escape route.
Then I checked them again.
Trigger and Havoc didn’t question it.
Saint didn’t even comment.
They knew this wasn’t me being overly cautious.
It was me being exactly who I had to be.
When the sweep was complete and the building secure, Trigger spoke low:
“We’ll take shifts. I’ve got first watch.”
Saint nodded. “I’ll take the second.”
Havoc: “Third.”
I shook my head. “I’m not leaving her room tonight.”
Trigger didn’t argue.
He simply put a hand briefly on my shoulder—a silent we’ve got you—then the three of them moved out to form a perimeter.
The hallway fell quiet.
I turned back to Nora.
She stood near her bedroom doorway, arms wrapped around herself, eyes searching mine.
“You okay?” I asked.
She nodded. “I… I think so. Just tired.”
“Let’s go in,” I said softly.
I guided her into the room, closing the door behind us. Not locking it—the guys needed to get in if something happened—but I stayed close.
She sat on the edge of the bed. I remained standing for a moment, needing to burn the last of the adrenaline from my system before I touched her.
“You check everything twice,” she said quietly.
“Three times,” I admitted.
She smiled a little. “Why?”
I didn’t answer at first.
I sat beside her, elbows on my knees, staring at the floor.
Then I said the words I never planned to say out loud.
“Because I’ve seen this before.”
Her breath caught.
“Not… exactly this,” I clarified. “But close. Too close.”
She waited—silent, patient—letting me find the words.
I hadn’t talked about that case in years. Didn’t want to. Didn’t need to.
Until now.
“Before I came to Eagle River,” I said slowly, “I was stationed down south for a while. Worked with local law enforcement. Sometimes off the books, sometimes not.”
She nodded.
“There was a woman,” I continued. “She’d been reporting strange things for months. Someone watching her. Footsteps outside her window. Objects moved in her yard.”
I felt the old frustration, the old fury, stir hot beneath my ribs.
“Patrol thought she was exaggerating,” I said. “Neighbors thought she was paranoid. Her ex said she was dramatic.” My jaw tightened. “She wasn’t.”
Nora touched my hand lightly. “What happened?”
“He broke in,” I said. “Middle of the night. Took her. She was alive when we found her, but… not for long.”
Nora’s hand tightened around mine.
“I blamed myself,” I said quietly. “For not catching him sooner. For not staying at her house when she asked. For thinking she’d be okay one more night.”
A breath shook out of me.
“One more night was all he needed.”
Nora’s eyes glistened. “Wolf…”
I turned to her fully, letting her see the truth in my face.
“I’m not letting the same thing happen to you,” I said. “I’m not letting history repeat itself. Not with you. Not ever.”
She lifted her other hand and cupped my cheek gently—so gently I almost leaned into it without meaning to.
“You didn’t lose her,” Nora whispered. “That man took her. And whoever this is… he won’t take me because you’re here. Because you know what to look for. Because you care.”
My throat tightened.
Caring was the part I was trying not to admit.
But she said it like she already knew.
I covered her hand with mine, holding it there against my skin.
“You’re not going to disappear,” I said. “Not on my watch.”
She nodded once, fiercely. “I believe you.”
I exhaled.
Long. Slow. Unclenching something that had been wound too tight for too many years.
“Lie down,” I murmured gently. “You need rest.”
She did.
I lay beside her, pulling her into my chest as the apartment settled into silence around us.
Outside the room, Trigger’s boots shifted softly on the floor as he took first watch.
But inside—
Nora’s steady breathing against my shoulder
her fingers curling into my shirt
my heartbeat syncing with hers—
—for the first time in a long time, the past loosened its grip on me.
And I vowed silently to whatever force would listen:
This time,
this woman,
this life—
I won’t fail.