Chapter 33 Nora
Nora
The bunker beneath the sheriff’s office wasn’t what I expected.
It wasn’t dark.
It wasn’t cold.
It wasn’t lined with bars or steel plates.
It looked… normal.
Concrete walls, fluorescent lights, a long table, a few chairs, two cots shoved against the corner.
But the air felt thick, like the room held a thousand secrets.
Sheriff Tate shut the heavy security door behind us, locking it with three separate mechanisms. I flinched at every click.
Wolf watched me the whole time.
He stood close enough that I could feel the heat from his body, close enough that if I leaned back even the slightest bit, I’d brush against him.
I didn’t.
But I wanted to.
Trigger paced.
Havoc leaned against the wall like a storm waiting to break.
Saint set up his laptop on the table, screens flickering with footage from every camera in Eagle River.
It wasn’t enough.
Nothing felt enough tonight.
Sheriff Tate pressed his palms to the table. “Alright. We need to piece this together. Two men—maybe three or four, trained, strategic, former military or something like it. They’re escalating fast.”
Trigger muttered, “And they’re playing with us.”
“And with her,” Havoc added, nodding toward me.
Wolf’s jaw tightened.
I swallowed hard. “Why me?”
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
Soft.
Small.
Honest.
Wolf turned to me—slowly—his eyes shifting into something raw, something protective and hurting at the same time.
“We’ll find out,” he murmured. “And when we do—”
“They’ll regret everything,” Havoc finished.
But that wasn’t enough.
I wrapped my arms around myself. “This feels personal. But I don’t know anyone like that. I don’t know anyone trained or dangerous. I don’t…” My voice faltered. “I don’t know anyone who would want me.”
Wolf’s head snapped toward me. “Don’t say that.”
Heat flooded my face. “I mean… who would want to hurt me.”
He stepped closer—close enough that his breath brushed my forehead. “Nora. You have no idea how wrong you are about your impact on people.”
Trigger let out a low whistle. “Okay, Romeo—”
Wolf glared, and Trigger immediately turned away, hands up. “Shutting up.”
Saint cleared his throat and brought up footage from earlier. Two silhouettes disappearing into the woods. One staring into the camera.
Sheriff Tate frowned. “Let’s go backward. Nora, we need to dig. What did these guys want before tonight? Before the library incident?”
My heart hammered. “I don’t know. I—”
But Wolf interrupted softly.
“You said something earlier. About two voices.”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m sure of that.”
Tate rubbed his jaw. “And the first break-in attempt—nothing was stolen. No vandalism. Just a window cracked open.”
Trigger muttered, “Like someone testing the perimeter.”
Saint typed quickly. “I’m pulling up records of known ex-military individuals in the state. If these guys are who Wolf thinks—”
“They would not be on any public list,” Wolf said. “Not easily.”
Something cold twisted in my gut.
Wolf walked toward me, slow and careful, like approaching something fragile and dangerous at the same time. “Nora… is there anything from your past—anything—that could link to these men?”
“No,” I whispered. “I don’t have enemies, Wolf. I barely have acquaintances.”
Sheriff Tate crossed his arms. “Let’s go back to your childhood. Before you came here.”
My breath hitched.
Wolf noticed instantly. “What?”
I looked at the floor. “I don’t like talking about that.”
He took a step closer. “I’m not asking you to like it.”
Trigger leaned forward. “Nora, this could matter.”
Tate nodded. “Anything you remember. Anyone strange. Anyone who watched you too closely.”
My throat felt tight. “Sheriff… I moved a lot as a kid. Foster homes. Temporary placements. I don’t remember names or faces, not clearly. People blur together.”
Wolf’s expression softened, his brows drawing together in pain. “Nora…”
“But—” I forced myself to breathe, “—there was one home. One place I stayed longer.”
The room went silent.
Havoc straightened. “Who was there?”
“A man,” I said slowly. “He was older. Strict. Cold. He barely spoke to the kids. He kept to himself. He wasn’t violent… but he was unsettling.”
“What was his name?” Tate asked.
I shook my head helplessly. “I don’t remember. It was so long ago.”
Trigger paused. “What about what he looked like?”
“Tall,” I whispered. “Broad shoulders. Dark hair. And he had a scar on his temple. A small one. Like a nick.”
Wolf’s eyes sharpened. “Left side or right?”
I blinked. “Left.”
Havoc muttered, “Holy hell.”
Saint started typing faster than I’d ever seen. “Description matches five possible profiles of ex-military personnel discharged around the time Nora would’ve been in foster care.”
Trigger raised a brow. “Wolf… there’s more to this, isn’t there?”
Wolf clenched his fists. “Yes.”
I looked at him, heart pounding. “What?”
He held my gaze, steady and unblinking. “That unit patch we found? It belonged to a recon team that occasionally worked state-side.”
“Meaning what?” I asked.
“Meaning,” Wolf said quietly, “it’s possible one of them took a foster placement as a cover identity.”
My blood went cold. “To… what? Hide?”
“Maybe.” Wolf swallowed. “Or maybe they were watching someone.”
The room stilled.
Trigger whispered, “Watching her.”
My knees wobbled.
Wolf reached out, catching my elbow. “Nora—”
“No,” I whispered, backing up a step. “He didn’t know me. I was a nobody. Why would anyone watch me?”
Wolf’s voice softened. “Some missions aren’t about now. They’re about later.”
“Later?” My voice cracked. “Like years later?”
Trigger looked at Wolf. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Wolf nodded grimly. “They weren’t stalking her recently.”
Havoc finished the thought:
“They’ve been watching her for years.”
My breath shattered.
Saint turned the tablet toward us. “I cross-referenced the patch number with defunct units. Only two men are unaccounted for.”
Two.
My heartbeat felt like thunder.
Wolf’s voice dropped into deadly quiet. “Names?”
Saint typed. “Stand by… data loading from archived personnel.”
Sheriff Tate stepped closer to the screen. “Come on, come on…”
Then the names appeared.
Two men.
Two files.
Two faces.
Both cold.
Both trained.
Both dangerous.
I felt the room fall away.
Wolf stepped in front of me, hand sliding to my back as he turned the screen away.
“No,” he told Saint. “Not yet.”
I blinked rapidly. “Wolf… what did you see?”
He looked at me with something broken, furious, and terrifying.
“I saw the past,” he said quietly. “And I saw the men who think they still have a claim on you.”
My breath hitched. “I don’t understand—”
“You will,” he promised. “But first we find them.”
Sheriff Tate grabbed his radio. “Let’s move out.”
Trigger cocked his weapon. “Hunt time.”
But Wolf didn’t move.
He cupped my cheek, thumb brushing slowly across my skin. “Nora… whatever comes next, I’m not letting them near you.”
My voice trembled. “They already were.”
“Not again.” His forehead touched mine. “Not while I’m alive.”
And then—
BOOM.
A deafening explosion shook the building, dust raining from the ceiling.
Trigger shouted, “WHAT THE—?”
Saint checked the feed. “Guys—north entrance! They breached the sheriff’s office!”
Havoc grabbed his weapon. “They’re coming in!”
Wolf’s voice dropped to lethal calm.
“Then they’re about to make the biggest mistake of their lives.”