“We’re positioning ourselves strategically. There’s a difference.”
“Is there?”
I secured the basement hatch behind me and with her holding our light and Tressa padding ahead, I followed her. “Hiding means giving up hope. What we’re doing means taking control of the battlefield. We’re not fleeing. We’ll soon be laying a trap.”
“When you put it like that, it sounds almost heroic.”
“It is.” I stroked a finger down her spine. “You’re not running. You’re staying. Fighting. You’re choosing to face your fears instead of letting them control you. That’s the definition of courage.”
After I gave Tressa a boost up, we climbed the ladder and got back into the wagon. They took us to Dungar’s home. There, we waited for dark before leaving the wagon parked inside his barn and going inside. The one thing Dungar had done differently at his house was attach his barn to the back of his home with what humans called a breezy-way. Though it was mostly all glass, hence us waiting for dark, it worked almost as well as my tunnel.
Inside, we sat in the living room, curled up together on Dungar’s sofa. We talked and shared more of our lives, then cooked dinner together, eating at Dungar’s kitchen table. Back in the living room after, we talked some more. Then we went to bed in Dungar’s only room, his own. He was providing security outside while I was Allie’s protection inside, and when he was relieved by one of my brothers, he’d sleep at my place, daring Will to try to break inside.
“It feels strange,” Allie said, curled against my side in the unfamiliar bed. She made patterns on my chest with her fingertip. “What will you do about the pottery barn?”
“Rebuild. With Dungar’s help, I’ll put in better security. I might-might even expand into teaching classes full-time.”
“Really?” She looked up at me with interest.
“With-with your help. You’re a natural teacher, love. And people need…need to create. Need to make beautiful things with their ha-ha-hands.” I caught her wandering finger and tugged it to my lips. “We c-c-could do it together.”
“Do you think so?”
“Why not? You’ve got good instincts. I’ve got the knowledge. We c-c-could be partners in everything.”
The smile that spread across her face was the first genuine one I’d seen since we’d discovered the destruction. “I’d like that very much.”
“Then it’s settled. After we deal with Will Carmichael, we re-rebuild. Better than before.”
“Yes, better.”
Tressa settled herself in front of the door with a contented sigh, taking up her guard position. Even she seemed to understand that we were safe here, protected by family and walls and the kind of love that made everything else seem possible.
I was determined that Allie and I would get our happily ever after.
But first, we had to set up the trap.
Chapter 21
Allie
The guilt ate at me like acid. Every time I looked at Hail’s face and saw no anger, no resentment, only love and determination to protect me, it made the weight in my chest heavier. His life’s work lay in ruins because of me, and he acted like it was nothing more than an inconvenience.
“You’re th-th-thinking too loud,” he said from where he sat sketching at Dungar’s kitchen table, not looking up from the paper where he was designing what looked like a new kiln layout.
“I’m not thinking anything.” Even planning to rebuild, he was gorgeous in his focus, the tip of his tongue poking out to stroke his tusks as he concentrated on the measurements.
“Your guilt is so loud I c-c-can practically hear it.” He set down his pencil and reached across to still my hand on the table. “We’ve been over this.”
“Have we?” I turned my palm up to catch his fingers, marveling at how his large hand dwarfed mine yet held me with such gentleness. “Because I’m pretty sure destroying someone’s dreams is still wrong, even if they’re too nice to admit it.”
Hail’s expression shifted, something deeper flickering in his dark eyes. “You think the pottery barn was my dr-dr-dream?”
“Isn’t it?”
He was quiet for a long moment, his thumb stroking my knuckles in a rhythm that made my pulse skip. “My dream was never about having the perfect workspace or the most expensive kiln. It was about creating lovely things and sh-sh-sharing them with people who would smile when they loo-looked at them.”
My throat tightened.
