Prologue

PROLOGUE

T wo Years Ago

Lock Walker scanned the front yard through the living room window.

Callie was late.

The yoga class she was teaching should have finished fifteen minutes ago. She’d offered to cancel and pick him up from the airport, but he’d said he’d make his own way to her house. It had been the wrong damn decision.

He checked his watch and cursed as another minute passed.

Usually, he wouldn’t care that she was late. Hell, to most people the delay would be nothing. But he wasn’t most people. He was on a dangerous Ghost Ops team, and two nights ago a team member’s girlfriend had been killed. Fucking murdered right in her house by one of their enemies.

Lock’s hands fisted, the same familiar anger slipping through his veins.

The asshole shouldn’t have been able to find their identities. No one should have. But Malone was an IT expert in a deadly terrorist organization. An organization Lock and his team had been tasked with eliminating. And they’d succeeded in that mission, eliminating all but one. One man who they’d had an ongoing search for when the murder had occurred.

Fuck, this was bad.

You thought you could eliminate my team with no consequences?

That’s what the fucking note had said. Was she the only one? Did Malone intend to target more of their loved ones?

He was here to organize security for Callie. Make sure she was kept safe and warn her about what was going on. Then he’d be back with his team, and they’d find and eliminate Malone.

He paced the room.

He couldn’t let anything happen to Callie—he loved her too damn much. They’d only been dating a year, and fuck, most of it had been long distance, but she was in his blood, his bones. She occupied his mind.

Dammit, where was she?

He pulled his phone from his pocket to call her, but it rang before he could hit her number.

Jesse. Why was his teammate calling? They’d all seen each other yesterday.

“Jess—”

“He’s dead, Lock. Winnie’s dead.”

Lock stilled, the air in his lungs becoming so stuck it felt like he’d suffocate right there and then. “No…”

“ Yes. Remi too. Kill shots to the chest in their apartment. Antwan found them.”

Lock’s vision hazed, a darkness slipping around him so distinct that it faded every vibrant color in the room.

Winnie was more than a teammate. He was a brother. The pain was so visceral it felt like a blade against his skin.

He shook his head, still not believing what his friend was telling him, because it didn’t make fucking sense. “We saw him yesterday. He was there. Right fucking there.”

And Winnie was deadly. They all were. No one should have been able to get the jump on him.

“They broke in through a back window while the alarm was deactivated.” Jesse’s voice was raw with pain. “He’s gone, Lock. And the asshole who killed them left another note.”

“What did it say?”

“‘Who’s next?’”

Suddenly, Lock wanted to drop to his knees. Let the weight of his devastation crush him to the floor. It curled and weaved inside him. Poisoning him.

Dead. His teammate was dead . And another team member’s girlfriend. The second partner murdered in two days.

His gaze moved back to the window. Callie would be here any second. Did this asshole know about her?

“Lock,” Jesse said in a whispered growl. “We’re going to find the fucker…and we’re going to end him.”

And just like that, Lock’s pain shifted, changing into something else. Something darker and uglier. Something so powerful it consumed him.

Rage. It tangled its claws around his limbs. Squeezing and clenching.

“I know we will.”

Suddenly, a car pulled up outside. He turned from the window. He wasn’t sure what words came out of his mouth before he ended the call. Everything was a blur.

When the click of the door opening sounded, he turned, and the pounding of his heart halted.

Callie.

Her long, dark hair was down and flowing over her shoulders, and her green eyes beamed straight into him.

The sight of her had the anger inside him shifting again, but this time to something far worse than disbelief or rage…

Fear. Fear that he’d lose her. Fear that this asshole who was targeting his team and the people they loved, would target her . Because he did love her. So damn much he’d die for her. And despite how much he loved her, he’d give her up to keep her safe.

Callie Ward took three deep breaths before looking through the car window at her house.

She was nervous. Huge, gigantic-butterflies-in-the-belly kind of nervous. She was never nervous seeing Lock, but today she was.

At the slight tremble in her fingers, she fisted her hands.

Stop it, Callie. It’s going to be fine.

This was Lock, the man she loved, and the man who loved her. Over the last year, they’d tackled long-distance dating and only seeing each other for brief moments between missions. Most new couples wouldn’t have survived it, but they’d not only survived, they’d thrived, counting down the days until the next time they saw each other. Making the most of every second together.

It felt longer than a year. Somehow, it felt like she’d loved this man her entire life.

It was crazy. Out-of-this-world, stuff-fairy-tales-were-made-of kind of crazy. But it was true.

What she needed to tell him today would change everything, though.

Oh Jesus.

What if he couldn’t handle it? What if it destroyed any plans they had of him getting out of the military and moving back to Misty Peak?

She pressed a hand to her stomach. No. Lock loved her. They’d make it work.

She climbed from her car and walked to the door.

For over a month, she’d been sitting on this information. Every phone conversation, every Skype call and text message, she’d wanted to break down and tell him. Release the life-changing news into the world. The words had been there on the tip of her tongue each time they spoke.

But she’d held them in because he deserved to hear this in person. And maybe there was also a tiny selfish part of her that wanted to see his expression when she told him. A part of her that wanted to feel his energy and know whether he was as excited about this as she was.

She lifted her key to the door, then stopped, fear trickling through her veins, making the beats of her heart stumble over one another.

Come on, Callie, this is Lock. He’s never given you any reason to doubt him.

She opened the door and stepped into the living room to see him facing away from her.

He didn’t turn toward her right away, and those seconds that passed felt like a lifetime. A thousand seconds to play over a million scenarios of how this could go in her head.

Finally, he turned, his gaze clashing with hers, and she was hit by the same thing she always was when she saw him.

Love. Calm. Peace.

“Hey.” She took a step toward him, only to stop when he stepped back.

Why had he done that?

She studied his face, noticing for the first time how pale he was. And his eyes…they were angry, but there was also something else there. Fear? No, that couldn’t be it. Lock was never scared.

She frowned. “Lock, what’s wrong?”

A long second ticked by, and no one spoke. The silence was so thick it sent a chill over her skin.

“Lock—” Another step forward by her. He didn’t step back this time, but the thick muscles in his arms visibly tensed.

What was going on? Did he already know?

No. That wasn’t possible. She hadn’t told anyone. Not her father, not even her best friend, Aspen.

“Hey…talk to me.” Her words were quiet. She felt almost as if, by speaking too loud, she’d scare him away.

His gaze shifted to the window before flicking back to her. “We can’t do this.”

Her lips parted, confusion muddling her thoughts. “Do what?”

He ran his fingers through his hair, a look she’d never seen before crossing his face. A look she couldn’t even begin to describe.

“We need to take a break.”

Three times. She had to repeat those words in her head three times before she was able to make sense of them. And the second they did, she wanted to be sick. Bile churned in her gut, crawling up her throat.

“A break?”

“There’s stuff going on with the team, and I…we can’t date right now. And we can’t be seen together.” Again, his focus flicked to the window.

“You’re breaking up with me because something’s going on with your team?”

She wanted him to tell her no. To give her something, anything, that made this comprehensible. But he just stood there staring at her like he was in a house he didn’t want to be in. With a woman he didn’t want to be with.

No. She was not just going to accept this. “I need more information from you. I need to know why you’re doing this, and then maybe we can fix the problem. We spoke last week, and everything was great.” Heck, they’d talked about buying a freaking house together!

Finally, a crack of emotion passed over his face. Pain.

He looked out the window for a third time like he was searching for someone. “I…”

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the ringing of his phone. He looked down, agony darkening his eyes.

“Antwan.” His teammate’s name was almost a whisper. When he glanced up, his features were harder, his expression closed off. God, he looked like a stranger. “I need to go, Callie. Don’t contact me.”

His words felt like a slap in the face. She might have actually flinched, she wasn’t sure. Everything was a haze. A nightmare she couldn’t escape.

He stepped around her.

She turned to watch him walk into the bedroom. She wanted to follow. To yell at him. Scream that she loved him and he couldn’t do this. But her feet wouldn’t move. All she could do was stand there, disbelief making her limbs heavy.

He stepped out of the bedroom, bag in hand.

Oh God. He was really doing it. He was really leaving.

“You can’t just end things without telling me why,” she whispered, using every scrap of strength she had to hold off the tears. “That’s not fair to me.”

“I know, but—”

“No. No buts.” Finally, her feet worked, and she crossed the distance between them. “You said you loved me. You said we were going to buy a house together. Build a future together. And today, I came home to tell you—”

“We can’t do this right now!” Lock shouted. “I’ll stay at Nylah’s place until I can get a flight out. I don’t want you to contact me. No calls, no emails, and no texts. We need to be separate.”

Separate. The word was heavy and ugly and hurt so much that she almost grabbed her chest.

There was the smallest flicker of sadness in Lock’s eyes, then he whispered two words. “I’m sorry.”

The door closed behind him…and suddenly there was silence. It rang in her ears, settling deep in her bones.

Gone. He was gone. And she was alone.