39. Felicity
FELICITY
The room went completely silent.
Rain crashed through the broken bedroom window while all of us stared at the photograph in Wolf’s hand.
Ava.
Standing outside the Last Stand Tavern beside Wolf and Trigger.
Two years ago.
Long before she ever brought Isabel Torres to Eagle River.
Before any of this officially started.
“Oh my God…” I whispered.
Trigger took the photo from Wolf fast.
His expression darkened instantly.
“Well that feels personal.”
Wolf’s eyes narrowed toward the picture.
“She knew us already.”
Hersh stayed very still beside me.
Too still.
The dangerous kind.
Not anger.
Calculation.
I looked up at him nervously.
“Hersh…”
His jaw flexed once.
“She didn’t tell us.”
That hurt worse somehow.
Because Ava had protected me.
Helped me.
Warned us.
But now?
Nothing felt certain anymore.
Trigger flipped the photo over carefully.
More writing.
Different handwriting than the senator’s notes.
This time it read:
Assets remain viable. Team loyalty confirmed.
A cold chill crawled straight down my spine.
Assets?
Wolf read it twice.
Slowly.
Then muttered:
“What the hell does that mean?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Because suddenly, Ava Moreno didn’t feel like just a deputy marshal anymore.
She felt connected to something bigger.
Something hidden.
And downstairs?—
a floorboard creaked.
Every Ranger in the room reacted instantly.
Weapons up.
My pulse exploded.
“Hersh—”
He moved in front of me automatically.
Protective wall again.
The sound came a second time.
Slow footsteps.
Coming up the stairs.
Trigger moved toward the hallway fast.
“Stay behind us.”
Lightning flashed violently through the shattered bedroom.
And then?—
Ava appeared at the top of the staircase.
Dripping wet from the storm.
Holding a gun.
Every weapon in the room was immediately aimed at her.
Her eyes widened slightly.
“Well,” she muttered, “this feels hostile.”
“No kidding,” Trigger snapped.
Wolf held up the photograph.
“You wanna explain this?”
The second Ava saw the picture?—
the color drained from her face.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Oh no.”
Hersh’s voice turned deadly calm.
“You knew us before Isabel.”
Ava looked between all of us slowly.
Thinking fast.
Too fast.
“You need to lower the guns.”
“Incorrect,” Trigger replied.
“Ava,” Wolf said quietly. “Start talking.”
Thunder exploded overhead.
Rain lashed through the broken window hard enough to whip papers across the room.
Ava looked at me first.
Not Hersh.
Me.
And somehow that scared me even more.
“I didn’t know the senator connected you and Blaze until recently.”
Hersh’s voice sharpened instantly.
“But you DID know us.”
Ava exhaled slowly.
Then finally nodded.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
Trigger actually looked offended.
“You brought a cartel witness to us without telling us you knew who we were?”
“I brought her here because I trusted you,” Ava shot back immediately.
Wolf’s eyes narrowed.
“How?”
Ava looked toward Hersh now.
And what she said next made the entire room freeze.
“Because your brother saved my life in Afghanistan.”