RIKA
The bang was loud enough to rattle the walls and I was already moving before Sloane finished asking what it was. I pressed her shoulder gently back down against the pillow.
"Stay still," I told her. "I'll check." I grabbed my dark hoodie off the chair and pulled it over my head as I stepped into the corridor, my grey sweatpants low on my hips, my feet bare on the cold floor, and pushed out through the side entrance into the cool morning air.
It was our men. A full troop of them, standing in the front yard in their dark tactical gear with the Ashvielle crest on their shoulders, helmets under their arms, bikes lined up along the fence in a row that said this wasn't a casual visit. Nate was at the front, looking like he hadn't slept, which he probably hadn't, holding a folded paper
