This sounded like a lot more than ten people.
She sprinted toward the noise, then stumbled to a stop when she saw the people. Her people. Or most of them anyway, milling in the huge courtyard. Several hundred yards away was a large log building with a sign that said THE LODGE. Reese spotted Christine and her brothers sitting on the steps, talking with some of the other Foxworth teens—Randy, Sara, Ethan.
She shifted her gaze and glimpsed Pike standing twenty feet away with his pet wolf at his feet. Sam was with him, down on her knees as she patted the adorable wolf pup.
Reese’s gaze moved again, and that was when she saw them.
Sloan and Rylan.
Sloan saw her first. He broke away from his conversation with Connor. Almost simultaneously, Rylan disengaged from Connor’s other side, and then the two men were racing toward her.
She wasn’t sure which one of them caught her, but the next thing she knew, she was sandwiched between them both.
The moment she was in their arms, the tears finally started to fall.
28
Reese’s tearful reunion with her men lasted all of five seconds. She’d barely had a chance to hug and kiss them before Connor was marching over and announcing they were holding a meeting in the lodge.
“Now?” Sloan said irritably, and Reese hid a smile at his grumpy expression. It was rare for him to reveal his unhappiness to outsiders.
Connor nodded. “We need to run a few things by Reese. We’ll make it quick.” He glanced at her. “Unless you’re not up for it?”
She looked from him to the men, but the urgency in Connor’s eyes trumped the impatience in theirs. “Yeah, let’s get all the business out of the way now, because once my head hits a pillow, I won’t be waking up for two days.”
The foursome headed for the large wooden porch, where some of the kids were still congregated. Christine immediately dove off the steps and into Reese’s arms.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” the girl cried out, burying her face against Reese’s chest. “I was so worried.”
“Ah, you know I’m invincible,” Reese said lightly, but the lump in her throat made it hard to maintain the careless tone. Her voice cracked as she added, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Christine pulled back, her eyelashes glistening with unshed tears. “We all are.” She looked at Sloan and Rylan. “They got us out.”
Gratitude flooded Reese’s belly, spurring her to place a hand on either man’s arm. “Thank you,” she told them, but her gaze was focused on Sloan. “You kept your promise.”
“Always,” he said gruffly.
She was perilously close to tears herself, so she gently stroked Christine’s cheek and said, “We’ll talk later, okay? I need to meet with the other leaders right now.”
“You should come see my cabin when you’re done,” Christine said with a beaming smile. “It’s really pretty.”
Reese’s throat tightened even more as she watched the fourteen-year-old scamper off. She’d never seen Christine happier. The girl was changing. They were all changing.
Inside the lodge, a small group was already gathered at one of the round dining tables. There were dozens of those tables in the wood-paneled room, along with a large kitchen in the back, and a raised section off to one side that featured a huge fireplace and cozy sitting area.
The change in scenery was jarring. Her perfect little town, with its Main Street and brick buildings, with the town square and the gorgeous gazebo and Graham’s restaurant . . . it was gone. She didn’t know if Ferris had kept his promise to burn it to the ground, but it didn’t matter if he had. They could never return to Foxworth now that its location had been compromised.
Despite the ache in her heart at losing the town she’d built, she knew that Foxworth wasn’t truly gone. The community lived on. A place where freedom thrived . . . The idea lived on.
And luckily, Connor’s camp had plenty of space to accommodate her people, as well as the Enforcer deserters.
She wasn’t surprised to see that one of those deserters was being included in the meeting. Dominik sat next to his sister, once again drawing Reese’s attention to the eerie resemblance between them.
But it was the familiar face on the other side of the table that made Reese gasp. “Tam! When did you get back?”
The tall, beautiful brunette gracefully rose from her chair to give Reese a warm hug. The two women had been friends for years. The smuggler and the outlaw queen.
When Tamara planted a quick kiss on Reese’s lips, a strangled groan came from Rylan.
“Seriously? Did you really have to do that?” he griped. “Now I’m gonna have a hard-on for the whole meeting.”
“You always have a hard-on,” Sloan muttered, but his lips were twitching with amusement.
“Got in this morning,” Tamara told Reese. Her dark eyes twinkled with mischief. “Thanks for not being here to greet me, asshole.”