Ruby's POV
I didn’t sleep much that night.
Not because I was afraid, exactly. Not the way I used to be.
The fear had changed. It had sharpened, narrowed into something I could point to. It had Jake’s name. His voice. His hands reaching for something that didn’t belong to him: me, my baby, the future I hadn’t even fully dreamed of yet.
But wrapped in Carter’s arms, with his warmth pressed solid against my back and his breath slow and steady at my neck… the fear didn’t get to drive anymore.
It still lived inside me. I wasn’t naïve about that. But it wasn’t the only thing there.
There was something else now.
Something steadier. Quieter. Something that didn’t vanish when the adrenaline wore off.
I’d felt it starting back at the ranger post. When Carter looked at me like I wasn’t broke
