Page 33 of Savage Ranger Daddy

For a long minute the only sound is our ragged breathing and the fire. I stay inside her, not ready to leave that heat yet. I press soft kisses along her jaw, her cheek, the corner of her mouth.

“You okay?” I murmur.

She’s smiling, dazed and beautiful. “I’m perfect.”

I carefully pull out and watch my cum slip out of her. The sight does something primal to me. I swipe two fingers through the mess and push it back inside.

“Keep it in you tonight,” I tell her, voice low and filthy. “I want you walking around tomorrow still full of me.”

She shivers and nods.

I clean us up just enough with my discarded thermal, then pull the quilts over both of us and tuck her against my chest. She fits like she was carved for this exact spot. My hand strokes slow up and down her spine.

“Sleep, sweetheart,” I murmur against her hair. “I’ve got you. No one’s taking you. Not while I’m breathing.”

She’s out within minutes, soft and trusting in my arms.

I stay awake a little longer, listening to the mountain, one hand splayed possessively over her bare hip. Tomorrow we go to war. Tonight she’s mine—marked, claimed, and safe.

I close my eyes and let the quiet hold us both until morning.

17

Hazel

The plan changes before dawn.

Brock's sat phone buzzes at 4 AM with a message from Mason. Jax, the surveillance operative Mason sent to watch the logging camp overnight, has reported heavy vehicle activity. At least four trucks arrived between midnight and three AM. The cargo is being moved in now, not tomorrow night. The distribution window is collapsing.

Brock is dressed and armed in three minutes. He's on the phone with Mason while I pull on boots and layers, my hands moving faster than my brain.

"Raid's been pushed up," he tells me, phone pressed to his shoulder. "Silas is mobilizing. They're assembling at Haven 7 within the hour. I need to be there for the tactical briefing."

"What about me?"

"Rafe's sending two men here. They'll be at the outpost in forty minutes. You stay with them."

I want to argue. Every instinct in me wants to argue. But we went through this at Haven 7 and the logic hasn't changed. Alice Dermott is the variable. If she makes her move while Brock is at the camp, I need to be somewhere defensible with people who can protect me.

"Radio," I say. "You promised me a radio."

He pulls a handheld from the gear case and sets it on the table. "Channel seven. You'll hear everything. If anything happens here, anything at all, you call Haven 7 first, then Mason's office."

He cups my face and kisses me once. Hard and brief. Then he's out the door, the truck engine firing in the dark, headlights cutting through the pre-dawn murk as he drives away.

I stand at the window and watch the taillights disappear down the access road. Then I pick up the radio, sit at the table with my notebook, and wait.

Rafe's men arrive at 4:45 AM. Two of them. Both armed, both quiet, both clearly briefed. They introduce themselves as Eli and Chase, take positions at the front porch and the east window, and settle in like they've done this before. Eli offers me coffee from a thermos. I take it. My hands need something to hold.

The radio crackles to life at 5:30 AM.

"All units in position." That's Silas. His voice is clipped, professional, nothing like the man who sat at the Haven 7 table yesterday looking sick about his deputy. "Team Alpha on the south fork approach. Team Bravo on the north fire road. Overwatch has eyes on the camp. Jax, report."

Jax's voice comes through low and steady. "Four vehicles on-site. Main cabin lights are on. Two subjects visible near thevehicle staging area. One moving between the storage buildings. Unable to confirm identities at this distance but body types are consistent with earlier surveillance."

"Copy. Hold position. All units stand by for green light."

I write everything down. Time stamps. Call signs. Exact words. My pen moves without conscious thought, the same way it does during interviews when I'm recording faster than I can process. The fire pops behind me. Eli stands at the window, rifle angled at the tree line. The mountain is still dark outside, the first gray of dawn just beginning to lighten the ridges to the east.