18. Blaze
BLAZE
The second that sedan rolled past the tavern, every instinct in my body went lethal.
Because Flick was right.
They had to turn on a light inside the car for us to see the photograph.
Which meant one thing.
That picture wasn’t for them.
It was for us.
Message received.
We see her.
Beside me, Flick had gone completely still.
Too still.
Fear flashed across her face so fast it punched straight through my chest.
Not panic.
Recognition.
The kind that comes from understanding exactly what kind of monsters you’re dealing with.
Trigger moved away from the windows immediately.
“Get down from the glass.”
Everybody shifted at once.
Wolf killed the front lights near the tavern entrance.
Darkness swallowed half the room again.
Tate stepped sideways from the window frame, weapon already back in his hand.
“No plates,” he muttered.
Ava swore softly under her breath.
Isabel looked close to hyperventilating beside the bar.
“H-how did they get her picture?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Because honestly?
Nobody wanted to say it out loud.
Leak.
Again.
Hersh’s hand suddenly caught mine.
Firm.
Grounding.
I looked up at him instantly.
And God?—
his face.
Cold.
Focused.
Furious.
Not scared.
That somehow terrified me more.
“Flick,” he said quietly.
My throat tightened hard.
“Yeah?”
“You got a go bag?”
I blinked.
“A what?”
“A bag already packed in case you have to run fast.”
Oh.
Witness protection survival.
“Yeah.”
“Where?”
“At the house.”
His jaw tightened instantly.
Not ideal.
Not even close.
Trigger looked toward Wolf. “Think they’re testing defenses?”
“Probably.”
Tate’s expression stayed grim. “Or trying to scare her into bolting.”
My stomach twisted violently.
Because they’d almost succeeded.
Ava carefully moved Isabel farther from the windows.
“They know she’s here now.”
No.
Not just here.
With him.
That thought hit me suddenly and hard enough to make me cold.
I looked up at Hersh.
“Hersh…”
His eyes dropped immediately to mine.
Always immediately.
“If they know I’m here,” I whispered shakily, “then they know I’m with you.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Terrible.
Because everybody in the room understood exactly what that meant.
The cartel didn’t just kill witnesses.
They killed leverage.
Family.
Anyone close enough to hurt.
Fear flooded me so hard I could barely breathe.
“No.”
The word slipped out broken.
“Hersh, I can’t let?—”
His fingers tightened around mine instantly.
“You’re not finishing that sentence.”
Emotion climbed hard into my throat.
“They’ll come after you.”
“Let them.”
The calm certainty in his voice nearly destroyed me.
Because he meant it.
God, he meant every word.
“I’m serious!” I whispered harshly. “These people torture families. They kill children. They?—”
“Flick.”
That one word stopped me cold.
His thumb brushed once across my knuckles.
And suddenly his voice softened.
Not Ranger now.
Hersh.
Just Hersh.
“They threatened you.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“They threatened somebody I love.”
The room disappeared.
Actually disappeared.
No storm.
No cartel.
No sheriff.
Nothing.
Just him.
Those dark eyes.
That voice.
Somebody I love.
Tears burned instantly behind my eyes.
Because he said it so naturally.
Like it had never changed.
Like maybe it never did.
Wolf suddenly cleared his throat roughly and looked away toward the windows.
Trigger muttered, “Well, damn.”
Tate looked deeply exhausted already.
Ava just blinked at Hersh once before quietly saying:
“That’s either incredibly romantic or incredibly stupid.”
“Both,” Trigger answered immediately.
Under any other circumstances, I might’ve laughed.
Instead I stared at Hersh like my heart had forgotten how to beat properly.
He loved me.
After everything.
After all the years.
After believing I abandoned him.
He still loved me.
And the terrifying part?
I loved him enough that fear suddenly became unbearable.
Because now he had something to lose too.
Outside, thunder cracked violently across Eagle River.
The black sedan disappeared around the corner.
But the damage was already done.
The cartel had delivered their message.
And Hersh had delivered his.
They were coming for me.
But if they wanted me?—
they’d have to go through him first.