Page 47 of Cold Ignition

The bus parked at a powered site about 150 meters away. And them. And whatever the hell had shifted between the three of them the moment Rangi had kissed him.

He dragged a hand down his face, exhaling slowly as he stared out into the dark.

Two days of proximity. Two days of not touching—and somehow touching anyway. It had started small.

A glance that lingered too long.

A shoulder brushing his as they passed in the narrow corridor of the bus.

Rangi’s hand landing on his arm during a conversation and not moving straight away.

Alexios watching him—not openly, not aggressively—but with that sharp, assessing gaze that felt like it stripped him down to the bones and rebuilt him in real time.

It should have been uncomfortable. It wasn’t.

That was the problem.

Keanu shifted his weight, jaw tightening as he replayed it again—the moment in the bus, the kiss, the way Rangi had said it like it was obvious.

You’d be surprised by what Alexios wants.

He huffed out a quiet breath.

“Yeah,” he muttered to himself. “I would.”

Because none of this made sense. Rangi and Alexios weren’t casual. They weren’t uncertain.

They were solid—locked in a way that Keanu recognized on instinct. The kind of connection that didn’t fracture under pressure. The kind of bond men killed for.

So, where the hell did he fit into that?

He pushed off the frame of the trailer, stepping down onto the packed ground, boots hitting with a quiet thud, and sliding the door closed. The lights from the compound cast long shadows across the space, catching on steel, glass, the edges of machines and structures that had been built for purpose, not comfort.

He headed toward the main building without really thinking about it.

Because there was only one person who was going to give him good advice.

Kael was exactly where Keanu expected him to be—inside the command center, standing in front of a bank of screens, arms folded as data rolled across them in steady streams. He didn’t look up when Keanu walked in.

“Thought you’d come find me,” Kael said.

Keanu snorted softly. “That obvious?”

Kael glanced at him then, one brow lifting slightly. “You’ve been scowling for two days.”

“I was not scowling.”

“You were.”

Keanu rolled his eyes, but the tension didn’t leave his shoulders. He crossed his arms, leaning back against the edge of a console.

“Something’s off,” he said finally.

Kael’s expression didn’t change. “With the intel?”

Keanu shook his head. “No. With them.”

That got Kael’s attention. “Rangi and Alexios?”