Rowan smirked lightly. "See? Even Elias turns protective when you're involved."
Elias shot him a look. "It's not a joke."
But Rowan only shrugged and turned back to me, his expression softening in a way I hadn't seen before. "He means he cares. He just says it like a security briefing."
Elias didn't deny it. He simply stepped closer, stopping just a breath away from me. "You're exhausted. Your pulse hasn't slowed since the moment we left the parking lot. If you don't rest, you'll crash."
There was something in his tone—steady, firm, but carrying an edge of something almost vulnerable.
I glanced between them. "What about both of you? You've been tense all night."
Rowan huffed a small laugh. "We're used to long nights. You're the one who nearly got…." He cut himself off before finishing the thought. His jaw tightened. "Just rest. For us."
For us.
The words sank deeper than they should have.
Elias opened the bedroom door. Warm light spilled into the hallway, soft and golden, nothing like the cold, tense darkness from earlier. The room wasn't overly fancy just calm. Safe.
My steps slowed as I looked inside, suddenly aware of the weight pressing against my ribs. "What if he finds us?"
Elias' voice lowered. "He won't."
Rowan added, "Not here. Not tonight. Not ever, if we have a say in it."
I looked at them the contrast of Rowan's restless energy and Elias's controlled stillness and felt the same pull I'd been trying to ignore since the moment danger first wrapped itself around me.
They weren't just protecting me.
Something else was forming between the three of us, something that felt fragile and dangerous and magnetic all at once.
I stood in the doorway, fingers brushing the frame. "You really think I can just… sleep?"
Elias nodded once. "Because you're not sleeping alone. We're right outside this door."
"And if you need anything," Rowan added, softer this time, "you just say our names. One word. We'll be inside before you can blink."
Their sincerity warmed my chest in a way that made breathing unexpectedly harder.
I stepped inside the room.
Rowan lingered at the threshold, leaning on the frame. "We're not far. You're safe, Ava."
Elias' eyes followed me until I reached the bed. Only then did he speak, voice low, steady… almost tender. "Rest. When you wake up, we'll talk about the next step."
I sat down slowly. "And what happens after the next step?"
The air shifted ,charged, unsure, full of tension that neither of them seemed able to hide.
Elias held my gaze. "Everything changes."
Rowan's smirk faded, replaced by something deeper. "And we need you rested… to handle that."
They closed the door gently, leaving a sliver of warm light beneath it proof they were right there, just inches away
And as I lay back, listening to the quiet murmur of their voices outside, the truth settled over me like a second heartbeat:
The danger wasn't the man chasing me anymore.
The danger was what I was starting to feel for the two standing guard on the other side of the door.
And for the first time…
I wasn't sure I wanted to escape it.