The relentless pounding of the rain against the glass felt like a countdown Avery couldn't stop. Inside the locked room, the heavy deadbolt felt structural, absolute, and suffocating. Jake didn't offer any reassurances. He simply shed his heavy tactical jacket, draping it over the back of the mahogany chair, exposing the stark, muscular landscape of his back—marred by old silver scars and the fresh, angry scratches Avery had left there during their volatile night.
He didn't speak to her as he picked up his encrypted satellite phone. The psychological weight of his presence filled the room, so heavy it made Avery's freshly claimed wolf pace frantically within her ribs.
"Get the border patrol logs for the Northern Crescent sector," Jake commanded into the receiver, his low, gravelly voi
