“I didn’t say I believed they could do it,” she shot back. “I’m telling you what he proposed. The problem is, the physical distanceisunsustainable. When Draco was dying from that neurotoxin, the bond nearly tore me in half. If they’re here, at least I can keep an eye on them. At least I won’t wake up every morning feeling like my chest is caving in.”
I watched Lucas now. Our shield leader hadn’t said a word. He’d stepped back toward the window, arms folded, his icy eyes fixed on the floor.
“You’re actually considering it,” Theo said, taking a step toward her. “Letting them come.”
“I told him I’d think about it. I don’t want to hurt like this anymore. If having them here as a combat unit stops the constant bleeding ache I feel every second of every fucking day, I have to at least consider it.”
“Nine,” Lucas said suddenly.
We all turned to look at him. He slowly lifted his head, his gaze locking onto Jupiter with a crazy intensity that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Nine, what?” Jupiter asked.
“Nine mates.” He stepped away from the window. The calculating coldness in his eyes had been replaced by a sudden, blazing fire. “Nightfall is four.Weare five. If they transfer to Imperium to act as your shield, and we bond with you too…”
Rowan shook his head, holding up a hand. “Lucas, no. You’ve lost the plot, mate. You can’t seriously be suggesting?—“
“Think about it,” Lucas pressed. He looked at Rowan, then at Theo, then back to Jupiter. “The Order’s texts state that the original Ophis required a massive conduit of celestial energy to tear a rift wide enough to cross the galaxy. But that power surge came from ending his own life. We can’t ask Jupiter to do itthatway obviously. A standard shield is four or five warriors, which in theory could work, yes, butnine? Nine elite, fully-trained,powerful shield warriors, all channeling their power into a single axis?”
“It’s insane,” Phoenix muttered, though he looked intrigued despite himself. “The magical feedback alone could burn her out.”
“Not if we balance it,” Lucas argued, pacing now. “Nightfall has Aries, Leo, Scorpio, and Gemini. We bring Aquarius, Libra, Pisces, Taurus, and Capricorn. That’s nine distinct celestial frequencies, connecting to nine potential points to travel between. With all of us together, surrounding her, feeding her magic; Jupiter, you would be the most powerful axis in existence. You could recreate the crossing without hurting yourself.”
Jupiter stared at him, her lips parted in shock. “You want to merge the shields. You want me to bond with nine men who currently want to murder each other, and use me as a battery to rip a hole in spacetime. I just want to make sure I have this square.”
“We could gohome,” Lucas said. “Yes, I want you to merge our shield teams if it means getting us home.”
Jupiter shook her head, pulling the throw blanket tighter around her legs. “Why? I don’t understand this obsession. Earth is fine. We have lives here. We have coffee and television, hot showers and Taco Bell. Why do you want to go back to planets that have been abandoned for thousands of years? Why risk everything just to see what’s on the other side of a portal?”
The room went quiet. Lucas opened his mouth, but the words seemed to fail him. Rowan looked away, his jaw tight.
“Because this isn’t a life,” I said quietly.
She looked at me, her brow furrowed. “Jamie...”
“Look at us.” I gestured around the room. “We live in fortresses. We hide our magic from the humans. We’re trained from the moment we show our designations to be soldiers, tobe weapons against the bane. That’s all the Assembly sees us as, fodder for the cause. We don’t have our own nations. We don’t have our own governments, not really. We live in the shadows of a world that doesn’t even know we exist, fighting a war that never ends.”
I took a step closer to the couch, my heart thundering. My scars ached, a constant, phantom reminder of the sacrifices we made, the blood I’d shed for a world that wasn’t truly mine.
“On the home worlds, we weren’t just warriors. We had functioning planets. We had entire societies. We had art, culture, and history that didn’t revolve entirely around killing monsters until be burn out. We built cities that touched the stars. We had peace.” I held her beautiful gaze, pleading with her to understand the generational grief that every member of the Order carried. “We deserve to have that again. We deserve to be more than just shields and axes. We deserve a home where we don’t have to hide who we really are.”
Jupiter stared at me, some of the defiance slowly melting out of her posture. The silver light in her eyes flickered, and she looked down at her hands, taking a slow, shaky breath as Noodle slithered onto the couch, curling up in her lap.
“Nine mates,” she whispered to herself. Then she looked back up at Lucas. “If I say yes to Draco, if I let them come, you really think we could work together? Without blood being spilled?”
“If it gets us home,” Lucas said with absolute certainty, “I will tolerate Charles Callahan himself. Hell, I’d agree to bring all four of them in on the secret if we can make it work. But it’s your choice, Jupiter. Only yours.”
She closed her eyes, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. The exhaustion radiating from her was palpable. She’d been through so much in the last several weeks—an assassination attempt on her former shield, portaling across the world, facingthe men who broke her heart, and now this. A revelation that shifted the entire trajectory of her universe.
“I need to think,” she said finally, opening her eyes. “I can’t give you an answer right now. About the Order, about Nightfall. It’s too much. Please, just... give me the night. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”
“Of course, love,” Theo said immediately, already moving to stand. “Take all the time you need.”
“Tomorrow, absolutely,” Lucas agreed, giving her a respectful nod. “We’ll be waiting. Whatever you choose.”
We all stood up. No one wanted to leave her, but we all knew she needed the space.
Phoenix was the first to approach her. He leaned down, pressing a lingering, tender kiss to the crown of her head. “Sleep well, pretty girl.”
