I appreciated his directness, his willingness to acknowledge the complex web of connections that had formed among our strange group.
"Similar, but different. Like different instruments playing the same song. The music is recognizable, but the sound is unique."
He considered this, his hand still moving soothingly along my back. "And that's okay with you? This arrangement?"
I propped myself up on one elbow to look at him properly. "It's not conventional, I know. But nothing about my life is conventional anymore. And I care about all of you, in different ways." I traced his jawline with gentle fingers. "Does that bother you?"
He caught my hand, pressing a kiss to my palm. "The wolf doesn't like sharing, but the man understands that some packs are unconventional."
"Is that what we are? A pack?"
A smile touched his lips, small but genuine. "Something like that. A very strange, magically-complicated pack."
I laughed softly, settling back against his chest. "I can live with that."
As sleep began to claim me, warm and secure in Rook's embrace, I thought about the ward's proclamation.The Harbinger belongs to all.Perhaps it wasn't just about prophecyand destiny. Perhaps it was also about connection, about finding family in the most unexpected places.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
Fenric
Ipaced the lakeshore path, the night air cool against my face as I struggled to quiet my racing thoughts. Everyone else had retreated to the cabin hours ago, leaving me alone with the moon's reflection rippling across the water's surface and the weight of my own uncharacteristic indecision.
The peace of this place should have been a welcome respite. Instead, it only heightened my awareness of the growing complications that threatened my carefully ordered existence. My fingers twitched, missing the familiar comfort of my tablet, but I'd deliberately left it behind. Some thoughts couldn't, shouldn't, be documented in Bureau reports.
A twig snapped beneath my foot, the sound unnaturally loud in the night's stillness. I paused, drawing a deep breath of pine-scented air, trying to center myself as I'd been trained to do when emotional control wavered. The Seer blood in my veins hummed with restless energy, responding to the conflicting futures that stretched before me like tangled threads.
"You're going to wear a path in the dirt if you keep that up."
Milo's voice startled me. I turned to find him standing a few yards away, his wild curls silvered by moonlight, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders against the night chill.
"I didn't hear you approach," I was annoyed at my lack of awareness.
He smiled, the expression gentle in the darkness. "I can be sneaky when I want to be. Comes from spending time with the dead, they appreciate quiet."
I nodded stiffly, uncertain how to respond. Of all Winter's companions, Milo was perhaps the most perplexing to me. His chaotic energy and perpetual optimism should have repelled me, yet there was a depth to him, an unexpected wisdom beneath the youthful exuberance that I couldn't help but respect.
"Couldn't sleep?" He moved closer.
"I rarely require more than four hours," the half-truth falling easily from my lips.
Milo's eyebrows rose skeptically. "Right. And your midnight pacing has nothing to do with everything that's happening between all of us?"
The directness of his question caught me off guard. I'd expected his usual roundabout approach, not this pointed inquiry that cut straight to the heart of my discomfort.
"I don't know what you mean," the words sounded hollow even to my own ears.
"Come on, Fenric." Milo gestured toward the cabin. "Winter and Rook are up there right now, probably doing exactly what Winter and I did a few days ago, and what she and Zane did before that." His eyes met mine, unexpectedly serious. "And you're down here, pacing and pretending you don't care."
Heat rose to my ears, the physical manifestation of embarrassment that I'd never been able to control. "The personal relationships within the protection detail are not my concern unless they compromise the mission."
"Bullshit," Milo's crude word sounding almost charming in his earnest voice. "You kissed her. At the Bureau. Zane saw you."
I stiffened. "Agent Zane should learn to be more discreet with his observations."
"He only told me because he's worried about you. We all are." Milo took another step closer. "You're part of this too, Fenric. Part of us. But you keep holding yourself apart, like you're afraid of what happens if you let yourself belong."
