We reached the Jeep, and I threw open the passenger door. "Get in!"
Lily scrambled inside, and I jumped behind the wheel, flooring it just as the bear emerged from the cabin. It let out one last defiant roar, then turned back towards the woods, more interested in food than the fight.
I drove until the cabin was out of sight, then pulled over, hands shaking against the steering wheel.
"Ryker," Lily said, her voice trembling. "That was—"
"Insane," I finished, breathing hard. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, still wide-eyed. "I thought... I thought it was someone else. I didn’t know what to do."
“I’m sorry, I should never have left you and Mable alone.” I reached for her hand, squeezing it tightly. "I’ll never do that again."
She let out a shaky laugh, half relief, half disbelief. "You hit a bear with a frying pan."
"Yeah, I did," I said, grinning despite the adrenaline still coursing through me.
We sat there, the woods silent around us, the reality of how close it had been sinking in. Lily leaned against me, her head on my shoulder.
"What now?" she asked, her voice small.
I looked back toward the cabin, thinking of the plans we’d made, the safety we’d hoped for. "I need to secure the cabin. We should put away the food and tidy up; otherwise, the bear will return. Then we'll regroup and find a new place—somewhere they won't think to search."
"And if they find us?" she asked.
I gently lifted her chin, locking eyes with her, trying to convey as much certainty as possible. "Then we'll make them regret it."
Once back at the cabin, Lily positioned herself at the window, aiming a shotgun at the forest while I cleaned up as thoroughly as possible. After erasing all food scents with bleach water, I gathered our sparse belongings, and we set out on the road to nowhere.
Chapter 10
Lily
After putting Mabel in her cat carrier, I turned around in my seat, grateful that her claws were no longer piercing my thighs.
I didn’t blame her; she was terrified, and it broke my heart. Tears blurred my vision as I stared out the windshield while Ryker drove out of the forest and stopped at a STOP sign, watching for traffic. When he looked my way, he must have seen my tear-stained cheeks because he put the car in park, “You okay?”
His voice was gentle, too gentle, and that tipped me from terrified tears into embarrassed hiccups. “Yeah. Totally fine.” Another hiccup. “Just never been chased out of a house by a bear before. Or been the direct cause of a kindergarten class nearly exploding on a bus.”
“You’re not the cause. Both times, you kept control. I think you’re underestimating yourself, Lily.”
“You know what I miss?” I said quietly, as Ryker merged onto the road and left the wilderness behind us. “My classroom. The way Monday mornings feel. The certainty of it. Even the chaos of twenty-seven kids and a bad day. I miss my routine. And I miss knowing what the hell is coming next.”
He nodded as if he understood. “I get that. Before all this, I always knew exactly where I stood. Who to trust, who to watch out for. It was simple.”
I looked over, studying the profile of the man driving my life straight off a cliff and feeling strangely safer for it. “What changed?”
He glanced at me as his hand found mine in my lap. “I was assigned to watch a beautiful woman from afar. Only I couldn’t. And now all I want is to keep you alive and in one piece, even if it means getting killed in the process.”
He was serious when he said it. Unflinching.
“So now what?” I asked, my voice so small I almost didn’t recognize it. “We just keep running until the bad guys get bored?”
“No,” he shook his head, that stubborn streak lighting up his features. “We draw them out. Find out who’s after you and why. Finish this, so you can go back to your old life—or whatever version of it you still want.”
“For a mercenary, you’re very optimistic,” I said, a real laugh slipping out this time.
He squeezed my hand. “For you? Maybe I am.”
