Page 86 of The Scout

I stepped back, eyes scanning my work. The gear fit snugly, covering her most vital areas, giving her a fighting chance if things went sideways. It wouldn’t make her invincible, but it was better than nothing.

“You’ll be with two of my best men,” I told her, reaching for her wrist, securing one of the side fastenings. “They have strict orders to keep you in the SUV, away from the pier.”

Her jaw clenched. “And if I don’t listen?”

I met her gaze. “Then you’ll be dealing with me.”

Something dark flickered in her eyes, but she didn’t argue.

I finished strapping the last piece of armor into place, then reached for her hand, squeezing it once before letting go.

This was it.

The final goodbye.

I wasn’t afraid. I had never been afraid.

But I was a little sad.

I knew who I was. I knew that if it came down to saving Will or saving myself, I’d save Will. Because that’s who I was. That’s who I had always been.

As I climbed into the driver’s seat and pulled away from Dominion Hall, I didn’t let myself look back.

I just focused on the road ahead, on what was coming, on the undeniable fact that after tonight?—

Everything would change.

29

ISABEL

The SUV rumbled beneath me, a quiet, steady hum that did nothing to ease the storm churning inside my chest. I sat in the back seat, my leg bouncing, my fingers twisting together as I stared out the tinted window at the streets of Folly Beach.

Somewhere out there, Ryker was walking straight into danger.

I had known he was a soldier, of course, had known he had faced death before. He had been forged in fire, tempered by war, built to endure what most men couldn’t.

But that was before I knew him. Before I had felt the heat of his skin against mine. Before I had memorized the exact way his breath hitched when I traced my lips down his stomach. Before I had tangled my fingers in his hair, pulled him closer, whispered his name against his mouth like a prayer.

Before he had made me his.

Before I had made him mine.

Now, it wasn’t just some abstract awareness that he lived a dangerous life. Now, it was personal.

Now, every second that passed without knowing if he was okay was a blade carving through my ribs.

And Will—God, Will. My brother, my protector, the only family I had left. He was out there too, trapped in some unknown hell, at the mercy of people who had already proven they had none. I didn’t even know if he was still breathing. Didn’t know what they had done to him.

The not knowing was unbearable.

But with Ryker? It was something else entirely.

I clenched my fists in my lap, my nails biting into my palms. I had never felt this way about anyone before—not Will, not past boyfriends, not even my dad, and he had been my everything when I was little.

This was different.

This was love.

---