Chapter 27
KIRA
It’s Viper, calm, sharp, and suddenly right beside me. He crouches next to my prone body and hovers his hand over my back, keeping me down while barely touching me.
He already has his sidearm out, a compact pistol much like the one he taught me to hold. He’s holding his weapon low but ready. His posture is lethally still. There’s also a rifle slung across his back, the strap snug against his shoulder.
“You’re okay,” he says quietly.
“How did you—”
“I saw him come onto the property. Just a hunter.”
He gives me a hand and helps me up onto shaky legs. Fear races through my body, looking for an escape.
Grizz appears a few seconds after I get my balance. He’s dragging someone by the back of the jacket, and I expect it to be Preston, even though my rational mind trusts what Viper told me.
I let out a breath when I see the man’s face and don’t recognize him.
The stranger stumbles, nearly face-planting, but Grizz, with one massive hand locked between the man’s shoulder blades, doesn’t even slow.
“Take it easy,” the man grumbles. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You fired a weapon on private property,” Viper says.
Grizz stops several feet away, but positions himself in front of me. His presence is as solid as a wall. “What were you aiming at?” he demands of the man.
“A deer. It was right over there—” The man’s voice shakes as he points into the forest. “I didn’t know anyone lived out here.”
“That’s a lie,” Viper says flatly. His weapon is lowered but ready. He hasn’t raised his voice once, and his posture is relaxed in a way that somehow makes him seem more dangerous than if he were primed to fight.
“There are posted boundaries,” Viper says. “You crossed a perimeter fence. That doesn’t happen by accident.”
“I didn’t see—”
“You saw,” Viper interrupts, “and you chose to ignore it.”
“Try again.” Grizz adjusts his grip, and the man hisses in pain.
“I … I was following a fresh set of tracks,” the hunter says. His shoulders are slumped like he knows he’s defeated, but he keeps arguing. “I thought the land was unoccupied.”
Viper’s gaze goes briefly to me, then back to the man. “You were warned off this area last year.”
The man’s eyes widen. “You remember me?”
“I remember everyone who trespasses,” Viper says. “Especially stupid people carrying rifles.”
The hunter shakes his head. “I didn’t know anyone was around. I swear.”
“That’s not reassuring,” Viper says.
Grizz releases the man abruptly, shoving him forward a step. “You’re leaving now.”
When the hunter hesitates, Viper steps closer to him. “Now.”
Viper guides him away with a firm hold on his elbow. “You’re going to get in your truck, drive down the hill, and never give us a reason to think about you again. If you come back—”
“I won’t,” the man says quickly.
Viper’s voice goes lethal. “If you come back here, I won’t escort you off the property.”
They disappear into the trees, and I don’t realize how badly I’m shaking until Grizz comes to my side.
“You okay?” His voice is suddenly gentle, as if he turned down a volume knob just for me.
“I think so,” I say, even though my knees are weak.
He steps even closer without hesitation, his gloved hands warm as he cups my upper arms. The contact grounds me, and I lean into him before I can stop myself.
He exhales roughly, as if he’s the one who’s been holding his breath since the gunshot, and slides one hand up my back, rubbing circles between my shoulder blades.
“You’re safe now.” His thumb brushes my sleeve, and it feels intimate, even though he’s doing it to comfort me.
He tips his head to get a better look at me. “You cold?”
“A little.”
He tucks me against him immediately, wrapping one arm around me, blocking out the world. I instantly feel safe in a way that’s bone deep.
“I should’ve been closer,” he says quietly.
“You were. You got here fast.”
A beat passes before he squeezes me to him, then eases back. “Let’s get you inside. Atlas’ll want eyes on you as soon as he gets back.”
I nod, reluctant to lose his warmth.
“It was a nice day for a walk.” My voice comes out a little shaky.
“Yeah,” Grizz says. “Nice day for illegal hunting, too, I guess. That guy’s an idiot.”
We’re quiet for much of the way, until Grizz casually asks, “You sleep okay last night?”
Heat creeps up my neck. Of course he knows where I slept. “Yes,” I say gently. “I did.”
He doesn’t respond for several seconds, and when I glance over at him, his expression seems carefully neutral. Finally, he simply says, “Good.”
As we turn toward the house, Viper appears at the edge of the clearing, scanning the perimeter in his usual way, as if nothing happened at all.
Later, after the adrenaline has finally drained away, I find Viper alone in the mudroom, stripping off his outer layers with precise efficiency.
“Silas?”
“You should stay inside,” he says without even looking up.
“I am,” I say, as I linger near the doorway. “I just want to talk to you for a minute.”
Grizz would’ve made it easy, with a hand on my shoulder or a joke. Silas keeps doing what he’s doing. “I want to thank you,” I say finally. “For earlier.”
“Only doing my job.” His expression isn’t cold, exactly, but it’s thoroughly contained.
“You were there so fast. How did you—”
“I was tracking him,” he says. “You weren’t alone.”
Warmth fills my chest, and I have the urge to move closer to Silas, but his matter-of-fact tone keeps me at arm’s length, literally and figuratively. “I still appreciate it,” I say quietly. “I was terrified.”
“You did exactly right.” He finally looks up for a second. “You hit the ground fast. Stayed still.”
“I didn’t think,” I admit. “I just dropped.”
He hangs his jacket on a hook, straightening each sleeve. “That wasn’t panic. It was instinct.”
He makes my reaction seem like a strength instead of a weakness.
“I hope I’m not too much of a complication around here,” I say before I can stop myself.
This earns a reaction, though in usual Viper style, it’s merely a subtle pinching of his eyebrows. “You’re not the problem.”
“And yet …?” I prompt gently.
He exhales, a controlled release. “You should be careful out there. Walk closer to the fence next time.”
I have the distinct impression things are being left unsaid. Someone as observant as Viper certainly knows I didn’t sleep in my own room last night, but if he has an opinion about the situation, he’s not mentioning it.
He’s always quiet, but there’s a new edge to it today.
“I appreciate everything you do for me,” I say quietly. “All the planning, and the watching. Everything.”
“There’s no need to thank me.” He finishes unlacing his boots, pulls them off, then sets them under the bench with the toes neatly aligned.
“But I want to.”
He pauses for a second as he bends to straighten the bottoms of his pant legs and brush off remnants of snow.
“You’re hard to read,” I say, before I lose my nerve. “I never know what you’re thinking.”
When he looks at me, his mouth is curved into something close to a smile. “That’s intentional.”
I frown. “Why?”
“So people underestimate me,” he says calmly. “So they don’t know where I’m looking. Or how much I see.”
I can’t decide if this is admirable, impressive, or unsettling. “Am I included in that?” I ask.
He steps closer. Not close enough to touch, but near enough that my body is suddenly very aware of him.
“I keep my distance so I can do my job effectively,” he says. “Emotions complicate judgment.”
The scene from earlier plays in my mind. Silas appearing at my side, shielding my body, making sure I was safe.
“You ran toward gunfire today,” I say, barely above a whisper.
He lifts his chin and strokes a hand over his thick beard, smoothing it the same way he did his jacket. “That wasn’t emotion. That was doing what needed doing.”
I take a step backward and lean against the doorframe.
“You don’t have to call it emotion,” I say quietly. “I felt it anyway.”
He stares at me, eyes unscrutable as he retreats behind walls I have no idea how to scale. His shoulders square like armor snapping back into place.
I walk away with the strange certainty that he and I are getting closer, and also that Silas Mercer is doing everything in his power to keep that from happening.