His eyes opened again. He concentrated on figuring out where the noise came from but he couldn’t track it. He lifted up on his elbow and strained to listen but it had stopped. Still he waited. Another few seconds and it came again, this time louder. Thanks to the silence of the small house, the scratching noise echoed off the walls.

Maddie stirred. She reached for the comforter and pulled it up higher on her shoulder. “What’s that noise?”

Outside. The sound originated there. Someone or something outside wanted in and Connor had no idea how close they were to being successful. The thought of that got him moving.

He threw back the covers and dropped his feet to the floor. Scrambling, he reached for the sweatpants he abandoned earlier and gave instructions as he stood up. “Call Ben.”

She rolled onto her back and pushed the hair out of her eyes. “What?”

“The noise.” He had pants on and a shirt half over his head that he tugged down while mumbling the explanation to her.

“It was probably an animal or—”

“No guessing.” He refused to take that risk. “You heard me. Call.”

“Where are you going?”

Halfway around the bed, he stopped and looked at her. Even in the darkness he could see her pushing the covers away and searching the floor for her clothes.

“I’m going to check it out.” He snapped his fingers to get her to look at him. “You aren’t.”

“Do not even think of leaving this room without me.”

His eyes adjusted enough to see the mix of fury and fear on her face. He hated that she had to deal with either emotion. “Get dressed and make the call.”

“Connor!” When he glared at her she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Get back here.”

“You heard me, Maddie.”

He didn’t stick around to see if she’d listened. Walking as quietly as possible, he stalked down the hall. Kept his back against the wall and stopped only long enough to grab a knife from the butcher block on the kitchen counter.

He squinted, trying to make out any shapes in the darkness of the living room. The porch light she kept on all night wasn’t on. A second after he realized that, his gaze switched to the door. Still closed, but that didn’t mean the person wasn’t already inside.

At the sound of footsteps behind him, he spun around. The knife waved in front of him. He was pretty sure he’d lost half his life when Maddie appeared.

She blinked a few times. “What are you doing with that?”

“Protecting us.”

“I called Ben—”