Page 69 of Thunder's Reckoning

I felt Zeke’s eyes on me then, heavy as a touch. When I flicked a glance at him, he was watching close, his jaw tight, eyes probing, memorizing my every reaction. The weight of that look made my stomach twist, made me feel caught between a spotlight and a cage.

Miriam roved her gaze once more, head to toe, then back again. Not judging. Measuring. Seeing.

“You been through it,” she said softly, her voice dropping lower, hitting somewhere deep in my chest. “I can see it in your eyes. The way you stand like you’re waitin’ to be hit.”

The words struck deep, and my whole body locked, and my breath caught. Fingers curled into my palm, and my skin crawled with too many nights waiting for the blow to come.

But Miriam didn’t flinch. Didn’t apologize. She just nodded once, like she’d said what needed saying.

“So have I,” she added, steel humming under the calm. “So if you’re stayin, know this, you’re not the only one who had to claw her way out of somethin’ unholy. You’re in good company.”

Air shifted heavy in my lungs, too thick to swallow down.

Zara peeked up from her coloring, blinking at the stranger. “Are you Zeke’s mommy?”

Miriam’s smile deepened, warm lines creasing her face. “Sure am, sweetheart.”

Zara hopped up, clutching her paper, and marched over on bare feet. “This is a unicorn. She’s magic. Like my mommy.”

The lump in my throat rose hard, choking.

Miriam bent slow, and took the drawing like it was treasure. “Well, I’d say that makes her pretty special then, wouldn’t it?”

Zara nodded solemnly, satisfied with the answer.

Across the room, Malik’s head lifted, just for a second. Miriam caught it, gave him a nod, and then looked away like it cost her nothing to give him that space. Didn’t crowd him, didn’t press. Just like Zeke had done the first time. Too familiar.

Zeke moved closer, his presence hot against my side. His voice dropped low, for me alone. “I figured she might be good for you to meet. Momma’s… been through some things too.”

I tore my gaze from Miriam long enough to glance at him. His eyes were locked on me, piercing, proud, like he was already claiming the way I stood here, not running.

“What kind of things?” I asked, though my voice barely carried.

His jaw flexed. He didn’t answer.

Miriam saved him the trouble.

“Let’s just say I know what it’s like to live in a place where love comes with rules,” she said, her tone even but edged, “and salvation’s got teeth.”

My body went cold, ice crawling down my spine.

I didn’t ask more. I couldn’t. Because I already knew. Without details. Without confession. Miriam had lived in a cage, too. And when I looked back at Zeke, his eyes hadn’t left me. Watching. Waiting. That dark heat tangled with pride, with something rougher, something close to hunger.

A shiver rippled through me. I pressed my arms tight across my chest, but it didn’t stop the way my skin prickled.

Then his hand brushed the small of my back, just a whisper, just enough to ground, but the warmth of it seared. Not possessive. Not innocent. Just there. A reminder.

It was nothing and it was everything.

Comfort. Fear. Want. They tangled inside me until I couldn’t tell one from the other.

And I wasn’t sure if that made me safer… or in even more danger than before.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

AFTER SABLE METMomma, I left her and the kidsin the kitchen with Josie and Fiona. Zara was already chattering about unicorns again, Malik close by, and Sable, hell, she looked wrung out but calmer than I’d seen her in days. I figured she was in good hands for the moment.

I pushed out the back door into the night air.