Page 57 of A Wolf of War
Milo inclined his head, the tight line of his mouth softening slightly. He didn’t speak right away. There was nothing to say that would fix what Lachlan carried. He respected his friend’s strength, especially in the face of the heartache he so often faced in his practice.
They stood in silence, letting the weight of unspoken things settle between them. Lachlan nursed the last of his coffee, eyes distant, until finally he broke the stillness with a quiet observation.
“Don’t you think it’s strange that Jenner wasn’t at the meeting?”
Milo’s head snapped to the side, eyes narrowing. “How the hell did you know that?”
Lachlan just raised an eyebrow and gave a tired smirk. “Because if he had been, you would’ve bitchedabout him by now.”
Milo snorted, short and humorless. He exhaled through his nose and shifted his weight, running a hand through his hair. It was only because Jenner was a fucking weasel and deserved it.
“He’s McGarvey’s little bitch,” Milo then muttered, more to himself than to Lachlan. “Always behind him, waiting for his orders.”
“Exactly,” Lachlan said, voice low. “And he wasn’t present at a meeting with you?”
Milo’s brow furrowed. The thought itched in the back of his mind. Jenner was a predator, a knife that McGarvey wielded without a sound. If Jenner was missing, he wasn’t absent from the playing field. No, he was just up to something.
“You still in touch with that hacker?” Milo asked, his voice low, intent sharpening behind his eyes. An idea was burgeoning.
Lachlan glanced over. “The one that lives in the shipping container?”
“That’s the one.”
“I am. Why?”
“I want him to scrape every camera feed he can get access to—traffic cams, building security, anythingwith eyes. Have him scan for Jenner. I want to know what he’s been up to.”
Lachlan’s brow lifted, a flicker of caution passing through his eyes. “You want surveillance inside McGarvey’s territory? That’s risky business, my friend, after brokering peace.”
Milo pushed off the counter, sliding his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. His jaw flexed as he stared ahead, eyes hard with purpose.
“We don’t have a choice. Something’s coming, and if we don’t get ahead of it, she’s going to be the one who pays the price. I can’t let that happen. She doesn’t need to know the details—that’ll just scare her. We need to shield her from this entirely.”
He turned slightly, locking eyes with Lachlan.
“Whatever it takes, we lock this down. You hear me?”
Lachlan nodded once, quiet but resolute. “Yeah. I hear you.”
A voice cut through the tension like a blade—quiet, cool, edged with suspicion.
“Shield me from what?”
Milo stiffened, head snapping toward the entryway where Willow stood. He hadn’t heard herapproach. Neither had Lachlan, judging by the jolt of his shoulders.
Milo’s mouth parted, but no sound came. For the first time in a long while, he was caught flat-footed—no plan, no deflection. Just a wide-eyed stare and a gut-deep realization that he’d been overheard at the worst possible moment.
Willow’s arms were crossed, her expression unreadable. But her stance was steel. She’d heard enough to know something was being kept from her. She wasn’t going to walk away quietly.
Milo exhaled as he prepped to face the fallout.
Of course she wouldn’t back down.
Nothismate.
27
WILLOW
