Before I can move—Briar does.
She throws a rock so hard it snaps against the man’s temple. He staggers. Gabe fires instantly, pinning the bastard’s hand to his own thigh with a bolt. The man drops, screaming.
Gabe glances at Briar and nods once. Respect.
Silas shouts, “Rafe—left!”
I turn just in time to dodge a blade aimed for my ribs. Elias crashes into the attacker, dragging him into a chokehold until his knees buckle.
Boone kicks another man so hard he flips backward into the dirt.
It’s a blur of fists, steel, and fury—but I never lose track of Briar. She clings to me with one hand, reaching for me with the other when I’m too far away.
Daryl struggles beneath me, wheezing, blood smeared across his mouth.
“You think she’s yours?” he chokes. “She’s nothing without me.”
I slam him into the ground again, teeth bared.
“She’s everything,” I snarl. “And she’s not afraid of you anymore.”
Behind me, Briar steps closer—closer—until her fingers wrap around my shoulder, anchoring me.
Her touch pulls me back from the edge. Just enough.
Daryl feels the shift. He laughs, hollow and bitter. “You can’t protect her forever.”
I grab him by the throat and lift his face toward mine.
“Watch me.”
Daryl’s breath rattles under my hand.
I’ve got him pinned to the ground, fingers around his throat, his blood on my knuckles and chest. The world rings from the fight, bodies groaning in the dirt, weapons scattered across the clearing.
But right now, there’s only him. And Briar behind me. And the rage tying us together.
He coughs, tries to spit at my face, but he’s too weak. “You think this is over?” he chokes. “You think she’ll choose you?”
My fingers tighten. The urge to end him—to stop every breath he’ll ever use to hurt someone again—surges hot and bright through my veins.
Then Briar’s touch leaves my shoulder.
For half a second, I think she’s backing away from the blood. From him. From all of us.
Daryl feels it too. His split mouth stretches into an ugly sneer. “There you go,” he rasps. “She knows where she belongs.”
I don’t turn my head. “Shut your mouth.”
He laughs, wet and broken under my hand. “Soon as you blink, she’ll crawl right back. Trained her too good.”
The cabin door slams.
Every muscle in me locks.
Daryl hears it and grins wider, stupid enough to think it means what he wants it to mean. “That’s my girl.”
Elias steps closer, chain hanging loose from one hand, eyes cutting toward the porch. Boone plants himself between the remaining man on the ground and the doorway. Silas strips a rifle out of somebody’s reach with one savage jerk. Gabe shifts at the tree line, crossbow raised, covering the whole clearing without seeming to move at all.
