Page 57 of Following Their Heart

“I think the Working wants us to be together,” she says. “To work together. I think we’re stronger when we’re together, like your Gifts get amplified, somehow, you know?”

“So, I’ll do whatever you decide. You’re the leader now, and Iwillsupport you. I just don’t want you to ignore your Gift while trying to take care of us all.Listento your Gift and let that lead you instead of trying to do what Jud would do.”

I stare at her in awe, recognizing words of wisdom.

Everything she’s saying resonates deep within me. I hear her concern, but also her genuine affection for me. Her words fill me up in a way I’m not used to. I’ve always craved this kind of support but never received it. Not from a romantic partner. Not from family. Not from anybody. The only ones who ever came close are my brothers here.

I drag Cora close and bend to taste her lips—the source of soul-stirring advice. My mouth touches hers, and I feel more than I ever have before when kissing anyone—even her. An explosion of love makes a big bang in my chest. Where once was darkness is now light and life.

When I push inside her, she accepts my tongue, and she comes willingly as I lift her. In some logical corner of my mind, I know this isn’t the time for fooling around, but logic yields to high emotion. Jud’s missing. The camp is a mess. Despite our search turning up nothing, it’s possible an enemy or two could be lurking, waiting to spring on us. But all that pales in comparison to the urgency I feel to physically express everything this woman makes me feel.

Simply put, I need her.

I think we all need her.

Not later, when things are quiet, clean, and safe. Not after we get our leader back.

Now. When we’re hurting. When we’re scared. When we need comfort.

Now.

Now!

The imperative echoes through my heart, and I know it’s the Working. Everything else can wait. Right now, we need strength and a sense of togetherness. Being with Cora—all of us together—will accomplish that, and that’s how we’ll win this war with Raptor.

“Change of plans,” I say, gathering Cora to me in a bear hug. “Brawn, lock down the lodge. Shep, draw the curtains. Scrap, go activate Jud’s security system to alert us if anything bigger than a coyote gets within two hundred feet. Priorities have just changed.” I have everyone’s attention, and this time when I speak, it’s with conviction.

“To protect our home and to get our leader back, we need our Gifts at full strength. To do that, we need our woman. Weallneed our woman. All of us. Together.”

Silence fills the room. It’s no wonder the reinforced walls don’t bow out with it.

It’s Brawn who speaks up first. “We should go after Jud.” He licks his lips and looks from me to Cora. I see hunger in his brown gaze. Some part of him knows I’m right. But he’s conflicted.

I get it.

I lay a hand on the big guy’s shoulder, reaching up to do so. “We will, my brother. But we’ll help Jud best when we’re at full strength.” I broaden my address to the whole room. “We just had our asses handed to us.”

Each face tells me I speak truth. Grim shakes his head, defeated. Doc’s gaze drops to the floor. Shep grinds his teeth over by the window. Scrap sulks by the door, channeling a brooding teenager. Brawn’s fists are clenched, and he looks fit to kill.

“We met our main objective.” I squeeze Cora, taking comfort in her hold around my middle. “Our Heart is safe. But we failed to protect our own. We brought down one of their choppers, but we let the other fly off with our leader!” My voice rises. The Working fills me, and I begin preaching. “Our brother!”

“How did this happen? We had the homefield advantage. We outmatched them in weapons. We had good defenses. How did they get so close? How did they get their filthy hands on our leader?” I let the questions sit.

“I’ll tell you how. Because we fought like we used to before the Virus.”

I hold the rapt attention of everyone in the room.

“It wasn’t good enough. The World is different now.We’redifferent now. If it hadn’t been for Cora listening to the Working, things would’ve gone even worse. We wouldn’t have brought that one chopper down.”

Scrap has a thousand-yard stare fixed on the floor.

“Don’t beat yourself up, Scrappy boy,” I tell him. He chances a peek at me, and I see a little boy inside him that needs reassurance. “You’re the one who turned things around. You listened to Cora, and you tried something that took courage. In the heat of battle—a battle we were soundly losing—you harnessed your focus and you grew your Gift. Realtime, under pressure. Yougrewit.” I’m so fucking proud of him, and I know he feels it, because he firms up his lower jaw and hides his expression by ducking his head. He doesn’t want anyone else to see the sheen in his eyes. “Imagine the mountains we could move if we all did what Scrap did tonight. What Doc and Shep did yesterday.

“The Working gave us Gifts to help us in this new world. What if we tried using those Gifts instead of letting them use us? What if we treated them like muscles that we can flex and build through training?

“That’show we fight the next battle,” I say, feeling the truth of it in my soul. “And the next. And the next. That’s how we win the war. That’s how we pioneer this new World.” I stroke a thumb over Cora’s cheek. It’s like the Working is amplified in me because Cora’s in my arms, giving me her love and support. Its channeling through me. I am its instrument.

“If we all paid as close attention to the Working as Cora did tonight, things might have gone different. I’m including myself in that, gentlemen. I went about preparations just like the rest of you, thinking this was a battle of territory and firepower. Putting my faith in my own abilities.” Looking back, I can see how foolish that was.

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