“I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”
Okay, fine. The guy had him on a technicality.
“In that case, I want to swing by and see Aerin.”
Dominic groaned. “Sammy.”
“I’ll be quick.” He held his hand up, pinky out. “Promise.”
His mate sighed and grumbled, just like Sammy knew he would. Then he hooked their pinkies together, and in the next breath, they were standing near the tree line outside the cabin.
It had a new roof, new windows, and a fresh coat of paint. Outwardly, it appeared different, but when he looked at it, he still experienced the same sense of belonging.
“You coming?” Dominic asked, already several feet in front of him.
“I’m coming.”
But there must have been something in his voice because Dominic stopped and turned back to face him.
“What’s wrong?”
Sammy shook his head. “Nothing. I was thinking about something Braeden said.”
“And what’s that?”
“He said that everything keeps changing.”
“And what do you think,colibrí?” His mate grinned, one of those special smiles that always made his heart flutter.
“Give me a minute. I’m having an epiphany.”
Chuckling, Dominic doubled back and tucked a knuckle under his chin to urge his head up. Then he kissed him again, soft and unhurried this time, as if nothing else in the world mattered.
“Tell me.”
Head buzzing, it took him a moment to gather his thoughts and form them into something coherent.
“I don’t think everything is changing.” He glanced toward the cabin again, then back to his mate. “Just the things that are supposed to.”
Epilogue
Six months later...
The library had officially crossed the line from tactical command center to organized chaos somewhere around the third map of the east coast.
Strings crisscrossed the walls in tangled webs of red, blue, and yellow, connecting photographs, addresses, symbols, and grainy surveillance stills.
Some threads remained clustered through Louisiana and Texas. Others stretched farther east, branching through Savannah, Birmingham, and the Carolinas before eventually converging near a single point in New York.
Nobody talked about that one much.
“To be clear,” Kennedy announced from her spot sprawled across the sofa, “I support violence. I just think conspiracy boards should come with snacks.”
Chapel tossed her a bag of chips without looking up from the dagger she was cleaning. Kennedy caught it one-handed.
“See? That’s teamwork.”
The rest of the room ignored her.