“I could have hurt you,” he said.“Every last one of you.I didn’t.Because having the ability to destroy doesn’t obligate anyone to use it.And I’ve spent my entire life choosing not to.”
A woman stepped forward.“Were you really protecting us?”
Hannah answered for both of them.“Even when it destroyed our lives.”
When the first hesitant applause broke, Gray didn’t allow himself to hope for acceptance—not fully—but possibility.
And that was enough.
When the crowds dispersed and the fires died, exhaustion swept through him so abruptly his knees buckled.Hannah caught him before he hit the pavement, her arms strong around him, her scent warm and electric.
Her touch centered him in ways he’d never experienced.
He leaned into her, letting the bond between them hum softly.
“How do you feel?”she asked.
Gray inhaled deeply.“I feel like I don’t have to fight alone anymore.”
An intimate moment passed between them.It had the potential to develop into something more, but then Rick appeared with a squad behind him.
“That,” Rick said, hands on hips, “was the best damn PR event I’ve ever seen.”
Gray groaned.“Rick, please.”
“Nope,” Rick said cheerfully.“The whole country watched you display god-tier power without killing a single person.The senate vote on us in the morning.I bet their phones are blowing up with constituents calling in about us.”
Vera approached, eyes shadowed.
“Tomorrow is the real confrontation,” she said.“If the vote passes, Pierce gets legal authority to remove powers from every supe they can catch.”
“We won’t let that happen,” Gray said.“Get some rest, all of you.Send that out to everyone.We all did good work today, but we’ll need everyone at their best tomorrow.”
Rick and Vera left them.
“Gray, I’ve been thinking,” Hannah said.
Hope flared in his chest.
“I don’t want Aethor or Protogenus to win, but I can’t fight what I feel for you anymore. I saw what we could do together and I want more. I want you.”
It was all he could do to keep his cool while they were in public.“I want you too,” he said.“Let’s go home.”
