"Not long enough."
He stands, shoulders already tense with the kind of controlled energy that makes the air around him feel warmer. "Then let's go."
I pause outside Bree's door, pulling a small piece of polished quartz from my pocket. It's nothing special—just a stone I've carried for years, now worn impossibly smooth by recent visions. But tonight it hums with protective intent as I set it carefully on the floor by her threshold.
A small ward. A whisper of safety while we handle what's coming.
The others watch silently as I straighten, understanding without explanation that some things require ritual. Some protections can't wait.
Thane's room glows softly when we approach, and I'm not surprised to find both him and Stellan already awake. Thane sits in the chair by the window, shirt half-unbuttoned over his healing bandages, silver eyesreflecting the dim light. Stellan lounges with his usual poised stillness, one leg crossed, watching Thane with lazy amusement.
They look up as we file in, and I see the exact moment Thane reads my expression. His entire posture shifts, sharpens.
"Forty-six minutes," I say without preamble.
Everyone goes still.
"Before they arrive."
"Who the hell is 'they'?" Jace asks, voice tight.
I meet his eyes, then look around the room at each of them in turn. Gray, alert and ready. Wes, confusion giving way to something darker. Rhett, coiled tension barely contained. Stellan, deceptively relaxed but listening to every word.
And Thane, watching me with an intensity that makes my skin warm.
"That's what we have to find out," I say. "Some aren't Feeders. Some are. Some might not come to join her—they might come to use her."
The words taste bitter, but they're true. I've seen fragments of it in dreams, felt the shape of threat approaching like storm clouds on the horizon.
But there's something else I've seen too. Something that cuts through the darkness of those visions like light.
"She's ready," I continue, and the certainty of it rings in my voice.
Thane straightens slightly. "For what?"
A beat of silence stretches between us.
I pause, letting the weight of what I'm about to say settle in my chest first. Because once I voice it, there's no taking it back. No pretending we don't all feel the pull, the magnetic certainty that's been building between us all.
"She's already chosen most of us," I say quietly. "Even if she doesn't realize it yet."
The reactions are immediate and telling.
Wes visibly shudders, like the words hit something raw and exposed. His hands flex at his sides, and I catch the way his breathing changes. Recognition mixed with fear.
Gray shows no surprise, just the quiet confirmation of something he's been seeing for himself. His jaw ticks once, but his eyes stay steady.
Jace grins like Christmas came early, all sharp edges and delighted anticipation. "Fucking finally," he breathes.
But it's Rhett who surprises me. His entire body goes rigid, hands clenching into fists as something dark and possessive flickers across his expression. Like hearing it said out loud ignited something he's been fighting to keep buried.
Thane goes very still, silver eyes fixed on me with an intensity that makes the air feel charged. Something shifts in his expression—not surprise, but recognition. Like he's been waiting for someone else to see what he's already known.
Stellan's mouth curves in that knowing way of his. "And what, exactly, does that have to do with me?"
The question hangs in the air, but I can see the answer in the way he's watching us all. He knows. They all know, on some level.
"She'll need us," I continue, voice softer now but no less certain. "All of us. In every way possible." I let that settle for a moment before adding, "Because whatever's coming—whoever's coming—they won't just be after her power."
