16. Blaze
BLAZE
The second that voice hit the street outside, relief slammed into me so hard it almost made my knees weak.
Sheriff Tate.
Gunfire cracked again through the storm.
Outside, tires squealed hard against wet pavement.
“MOVE!” Tate roared.
Another shot exploded.
Glass shattered somewhere down the block.
Trigger immediately moved toward the side windows. “They’re running!”
Wolf cursed and yanked the tavern door open just enough to look outside.
Cool rain blasted into the room.
“Tahoe heading east!” he barked.
Ava rose instantly beside the bar. “How many suspects?”
“Three minimum.”
More sirens suddenly wailed in the distance.
Close.
Fast approaching.
The fake deputies outside bolted.
Cowards.
My pulse still pounded violently as adrenaline ripped through me.
But the second I looked down?—
Flick.
That’s what mattered.
She stood behind me breathing hard, pale as hell, eyes wide with fear.
Still alive.
Thank God.
I turned fully toward her without thinking.
My hands caught her face instantly.
Warm skin.
Shaking breath.
“Hey.”
Her eyes snapped to mine.
“Hersh—”
“You okay?”
Stupid question.
Of course she wasn’t okay.
But I needed to hear her voice anyway.
She nodded too quickly.
Lie.
I knew it immediately.
Because her hands were trembling hard now.
Shock setting in.
Behind us, Wolf pushed fully outside into the rain while Trigger followed close behind.
Ava stayed with Isabel, trying to calm the terrified girl while speaking rapidly into her radio.
But none of that registered fully anymore.
Not when Flick suddenly grabbed the front of my shirt with both hands like she physically needed something solid to hold onto.
“They found me,” she whispered shakily.
Those words hit something violent inside me.
No.
Not happening.
Not while I was breathing.
I lowered my forehead against hers without even thinking about the people around us.
“Listen to me carefully.”
Rain pounded outside.
Sirens screamed closer.
But Flick only looked at me.
Only me.
“They came here tonight,” I said quietly, “and they still left without you.”
Emotion cracked across her face instantly.
Because she understood what I was really saying.
They failed.
Her breath hitched hard.
“Hersh…”
My thumb brushed beneath her eye automatically when tears started slipping free again.
“You’re okay.”
Barely.
But she was here.
Still here.
That mattered.
Outside, Tate shouted something at Wolf over the storm.
Then the sheriff himself appeared in the doorway.
Tall.
Broad.
Rain soaking his tan sheriff jacket.
Pistol still drawn.
And furious.
Pure furious.
His eyes swept the room instantly.
Me.
Trigger.
Wolf.
Ava.
Then finally?—
Flick.
His expression changed immediately.
Not softer exactly.
Protective.
Concerned.
“You hurt?” he asked her directly.
Flick shook her head quickly.
Tate nodded once before looking toward Ava.
“Marshal.”
“Sheriff.”
Tension crackled between them immediately.
Not hostile.
Professional.
The kind between two people trying to assess how bad things just became.
Tate holstered his weapon slowly.
“That wasn’t my department.”
“I know,” Ava answered.
“Somebody used cloned units and fake badges.”
Wolf stepped back inside behind him, rain dripping from his dark jacket.
“Plates came back stolen.”
Of course they did.
Trigger slammed the tavern door shut again hard enough to rattle the bottles behind the bar.
“Well,” he muttered, “that feels personal.”
No kidding.
Isabel suddenly started crying softly behind Ava.
Not loud.
Just exhausted terrified tears.
Flick instantly pulled away from me.
Of course she did.
Even shaking herself apart, she still went toward the girl.
Toward someone hurting worse.
God.
Watching her kneel beside Isabel nearly wrecked me.
Because she was terrified too.
But she still reached back for other people anyway.
Always had.
Tate watched the interaction quietly before looking toward me.
Low enough only Rangers could really hear, he said:
“That woman yours?”
I didn’t even hesitate.
“Yeah.”
The word left my mouth before my brain caught up.
Wolf’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
Trigger grinned instantly like the traitor he was.
And across the room?—
Flick looked up.
Straight at me.
Those beautiful eyes widened softly.
Like hearing that mattered far too much.
Truthfully?
It mattered too damn much to me too.