Chapter 31
Tessa
Ididn’t realize how much had changed until I wasn’t allowed to be alone anymore.
At first, it felt strange.
Too much movement. Too many eyes. Too many people watching doors, windows, the street like danger could come from anywhere.
Because it could.
Blaze had turned the living room into a command center. Screens lit up every surface, maps, feeds, alerts constantly shifting. Trigger rotated watch with Beast, quiet and steady, always near the exits.
And Ace—
Ace stayed close to me.
Not hovering.
Not controlling.
Just… there.
Always there.
“You okay?” he asked, leaning against the doorway as I moved around the kitchen, making sandwiches.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
It wasn’t a lie.
Not exactly.
I was okay.
Just… aware.
Of everything.
Every sound. Every shift. Every second felt like it might turn into something else.
I learned how to listen in prison. I learned the different sounds of footsteps.
You could actually tell the difference between nice footsteps and angry ones.
You had to have eyes in the back of your head at all times in there. You never knew who would turn on you.
“This is what it’s like for you,” I said.
“For us,” he corrected.
I glanced at him. “All the time?”
“Pretty much.”
I exhaled softly.
“I used to think it was chaos.”
“And now?”
I looked around.
At Blaze typing without looking up. At Trigger checking the perimeter. At Beast standing like nothing could get past him.
“It’s not chaos,” I said. “It’s control.”
Ace’s mouth twitched slightly. “Yeah.”
My fingers brushed the edge of the counter.
“I get it now.”
That earned me a look.
“Get what?”
“Why you don’t walk away when things get hard,” I said. “Why you step in.”
He studied me for a second.
“Still think it’s a bad idea to be around us?”
I thought about it.
About the danger.
The fear.
The attack.
Then—
About the way I wasn’t alone anymore.
“No,” I said.
And that surprised both of us.
Blaze’s voice cut through the moment.
“Hey.”
Everything in the room shifted.
“What?” Ace asked.
“Cell ping,” Blaze said, eyes narrowing at the screen. “Burner. Two miles out.”
My stomach dropped.
“Is it him?” I asked.
Blaze didn’t answer right away.
Then—
“Yeah.”
The word landed hard.
Real.
“He’s close,” Trigger said, already moving.
Ace’s entire posture changed.
Focused.
Sharp.
“Lock it down,” he said.
Beast moved to the door.
Trigger to the back.
Blaze’s fingers flew across the keyboard.
I stood there, my pulse racing—
But I didn’t freeze.
Not this time.
“Tell me what to do,” I said.
Ace looked at me.
A beat.
Then—
“Stay with me.”
I nodded.
Always.