Page 33

Amaia

I pushed Reina past Elie working at the coffee counter for her evening shift. Elie lifted a skeptical brow, and I shook my head in dismissal. Brushing it off as typical Reina, overly excited about anything, everything. Alexiares bit down a smile as he carried both our dinner trays, leading the way to a room that embraced us like home away from home.

The lanterns hanging from the ceiling cast shadows against the wall, painting them across Tomoe’s angular face as she sat staring at Hunter—who only looked back with curiosity, assessing her. I glanced around the table, only to find Abel and Serenity in a similar stare down. Riley was the only one who noticed our arrival. His dark brown eyes shifted from Reina then over to Alexiares, finally landing on me. There were a thousand questions as he peered at me. He shifted in his seat and pulled out a chair directly next to him. I took it with a rigid posture. Riley wasn’t Reina. He could not feel how she could, but he could read me just as well, maybe better.

Dinner had the essential adults present only. Before they’d even arrived, we’d talked about what to do with Caleb. He had dyed his hair a sandy brown from some concoction Reina had made with beet juice and walnut husks. With the addition of thin, metal framed glasses that no doubt hurt the shit out of his eyes, he was hardly recognizable—to the untrained eye, that was. Given the spectacle made of exile, dinner in a room full of high-ranking soldiers and council members, Caleb wouldn’t stand a chance.

Alexiares took the empty chair next to me, and Reina fell into the one closest to her brother. The only sound for an exhaustive few minutes was the clinking of our spoons against the bowls of stew—still 80 percent broth. Low chatters interrupted the grinding noise, but I found impatience to take control. I traced a finger over the outline of the ring inside my pocket: my ring. That ring that I had accepted …

I cleared my throat and let the spoon clatter to the table with a sharp clang. My voice cut through the silence. “Are you going to speak, or is this an excuse for a twisted family dinner?”

The blunt heel of Reina’s boot dug into my shin beneath the table. Her lips pulled into a tight, warning smile that screamed behave .

“Can’t a man enjoy the ambiance?” Hunter slurped his broth with exaggerated relish.

“Don’t waste my time, Hunter,” I snarled, my patience razor-thin. There were a million better ways to spend my evening, and while I didn’t dislike him, he wasn’t my first choice for company. “We’re big on family dinners around here, so if you’re going to sit at my table and disrupt it, you’d better make it worth our time. And before you even think about saying your family—let me be clear. You’re Reina’s family, not ours. You’re an ally. An ally who, so far, has done nothing but leech off my resources and hang around his sister. I don’t tolerate people reaping the benefits of my hard work without pulling their weight. I let it slide during the last war. I won’t let it slide again. Now tell me, do you have a plan—or not?”

Hunter leaned forward, a lazy smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “All you had to do was ask. I’m an open book.”

“Sure you are,” Alexiares said, studying Hunter with dark, scrutinizing eyes.

Reina placed a gentle hand on Hunter’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Go on, Hunter, tell ‘em.”

“There’s two parts to it,” Hunter began, glancing around the table and then the room.

It was prime dinner hours, and the room buzzed with chatter, packed to capacity. Though everyone here held the highest security clearance—save for Hal and a select few connected to trusted families—these weren’t the kind of details we wanted out in the world yet. Hunter’s eyes mirrored Reina’s softness.

“Spit it out for fuck’s sake,” Moe’s voice was even, monotone.

Serenity scoffed and gave her a slow once-over. “Scorned ex?”

Tomoe’s eyes didn’t leave Hunter for a second. “More like murderous mistress.” Her lips twitched, but a slight wobble betrayed her, despite her best efforts.

“I’m sorry,” Hunter said, his tone sincere. “I truly wish we’d met under better circumstances.” He turned back to me. “I’ve arranged a rendezvous with the other settlement leaders to assess what we’re working with. The meeting is next Sunday at sunset, Royal Oaks. Bring any advisors you trust. No weapons.”

“I don’t need weapons to kill someone, but I’m not traveling outside these walls unarmed.” I folded my arms across my chest, leaned back in my chair, settling into the warmth of Alexiares’s arm draped behind me.

Hunter glanced my way, his expression edged with indifference. “Anyway,” he said, “Try to keep that kind of talk to a minimum. Before we get to that, we’ve got a few problems on our hands.”

I gestured for him to continue, waiting.

“San Jose and Fresno are sympathizers. They’re hosting my father’s military but are situated near your border to keep eyes. It’s why you were captured the other day.”

I froze. We’d chosen not to tell Hunter about our trip back and had specifically instructed Reina to keep her mouth shut. Her eyes darted over to me and she shook her head. She hadn’t said shit. “They are our closest allies, they would never betray the treaty.”

“You mean the treaty that was made null and void the second he breached Transient Nation? They surrendered . It’s every man for themselves out there.” Serenity said, her eyes narrowing with cold precision.

“ Niklas would never,” Tomoe stated with clarity. “Unfortunately he’s dead and the rest of them have been under pressure for months.”

“I have it on good authority?—”

“I’m sure that you do,” I cut Hunter off. The revelation hit like a blow to the gut. Salem’s recovery had leaned hard on the strength of what we’d built together. San Jose and Fresno weren’t just allies; they were friends. From their leadership to their military, even down to their citizens, we had forged a tight-knit bond.

But, apparently, bigots were everywhere. And desperation—the primal need to survive, the beast within us all—could twist people into embracing beliefs and doing things I never thought them capable of. Silly me. By now, I should’ve known better. Always expect the worst.

Hunter’s expression softened into a measured expression of pity, his eyes briefly flickered, weighing the cost of my response. “If you have the right people in place, should take ‘em no longer than a week to get it done. We need to slow my father down, lower his numbers, or we don’t stand a chance—especially with them being so close. If you think we can hit them with brute force to win this thing, then you’ve vastly underestimated Ronan Moore.”

“Don’t question my intelligence; it’s insulting.” My hand cut through the air as I raised it, expression twisting into a disgusted frown. “Brute force is for amateurs, but I need more to go on than a hunch. He won’t sit quietly after a move like this—he’ll retaliate.”

“Of course, he will.” His tone was calm in a way that told me he’d already thought this through. “But whatever he throws at you will be a fraction of what he’d have unleashed once he got what he wanted from your deal. Better to act now while you still have the upper hand.”

“Okay, I’ll ask; how does taking out two people solve that problem?” Reina’s thick brows pinched together, skepticism written all over her face.

The room was clearing out, our words able to flow freer with the absence of diners in our immediate vicinity. The rich aroma of coffee mingled with the scent of fresh-baked bread and the faint, earthy notes of herbs trailing from the overhead planters. Dinner was winding down, and with it came the shifting of schedules. The navy crew was swapping out, their rotations more seamless now that our forces had nearly doubled. A rare upside to this chaos—our sailors were finally getting the rest on land they’d been denied for too long. Caffeine, as always, was a welcome ally for those heading back into the night beyond these walls.

“It doesn’t solve it outright.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “But it sets the pieces in motion. They’ll handle each other for us.”

“Explain.” My voice cut through the room like a blade.

“Ronan’s inner circle runs on ego and self-interest. Do you really think any of them believe half the nonsense they spout? No. To them, it’s all about securing their futures, their comfort—no matter who they crush to get it. Take out the men at the top, and the loyalty holding them together shatters. Get them paranoid, turn them on each other, and they’ll be so busy ripping themselves apart, they won’t have the strength to lend a helping hand to dear old Dad. The soldiers at the bottom, that’s who you want. Someone actually fighting for something or someone they want to protect.”

My jaw dropped, body freezing at the fucking audacity … if there was one thing men had. Jesus Christ. “You’re working on nothing but hypotheticals. Hope. Don’t give me that crap.”

“Human nature is quite repetitive if you haven’t figured that out yet.” A sly grin tugged at his lips.

“I can … escalate the issue.” Alexiares spoke up, the promise of danger in his tone. “Let me do the dirty work, Princess. You worry about the rest.”

“This is to happen before the meeting even begins,” I said, ignoring the way that made my heart patter in my chest. There were more important things to focus on, such as saving Salem Territory, again . “If we can’t get anyone to cooperate?—”

“Then we’re screwed,” Tomoe chimed in, arms crossed, leaning back with a dry chuckle. “But hey, it’s a war cry, right?”

Hunter spread his hands out in mock surrender. “I brought the extra bodies and the intel. She’s the general of legends, figure something out. Rebellion, at its core, runs on hope and the belief that God—or the universe, if that’s your thing—hates your oppressor more than it hates you.”

Riley’s eyes were daggers. Sharp. Skeptical. “How can we trust the accuracy of this information? That you’re not setting us up?”

Hunter’s gaze hardened, the water in his bowl vibrating, gently sloshing inside. “I wouldn’t do that to my sister.” His voice remained steady despite his show of magic.

“Then you admit,” Abel shifted in his seat, muscles tensing. “This is all for her?”

“He has more at stake than his sister,” Serenity barked back.

“Good,” I said, eyes narrowing as I leveled a cold stare down the bridge of my nose at the nuisance of a woman across from me. “Our objective is to promise a better tomorrow for everyone, not just Transient Nation or those closest to your heart. You lose sight of that, then we’re no longer on the same side in this fight.”

“You have your reasons, we have ours. As long as we have the same end goal, I see nothing wrong with that.”

“I do,” I retorted, a cold edge creeping into my voice. If she couldn’t understand that, then we had bigger problems. “If you’re here for your own agenda, we might as well call this quits now because the only way that ends is with all of us dead, or worse.”

If Ronan got his hands on any of us sitting around this table once we broke the deal, death wouldn’t be his answer. Death would be too easy in his eyes. No, he’d have to make us suffer in the way that would hurt us the most: turning into one of them. A weapon for his disposal.

“You’ll never get far by focusing on yourself.” Reina tempered the emotions flaring in the room. Her hands were instinctively out, motioning for us to calm down.

“Individualism was the downfall of our society the first time,” Tomoe added, a reminder of how things had unraveled before.

I trailed my eyes over Hunter, my gaze unwavering, steady as stone. “If we’re going to do this, we do it my way.”

Hunter’s lips twitched, the faintest trace of a frown tugging at the corners. His scoff was low, as if he’d heard it all before. “Sounds familiar.”

“Look,” I said, voice lowering as the room around us fell to near silence. “If this is going to work, we need to move as one . A little gathering to go over rules of engagement won’t change the outcome when we hit the battlefield. War is on the horizon, but it’s not imminent. Ronan needs time to prepare, as do we. I don’t just need to sit down with their leaders, I need to speak to the general s—and I need them to bend the knee.”

“You’re not thinking clearly. A political leader and General, that’s a dictatorship. And that’s certainly not something I can guarantee others will comply with.” Hunter’s tone was measured, cautious.

“We don’t need a guarantee.” Alexiares’s honey brown eyes hardened, his sharp jaw ticking. “All we need is acknowledgment that they’ve been warned.”

“Of?” Serenity laughed, dismissing our clear intentions.

“Any form of dissent will be crushed before it can spread,” Riley said plainly, his words speaking undeniable truth.

The words that I didn’t want to say myself. Hunter was right—this wasn’t how I wanted to lead, but it was necessary to keep everyone safe. Sacrifices now for survival later. And then, after it was over, everyone could go back to normal. Start over. Try this all again. With new leadership this time, solid people that understood the importance of balance and the value of the softer side of humanity.

“A threat to The Compound is a threat to all,” I added quietly, my voice soft but firm, letting the words settle over the room.

One compound, one unit.

Reina was determined to make her brother understand, her hand fell atop his. “That’s the mindset we all gotta have, Hunter. Last time, people suffered that didn’t need to because others opted out. It’s not gonna work that way this go around.”

“We won’t let it,” Abel said with finality— a promise he’d carry through no matter what. I didn’t need to hear more. He meant it. We all had come to understand the cost of failure, and Abel had no intentions on letting history repeat itself.

Hunter nodded. “Understood.”

“I am merciful within reason,” I said. “So don’t give me an opportunity to show you my wrath.”

Tomoe’s gaze lingered on Hunter, distant and unfocused as if caught between thoughts. Then, her eyes shifted, meeting mine. I offered her a slight nod. She straightened in her chair, her voice steady but tinged with the weight of deeper contemplation. “This goes beyond how we handle this war. We have to consider what the world will look like for us after it’s over. What victory means.”

The room fell silent, every pair of eyes on her now, wavering to me only when I spoke. “I don’t know what that means yet. Hopefully that will be clear to me once meeting with the others, after seeing where their heads are at.”