Page 33 of Thunder's Reckoning

He started back toward his bike, but paused with one hand on the bars.

“Make sure the kids got what they need, food, clothes that fit. Quiet though. If this gets loud, they need to be ready to move.”

I dipped my chin. That was all the permission I was gettin’.

Devil swung a leg over, fired the engine back up. Mystic lingered a beat longer, leanin’ close enough for his words to ride the rumble.

“Be careful who you bleed for, brother,” he said, eyes still on the road. “Some ghosts don’t want savin’. They just wanna drag you under.”

Then they were gone. Engines roared, gravel spit, dust hangin’ in the air long after their shadows disappeared.

I stood there, watchin’ it settle. Then turned back toward the house.

Sable would be inside, clutchin’ that book like it was the last rope in a storm.

And me? I’d just stepped between her and the hell she ran from.

God help me if I’d dragged that hell down on all of us.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THE FRONT DOORhadn’t latched whenI ran inside. It hung open just enough for the wind—or a whisper—to slip through. I should’ve kept moving. Should’ve checked on the kids, calmed my breathing, maybe read a few lines of that book I kept clutching like it could protect me, but I heard my name. Not spoken directly. Just enough to freeze me mid-step.

His voice wasn’t Zeke’s.

It was the other one. The man he called Devil.

That name alone made my stomach clench.

“She yours?” Devil asked.

I stopped at the foot of the stairs, breath stuck in my throat. The book pressed to my chest like a shield.

“She’s nobody’s. Just needed help.”

I liked the sound of that, being nobody’s. Free. Unclaimed. But life hadn’t given me that option. Not in the religion, not with Gabrial, and not now. Men always had a way of owning things they touched.

“She looked spooked when we pulled up,” Devil said next. “Like we might hurt her.”

I pressed myself deeper into the wall, retreating into the shadows. My back hit the cool plaster. I’d seen men like them before, boots, leather, silence that said more than words. They looked different, but the danger was the same, and I knew what men like that could do if they decided you weren’t worth the trouble.

“Keep her outta sight. We don’t need fresh fires while we’re still putting out old ones.”

My gut twisted.

That was it. That was the line.

I couldn’t drag Zeke into my problem. I couldn’t let him get pulled under just because he was kind to me. He didn’t understand. Not really. Not the depth of it. Not the fire that would rain down if Gabrial ever found out where I was and who helped me.

My hands started to shake. I turned, walking soft across the floor on bare feet, heading to the room where I’d stashed the bag I hadn’t unpacked. I dropped to my knees and unzipped it, fingers fumbling. No plan. No destination. Not even a car.

I had one shoe on when I heard the front door creak open behind me.

He didn’t call my name.

His boots crossed the threshold. That familiar rhythm of step, pause, step again. I kept my back to him. I couldn’t bring myself to look yet.

“You heard some of that,” he said, his voice quiet but firm.