“You’re not protecting her; you’re alienating her. If you want to keep her safe, then you go with her. No female wants to be told what to do. She needs to be able to make her own choices.”
Shaking my head, I stuck next to Zach as we climbed over the wall. On the other side, each fey paired up with a human.
“What’s your carry-style, Zach?” I asked. “Princess, wild game, or backpack?”
He made a face at me.
“Why do you have to ruin it?”
I chuckled and walked up to a fey.
“I’m Brenna. Thanks for taking us.”
He glanced at someone behind me.
“You’re welcome, Brenna. Would you like Thallirin to carry you?”
“No, I would not. Thank you for thinking to ask instead of assuming. Are you okay with carrying me? Or are you too afraid of hurting Thallirin’s feelings?”
“His feelings will not be hurt if I carry you. He knows I understand you belong to him.”
“I think I’ll go princess-style,” Zach said. “How about you, Brenna?”
My brother’s attempt at distracting me from my anger did more than that. It helped put things into perspective. I didn’t need to address my very large problem right then or solve it alone. I had Zach and Mom. Using a wheelchair had only increased her mama-bear tendencies. Thallirin wouldn’t know what hit him.
“Carry me however works best for you,” I said to the fey watching me.
He grunted and picked me up.
As soon as he started running, I turned my face into his chest. Over his shoulder, I saw Thallirin. He ran directly behind us. Our gazes locked, and the undeniable urge to growl at him had me closing my eyes.
Several minutes later, the fey landed with a soft thump on the other side of Tenacity’s wall. He immediately released me and stepped away.
Ignoring him, I looked around at the expansive neighborhood. Like Tolerance, the wall extended farther than I could see. House after house lined the roads inside the wall. The sidewalks were snow-free, and narrow golf cart tracks marked the dusted road.
A large group of people was already gathered just inside the wall. Before I could wonder why, Matt stepped forward. He shook Ryan’s hand then addressed the rest of us.
“Welcome to Tenacity. We’re glad you could make it.” He turned to his people. “The volunteers from Tolerance will fill some of the day shifts on the wall so more people can go on today’s supply run.”
Matt began calling out names for wall assignments, and a few people grumbled when they stepped forward. He looked at the remaining people.
“Anyone can go on the supply run. Remember, the fey are not on this run to gather for Tenacity. However, they’ll help keep you safe while they gather for Tolerance. You keep seventy percent of what you bring back; thirty percent goes to the community for redistribution.
“A party is also going out to Whiteman Airbase to secure a plane to look for more survivors and new areas safe for supply runs. So don’t let the sound of something in the air distract you from what you’re doing. Stay safe. Stay alive. Come home.”
With that, the humans Matt assigned to the wall took their positions, and a trickle of people started climbing over the wall on the waiting ladders. But not as many as I expected, given the number gathered. I couldn’t tell if Matt was disappointed more weren’t going, though. Instead of focusing on the people staying, he watched the people leaving with the fey.
While the humans used the ladder, the fey neatly scaled the wall made of vehicles and other big machinery. It always amazed me how the fey could clear the barrier in seconds, their feet finding footing while their hands remained free.
The running engines outside the wall sounded so loud and out of place in the otherwise quiet neighborhood. I itched to get up there to see if they drew any infected. I hadn’t heard a single call on the way here, and that wasn’t normal.
“We have marks on the wall,” Matt said, drawing my attention. “Climb up the ladder and pick a section to patrol. Someone will come to relieve you every two hours for a fifteen-minute break.”
I started for a ladder but noticed Thallirin still standing inside the wall. I wished he would have left with the others.
“Want me to stay close?” Zach asked.
I loved my brother for his protectiveness, but he knew as well as I did that there wouldn’t be much he could do about Thallirin.
“No. I’m fine. Go where you’re needed. Not that I think we’ll see much. The infected seem just as quiet here as they do back home.”
“For now,” Zach said. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
He climbed up the ladder, his bow over his shoulder. I shouldered mine and did the same. It was such a part of me that I didn’t even notice I had it. It felt just as normal as a hat in winter.
“Thallirin,” Matt said. “I can’t stop you from going up there, but you do know that Mya doesn’t want you to help guard the wall, right?”
“I am not guarding your wall. I’m guarding Brenna.”
I rolled my eyes as I reached the top and walked to an unmanned section much farther away. Even though I didn’t hear Thallirin, I knew he followed me.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I asked when I took my position and saw him several yards from me, staring out at the trees.
“No.”
“I find your constant attention smothering and would like it if you left. I’ve guarded walls before, without you standing ten feet away, and can manage again.”
“But when you needed me, I was close enough to protect you.”
I knew he meant the day the infected breached the walls. If not for Thallirin, I wouldn’t be alive, and I was big enough to acknowledge it.
“Yes, you saved me. And I’ve saved countless other people. That doesn’t give me the right to force my unwelcome presence on them or try to tell them how to live their lives.”
He grunted and crossed his arms, not looking at me but watching the trees.
This was going to be a long day.
“You should eat something,” Thallirin said when my stomach growled yet again. It wasn’t delivered in a nice, considerate way but in an angry, impatient tone he’d been using on me every time he spoke.
“I will when I get home. You should go away.”
“I will when we get home.”
I breathed through my nose. He’d been like that all day, annoyingly present and unbothered no matter what I said. I wasn’t trying to be rude, just like I was sure he wasn’t trying to be a pain in my ass. Why couldn’t he understand not all human women wanted a man in their lives? I’d made my opinion pretty clear when I told him I wanted to shoot every arrow in my quiver at him. The ass had opened his arms and told me he would hold still…as if I needed his cooperation.
“I still want to shoot you.”
“I know.”
The distant sound of engines drew my attention to the road. Three trucks drove down the center of the unplowed lane, escorted by fey on all sides.
“Are any missing?” I asked, knowing Thallirin’s sight was far better than mine.
“No.”
I believed him, but that didn’t stop me from adding, “Are you sure? Maybe you should go check.”