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Theo’s fingers tighten beneath his.

“You wanted to keep me alive,” Ezra says. “I have never doubted that.” His fingers tighten around Theo’s wrist. “I’m mad because you decided what counts as protecting me without asking what that means to me. You left us sleeping and took it all on yourself without backup. We could have lost you!”

I sit back on my heels, cold water soaking through my leggings, and make myself enter the tense space between them.

“We are going to talk about the leaving,” I say. “Later.”

I climbed into Theo’s lap earlier, scent-marked him calm, and asked what he needed. He answered me, opened up. Then Hammer threatened Ezra, and every frightened part of Theo that learned love meant standing between danger and the people he cared about took over. I understand why he went, but it hurts he didn’t let me in. It breaks my heart that he thinks he has to carry everything alone.

“But Ezra said dry ground,” I continue. My voice stays steadier than the rest of me. “Whoever came here used your fear to move us away from the right question. We need to find out what that was before it’s too late.”

Ezra’s fingers tighten around mine. “That’s my omega.”

The words hit my chest, warm even through fear.

Theo looks at me then. My hair is wet against my cheek, my sleeves are dripping onto the floor, and both of my hands are shaking around Ezra’s.

“What do you need?” he asks.

Even terrified, he’s trying.

I want to tell him I need an alpha who trusts us enough to be afraid beside us instead of somewhere alone in the dark. I don’t know how to say that, so instead, I say, “Dry clothes for Ezra. Then mine. Your phone with Hammer’s texts. Wes on the way. Evidence kit. Flashlights.”

Theo nods. “Done.”

Ezra lifts one finger. “I would also like pants before any more property crimes.”

“Reasonable.”

Twenty minutes later, Ezra sits on the bathroom counter in dry sweatpants and Theo’s dark hoodie, color better but not right. He stays close to the sink with the faucet running cold, one hand beneath the stream.

I have changed into dry leggings, a giant sweatshirt, and mismatched socks because I dressed by rage and hallway light. Theo has washed the mud from his hands and changed his boots. He moves carefully around both of us, waiting to be asked.

Wes calls before Theo can call him. His voice comes through the speaker, low and alert. “I’m five minutes out. Roman is with me. Scarlet is home unless we need her.”

“I need everyone away from the higher ground behind the shed and the charity plots until we know what was touched,” I say.

A brief pause follows. “Pepper?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Tell me what you have.”

Theo’s shoulders bunch at the command being handed to me, but he doesn’t interrupt.

I give Wes the sequence. The east feed cutting out and the Saints coin appearing. Hammer’s texts. Theo leaving for the old landing and realizing it was staged. The back door standing open when he returned, even though nothing downstairs appeared disturbed. Ezra hearing scraping under dry ground and Theo’s guess that it pointed toward the higher ground behind the shed or the charity plots.

Wes swears softly. “Don’t approach until we arrive.”

Ezra looks at the phone. “I’m staying inside where the water works. I’ll keep an eye on the cameras.”

Theo turns toward him, pain moving through his scent. “I would prefer you with us, but I hear you.”

“You better.” Ezra reaches for the tablet on the shelf beside the towels. “Bring me the property photos and Theo’s cemetery map. I can compare from here.”

I kiss his damp forehead. “Keep the faucet running.”

“Very romantic.”