ALEX POV
The forest is too quiet.
Even the rain has stopped, like the world itself is holding its breath.
I move first , weapon drawn, back to the wall, scanning the broken window where the glass still trembles from impact.
One shot. One silhouette. Gone before I could aim.
Camila crouches behind the couch, her eyes wide, her breathing shallow. I can hear it from across the room , the fast, uneven rhythm that always hits me harder than the danger itself.
"Stay low," I murmur, motioning for her to keep still.
A branch creaks outside.
Then another.
They're close. Watching. Testing my patience.
I step toward the window, boots silent against the wood floor. The forest beyond is dark, dense. I can almost feel eyes tracking me through the fog.
Then , a whisper of motion. A shadow where there shouldn't be one.
I fire once.
A scream cuts through the silence , quick, sharp, and then nothing.
"Alex," Camila breathes.
I turn to her. "It's clear. For now."
She exhales shakily, still clutching the blanket she'd pulled off the couch when the glass broke. Her fingers are trembling so badly she can barely hold it.
I cross the room slowly. "You're safe."
She looks up at me, searching for the truth in my eyes. "You always say that."
"Because I mean it."
Her lips press together, like she wants to believe me but knows safety doesn't last long for people like us. I sit down beside her, lowering the gun onto the floor. For a moment, neither of us speaks. The only sound is our breathing , steady, uncertain, human.
"Who were they?" she asks quietly.
"I don't know," I admit. "Could be Solano's men. Could be worse."
"Worse than them?"
"Agency cleaners," I say. "They don't leave witnesses. And they definitely don't miss."
Her eyes widen. "They know where we are?"
"They're getting closer," I say. "And we're running out of places to hide."
She goes silent for a long time. The light from the small fire I built earlier flickers across her face , soft, golden, fragile.
Then she says, almost too softly, "What happens if they catch us?"
I meet her gaze, and for once, I don't sugarcoat it. "They'll take you. I won't let that happen."
She doesn't flinch. "And you?"
"They'll kill me," I say simply.
The fire pops. She looks into it, not at me. "Then we can't run forever."
"No," I say. "We can't."
We sit there for a while, the silence between us not empty but heavy , filled with everything we can't say. I can see exhaustion tugging at her eyes, but she's too tense to rest.
I shift closer and take her hand. "You need to sleep."
"I can't," she whispers.
"Try."
She leans against me without thinking, her head fitting perfectly under my chin. Her hair smells like smoke and rain. I can feel her heartbeat slowing against my chest. When I wrap my arm around her, she exhales , a sound that's half relief, half surrender.
"Alex?" she murmurs.
"Yeah?"
"If I don't make it—"
"Don't." I tighten my arm around her. "Don't talk like that."
"I need to. You keep saving me, but I can't keep being the reason you bleed."
I tilt her face up so she has to look at me. "You think you're the reason I fight? You're the reason I'm still alive."
Her eyes shimmer in the firelight, full of something I can't afford to name. She leans in, just enough that I can feel her breath brush my lips. I want to close the space between us , God, I want to , but I can't. Not yet.
Instead, I press my forehead against hers and whisper, "Sleep."
And for once, she listens.
Within minutes, her breathing slows. I stay awake, keeping watch , her weight warm against me, the world beyond the cabin silent again.
But my mind doesn't rest.
Ethan's betrayal, Solano's voice through the feed, the word Ophidian repeating in my head like a warning I can't ignore.
What the hell did they do to her?
The fire burns low. Shadows crawl along the floor. I reach for my phone, open the encrypted log I never thought I'd use.
RE: OPHIDIAN PROJECT , ORIGIN UNKNOWN , SUBJECT: CAMILA RIVERA.
Below it, a note from Ethan dated months ago.
She's the key. He'll come for her. Don't trust anyone inside the walls.
The text fades out mid-sentence, like it was erased remotely.
I look down at her sleeping face, her fingers still tangled in my shirt. She's peaceful for the first time in days. I don't deserve that kind of trust, but I'll damn well protect it.
Even if it kills me.
CAMILA POV
I dream of water again.
Deep, dark water, like the ocean at night.
I'm standing in it, waves lapping at my knees, a storm building on the horizon. There's a woman's voice calling my name , familiar, comforting, but I can't see her face.
Then a flash of light. A gunshot. And I wake up.
The fire has died to embers. Alex is sitting near the door, gun in hand, eyes fixed on the window.
"You're awake," he says softly.
"Barely." I rub my temples. "That dream again."
"The same one?"
"Almost." I pause. "She said my name this time."
He turns toward me slowly. "Who?"
"I don't know. But… I think she was my mother."
He nods once, thoughtful. "Maybe your mind's trying to show you something."
"Or warn me."
"Maybe both."
Outside, thunder rumbles again, far away but moving closer.
I watch him, the way his shoulders stay tight even when he's sitting still. Every line of him screams control, but I've learned to see what hides beneath it, the fear of losing, of feeling too much.
"Alex," I say quietly, "what would you have been if not this?"
He gives a small, humorless smile. "Doesn't matter. It's all I know."
"Maybe," I say, "but it's not all you are."
He looks at me for a long time. Then he stands, crosses the room, and kneels in front of me again.
"You have no idea what you're doing to me," he says, voice rough, quiet.
My heart beats faster. "Then tell me."
He leans in, just close enough that I can feel the heat of his breath. "You make me forget the mission. You make me remember what it feels like to be human."
The air between us hums.
But then, before the moment can break open, his phone buzzes on the table. One message. No sender.
He grabs it, reads, and goes still.
"What is it?" I ask.
He looks up, eyes sharp again.
"They've found us."