Page 104 of Hell and High Water

“Dancing will have to wait!” Hell nips at his lips before pulling away, cupping my cheek as she does. The interplay is fluid, sexy, and natural.

All three of us around her, with her.

Slowly, her smile fades as she looks at each one of us in turn.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing, but I know I have to do something. My father left me this information for a reason.”

“You don’t have to do anything, Hell. It’s not all on you.”

“It’s on all of us.”

“So you understand that I need to try. This is our home. I won’t let anyone take it from us. Not when the people I love are here.”

“We’ll all be here no matter what, Lena,” I growl, pressing closer.

“Damn right.”

“Thank you, all of you. I don’t mean to give you orders or tell you what to do?—”

“Bullshit. You got this, Hella.” Tell grins. “We got your back.”

“Okay. If that’s true, then I have one major ask.”

“Anything,” Evan mutters.

“I need to get out of this stupid fucking safe house. I need to get back to Sanctum Harbor. I need to be in the thick of it.”

The words immediately raise all three of our hackles, but I bite my lip and I see Tell and Evan fight down the urge to protect her, to keep her out of harm’s way. None of us have the right to stand up for our town and ask her not to do the same.

And not a damn one of us can stop her if she decides to do something.

“Clearly, you're going to do whatever you want to do, anyway. So, if we're going to do this, we’ve got to do it right. We're going to need a base of operations.”

“Ah, but I think my father might have provided yet again.” Hellena slips the journal open again, pointing to a page with an address hidden in the margin. “He mentions the key on this page, too.”

“That street name… there’s an old gate at the dead end past some of my family’s land. An abandoned neighborhood they never finished on the edge of town. I used to hike back by the wall as a kid until my dad’s bodyguard caught me trying to climb over it. Said the whole place was infested or quarantined or something.”

“What do you want to bet that ‘infestation’ was a gimmick to keep unwanted visitors out?”

“Only one way to find out!” Hellena beams.

“So I guess we're going back to Sanctum Harbor. Question is, when?” I ask, looking around the table.

“The sooner, the better. I don’t like the idea of staying here much longer,” Evan reiterates.

“It’s settled, then? Tomorrow, we head back and start taking back our town. For Rachelle. For Ora. For all of those people who live there who have no idea about any of this.”

Cleaning up dinner takes my mind off things for a bit as Tell and Evan head out to wrap up loose ends in Severance and prepare for us to leave. We’ll pack what little we have up in the morning and see what Damon’s secret address has for us.

The thought makes me uneasy. Almost as uneasy as thoughts about Alaya.

Hellena eases the door shut, returning from a short walk just as I finish the dishes.

“Feel better?’

“So much better. Having a purpose is… crucial.’ Hellena widens her eyes at me, her nervousness showing, but also her excitement.

“Gavin—”

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