Chapter 25 #2
We’re back to the conversation in the feed store, my suspicions sharpening.
The redhead shakes her head, chin coming up, stubborn as ever. Like she’s ready to square off against me.
I glare through her. I could take the information right here. Force her to think it. And I will, if I have to, to protect Eliza.
But my stomach still roils, headache throbbing from earlier when the Ancients tried to unlock my brain like a treasure chest.
Mags works to keep her thoughts steady. But even Ash sees the guilt behind her gaze.
She changes the subject. “Instead of disclosure, distraction’s been the name of the game for too long to remember. Can’t imagine that will change now.”
“Speaking of that… seen more from the suits while we were gone?” I ask, voice embittered. “We left things… unfinished with them.”
“Heard about your adventure from Ash.” Mags lets out a slow breath. “Local chatter says they pulled back.”
Ash frowns. “Just like that?” His eyes meet mine, swirling with knowledge of Eliza’s rescue.
“Not exactly,” she replies. “They’re still around. Watching. But they’re not pushing… or too crazy about explaining how a couple of local-yokel cowboys stormed a top-secret location.”
“But what if they come back to the café?” Eliza asks, her voice threaded with fear.
I wrap my arm around her, comforting her with my mind. Her shoulders instantly relax. “Then, I make sure they never come back.”
Mags’s gaze shifts to me. Then back to her. A flicker of curiosity lingers—like the Sentinels. “I don’t think they’ll bother you for awhile… because maybe they realized something,” she whispers.
“What?” Ash presses.
“That they’re not at the top of this anymore… and something spoke that they couldn’t ignore.”
Something tightens in my chest. It doesn’t feel like relief or victory but something else.
Like even they answer to something higher.
“And whatever it was,” she adds quietly, “it wasn’t asking.”
I glance out towards the mountains. The place where the sky tore open. Where they stood, and something bigger than all of us shifted.
“They’ll come back,” Eliza says softly.
“Yeah,” I answer, pressing a kiss to her temple. My gaze lifts to the horizon. “Next time,” I say, voice low and resolute, “they won’t walk away.”
“About that,” Ash says in dark tones. “I’ve been thinking of some new safeguards. Protocols to protect our communities. Figure it’s time we get those dampeners working right again… maybe add some government suppressors for good measure.”
“Not for us, for them,” I growl.
Ash nods. “Josephine and I had our own run-in with their damn insects. Annoying as hell. Time for some bug spray.”
“And maybe zappers,” Jo adds with a wicked chuckle. I can already tell she’s a fighter like Eliza.
Good. We need mates like that.
The pieces of the puzzle finally fit together. “The cabin in the north pasture. Where I found the dampener. That was Sentinel handiwork?” I ask.
“What you two sound like you saw. Small drones about yay high,” Ash explains, talking with his hands. “They looked like—”
“Dragonflies,” Jo cuts in, a nervous edge to her voice.
Eliza and I exchange a look.
“More talk later,” I say, feeling the pull again.
The need to be alone with my mate. To find comfort and peace in each other’s arms. There may not be a safe place in this world for us except the one we make for each other.
That’s enough.
Anticipation hums through me, then need. Eliza wants this, too. That decides it.
I look at Mags, unable to believe what I’m about to say. “Maybe you could call an official council meeting in the next few days? Where we share insights, experiences, next steps.”
“Not with an outlaw,” someone shouts from the nearly vanished crowd. “And a human.”
Ash’s face goes black, jaw tightening.
I stare at the man. He looks familiar, though I can’t recall his name. “Not your business to judge. Or create friction between Wildbloods—”
“Not your business—”
Mags cuts him off. “That’s what the Sentinels want. The government men, too. To keep us so torn apart we can never come together or defend ourselves against them.”
“But two human women? The resonance? This is the stuff of fairytales, not reality,” the redhead growls, stroking his beard, face dark and haunted. “Are we just supposed to let this go? Fall back under the sway of transgressions we’re still being punished for?”
Mags cuts in, voice firm, face hard as granite. “We are all a part of the same family. We fight together. We live together. We stand up for what matters… together.”
It isn’t the answer he wants. His face simmers, but he wheels back around, sauntering away.
“Gonna have more trouble with him,” Ash says.
“Rook,” Mags says with a resigned sigh. “A Redfern cousin. Tempers have always been our downfall.”
“And secrecy,” I whisper just loud enough for her to hear, face hardening.
Her lips press into a thin line, and she shakes her head. “G’night, you two. Jo and Ash, mind walking me back over to the store?”
The blond cowboy and his mate smile, the bond humming between them—pure, unshakeable.
I lean forward, pressing my forehead to my woman’s, my voice soft—for her ears only. “Need you, primrose.”
The corners of her mouth lift. Her eyes melt, but there’s something else there now. Not just longing.
Knowing.
“Then let’s go home, cowboy,” she murmurs. “To our ranch.”
I nod. Home. The word settles differently than it used to. No longer something to fear—like staying—but a choice.
Around us, the few remaining Wildbloods drift apart, voices low, movements purposeful. Heading out in all directions, just as they came.
As I turn toward the ridge, something catches my eye.
The mountains.
I don’t see anything. But the feeling shifts. Subtle.
Like pressure easing. Or tightening. Hard to tell which.
My grip on Eliza’s hand tightens without meaning to.
“What is it?” she asks quietly.
I don’t answer right away. Because I don’t have one. “They’re not done,” I say.
She doesn’t pull away. Doesn’t question it. Her fingers tighten in mine instead. “Neither are we.”
We stand there a moment longer. Looking toward the range.
The sky is clear. Too clear. And somewhere in that silence—something watches.