Chapter 97 Lark
Lark
We lie in bed, listening to the ocean.
No alarms.
No gunfire.
No countdown clocks.
Just breath.
His.
Mine.
Steady. Real. Here.
“You’re not going back to Delta Five,” I say quietly.
“No.”
No hesitation.
No conflict.
Just truth.
“You’re not going to disappear either.”
A pause.
Then—
“No.”
That one carries more weight.
Because disappearing is what men like him were built to do.
“Then what are you going to do?”
He doesn’t answer right away.
I can feel him thinking—not tactically… personally.
That’s new.
That’s everything.
Finally—
“Whatever keeps you safe.”
I turn onto my side, studying him in the soft dark.
“That’s not a job description.”
His hand finds mine under the covers, fingers threading through like something natural.
“It’s a promise.”
That lands deeper than anything else.
Not strategy.
Not survival.
Choice.
I lean in and kiss him.
Slow.
Real.
Unhurried.
No urgency. No fear of interruption.
Just presence.
The kind of kiss that doesn’t belong to a moment—
It belongs to a future.