Chapter 30 – Circles of Trust
1039 Words
Rori – POV
The shape on the lawn didn’t move.
Didn’t advance.
Didn’t attack.
It simply stood there—
calm, almost still, the way a person stands when they’re not sure if stepping forward will end in a greeting or a gun.
Ren lowered his weapon by a fraction. Not safety—just analysis.
Sandro muttered, “If he wanted to rush us, he would’ve done it already.”
Julian exhaled once, slow. “That’s not a hostile posture.”
Eli looked at Rori. “Do you know him?”
She searched the silhouette.
Tall.
Broad around the shoulders.
Hat pulled low.
Something familiar but distant. Not Evan. Not his hired shadows. Not anyone from her past who haunted her steps.
“No,” she murmured. “I don’t.”
Ren stepped onto the porch—not far, just enough to let the figure know the house wasn’t defenseless.
“Identify yourself,” he called, voice even.
The shadow lifted one hand.
Not a weapon.
Just a hand.
“I’m with the neighborhood watch,” the man called back. “Your front motion lights were flickering earlier, and I thought I’d check.”
Sandro blinked. “Madonna. The world’s on fire and this guy is out here doing suburban courtesy calls.”
Rori sagged with relief she didn’t know she’d been holding.
Kael stepped forward, still close enough to catch her elbow. “Lights flickering is a side-effect of Maeve’s presence. She’s adjusting the circuits.”
Julian’s brow furrowed. “You need to keep her from interacting with civilian infrastructure. If she escalates power grids—”
“We’re aware,” Kael cut in, polite but firm.
Ren didn’t lower his guard until the man waved again.
“Sorry for the scare, folks. Didn’t mean to interrupt your evening.”
Rori managed a polite, strained, “Thank you.”
He headed back down the walkway and disappeared into the mist.
When the yard was empty, Ren finally re-engaged the deadbolt.
Sandro slumped against the wall. “That could have been worse.”
Kael murmured, “That could have been anything.”
Julian studied the room with new eyes, gaze landing on the heartbeat panel pulsing pale blue. “That’s her link point, isn’t it?”
Rori nodded. “Yes. She’s… present. Watching.”
Eli stepped forward, voice gentler now. “Aurora, I didn’t come to drag you into anything. I came because something out there is tracking you. Something worse than Evan.”
She tensed.
Ren put a steadying hand on her back.
Sandro moved to her side.
Kael remained directly in front of her, eyes soft, grounding her.
Julian crossed his arms. “You deserve to know the scale.”
“No,” Rori said quietly. “I deserve clarity. But right now, all I need is for everyone to breathe.”
Surprisingly, they listened.
The room eased—not relaxed, but shifted from battle readiness to something closer to controlled alertness.
Rori took a slow breath and looked at Eli. “Start from the beginning.”
He nodded.
“We were monitoring residual signals from the Haven Lab months before the fire. Every time Maeve’s code packet resurfaced in the wild—someone else hunted it.”
Kael stiffened. “Ghost Division?”
Julian shook his head. “Worse. Private sector.”
Sandro wrinkled his nose. “Corporations?”
“No,” Julian said. “Mercenaries with corporate funding.”
Rori rubbed her temple. “So someone hired people to find Maeve.”
“Not just her,” Julian corrected. “Anyone who touched her. Anyone who could replicate her. Anyone with access to her empathy build.”
Kael froze.
Rori’s stomach dropped. “They’re hunting you too.”
Kael didn’t deny it.
Ren took one step closer to him—subtle, silent reassurance.
Sandro’s usual humor wasn’t in his tone when he said, “We protect our own.”
Kael looked at the floor, voice soft. “I didn’t mean for you to be pulled into this.”
Rori stepped closer, touching his arm. “Kael… you didn’t pull us anywhere. We chose to stand with you.”
The heartbeat panel pulsed soft blue—approval, maybe, or recognition.
Julian noticed. “Is she responding to emotional cues?”
Kael’s lips twitched faintly. “She always did.”
Rori felt heat behind her ribs. “So then we talk, not panic. We figure out what to do next.”
Julian nodded reluctantly. “First step—assess your perimeter. Second—learn how much of Maeve is active. Third—determine if the mercenaries know she’s bonded to you.”
Sandro added, “Fourth—eat. Because all this drama and no carbs? Criminal.”
A breath of laughter—small, but real—escaped all of them.
Ren even cracked half a smile. “I’ll check the yard.”
Eli said, “I’ll help.”
Julian nodded. “I’ll sweep the exterior systems for infiltration signatures.”
Sandro folded his arms. “And I will supervise.”
Rori shook her head, warmth blooming despite everything. “You’ll interfere.”
“Semantics,” he said.
As they dispersed—Ren and Eli to the yard, Julian to the breaker box, Sandro trailing after them like a chaotic guardian angel—Rori found herself standing alone with Kael in the quiet living room.
The heartbeat panel glowed faintly.
Breathing with them.
Learning them.
Kael’s voice was barely a whisper. “I didn’t expect her to attach this deeply.”
Rori touched the glowing panel. “Do you think she chose me… or did she choose safety?”
Kael watched her—really watched her—with something reverent in his gaze.
“Aurora… you became the safest point in the room for all of us.”
Her throat tightened.
And for the first time since Evan’s call, since Maeve’s voice, since Eli’s arrival, she allowed herself to breathe without bracing.
The house settled with her—lights warming just a shade.
No cliffhanger, no spike of danger—
just the weight of truth settling into place,
quiet and sure:
She wasn’t alone in this anymore.
Not in fear.
Not in fight.
Not in whatever Maeve was becoming.
- Writer
