Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
A thoughtful smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, but before she could say anything, I spoke again, making sure my voice left no room for misinterpretation. “But only if you stay local. I don’t want you going off somewhere else. Not when you belong here—with me.”
Another flush of heat rose swiftly to her cheeks, but she didn’t look annoyed or put off by my demand. Instead, her eyes warmed, and that little spark of something that looked like hope shimmered in the green pools. She tilted her head slightly as she replied, “I’ll think about it.”
“Good,” I murmured with a nod.
She gave me a playful shrug, “About staying local too.”
The cute challenge in her voice had me fighting a smile. I slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her against me as I murmured against her ear, “Oh, you’ll do more than just think about it, little dove. That part wasn’t a request.”
She laughed, her body relaxed and at ease in my hold. The fierce protectiveness I’d felt since the moment I met her quieted into something deeper, steadier, and more intense. Something I knew would never fade.
12
LINDEN
Keegan had his arm slung heavily around my shoulders, his fingers idly tracing patterns on the bare skin of my upper arm where my oversized T-shirt had slipped down. I was tucked against his side, my legs curled under me on the wide couch, the glow of the massive flat screen washing blue light over us both.
On screen, some over-the-top action flick roared through its third explosion in ten minutes. I wasn’t really watching. I was too aware of Keegan’s steady breathing and how his thigh pressed against mine. Two days had passed since he’d suggested I think about going back to school, and I hadn’t been able to get the idea out of my head.
When I graduated from high school, I hadn’t been interested in college. But now that I’d figured out what interested me, I was reconsidering that decision. Assuming I could get admitted to a nearby school. I didn’t want to leave Keegan any more than he wanted to let me go.
He went from relaxed to instantly alert when Wizard strode into the room. He hit pause on the remote before looking up.
He stopped a few feet from the couch, his gaze flicking to me then back to Keegan. “Tomcat.”
“Wizard.” Keegan’s voice was calm, but I felt the way his muscles tightened under his casual sprawl.
Wizard’s eyes lingered on me again. “You want to come to my office to hear this?”
Keegan didn’t hesitate. “No, you can tell me in front of her.”
Relief washed through me, tangled with fresh worry. Whatever Wizard had found, it was big enough that even the Hounds tech wizard looked grim.
Wizard dropped onto the chair next to us and steepled his fingers. “Got in. Finally. Pulled the black box data from Carson’s last flight off a government mirror server. Official report still says pilot error. Stall at low altitude, failure to recover. Clean narrative.”
I bit my lip to stifle my cry. It hurt to hear, even knowing they were lies.
Wizard kept talking. “But the telemetry’s off. Subtle shit like frame drops that don’t match the time stamp sync by the smallest of margins. Someone smoothed it. Not enough for most analysts to catch, but they weren’t counting on me. So I went hunting. Cracked the defense contractor’s internal archive. Took enough proxies to make the NSA jealous. They were more secure than the fucking Pentagon, Tomcat.”
Keegan’s hand found mine, lacing our fingers together. His thumb stroked over my knuckles in comforting sweeps.
Wizard sighed before he explained, “It’s gonna take some time to analyze the shit I dug up.”
Keegan’s grip on my hand tightened until it almost hurt. “How long to fully compare and verify?”
“Days. Maybe a week to be thorough. Fallon’s already pulling parallel threads, but even with his help, it won’t be quick.”
“I can help. I’ve seen every format they use.” I straightened. “Gone through a ridiculous number of reports. It would be easy for me to catch any quirks in the export files. I know where to look. That’s how I stumbled on this mess in the first place.”
Wizard studied me for a beat, then glanced at Keegan.
Keegan exhaled through his nose. “She’s in. But we keep this quiet. Nobody but us three, King, Blaze, and Fallon need to know she’s helping.”
It was hard to believe I needed to worry about word getting out. Other than the quick trip to his very secure office, I hadn’t left the compound since he brought me here. But I trusted Keegan with my safety, so I was more than willing to go along with whatever he thought was necessary.
“She’s your woman, so it’s your call,” Wizard agreed.
While I bit back a smile at how easily Wizard referred to me as Keegan’s, my man tilted my face toward him. “I still have to play my part. Show up for meetings, test flights, act like nothing’s changed. They can’t know we’re digging until we have something concrete.”