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Chapter Twenty-Three
I watchedwith the residents of Tenacity as Nat and his group were escorted out of the gates. It surprised me that he had nothing to say about Matt’s decision. Having the footage play in an irrefutable loop had probably helped kill any plea of innocence he might have voiced. I hated seeing Shelby leave, though. She walked a step behind her husband, a resigned vacancy in her gaze.
Turik glanced at me, and I shook my head slightly. He’d made it clear to Matt and me before anyone else had arrived that he intended to follow. It didn’t matter to him that Shelby was forever banned from Tenacity. She was a female, and the fey were determined to save each and every one of us.
After the exiled group left, Ryan offered to take those who were leaving by choice to the bunker.
“There’s a radio in the bunker. Can you bring it back with you, Ryan?” I asked. “People are still out there, and they might be interested in knowing about this place.”
Mostly, I didn’t want to give anyone the means to communicate and steal from the other preppers still out there.
“Of course,” Ryan said.
“Thank you for doing this,” Matt said. “I’m hoping if they leave on good terms, they might mention this place in a positive light to any other survivors they eventually come across.”
Emily arrived, pulling the attention off of us with the vast amounts of food she and her fey were carrying. The shift in mood was immediately obvious. People stepped forward and volunteered to help carry things for the fey. They even smiled and voiced words of appreciation. Emily looked positively giddy as she took a few people, mostly women, up on their offers of help.
The young mom with the little girl broke off from the line and went to Noru, who had the doll sticking out of the waistband of his pants.
With everything going on, I almost missed Turik slipping away and leaping over the wall.
Tor wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” I asked softly.
“He will be fine. Shelby will be safe.”
I didn’t comment on how he made no mention of the rest of them. They’d made their choices. Now they needed to deal with the consequences.
A few men approached Matt to ask how he planned for the housing reorganization to work.
“I’m asking everyone to hold off on making any changes for the next few days. June and Tor are working on a supply run schedule with an equal weekly rotation. Once I have that, I plan to distribute it house by house and talk to the households about the reorganization.”
“You’re serious about requiring everyone to go out on supply runs?” a man asked.
“Yes. Very. I’m aware that some in this community have been using others for their gain. That ends now. We work together; we survive together.”
The men seemed content with Matt’s answer.
“You’re quiet. Are you tired?” Tor asked softly.
I tipped my head back to look up at him.
“No. I’m happy that things will be better now, but I’m sad they weren’t like this when Adam and I arrived. It would have saved him so much pain.”
Tor studied my face, tenderly gliding his fingers along my throat.
“You still love him.”
“I do. But it’s not the same love as it was. It changed. Honestly, I think it’d been changing long before we got here. I’ll always care about him. He’s a good man. But I don’t love him the way I love you.”
Tor grunted.
“Does that upset you?”
“No. I care about Adam, too. He let me have you.”
I made a face. “He didn’t let anything. He was a stubborn man. I might have forgiven him for his stupidity, but you are not allowed to thank him for it.”
