I study her. “And you know where to look.”
“I do.”
“Good,” I say.
She glances at the raven one more time, something raw and broken flickering across her face. “Look for the patch of glowing daisies. That’s your way in.” Then she turns toward the trees. “After that, we’re even.”
“After that,” I answer, “we’ll see.”
The forest exhales around us. The others move in closer, forming up behind me as we follow Nyx into the darkness.
For the first time, she doesn’t look like an enemy.
Just another ghost trying to find her way home.
Chapter 30
Jace
The pub appears just as the last daylight bleeds out of the sky, and I can already tell something’s different.
There are people everywhere.
Not just a few stragglers hanging around the entrance. I’m talking dozens—maybe more—crowding the street, leaning against buildings, sitting on crates. Feeders, all of them. Some I recognize from earlier, but most are new faces. They’re armed, geared up, waiting.
“Holy shit,” I mutter, slowing my stride.
Wes catches up beside me, eyes wide. “I didn’t— I mean, I knew there were more, but…”
“Half the town, huh?” I grin at him. “Undersold it, sweetheart.”
He doesn’t even have a comeback. Just stares.
Then he laughs—loud and bright—and before I can process it, he’s kissing me. Right on the mouth. Quick, warm, utterly fearless.
He pulls back, still laughing, and I’m frozen.
Bree’s laugh cuts through the air behind us, and when I glance over, she’s grinning wide at us, eyes bright.
Wes just shrugs, still grinning. “You called me sweetheart.”
I blink. Open my mouth. Close it.
The bastard just grins.
“…Fair.”
Bree steps up on my other side, and the moment she does, the crowd shifts. Heads turn. Conversations drop off. It’s not fear—it’srecognition. They see her, and something settles.
She doesn’t say anything. Just meets their eyes, one by one, and nods.
That’s all it takes.
The door to the pub swings open, and Mo steps out—arms crossed, half-grin in place, cigarette tucked behind his ear like punctuation.
“Well,” he says, voice carrying across the street. “Looks like we’re throwing a party after all.”
I laugh. Can’t help it. “You got a guest list, or are we just winging it?”
