"The truth?" Dylan breathed deceptively calmly while his dark eyes pierced Ryker icily.

Now that the curtain had lifted, both lurked like ravenous animals waiting for the other's move. Predators, both wounded in their own way, circling each other in wait.

"You filthy traitor!" A dark growl rumbled in the Seal's throat as he tensed his muscles in a flash. The gravel crunched ominously under his hands before the stones sailed briefly through the air, and the trained body threw itself forward.

Before Ryker could react, the arms wrapped around his legs like ropes, preventing him from putting distance between himself and Dylan before his shoulder met his hip. The world came apart at the seams as the purposeful jump threw him backward.

The gravel stones dug into his skin like tiny nails through the jumper fabric. The unchecked impact squeezed the air out of his lungs as the trained body threw itself at him. An unpleasant tingling sensation drilled into his nerves and made Ray gasp as he heard the hissing voice above him:

"Don't make me laugh! She doesn't even know your real name!"

Black spots danced in front of Ryker's eyes. They blurred his field of vision before he instinctively held his arms protectively in front of his face. Years of training burned in his muscles, but Ray hadn't been in action for long. Dylan, on the other hand, had.

"Kaylen's my wife!" Dylan shouted over himself as he felt a slight breeze on his skin before his fist crashed into his forearm, driving his guard down in front of his face. "I'd do anything to get my family back! I hired you to find them! And you go after my wife! You rat!"

The second blow pierced the cover, hitting his jaw with cold precision and flinging his head to the side. Hot flames mixed with dark spots exploded in his face. Pain throbbed dull and throbbing in his head before he tasted the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth.

"Did you comfort her magnanimously? Did you play the noble savior in her lonely plight?"

Ryker growled so darkly that his chest vibrated.

"Filthy traitor! Fucking your friends's wife!"

Dylan had a distinct advantage: he wasn't scarred from fighting like he was. The Seal had no metal shards in his body to remind him in combat situations or during exertion, like now, why he had left the service. Nothing slowed Dylan down or held him back. Dylan's body followed the iron commands without complaint.

If Ray stayed down, Dylan would let him feel his fury. With each blow, the Seal seemed to catch more and more fire. Maybe he was imagining everything Ray had done to Kaylen. Shit. In his rage, Dylan would beat him to the point of hospitalization. He had to move and fight back, no matter what the cost. No matter how outmatched he was.

Ray let his guard down and felt the gravel under his hand as he pushed off to leap forward. The movement caused the body on top of him to sway briefly, and Ryker grabbed Dylan's shoulders and forced him into a roll, just as he had done with the hermit.

For a moment, it looked like he would get the upper hand when his body broke free of the gravel and towered over Dylan. His right hand was already breaking free of the green-brown fabric to deliver another blow against the bastard. Suddenly, an elbow struck him directly in the side and dug into his body below the ribcage. Ryker gasped and blacked out for a moment. It was the same spot Hawkins had hit once before, and he squeezed the fresh breath out of his lungs again.

Like a wet sack of sand, he reflexively toppled to the side to relieve the sharp pain traveling through his body - and Dylan took advantage of the moment to yank him around again. He landed again on the coarse gravel that crunched beneath them.

His muscles were already tense, and Ray waited for the next blow, which Dylan had started to deliver at that very moment. The seal's shadow loomed over him like dark storm clouds.

"Stop it now!" the bell-like voice broke through the commotion.

Blinking to dispel the dark spots before his eyes, Rykers Eyes followed the call. Dylan's fist stopped in midair, and the seal's crested head followed his gaze to the source of the voice, which they both would have recognized blindfolded.

Kaylen stood on the freshly varnished wood of the terrace and stared at the men. The blue mirrors of their souls had lost their warmth and now gleamed firm and determined. Her shoulders were taut as she clutched the barrel of a shotgun as tightly as if her life depended on it. The double barrel was pointed menacingly at the men wrestling in the gravel, whose movements froze abruptly.

"Get away from him! Now!" The command came trembling from her lips, though the hand on the trigger seemed as unyielding and sure as if Kaylen herself had served and wasn't just a lonely housewife tending to house and child while the man fought in the distance.

"Kaylen,2 the Seal raised his voice as he looked at his still-wife. "Put that down before something else happens, « he said, raising his hands placatingly and releasing Ray from his merciless grip. Slowly, as if to make sure she didn't do anything rash, Dylan pushed up and backed away from him. Deep creases dug into his forehead as if he couldn't believe what he saw. "Stay out of this. Go back in the house."

Without Dylan's weight on him, Ray slowly got to his feet. Groaning, his hands reached for the source of the burning, squeezing pain at his ribs, from where hot, agonizing sparks shot into his body. Ray could see Kaylen's jaw tighten even more ... and he guessed why. Even now, Dylan was making a commanding sound. It was as if she was a dog that didn't respond to 'down' as she should.

"No!" growled Eve, walking down the stairs, gun in hand, until she was on the last step. "That's enough now! I want you out of here, Dylan! Now!" Eve - or Kaylen - screamed at the man who had caused her so much pain, and Ryker couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride.

Ray knew the gun wasn't loaded. He knew it from the corridor upstairs. It was a hunting rifle that had once belonged to Riona's grandmother Edana's husband and had been unused and without ammunition since his death. Liam had once used it to play with, giving him half a heart attack.

But the mere fact that the young mother grabbed the gun and stepped outside the door showed that she was no longer the woman who kept her head down and quietly accepted her fate. Kaylen had grown. She was ready to stand up for herself and what was important to her. Kay was no longer the housewife who just stood by the cooker and looked after her son without thinking about her happiness. She showed that she was prepared to fight—for herself, Liam, and him.

Dylan stared at Kaylen for a few seemingly endless moments. "All right," Dylan relented without lowering his hands. "I'm going to leave. But I'm not going to disappear. I love you, Kaylen, and I'm not giving up on us. I'm not signing those papers."

Ray was still unsteady on his feet. His hand was on his ribs, and his eyes wandered to Dylan, who was staring at Kaylen and didn't seem to be paying attention to him. And maybe that was a good thing.

"But before I go..." his voice rose once more. The queasy feeling that spread through Ryker's stomach preceded the words that hovered over his head like a sword of Democles. Ready to judge him. His heart pounded like a drumbeat on the way to the scaffold. "... perhaps you should ask yourself how I found you in the first place. Don't you, Ryker? Or should I say Ray?"

Dylan spat out his nickname and code name like an unappetizing morsel. An icy shiver ran down his spine as his head whipped around, and he stared at his former comrade, completely stunned. At that moment, he had lifted his disguise like the curtain of a theatre play to reveal the truth behind the appearance.

The seal's gaze slid back to him momentarily, and the two storm fronts met again. A grim, triumphant smile played around Dylan's lips while his gaze pierced him accusingly and simultaneously with ice-cold derision.

"Quit pro quo, old friend," he heard Dylan's voice before returning to his car. "Better not get in my way. Next time, I'll break all your bones."