Outside the barn, the desert night is cool and clear. Stars overhead. The smell of sage and dust.
There's a truck—Shadow's truck—and brothers everywhere. Bikes lined up. An army that came to rescue me.
And sitting in the backseat of the truck, cone still strapped around her neck?—
"Charlie!"
Shadow sets me down, and I run to the truck.
Charlie sees me and goes absolutely insane.
Barking, jumping, trying to climb out of the truck bed, her cone bumping everything.
Someone—Siren, I realize—was holding her leash.
"She insisted on coming," Siren says, her face streaked with tears. "Wouldn't stop crying without you."
I'm crying now too. Grabbing my dog, hugging her, letting her lick my face.
"Hi, baby girl. Hi, sweet girl. I'm okay. I'm here. I'm okay."
Charlie's whole body is wiggling with joy, and it breaks something in me.
The adrenaline, the fear, the trauma—it all crashes down at once.
I'm sobbing into Charlie's fur, and Shadow's there, wrapping his arms around both of us.
"I've got you," he murmurs. "Both of you. I've got you."
Shadow settles me into the passenger seat of the truck, buckles me in like I'm a princess.
Banshee and Charlie are in the back seat.
Her cone is on and she’s still whining but calmer now that she can see me.
He gets in, starts the engine, and I watch his hands on the wheel.
They're shaking.
Trembling so badly he can barely grip the steering wheel.
The reality of how close he came to losing me is settling over him.
I reach over, take his hand, and thread our fingers together.
"I'm okay," I say softly. "I'm here. I'm safe."
Shadow brings our joined hands to his lips, kisses my knuckles. "I thought I'd lost you."
"You didn't. I'm right here."
"When Siren called and said they took you—" His voice breaks. "Grace, I can't—I can't do this without you."
"You don't have to. I'm not going anywhere."
The convoy forms behind us—all those brothers on bikes, a show of force and solidarity.
We're heading back. Back to Vegas. Back to safety.
