Page 49 of Property of Prophet

Tessa is alive.

Lily comes to stand beside me at the window, and her shoulder finds mine.

“Two days,” she says.

“Yeah.”

“Think they’re ready for my mountain?”

I look at the dark tree line. “No.”

Bear leans against the backs of our legs, and Lily’s shoulder stays warm against mine. I should be thinking about Calix, about what waits beyond those trees and everything that can go wrong when my brothers get here. Instead, all I can think about is the woman beside me and the fact that, I have something worth defending instead of something to avenge.

Two days. Let them come.

Chapter Fifteen

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Lily

Bear wakes me.

Not with a bark or a growl. Nothing. Which is worse. His weight leaves the foot of the bed and by the time I’m sitting up, he’s already at the window with his hackles raised, and every muscle locked.

“Bear?”

He doesn’t look at me. Shit.

I spin my head around to the clock that reads 6:14 a.m.

I cross to him and look out the window.

“Prophet.”

He’s awake instantly. “What?”

“We have company.”

He’s beside me in seconds. “How many?”

I take the rifle from its hooks beside the window, check the magazine and safety, then reach for the binoculars. “Twelve.”

“You sure?”

I hand him the binoculars. “Count them yourself.”

“Fuck.”

“My professional assessment exactly.”

Prophet lowers the binoculars.

“What?” I ask.

“Center east.”

I find him. A man standing a little forward of the others. No hat, no gloves, which makes no fucking sense, considering the temperature. Except he isn’t shivering. The man turns his head, looks straight at us, and smiles.