That part hadn't been in the earlier visions, not clearly—but I felt it as soon as we stepped into the hallway tonight. Something wasmoving.A current already loosed from our control. Some of the people who witnessed the attack yesterday were already texting, calling, posting. And someone, somewhere, was listening.
It's already begun.
I give them a minute to let that sink in as I watch the understanding dawn in different ways across different faces.
"There are others too," I add. "I don't know if they'll help her... or try to take what she is."
The silence that follows is heavy with implications. With the understanding that whatever's coming, it's bigger than just us. Bigger than the sanctuary, than the Council, than anything we've prepared for.
I turn to Thane, meeting his silver gaze directly. "You know this too, don't you?"
Something shifts in his expression. A slow, sharp smile spreads across his lips, and for the first time since I've known him, it reaches his eyes.
"You're coming along nicely," he says, voice warm with what sounds like approval.
Heat crawls up my neck, but I don't look away. There's something in his tone, in the way he's watching me, that makes my pulse spike in ways I'm not ready to examine.
The moment stretches between us, charged with something I can't name.
Then Thane laughs.
It's the first real laugh I've heard from him. Not cold or cruel or mocking. Just... genuine. Rich and dark and entirely unexpected.
"Fuck," he says, shaking his head. "This is going to be a problem."
But he's still smiling when he says it.
And somehow, I get the feeling he wouldn't have it any other way.
Chapter 34
Rhett
Thane's laugh is still echoing in the room when we hear it.
A knock. Soft but insistent. Not at the front door—closer. Like someone's already inside the sanctuary.
We all go still at once, the easy moment evaporating like mist. Thane's expression shifts back to that controlled alertness, and Stellan straightens from his casual lean against the dresser.
"That's not forty-six minutes," Jace mutters, hand already moving toward his knives.
"No," Theo says quietly. "It's not."
We move as one toward the hallway, and that's when I see her.
Bree stands at the end of the corridor in an oversized hoodie—mine, I realize with a jolt—her dark hair a messy tangle around her shoulders. No shoes. Like she felt whatever's coming and moved on instinct alone.
The sight of her in my clothes does something to my chest. Something warm and possessive that I don't have time to examine.
"You felt it too," Theo says. Not a question.
She nods, wrapping her arms around herself. "Something's..." She pauses, looking toward the front of the sanctuary. "There are people here. A lot of people."
The knock comes again. Closer now. Like whoever it is has moved deeper into the sanctuary while we stood here talking.
"How many?" Thane asks, already moving past us toward the sound.
"I don't know." Bree's voice is small. "But they're not leaving."
