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Ezra punches him right in the mouth and Rhett hits the ground.

I stare.

Malakai stares.

Rhett touches his lip.

Blood.

Then he starts laughing.

Of course he fucking does.

Ezra stands over him. “This is not a joke.”

Rhett looks up. “No.” His smile slowly disappears. “It isn’t.” He gets to his feet and wipes the blood from his mouth then looks at me. And for the first time, there’s no teasing, no performance… no Reaper—just Rhett. “If that’s what it wants, that doesn’t mean that’s what it gets.”

Something in my chest tightens.

Ezra looks at him. Malakai does too.

Rhett shrugs. “What?”

“No joke?” I ask.

“Not about that.” He looks toward the dirt. “I’m not letting the fucking field decide who touches you.”

Then Malakai says “Neither am I.”

Then they both look at Ezra. He doesn’t hesitate. “No.”

Not no, I won’t.

Just no. To everything.

The Harvest. The ritual. Whatever this thing expects from him.

He looks at me. “You don’t owe it your body.”

There. That one lands hard.

I swallow. “I know.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

His eyes hold mine. Something passes between us. Hot. Angry. Terrified. Wanting. Ezra breaks eye contact first. Of course he does. “We’re going back.”

The red ribbon pulses once, almost like a heartbeat.

I look down. The blood has stopped spreading.

For now.

Malakai takes my hand. Rhett moves to my other side and Ezra walks ahead keeping distance.

Always keeping distance.