Ash’s bride nods once, black bob shifting with the movement.
He removes his hat, shoving fingers through his hair. “We’ll discuss this later, too,” he says to me.
But Clay isn’t done. “Two altercations. Two fated bonds in weeks.Mere weeks… after countless decades? And the Sentinels are what now? Suddenly okay with things? Next thing you know, they’ll be inviting themselves to the nuptials.” He lets out a snort, face reddening.
Others shout from the crowd, seconding him. Once, they could’ve persuaded me.
Now I know better.
“If they’d wanted us dead, we wouldn’t be breathing,” I say. “That wasn’t the point.”
Ash shifts beside me, wrapping a possessive arm around Josephine. She looks up at him, green eyes pensive and reading his expression. “Then what the hell did they want?”
“Dunno.” My jaw tightens. “To see what we’d become?” But I have more to say to Ash and Jo once this meeting ends. Mags, too.
Eliza tangles her fingers with mine, staring up at me for one long moment. Her face is a question. I send the answer through the bond, and she smiles, saying to Jo, “You and Ash should come over for dinner this week.”
Josephine and Ash exchange glances. The corners of her mouth tip up. “Yes.”
But the crowd isn’t satisfied. Silence settles. Heavy.
“They’re watching now,” I continue. “Waiting to see what we do next.”
“And what are we doing?” another voice asks.
This is it. The moment I’ve spent a lifetime avoiding. The thing I walked away from. Again and again.
My gaze finds Eliza. She doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t need to.
I turn back to the others. “We don’t go looking for them,” I say.
The words settle, deliberate. Controlled.
“But we don’t stay scattered either.” I take a step forward, pressed down by the weight of them watching, listening. “And we quit bending to their will.”
People talk at the same time, voices low, faces suspicious. Eyes scrutinize Eliza, then me.
“We gather,” I add more firmly. “We watch the land. We learn their patterns.” My voice drops. Harder. “We don’t get caught off guard again. And we quit hiding who we are and how we bond.”
The crowd becomes a sudden roar, faces turning sharp, animated.
I tighten my jaw, refusing to give an inch. “Time to stop letting them rob our future.”
“But the consequences?—”
“Fuck their consequences. Time to mete out our own.”
No one speaks now. A few people even nod. Determination threads through the consciousness in the room.
Ash exhales slowly, both arms cradling his wife now. “About damn time,” he mutters.
My eyes lock on his. I lean forward, saying quietly, “They targeted me more than Eliza. Tried to pry into my head. Looking for something… ashield.”
Ash’s face darkens. “And how’d you fight back?”
I pull the artifact and bracelet from my duster, setting them on the table.
The blond cowboy recoils. “You got it working again?” he asks, face darkening.
