Before my eyes were even open I spread my hands out over the sheets, searching for another body but coming up empty. Thunder crashed outside and my eyes flew open. I was alone, but I could hear hushed voices in the other room. More than I expected to hear.

The past six months had not taught me to be very trusting, so I quietly looked around the room for a weapon. I found the ones I'd borrowed from the girls and grabbed the handgun. When I snuck to the door, I had the sense of deja vu from the morning before. I peeked out of the door, but saw no one in the kitchen, so I slid out of the room and around the corner to the little alcove that led to the guest bathroom.

A cluster of men stood in the living room, huddled around a viewer of some sort. I recognized Taehyung and Jimin in the group first. Jungkook was standing beside Tae and another man stood with his back to me and his head bent over. None of them were speaking. The voices were coming from the viewer.

"He will die at sunset unless you deliver the property," the disembodied voice said, venom dripping from his words.

"Fuck you," another voice yelled out from the background. "Don't do it! They'll kill her!"

A sharp crack echoed from the device. The background voice didn't speak anymore.

"You have until sunset. If we don't hear from you by then, he dies and we come for her ourselves."

Static filled the room for a second before silence took its place. I pressed my body against the wall, my heart beating out of control as I worked to calm myself and listen. I knew that voice but I needed to know how these men that I loved were going to handle the situation before I blew my cover.

"What are we going to do," Jungkook asked.

"Nothing." Namjoon. So that was the other guy. "We can't risk her life. Kai knew what he was getting into when he started working behind Suho's back."

"Shit," Jimin hissed.

"What," Namjoon asked.

"I believed he was with Suho. I nearly killed Morgan over it. I was just so blind--"

--"No one blames you for that," Taehyung started.

"Speak for yourself." Jungkook. "If he would've killed her over trust issues, I would've killed him myself."

"Everyone just shut up," Namjoon whisper-yelled. "He didn't kill her, she's fine, she's back with us. Now we just have to protect her. And the only way we're going to do that is if we get her out of the city before nightfall."

"What about Hoseok and Yoongi," Jungkook asked.

Jimin answered quickly. "Hoseok doesn't trust her. He won't go against Jin to save her and even if Yoongi does, he feels like he owes too much to Jin to disobey him on something like this. If Jin doesn't agree to it, they won't either."

"There's no way Jin's ever going to go for this," Taehyung said with a groan.

"Then Jin doesn't have to be a part of it." Namjoon's voice was icy.

"You don't mean that," Taehyung said, shock on his face.

"I do," Namjoon snapped. "It's his fault we're in this situation in the first place. If she'd just stayed with us, maybe we could've prevented all of this. As it is, the only option we have is to leave."

I couldn't stand it anymore. I'd heard enough. "That is not our only option."

All the men's eyes turned to me as I rolled around the corner and stuck the gun in my back waistband. Namjoon's eyes flashed down to my hands, then back up to my eyes. He wanted to come to me, but there was something keeping him from doing it. Maybe it was all the time spread out between us. Maybe it was the dawning realization that he, too, had known where I was the whole time and hadn't tried to see me.

Hell, maybe it was just the deadly look I was giving all of them.

"We're not going to let Kai die for this. I am not tucking my tail between my legs and running away like a coward. I don't give a fuck what any of you do, but I'm going after him."

That got Namjoon moving. He closed the distance between us, grabbing my arms roughly as he pulled me towards him. "Don't be stupid, Morgan. That might have been Hakyeon talking, but they're at an AT3 facility. He's working with them. They have the full weight of the company at their disposal. All we have are guns."

"You've got me."

Namjoon's eyes softened for a moment...relief, maybe? But as he took a deep breath, his expression was replaced with that cold, determined stare that both drove me wild and pissed me the fuck off.

"And they've got a hundred like you."

I hated to admit it, but he had a good point. I kept my mouth shut, though, and just stared at him. What could I say to that?

"But she's stronger," Jungkook said from behind Namjoon. "Maybe even their strongest. Otherwise, why would they be trying so hard to get her back?"

My eyes lit up as I tried to hide the giddy smile that was trying to work up on my face. Of course Jungkook would be on my side. He was as likely to turn tail and run as I was. He loved nothing more than a good war. I snapped my fingers and pointed at Jungkook, giving up and grinning like an idiot at Namjoon.

"Don't," Namjoon snapped, spinning around to glare at the youngest. When he turned back around and saw that I hadn't lost my hopeful look, he dropped his hands, sighed, and hung his head with a little shake.

"I can't with you two."

"No, hear me out," Jungkook said with a grin of his own, emboldened by my obvious support. "Nobody knows that we have her now. Jin and Hoseok have been out looking for her ever since the race. Taehyung telling them that she got away was a stroke of genius. It buys us time."

I looked at Taehyung, who was hanging his head down with a sheepish grin on his face. "I just wanted an excuse to be locked up with her for a few days."

A snort of laughter burst out of me before I could stop it. Taehyung was such a pure person for such an eager killer. I couldn't stand it.

Jungkook chuckled, too, shaking his head before he went on. "We can tell them we need time to find her. And in that time, we work with her. See how strong we can get her before we go in. They won't be able to stop all of us."

I ignored the underlying implications of his last statement. I wasn't letting any of them die for me.

Namjoon shook his head, unsold. "That video was recorded. Kai could already be dead for all we know. This is undoubtedly a trap. We can all see that."

Jungkook shrugged. "Well, if he's dead, then there's no need to rush anyway."

The coldness of his statement made me pull up short, but Jimin interrupted before I could. "What about the fact that if she goes too hard, she nearly blows herself up? You remember what Yoongi said about the other kinetics. If they put too much into their powers, it burns them out. She's collapsed every time she's pushed herself too hard."

"But I'm getting better," I said eagerly. "Last time I was only out for an hour."

"Yeah, but if you pass out in the middle of a battle, we're all dead," Namjoon said, turning back to me. "If we're completely dependent on you to get us out, and you aren't there, we're sitting ducks."

"Then help me with my stamina. Help me find a way to push myself just to the edge without falling over."

"In a week?" Namjoon's expression was weary even though the sun wasn't even fully up yet.

"We have to do something." I was borderline pleading with him. I needed their help and there was no way I was leaving Kai out there alone if there was even a chance of me saving him now that I knew he hadn't betrayed me like we thought.

Namjoon understood me. Probably better than any of them did. Maybe it was because we had so much in common. Even when I was Natalia, Taehyung said that Namjoon and I had had a special connection. I didn't want to manipulate him, even if I could, but I wasn't above trying.

I stepped closer to him and looked into his eyes through my eyelashes. When he looked down at me, I could sense his reluctance, so I backed off on the manipulation a bit, looking at him a little more directly. I put my hands on his chest and whispered, "What would you do if it was me on the other end of that video? If they were asking you to trade one of your brothers for my life?"

"I would give my life to save you."

I tapped his chest, right over his heart. "And what you feel...the part of you that is so willing to do that...it's love isn't it?"

His hands came up over mine, holding them tightly against him. "Of course it is. I love you, you know that."

I looked up at him again, my eyes burning with determination. "And so you know why I can't let him die for me."

Namjoon's full lips parted and he cocked his head to the side a fraction as he narrowed his eyes down at me. "Kai?" His voice was low and raspy.

"He was here for me when I was all alone," I said, nodding.

"We tried--"

--"I know that, now, Namjoon. But I didn't then. He was the only one I had. He saved me from myself. I can't let him sacrifice himself for me now."

Namjoon stared down at me, conflicting emotions passing through his expressive eyes. He wanted so badly to run, to save me, but now he knew how much Kai meant to me. He knew what letting him die would do to me.

He understood me better than anyone else. Because we were the same person on the inside.

"Aish," he groaned, dropping my hands and rubbing his forehead. "Get Hakyeon on a secure line. I want proof of life and a week."

I jumped up and threw my arms around Namjoon's neck. "Thank you, Joonie."

He wrapped his own arms around my body, holding me tightly and burying his face in my hair. "Just please don't make me regret this."

"I won't. I promise."

Never make promises you don't intend to keep.