Page 47 of My Vigilante Valentine

I was here because Luna was here.

And because, after an entire afternoon of trying to ignore her voice in my head, I already knew I had no choice but to say yes.

Her ultimatum in that storage room had echoed in my mind, refusing to be silenced. Even the version of Luna that lived in my head was unrelenting, demanding the answer I wasn’t sure I was ready to give.

Thankfully, she hadn’t given me a deadline or tried to argue her case again. Instead, she’d let me sit with it, and because I wasa man who gave credit where it was due, I’d admit that it was a smart move.

Because now, standing in the middle of all this loss created by one horrible villain… the answer was obvious.

Yeah, sure, Icouldsay no.

I could pretend like keeping her out of this was for her own good, and in some ways, maybe it was. What if her plan didn’t work? What if I failed to protect her, and then I only had myself to blame?

A chill burrowed itself deep in my bones. There was no way I’d let that happen.

But if I said no to her plan, then what?

As determined as I knew Luna Wilde to be… she’d find another way.

Only instead of fake datingmeso I could keep her safe, she’d probably ask some other guy to help her play Nancy Drew.

And if they got themselves killed in the process? If something happened to her because I wasn’t close enough to stop it? Wasn’tfast enoughto make it in time?

Those thoughts alone practically made my decision for me.

A hand brushed against my arm, and the fleeting touch sent a jolt of awareness through me. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, so brief it could’ve been an accident if I didn’t already know better.

Luna.

She didn’t look at me. Just kept her gaze on the front of the crowd, her grip steady on the pair of white candles in her hands.

I leaned in just enough that only she could hear me. “Seeing this isn’t making it any easier to accept your plan.”

She didn’t even blink—didn’t acknowledge me in the slightest. She just kept staring ahead, jaw set, back straight.

I sighed, shifting my focus back to the vigil, my hands clenched in my pockets.

Chris was somewhere nearby. I hadn’t spotted him yet, but I knew he was here. He’d texted Luna earlier to make sure she was coming.

He probably wanted to check on her, the way people did when bad things happened.

Historically, I didn’t do things like that. Not only did I not have anyone worth doing it for, I also didn’t know how.

But being here, staying close, and making myself available in case Luna needed anything?

That, I could do.

The names of the latest victims echoed through the night, spoken aloud by someone at the front of the crowd. There was a beat of silence, then a soft murmur as candles were lifted higher, swaying slightly in the breeze.

Luna exhaled next to me, a barely-there tremble in her breath.

It made something in my chest pull tight, though, because I knew it wasn’t just grief that I detected in that whisper of sound.

It was that stubbornness. That determination mixed with her strong will.

I knew then, as sure as I knew my own name—both of them, in fact—that she would do this with or without me.

And I wouldn’t let her do it alone.

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