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“Later, girls!” she called breathlessly as he strode away with her. “Tell Emily I’m around if she needs me.”
Hannah lifted a hand in farewell then stuck her hands in her jacket pockets and considered me.
“If you want to join feight club, try to be here about an hour after sunrise. I promise not to take it too easy on you.”
“I think I’ll pass on feight club.” I’d had enough of being tossed around to last me a lifetime. “But thanks for the invite.”
She gave me a puzzled look. “So what brought you out here today?”
“I was hoping to meet some of the other women. Gauge how welcome I am here.”
“You are welcome, Shelby,” Turik said firmly behind me.
“I was kicked out of Tenacity for my part in what happened to Adam and June,” I said, just to put it all out there in the open.
“No, you kicked yourself out because you were too afraid to leave your shitty ex. No one here has any problem with you, except for maybe you. I’m not judging. I was so deep in self-hate, I couldn’t see it. Let go of the past and embrace the present for all it’s worth. There’s no guarantee it’ll last long.”
“Hannah,” one of the fey said sharply.
“Shut it, Merdon. I’m trying to be encouraging.”
“I appreciate the advice. And I know this isn’t likely to last long. My ex will try to make sure of that.”
“I heard. Two down and ten more to go, right? The fey will find him and relocate him like they did with the other men. He’s nothing compared to the other shit we’re dealing with. I’m more worried about the hellhounds coming out during the day. That shit isn’t okay.”
Merdon closed the distance between them in a blink and unceremoniously tossed her over his shoulder, ignoring her indignant squeal.
“You have nothing to worry about, Shelby,” he said. “Vorx and Turik will keep human men, infected, and hellhounds from you. All females are safe here.”
“Tell that to the ones who died during the breach,” Hannah said, arching up to look back at him. “Pretending a threat isn’t there isn’t safety; it’s ignorant. And I refuse to be that ignorant again. I’d rather be prepared.”
“Don’t worry. I will prepare you.” He smoothed a hand over her backside, and she grinned at me.
“Give us a thirty-minute head start then come by to talk to Emily. She’ll show you around and introduce you to everyone.”
Merdon jogged away, leaving me with Vorx and Turik and a few curious fey onlookers.
“I have to say that didn’t go like I’d imagined it would.”
“Is that bad?” Turik asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” I said honestly. “So, what do we want to do for thirty minutes?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
They showedme the animal pens, which impressed the hell out of me. I could have stayed there and watched them for hours. As it was, we were later than Hannah suggested when we knocked on the door.
A young woman with light brown hair and soft brown eyes answered our knock and invited us in with a welcoming smile.
“I was so excited when Hannah mentioned you might stop over. I’m Emily. Welcome to Tolerance.”
“Thank you.”
“Hannah said you were interested in getting to know people here.” She gestured for us to join her in the living room. “Rather than going house to house and hoping to catch people at a good time, I have a different idea. Tolerance needs to build up our skilled labor pool, so we’re doing some workshops. Things like baking, sewing, knitting, weaving, gardening…you name it, we’re trying to find people who have a natural affinity with it or people who already know how to do it and can teach it. We’re going to meet up in the afternoons for a few hours, and I’d like you to join in. It’s a perfect way to meet everyone. What do you think?”
“It sounds interesting. Mya mentioned something about finding a profession when I met her.”
“Great! I’ll add you to the list. We’re meeting here this afternoon with a few people from Tenacity who are interested.”
