Chapter 71
MASON
Iwake up again sometime later with Lily curled against my chest, her breath warm against my skin. We must have both fallen back asleep.
For a long time, I don't move. I just watch her—the way her lashes rest against her cheeks, the slight part of her lips, the complete surrender of her body that tells me she feels safe here with me.
Mine.
The word echoes through my chest like a drumbeat. I've spent years keeping people at arm's length. Maintaining control. Staying detached. It's how I survived, how I stayed effective. The sniper who watches from a mile out, never getting too close, never letting anyone in.
But Lily shattered that when she walked into my life.
My hand moves to her hair, threading through the golden strands. She shifts slightly in her sleep, pressing closer, and my heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest.
I don't want to leave this bed—don't want to leave her.
But the sun's up, and Jake and Luke will be in the command center by now. We need to coordinate tonight and tomorrow’s mission. The operation is escalating faster than any of us anticipated and we need to run through all possible scenarios to be prepared.
Carefully, I extract myself from her body. Lily murmurs something unintelligible but doesn't wake. I pull the blanket up over her bare shoulder, then force myself to step back.
Shadow lifts his head from his spot by the door, watching me with knowing eyes.
“Stay,” I tell him quietly. “Guard her.”
He settles back down, content to guard the cottage while I'm gone.
I pull on jeans, a thermal shirt, boots. The routine is automatic, muscle memory from years of late-night ops and early-morning drills. I grab my jacket from the hook by the door and step outside into the cool Montana morning.
The air hits me like a slap—sharp, clean, bracing. I breathe it in deep, letting it clear my head.
The ranch is quiet. The main house is dark except for a single light in the kitchen. The stable looms ahead, solid and familiar.
I head for it.
Inside it’s warmer than outside, insulated by hay bales and the body heat of the horses. I move through the main aisle, past the stalls, to the trapdoor under the pile of hay.
Luke found the space by accident. When we checked, it’s not marked anywhere on the floor plans for the ranch, so we decided to make it our command center.
It's not much: a folding table, a couple of chairs, some computers and monitors, and a secure radio for comms. But it's ours. We’re thinking of expanding it.
Jake and Luke are already there.
Jake's leaning back in one of the chairs, arms crossed, watching a feed from the Turner Ranch with the kind of focus that means he's been at it for hours. Luke is tipped back in a chair, coffee mug in hand, staring out at nothing.
They both turn as I walk in.
Luke grins immediately. “Well, well. Look who decided to join us.”
I ignore the jab and move to the table, scanning the monitor. “What've we got?”
“You’re glowing. Warden, doesn’t he look like he’s glowing?” Luke grins at me.
I shoot him a look. “Fuck off.”
“I didn’t, but it looks like you did.” Luke takes a sip of his coffee, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
Jake snorts.
Luke shakes his head. “If someone had told me two years ago that you two would be scoring and I’d be the chaste one, I’d have asked them to share whatever they were smoking.”
“I’m not scoring,” I mumble, reaching for a cup and the coffee thermos.
Jake studies me for a long moment. “You care about her.”
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “I do.”
Luke whistles low. “Damn. And you admitted it.”
“Shut up, Luke.”
“Make me.”
Jake holds up a hand. “Alright, children, that’s enough.”
Luke points at me. “He started it.”
Jake ignores him. “We're not here to give Mason shit about his love life—”
“Could've fooled me,” I mutter, lifting my cup.
“—we're here to figure out next steps.” Jake turns back to the monitor. “Kelly's been running perimeter checks every two hours since Lily left. They're on high alert.”
“Any sign of Turner?” I pull up a chair and sit.
“Nope.” Luke props his feet on the table. “I would have thought Turner would have booked it home after finding out about Lily. Unless they’re trying to get us to lower our guard.”
“Something isn’t right.” The cold weight of that feeling settles in my gut. “We need to be ready.”
“We are.” Jake gestures to the monitors. “Perimeter's locked down. Motion sensors are active. Luke and I are rotating shifts. You're primary on Lily.”
I nod. “Copy.”
“Primary on Lily.” Luke smirks. “That's one way to put it.”
I ignore him.
Jake leans back in his chair, his expression thoughtful. “You know what's different about you, Mason?”
“What?”
“You're not detached like you usually are.” He tilts his head slightly. “You've always been the guy who keeps his distance. But with Lily? You're all in, up close and personal. You're not watching from a distance, you're right there in the middle of it.”
“She needs protection.”
“She needs a partner,” Jake corrects. “And you're giving her that. But it's more than tactical, Ace. You're invested in a way I've never seen you before.”
I don't respond, because he's right.
Luke crosses his ankles. “For what it's worth, I think it's good. You've been wound too tight for too long. She's exactly what you need.”
I lean back in my chair, rubbing a hand over my jaw. “You two done psychoanalyzing me?”
Luke snorts. “Not even close.”
But their words stay lodged under my skin after they leave the ops room and the silence settles back in.
I glance at the security feed still running on the monitor beside me.
I see Turner’s men starting their day, seemingly innocuous.
Kelly comes out from one of the buildings, strutting across the yard toward the main house.
The front door of the main house opens and Cole Turner steps outside.