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“Andthisis betweenus,” he interjects. “Me and you and Sloane. It doesn’t have anything to do with the squad.”
I bang a fist against the table, startling the others. “The fuck it doesn’t! We have to trust each other to work together.”
“Come on, guys, we’ve been friends all our lives,” Lo pipes up, swinging her gaze between Tristan and me. It’d typically be Avery’s move to speak up right about now and try to smooth things over, but she’s just as pissed off at Tristan as I am over what he did. My twin is firmly on Team Madd with this one.
“Tris made a mistake,” Lo breathes, locking eyes with me. “And yeah, I think we can all agree that it was a huge fucking mistake, but it’s not like he did it maliciously. We’ve all been through too much together to let something like this drive a wedge between us.”
“So you guys are all on his side?” I scoff, glancing around at the others in disbelief.
“We aren’t on any side,” Archer says matter-of-factly. “We’re all on the side of this squad not imploding. On the side of solidarity, because we have a lot bigger shit going on right now. Isn’t that why you called this meeting?”
“He’s right,” Sloane says quietly, placing her hand on my arm.
I glance down, meeting her wide green eyes, and the storm brewing in my chest immediately calms. I don’t know how she does it with a single touch, a single look- especially because a week ago, those same actions would’ve provoked entirely different emotions within me.
“We have to push past it for now because this is more important,” she says, giving me a pointed look. And while I don’t like it, I give her a single, curt nod in agreement, pulling out the nearest empty chair at the table.
It feels like everyone else breathes a collective sigh of relief as I sink down into it, taking Sloane with me and planting her firmly in my lap. I need her to anchor me right now, and for what she’s about to disclose to everyone seated around us, I know she needs me, too.
The others, wisely, don’t comment on the fact that the same girl I was spitting vitriol at during our last meeting is now sitting in my lap. The tension still hangs thickly in the air as Tristan retakes his seat and Avery claims the chair beside me, the matching grim expressions on our faces betraying the gravity of what we need to discuss.
“So what’s going on?” Iver asks nervously, looking between me and Sloane.
She draws a deep breath, my arm tightening around her waist as she blows it out slowly before beginning.
“So, some of you know that I’ve had a couple of visions…”
“You’re a seer?” Ares blurts, eyes widening. “Seriously? Way to bury the lead on that one, guys!”
“It’s still new,” Sloane replies bashfully. “And I don’t really know what the visions mean yet, but…”
“What’d you see?” Iver cuts in, interest equally piqued.
I slap a palm against the table in annoyance. “Will you guys just let her finish?” I snap, scowling at my friends. “Damn.”
Ares holds up his hands in surrender, slack-jawed and wide-eyed like I’m the one being unreasonable.
Once he hears about Sloane’s vision, he’ll understand. I don’t get rattled easily, but I’ve been on edge since she told me what she’d seen. Avery, too, because we immediately shared it with her to get her take on it. The consensus was to call this meeting, because if we don’t act, we’re fucked.
“I’ve been having these… dreams,” Sloane says, her voice wavering like she’s unsure how to explain herself. I plant a hand on her thigh, giving it a little squeeze in encouragement, and she continues. “Visions. I had my first one in Denver, the night the hunters attacked. And I’ve had a few more since I came back here, but mostly they were of the past. Until last night.”
She pauses, everyone waiting with bated breath for her to go on. “Last night, I had another vision. There was a man standing in the middle of the street at the entrance to the access road, someone I’ve never seen before. I think…” She trails off, wincing. “I think it might be one of the hunters. Something about him seemed off, like he wasn’t here with good intentions.”
“Shit,” Iver mutters under his breath.
“Do you know when it’s supposed to happen?” Lo asks.
Sloane nods, her throat bobbing with a hard swallow. “The night before the full moon. The only thing the man said was the full moon’s tomorrow, and wolves need to run. I kept trying to get closer, but for some reason, I couldn’t. It was like I was being held back. Restrained, somehow.”
We all sit in silence for a long moment as everyone processes Sloane’s warning. Even though I’ve already heard about her vision, an eerie chill creeps up my spine all the same.
“So that gives us a week,” Archer mumbles.
Iver scrubs a hand over his face, leaning his elbows on the table. “Should we cancel the run?”
Sloane glances back at me, and I know what she’s thinking. Cancelling the run is the obvious thing to do, but neither of us have brought it up, both hesitant to broach the topic.
We just found our way back to one another, and this full moon should beours. We’ve waited so long to run together; to receive confirmation as to whether we’re fated mates. After all we’ve been through, we deserve this chance. But staying safe is more important.
