“It’s aimed at all of you, but yes, you especially,” Tamsin said without missing a beat, just a hint of a smirk turning her lips.
Even Tobias looked amused at that.
I finally spoke, because it needed saying. “And what about the Watch base here on the Isle of Man?”
Tamsin’s gaze softened just slightly. “We can’t hold it. Not long-term. But they can’t come with us. Not yet,” Her mouth tightened. “We leave enough supplies for them and enough people to guard them until they can move.”
Clara, who’d been sitting off to the side with her armbandaged, lifted her chin. “I can stay behind and look after this place.”
Elias nodded. “I appreciate that. We’ll coordinate with you before we leave.”
Tamsin’s eyes met Clara’s with quiet respect. “Thank you.”
Then she returned to the map.
“We land here,” she repeated, tapping the coast again. “We move inland to our first contact. We keep groups small enough to hide and large enough to fight if the need arises.”
Magnus glanced at Logan. “One pack per group?”
Tamsin nodded.
She leaned back, looking around the room again.
“Elias, I want you to coordinate everything. Eamon, I’d like you on inventory. Bishop, list and map what you remember from the facility: routes, entrances and exits, smells, sight lines, distances, anything. Nox, arrange and see to the boats. Griff—” her gaze met mine, and something warm flickered there beneath the steel, “—you’re with me.”
“Always,” I answered.
She nodded once, satisfied, then looked to Zara and Sera. “Get prepared. We move as soon as we’re ready.”
Zara stood. “We’ll be ready.”
Sera’s eyes held Tamsin’s. “So will we.”
CHAPTER 14
One week later…
Tamsin
Zara and her pack left first.
I watched them from the dock as Magnus checked the rigging one last time and Tobias scanned the shoreline out of habit. Callum talked animatedly to Killian like he could laugh his way through anything. Thorne stood at the bow, already looking east, jaw set. Zara met my eyes across the water and gave me a short nod and a small smile.
Sera followed not long after, her pack moving with quiet efficiency. Logan clasped Elias’s forearm before boarding, something unspoken passing between them. Jamie offered me a crooked grin and a two-finger salute. Edward andAidan were already focused on the horizon, Declan steady at Sera’s side like he always was.
The boats pulled away one by one, engines kept low until the distance swallowed the sound.
Then it was just us.
Our boat sat heavy in the water, freshly stocked and checked until there was nothing left to check. Griff had gone over the hull twice. Nox three times. Eamon had packed the medical crates himself, labeling everything in his neat handwriting.
Clara stood near the edge of the dock, her injured arm still bound but healed well enough that she could manage a rifle again. She’d organized the remaining defenders with the same calm determination she’d shown in the fight, setting watch rotations, reinforcing positions, and doing whatever needed to be done when it needed doing.
“You don’t have to stay,” I told her quietly as we checked the last of the supplies.
She shook her head. “Someone has to keep an eye on this place.” Her gaze lifted to the horizon. “And if London comes sniffing around again, I want them to find out that they’ve worn out their welcome.”
I nodded. “We’ll be back.”
