Page 71 of Hero's Prize

Callum felt certain that the kid was telling the truth when he said he’d had no actual contact with the person who’d hired him. Both Lincoln and Callum were going to keep at it, but neither was very hopeful.

About an hour ago, Colton had finally called Tony and told him about last night’s incident and the note found at Fancy Pants. He could tell his PR manager was not happy about being left out of the loop for so long, but Colton wasn’t going to apologize for that.

Tony also wasn’t happy that Colton didn’t have any sort of long-term plans for stunts. But honestly, Colton couldn’t even think about that until they had this stalker situation under control. He told Tony to put any and all resources they had toward figuring out who this stalker was. That had become Colton’s number one priority.

Because he couldn’t keep doing this to Ella. By the time he’d made it back to the Eagle’s Nest the night before, Lilah had already taken Ella home. Colton went over there as soon as he could, hoping to find Ella already asleep. She’d been so tense with him out on the dance floor before he’d run out to chase Jeremy that he was crushed he couldn’t tell her they had caught the stalker.

He’d hated seeing that pinched look on her pretty face.

But it had still been there when he’d gotten to her house, and she’d still been wide awake. He’d explained what happened and she seemed to take it in stride, but he could tell she was still upset. Or maybe upset wasn’t the right word. She’d almost been…sad.

Not afraid, which he would’ve expected. Not angry, which would be slightly out of character for sweet Ella, but he could understand.

Sad. That, he didn’t quite know how to wrap his head around. All he knew was that a stalker wasn’t what she’d signed up for when she’d gotten involved with him.

He’d held her all night, but except for when she had finally fallen asleep, she’d been stiff in his arms—not pulling away, but like she couldn’t quite decide if she fit there or not.

When she’d left early this morning to go to the bakery, the tension in her body had still been there. He’d wanted to go with her, but since they’d already arranged for Lilah to come keep an eye on things at Fancy Pants whenever Ella was there, he decided to just stick with that plan. But there was no way he was leaving Ella alone until the stalker was caught.

He was going to figure this out. But first, these kids. The next two days belonged to them. He’d seen their eyes light up when he’darrived. Marshall had rushed over to say hello, shaking Colton’s hand like the little adult he was.

Bear walked over. “Lincoln told me about last night. Sorry to hear it was a dead end also.”

Colton slapped his friend on his back. “Thanks, but I’m not going to worry about it. Right now, I want to focus on the next two days and these campers.”

Bear’s face relaxed, and he broke into a grin. “That’s exactly what I want to hear. I overheard the kids talking, wondering if you were going to be here. Your presence means a lot.”

“A chance to hang out with them means a lot to me too.”

“Plus, you don’t have to worry about your stalker finding us out there. Nobody but our personal circle knows where we’re going. And you know Dorian and Ray will handle anybody in the vicinity who doesn’t belong there.”

Dorian Lindstrom—whose code name had been Ghost when he’d served in Special Forces—and his wife Ray were Theo’s parents. They had lived in the wilderness surrounding the Linear Tactical facility for most of Theo’s life. A necessity, given that Ray Lindstrom was a listed enemy of the United States government and also officially dead.

“Hopefully Aunt Ray asks questions before shooting anybody with her crossbow.” Although Colton wouldn’t mind if Ray just took the stalker out.

Bear left to go see about some last-minute supply organization as Ella pulled up in her car. Lilah got out and walked toward Bear, but Ella walked toward Colton.

Her face was still pinched.

“Everything situated at the bakery?”

“Yes. I’m ready to brave the wilderness.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Colton couldn’t stand this.

He trailed his fingers up her arms. “Butterscotch, you don’t have to be scared, I promise.”

“I’m not scared.”

Maybe she wasn’t scared, but the look on her face made itobvious that she still wasn’t okay. If he’d had any doubt about leading the stalker away from Oak Creek, that made up his mind for him.

“I’m going to leave town after we get back from the wilderness.”

It wasn’t what he wanted, but he was determined to get this stalker out of Ella’s life and put a happy look back on her face.

“Oh.”

“So you’re not going to have to worry about the stalker anymore.”

“I—” She looked down at the ground.

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