His lip twists. “Then I found Sienna burning up in my shed. And Jessalyn followed her. You know she pointed a damn gun at me when I found her in Sienna’s room?”
I bark a low laugh. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”
Emmett shakes his head, a smile tugging at his lips. “Me neither, now.”
He sighs, looking at me. “What would I even do, over there? I know so little about how your society works, Jax. I’d just be dead weight for Jess, and that’s the last thing I want.”
I frown. “You need to speak to Gray. There’s a whole lot of stuff he was working on for the beta population… before. Stuff he could use help with. He was looking at housing, better standards, that sort of thing.”
I catch a gleam of interest in Emmett’s eyes, and he sits forward. “I was a builder. Before.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Sounds like the last thing you’d be is dead weight to me.”
Emmett blows out a breath. “I mean- can I even just do that? Cross the wall? Don’t you need, like, a visa or something?”
I chew it over. “Well, we’ve got the current Council Leader with us, so that won’t hurt. And if he’s bringing someone over who could be a potential candidate for the open Beta representative position on the Council, that they’ve been struggling to fill… hard to argue with that one.”
Emmett stares at me in horror. “Politics really aren’t my thing.”
Shrugging, I stand up. “Don’t need to tell them that,” I point out.
He follows my lead. “I need to talk to Jess. You’re leaving soon, right?”
“We’ll wait,” I say. There’s no way my Soul Bonded will be leaving Jess without knowing what her plan is, and honestly, I’m not about to drive off and leave her here either.
“Okay. Good. Thanks, Jax.”
“No problem. Want me to braid your hair next?”
“Oh, fuck off.”
40
SIENNA
“There it is.”
Tristan reaches over, placing his hand on my leg and stilling the nervous jiggling I’ve been doing for the entire drive. “Breathe, Bonded,” he says quietly. “We’re nearly home.”
Home.
Shading my eyes with my hand, I look up, taking in the huge expanse of the wall, the sandstone shadowed in the afternoon sunlight.
It makes me flinch. Memories of the Bonding Ceremony, the sheer, blind fear and panic as I was dragged through the streets of Navarre, dumped through the gates in bare feet and a dress and nothing else.
My whine is quiet, but Tristan brakes, pulling to the side of the dirt track.
“Sienna?” Gray says my name, but I’m spiraling, my breathing speeding up. Tristan undoes my belt, lifting me over the space between us and pulling me onto his lap.
“Listen to me,” he says fiercely, his hands cupping my cheeks. His thumb strokes across my skin, over and over again, and I focus my panicked eyes on him.
“Never alone, Bonded,” he whispers, pressing his forehead to mine. “Never again. I swear to you.”
I breathe him in, that warm, smoky scent of whiskey. “I don’t think I can do it,” I admit brokenly. The sight of the wall has triggered something in me, and I feel that if I take even one step towards it, I’ll crumble.
“Your family is waiting for you,” Tristan murmurs. “Your mother, your dad, Elise. All there, all waiting to welcome you home, Sienna.”
I take a deep breath. “And I won’t be alone.”
