Chapter 37 Jase
Jase
Location: Lower Ridge — Adriatic Coast
The Adriatic coastline stretches out below us—rugged cliffs cutting into dark blue water, dense forest swallowing the ridge behind us.
Beautiful.
And completely unforgiving.
Out here, there’s no backup coming.
No quick extraction.
No safety net.
Just us… and whoever is hunting us.
We don’t stop moving until the gunfire fades into the distance.
Even then… I don’t trust it.
“Keep going,” I say, scanning the tree line. “They’ll regroup.”
“They always do,” Ronan mutters from somewhere above us, still ghosting through the ridge like he belongs to it.
We push another hundred yards before I finally signal a halt.
“Here.”
The terrain dips just enough—natural cover, limited visibility, bu
t defensible.
Good enough.
For now.
Everyone spreads out, weapons still up, breathing controlled but heavy. Adrenaline is still riding high, still sharp in my veins.
But I feel it.
That shift.
That moment after the storm where everything slows just enough to feel what almost happened.
I turn—
And she’s there.
Mila.
Standing a few feet away, chest rising and falling, hair pulled loose from whatever tie she started with, eyes still scanning like she hasn’t come down yet either.
She looks…
Alive.
Not just surviving.
Thriving in it.
And that should concern me.
Instead—
It does something else entirely.
“You good?” I ask.
Her eyes flick to mine.
A beat.
“Yeah,” she says. “You?”
I nod once.
“Still breathing.”
“That’s always a plus.”
There’s a faint edge of a smile there.
God.
Even now.
Even after that—
She still has that bite.
I step closer before I think better of it.
“You pulled that off back there,” I say, quieter now. “That wasn’t luck.”
Her gaze sharpens.
“It never is.”
I huff out something close to a laugh.
Yeah.
I believe that.
Behind us, the team is settling into a loose perimeter. Cal and Jonah are checking ammo. Lance is on comms trying to reestablish signal. Ronan… still nowhere visible, which means he’s exactly where he needs to be.
But my focus?
Locked.
On her.
“You just walked us straight through a kill box,” I say.
She tilts her head slightly. “You followed.”
“Didn’t hesitate.”
“Neither did I.”
That hangs between us.
Not tactical.
Not about the mission.
Something else.
Something deeper.
“You trust me,” she says, not quite a question.
I meet her eyes.
“Yeah.”
The word comes out easier than it should.
Stronger too.
Her breath catches—
Just slightly.
But I see it.
And suddenly everything feels a hell of a lot quieter than it should out here.
“You shouldn’t,” she says, softer now.
I step closer.
Close enough that I can see the shift in her pupils.
“Too late.”
That edge comes back into her expression—but it’s different now.
Not defensive.
Not sharp.
Something… breaking.
“Jase—”
Gunfire cracks in the distance.
We both snap back instantly.
Reality slams back into place.
“They’re regrouping,” Lance calls.
“Yeah,” I answer without looking away from her. “They won’t stop.”
Mila exhales slowly, resetting, but she doesn’t step back.
Not all the way.
“They won’t,” she agrees. “Which means neither do we.”
There she is.
That fire again.
But now I see what’s under it.
Not just instinct.
Not just survival.
Something that matches mine.
Something that doesn’t back down.
Not from a fight.
Not from this.
“Then we hit them first,” I say.
Her eyes lock onto mine.
A slow nod.
“Good,” she whispers. “Because I’m done running.”
Something in my chest tightens.
Not fear.
Not adrenaline.
Something a hell of a lot more dangerous.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “So am I.”
And this time—
When the silence falls between us—
It doesn’t feel like distance.
It feels like the moment before something changes everything.
Mila
Location: Same
Time: 10:50
I shouldn’t feel this.
Not here.
Not now.
Not with everything closing in around us.
But I do.
And that’s the problem.
Because Jase isn’t just… there.
He’s steady.
Grounded.
Unshaken in a way that makes something inside me want to lean—
Closer.
That’s dangerous.
More dangerous than the men hunting us.
More dangerous than the bullets.
Because this?
This could wreck me.
“You’re staring,” he says quietly.
I blink.
I didn’t realize—
“Wasn’t,” I lie.
His mouth twitches.
“Sure.”
I should step back.
Reset.
Put space between us.
Instead—
I don’t.
“Back there,” he says, voice lower now, “you didn’t just save us.”
I swallow.
“You did your part.”
“I followed your lead.”
My pulse kicks.
Harder than it should.
“You always follow orders?” I ask, trying to deflect.
His eyes darken just slightly.
“Only when they make sense.”
Oh.
That—
That lands.
We’re too close.
I know it.
He knows it.
Neither of us moves.
“Jase,” I start, not even sure what I’m going to say—
He steps in.
Just enough.
His hand comes up—
Not grabbing.
Not forcing.
Just—
There.
At my jaw.
Warm.
Steady.
And everything inside me goes still.
“You feel it too,” he says.
Not a question.
My breath catches.
This is the part where I push him away.
This is the part where I remind him—
We’re in the middle of a mission.
We’re being hunted.
This is not the time.
Instead—
I whisper,
“Yeah.”
And that’s it.
That’s all it takes.
His control snaps.
Not reckless.
Not out of control.
But decided.
He kisses me.
Hard.
Like he’s been holding it back for too long.
Like I have.
And God—
I meet him there.
No hesitation.
No second guessing.
Just heat.
Fire.
Everything we didn’t say back there in the safehouse.
Everything we didn’t admit when we were pretending we didn’t like each other.
All of it—
Right here.
Right now.
His hand tightens slightly, pulling me closer, and I don’t fight it.
I don’t want to.
I grip his shirt, grounding myself in something that feels way too real.
Way too right.
We break just enough to breathe—
Foreheads touching.
“Tell me this is a bad idea,” he says, voice rough.
I shake my head.
“Can’t.”
A quiet beat.
Then—
“Good,” he murmurs.
Gunfire cracks again in the distance.
Reality slams back in.
But this time—
It’s different.
Because now we know.
We don’t just fight side by side.
We choose each other.
And whatever comes next—
We’re not walking away from this.